《The Maknae Has to Be an Idol》


 Chapter 1

    <h4>Chapter 1</h4>


    In a small, 177.5 sq ft one-bedroom apartment, only the lightsing off from aputer monitor lit the space.


    <i>ck, aack.</i> Intermittent typing noises and notification rms filled the room and were broken by deep sighs in between.


    <i>Sigh...</i>


    <i>ck, ck.</i>


    <i>Ding, ding.</i>


    ¡°Haaaa.¡± This dreary and dark room was my work studio and home. The non-stop ringing notification rms were thements I was getting for thest chapter of my fantasy web novel that I had been writing for about a year. These were the sort of responses I was getting:


    ¡ªThe master of great beginnings and terrible endings.


    ¡ªDamn it, I can¡¯t believe I followed this novel until the end. I want to cry.


    ¡ªI was mentally scarred from hisst novel, so I was nning to skip this one but...


    ¡ªI think the author is seriously<i> sick</i>. His endings are always crazy.


    ¡ªI kept thinking about dropping this novel but held on till the end. Why do I love torturing myself?


    Every single one of them was insulting the ending of my novel. It was understandable because all my stories ended with bad endings.


    <i>¡®I killed all of them this time too.¡¯</i>


    It wasn¡¯t just an ordinary bad ending but the worst kind where all the main characters died. I didn¡¯t want to make an ending like this either, but that was what ended up happening as I continued writing. Perhaps, this was one of the symptoms of my trauma, and it was impossible for me to make an ending while keeping any of my characters alive.


    ¡°...Damn it,¡± I recalled a past memory. It clung to me harder the more I tried to push it away and its fragmented pieces solidified into shape. It waste in the night when we were on the road. The inside of the car was quiet, and my older teammates were dozing off in the backseat. It was then a huge truck appeared in view all of a sudden. The truck¡¯s headlights trespassed into the center line and shed the inside of our car instantly. By the time I realized what was going on, everything was over then.


    <i>¡®Stop.¡¯ </i>I tried to stop thinking, but the more I struggled, the image of that memory became clearer in my head.


    <i>Tick, tock. </i>The ticking sound of my watch filled up my room.


    <i>Drip, drop</i>. Water droplets dripped from the faucet that wasn¡¯t fully turned on.


    <i>Ding, ding.</i> And notification rms continued to ring nonstop.


    ¡ªEveryone dies for real lolol.


    ¡ªIs this the rumored novel with the best ending of all time?


    ¡ªStop making fun of the few readers who stayed behind to finish this story and piss off.


    <i>Sigh.</i> I thought my head was going to burst. I was a web novelist for three years and already had two workspleted under my name.


    <i>¡®But why can¡¯t I control myself?¡¯</i> The symptoms of my illness were even influencing my work, and I thought it wasn¡¯t good for me to continue reading thements. I closed myptop and got up from my seat. When the monitor¡¯s lights went off, my one-bedroom apartment turnedpletely dark. I fumbled my hands on the walls and turned on the light switch.


    <i>Flick. </i>The lights flickered once before it brightened my room, and the room that came into view under the bright fluorescent lights was truly devastating.


    ¡°It¡¯s a mess.¡± There were empty water bottles scattered messily on the ground, crumpled delivery food boxes, and various trash that I collected in my daily life. They had been piling up for three months already.


    <i>¡®Maybe I should go out.¡¯</i> I wasn¡¯t a naturally dirty person. I mean, who liked living in filth? I simply didn¡¯t want to step outside the door. After pushing away the pile of trash with my feet, Iy on the ground. Without a single mattress to support me, I felt the cold, hard surface directly on my skin and the memories that had been tormenting me grew stronger.


    Five years ago¡ªbefore I became a reclusive shut-in, I was shockingly an idol trainee.


    <i>¡®I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m seriously trying to be an idol,¡¯</i> I thought to myself then. It was the time when I managed to join a debuting group for a middle-sized managementpany. Our disorderlypany couldn¡¯t guarantee our sess, but I was happy during this period. I no longer had to go in and out of rtives¡¯ houses and be wary of getting on their bad side and had afortable ce to sleep in.


    And though they were a bit ditzy, my older teammates were gentle and nice. It was fine even if we didn¡¯t achieve massive sess. I would have been happy if we had just did all right, and I could stay with these people for a long time.


    Then, I thought my life would be quite worth living and there was no need for me to be envious of other sessful idols. Yet, the universe sometimes relentlessly ruined people¡¯s lives, and my humble dreams were crushed because of one drunk-driving truck driver. I didn¡¯t have any memories after the truck¡¯s headlight shed at us. I simply felt my body float and my head collide strongly against the wall. I lost consciousness then and when I opened my eyes again...


    <i>¡®No, I should stop thinking about it.¡¯</i> Yet, the more I tried not to think, the more that thought came to my head. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth at the images relentlessly popped into my mind. The car on the road smashed into the wall just like that.


    Among us five, the only people who survived were our team¡¯s leader on the wheel and me in the passenger seat. Three people died while two suffered serious injuries; and among the two injured, the team¡¯s leader entered aa and didn¡¯t wake up for the past five years.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s probably still asleep.¡¯ </i>In the end, the only one who returned to everyday life was me. No, even I couldn¡¯t return to my everyday life. Because the memory of that day was so intense in my head, I became obsessive about death. Whenever I had to decide between death and life, I began to always choose death whether it was in games or in writing.


    The therapist consulting me told me to free myself of guilt from that day. But the therapist was only half-right. I didn¡¯t need to get rid of my ¡®guilt¡¯ but cast away the ¡®resentment¡¯ that I was the only one who had survived. I didn¡¯t know what kind of divine existence decided who died or lived, but if they were going to do it...


    ¡°They should¡¯ve also taken me,¡± the words habitually popped out of my lips. Iy on the ground and stared at the wall. If I stared at the wall listlessly, my mind became duller. Like the wall, my heart and mind became nk, and I entered a subtle unconscious state. It was only at times like this that I felt like I could breathe. As this nice hazy feeling was about to spread throughout my body, I felt my phone vibrate.


    <i>Zzing.</i>


    It was a text message. I supposed it came from my publishers asking me why I wrote an ending like that. I didn¡¯t even need to read it. But for some reason, my hand reached for the phone. It was something I would¡¯ve never normally done, and I immediately regretted it when I saw the message¡¯s content.


    ¡ªWith deep sorrow, we inform you of the death of Woo Yeon-Hoon on December 4, 2027, at 11:45 pm.


    It was a notification message, telling me that the team''s leader who had been in aa for the past five years had died.


    ¡°Ha,¡± Iughed humorlessly. ¡°Ha, haha.¡± It wasn¡¯t the time to beughing. Nothing was funny about this situation. ¡°Ha...ugh.¡± I bit my lips hard and tasted blood. I clenched my fist so firmly that I felt my nails dig into my skin. Then, I curled my body into a ball.


    ¡°Urgh.¡± It felt as if someone was shing my heart after it already hit rock bottom. I wanted to scream and cry, but I had no target for my anger. There was a saying that life was a tragedy from up close but aedy from a distance. Yet, my life seemed like a tragedy no matter which way one looked at it. Instead of continuing to live a life like this and endure the pain and sorrow and drag myself through obstacles I never asked for, I would rather.... As my thoughts whirled out of control, my phone vibrated again.


    <i>Bzzz. Bzzzz. Bzzz. </i>It was a long vibration this time because it was a phone call. I reached for my phone instinctively even while my curled-up body was trembling.


    ¡°...What?¡± My body froze seeing the number on the screen.


    It was Yeon-Hoon¡¯s phone number. I had never received a call from this number since he entered aa five years ago. Though I exchanged some calls with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s brother and his parents asionally before, this had never happened before. Perhaps, someone from his family was calling me to notify me of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s death using his phone number.


    ¡°But why would they?¡± A part of me thought it could be Yeon-Hoon though there was no way. I just got a message notifying me of his death, and he was someone who had been unconscious for years. Yet, for some strange reason, my heart and thoughts kept leaning toward the direction that he was alive. I slowly epted the call and ced the phone to my ear.


    ¡ª...


    A heavy silence circled my ears for a while. I wondered if there was some mistake with the telmunicationspany and if I was getting an erroneous call.


    ¡ªTae-Yoon.


    I heard Yeon-Hoon¡¯s voice then. I gripped the phone tighter, and I almost bit my tongue from shock. Is this really his voice? Maybe it was someone who had a simr voice to him. No, it was definitely Yeon-Hoon¡¯s voice. I didn¡¯t know how to answer him or what was going on. How was I getting a call from a dead person? But I couldn¡¯t miss this chance to talk to him after so long. My voice trembled as I spoke, ¡°...Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    The moment I called his name, I felt a strange sensation all over my body. It felt as if my entire body was being lifted by an invisible hand.


    ¡°What is going on...!¡± Then my vision spun, and the space around me changed.


    ¡°What?¡± I was sure I was lying in my narrow, dirty one-bedroom apartment, but in an instant, I was transported to a pure white space. I floundered in the air but while all this was going on, I didn¡¯t let go of my phone. I wasn¡¯t even curious about the reason for this sudden strange phenomenon.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon...!¡± The only thing on my mind was conversing with the voice that I heard across the phone.


    [Beginning Transference.]


    A robotic voice that sounded void of all human-like qualities rang inside my ears.


    <i>Whoosh! </i>My vision whirled once more, and I was transported to another space. I thought I had returned to my one-bedroom apartment when I heard another voice.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, aren¡¯t you sleepy? All the other guys are sleeping. Why don¡¯t you also take a rest? I will wake you up when we arrive at our dorm.¡±


    But it was somewhere else. It was the ce of my memories that I didn¡¯t want to recall at all costs¡ªthe memories of the incident that ruined all of us and had been tormenting me for thest five years. I was inside the car that Yeon-Hoon was driving.


    ¡°...This is insane.¡± And across from our car, there was a 10-ton truck shing its headlights and heading our way from the center line. Simultaneously, a mechanical voice rang inside my ear.


    [Save the members of the group, ¡®Siren.¡¯]


    [Upon sess, you will progress to the next mission.]


    [Upon failure, all members will die.]


    [You¡¯ll be bestowed with the power of ¡®Insight¡¯ as a variant.]


    What in the world was going on? I didn¡¯t understand the situation at all, but I knew what I needed to do.


    ¡°Woo Yeon-Hoo, step on the gas pedal!¡±


    I couldn¡¯t let my teammates die again.

 Chapter 2

    <h4>Chapter 2</h4>


    What should I have done to erase that awful tragedy? What choice should I have made during a life-and-death crisis so that everyone could live? These were questions that have been haunting me every single day for the past five years.


    I could give dozens¡ªno, hundreds, thousands of answers to that question. Frankly, the most definite and perfect answer among them all was nothing special.


    ¡°Step on the elerator!¡±


    ¡°Huh, what, yeah!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon should have stepped hard on the elerator. At that time, Yeon-Hoon had frozen in shock when the truck suddenly came rushing in. It wasn¡¯t something anyone could me him for, as most people would freeze in such an unexpected situation.


    And this time as well, I thought, <i>¡®He¡¯s frozen!¡¯</i>


    I saw Yeon-Hoon looking out the window while beingpletely paralyzed. In the end, I had no choice but to step up.


    I shouted, ¡°Yeon-Hoon! Step on the elerator!¡±


    ¡°Huh? Y-yeah!¡± I pressed Yeon-Hoon¡¯s right thigh as hard as I could, and the elerator pedal was pushed all the way in.


    <i>Whoosh!</i> The car rushed forward.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± Yeon-Hoon hurriedly turned the steering wheel at the sudden increase in speed. Since the car would have crossed the centerline, Yeon-Hoon made the right decision to turn the steering wheel. Soon after¡ª


    <i>Baaaaaaaam!</i>


    We heard a loud explosion. The truck that missed us by a hair¡¯s breadth crashed into a wall.


    ¡°That¡¯s insane.¡±


    ¡°Aghhhhh, what the hell!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s with that crazy truck!¡±


    ¡°Ahh, ugahhhhhh, oh my god.¡±


    Four people except me screamed and made a fuss in unison. Amongst this mor, only I was calm.


    <i>Sigh.</i> No, my mind was just nk.


    [Mission aplished.]


    [You have saved all the members of Siren.]


    The dream that I have imagined again and again¡ªthe wish that I earnestly desired to make if I could make just one wish¡ª became a reality.


    ¡°...It came true.¡± Originally, all of my group members in the back seat died, and Yeon-Hoon, who was at the wheel, fell into aa. The ident that took away the dreams and lives of five people in an instant just narrowly missed all of us.


    ¡°Ah...¡± I had just acted reflexively but managed to save all my team members.


    ¡°T-Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°What the.¡±


    ¡°Are you crying, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°What, he¡¯s crying?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon is crying?¡±


    It was only then did reality hit me. I wiped away my tears. This was not the time to be crying.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you ok?¡± Yeon-Hoon turned around and asked me, but I wasn¡¯t able to say anything and just stared back.


    I was too moved to be able to see him move again. I turned my head; there were my other group members sitting in the back.


    Kang Do-Seung.


    Lee Woon.


    Park Dong-Jun.


    All of my group members were alive and well.


    ¡°Hey, why are you crying? Crying doesn¡¯t suit a big punk like you.¡±


    ¡°Come on, don¡¯t be like that. Poor kid must be shocked.¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung is so cold-hearted. Such a meanie. Boooo.¡±


    Was this reality? I couldn¡¯t shake off this question as I looked at my group members who were alive. However, they were real no matter how he looked at it, and everything was too vivid for it to be someone¡¯s prank.


    Yeon-Hoon said, ¡°Here. Wipe your tears with a tissue, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Ah, thank you.¡± I could clearly feel the tissue in my hand, the car seat hugging me, the seat belt gently pressing down on my shoulder. There was no way these senses could be fake.


    <i>Whoosh.</i> I took a deep breath.


    ¡°Are you feeling better now?¡± Yeon-Hoon looked at me with worried eyes and asked.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you okay?¡± Woon looked at me with worried eyes and also asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s my first time seeing Tae-Yoon cry~¡± Dong-Jun¡¯s voice was as carefree as ever.


    ¡°Why the hell are you crying for, punk?¡± And Do-Seung was as surly as usual.


    The voices of my group members I heard for the first time in five years were exactly as I remembered.


    ¡°...Yes, I¡¯m fine.¡± I answered my members¡¯ questions for the first time in five years. After wiping the tears around my eyes, I cleaned up my face.


    Dong-Jun, who was sitting right behind the passenger seat, said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know that our Tae-Yoon is a crybaby~.¡±


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t make fun of him too much. We almost had a huge ident just now.¡± Woon quietly supported me.


    Then Do-Seung added, ¡°If he hadn¡¯t pressed Yeon-Hoon¡¯s thigh earlier, we¡¯d all be dead.¡± Judging by hisment, Do-Seung must have seen what I did earlier.


    ¡°I was shocked because Tae-Yoon suddenly pressed my thigh. If it wasn¡¯t for Tae-Yoon...I don¡¯t...even want to imagine it...¡± Yeon-Hoon grabbed the steering wheel and couldn¡¯t speak easily as he just recalled what happened and then continued, ¡°Because of me, all of you almost...¡±


    ¡°Heyyyy!¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon is crying!¡±


    ¡°Someone shut off that damn faucet!¡±


    <i>Bawl...</i>


    It was then I remembered that Yeon-Hoon was a very emotional person. Tears began to form in his eyes, and he looked about to burst into tears.


    Yeon-Hoon said, ¡°Thank you, Tae-Yoon. If it weren¡¯t for our <i>maknae*</i>, we would have...¡± [1]


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, stop it. If you keep crying, we might really have an ident.¡±


    ¡°...Yeah!¡± Despite replying firmly, Yeon-Hoon nodded with a face that looked like he was about to cry. His spirit was like a little kid who was putting up a brave front.


    We pulled over to the side of the road after avoiding an ident. If Yeon-Hoon drove while being too flustered, additional idents could happen. Looking back through the side mirror, I saw people already flocking around the truck.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we also get out of the car and help?¡± Woon looked back and asked.


    Many people were pulling the truck driver out of the driver¡¯s seat. It was a situation where it was unnecessary for us to go, but above all¡ªI didn¡¯t want to go to that scene and help out.


    ¡°Don¡¯t go.¡± I found outter that the truck driver was drunk driving, and he was not driving after drinking but driving<i> while </i>drinking. To soothe his boredom while being on the road for a long time, he had the habit of drinking a ss or two while driving. Furthermore, he had struggled fervently to cut down his sentence until the very end and insisted that we were also at fault. Recalling hispletely unapologetic and brash attitude at that time, I didn¡¯t feel the slightest desire to help.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s just go. We might get bad press before our debut.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s better to not get involved at an unstable time like this.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, but still...¡±


    I said, ¡°No, let¡¯s go. Please.¡±


    ¡°...Ok, let¡¯s go.¡±


    Like this, we quickly left the scene of the ident. However, no matter how awful the truck driver was, he was still a living person. I called 119 on my phone and sinctly delivered the location and situation of the ident.[2]


    While moving away from the truck, I organized my thoughts,<i> ¡®I think I regressed just now.¡¯</i>


    By all ounts, this was not a realistic situation.


    <i>¡®Variant? Insight? I think I¡¯ve also heard something strange.¡¯</i> Right before the ident, a mechanical voice seemed to have rang in my ears. Since this whole situation was so unrealistic, I had no idea where to begin organizing my thoughts.


    <i>Sigh.</i> ¡°If we go back to the dorm, we¡¯ll have to start practicing like crazy again tomorrow,¡± Dong-Junined from the back.


    ¡°We have to work hard if we want to make our debut. Cheer up,¡± Woon replied as if he was consoling Dong-Jun.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep.¡± Do-Seung buried himself in the car seat and closed his eyes.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, you should take a nap too. I¡¯ll drive really safely to our dorm,¡± Yeon-Hoon said with concern that I would also be sleepy.


    I looked around at my group members. <i>¡®Were these people this young?¡¯</i>


    Although it had only been five years, I had regressed from the future; I was 19 years old here, but I used to be 24 years old. Yeon-Hoon, who was the leader and the oldest, was 23 years old at this point. They were technically all older than me at this time point, but somehow, they all felt younger.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sleeping. I¡¯m going to watch you and make sure you drive safely,¡± I said as I looked at Yeon-Hoon. At this point, no matter how hard I thought about this situation, this was reality and not a dream or fantasy. Although the reality had changed a lot from the reality I once knew, I just wanted to believe that I was given a second chance as I could see my members again and this world was much better than the world I was living in. But¡ª


    <i>¡®Hmm.¡¯ </i>There were more than a few things that worried me.


    <i>¡®But first, let¡¯s go to the dorm first.¡¯</i> There was nothing I could do here.


    * * *


    ¡°Okay! We¡¯re here!¡± Yeon-Hoon stopped the car in the parking lot of the small apartment where our dorm was. This rental car was scheduled to be collected by the rental carpany tomorrow morning.


    ¡°Everyone, get off!¡±


    ¡°<i>Yawwn!</i> I slept well!¡±


    ¡°As expected, Yeon-Hoon, you¡¯re the best driver.¡±


    Each of the group members said a sentence and got out of the car. I just listened to them without saying a word.


    <i>¡®This is what would have happened if there was no ident.¡¯ </i>This was the daily routine that would have unfolded if the truck driver hadn¡¯t driven under the influence.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s fascinating.¡¯</i> It was an everyday scene, but every single moment felt magical to me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. Tae-Yoon, what are you doing?¡± Woon asked while carrying my luggage.


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡± I took the duffel bag that Woon handed me. Then I went up the stairs to the roof of the apartment.


    <i>¡®Come to think of it, we lived on the rooftop at this time.¡¯ </i>Our living conditions were extremely poor at that time. First of all, we lived on the rooftop with no elevator.


    ¡°Finally! We¡¯re home!¡±


    ¡°Yayyyy!¡±


    ¡°<i>Pweh.</i>¡±


    Our dorm was technically a two-bedroom house but...


    ¡°Let¡¯s put down the nket first and quickly go to bed. I¡¯m dead tired.¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung, wash up first and go to bed.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to wash up.¡±


    It was more reasonable to describe it as two small spaces like storage rooms attached to arge studio. The two spaces attached to each other were notrge enough for an adult man toy down. Thus, we used the two spaces as a closet and storage room and slept together in the living room with a nket on the floor. I hadn¡¯t thought it was very ufortable at that time, but this was exploitation no matter how hard I thought about it.


    <i>¡®This is going to be so ufortable.¡¯</i> Furthermore, I was 19 years old at the time. It was a given that I had no right to privacy. Someone might ask how this kind of life could exist even in 2022, but...


    <i>¡®Well, all sorts of bizarre incidents happen all the time.¡¯</i> Moreover, if apany representative was not aware of theirpany¡¯s practices, these kinds of extraordinary situations urred.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, hurry and wash up. I¡¯lly down the nket while you guys wash up.¡± Yeon-Hoon smiled at me and startedying thick nkets on the floor. I felt sorry that a skinny guy like Yeon-Hoon was pulling a nket that looked thicker than him.


    I said, ¡°Give it to me. I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Even at this point, I was taller than Yeon-Hoon. I was probably 184 cm at this time. When I first joined the entertainment agency, I was about the same height as Yeon-Hoon, but I grew nearly 10 cm in a year. Now, my height was somewhat simr to that of Do-Seung, who was the tallest in the team. Perhaps, I was a little taller.


    ¡°Our kid¡¯s all grown up aftering back from a trip.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t he used to have a childish feeling about him?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon~ Your older bros are sad that you¡¯re growing up so fast~¡±


    I smirked andughed as I listened to their voices. It felt strange; they were older than me, but they all felt younger than me at the same time.


    ¡°Yes, I got it.¡± Afterying down the nket, I went to the bathroom and washed up briefly. The other group members, who had finished washing up, were already lying down in the living room in a row after changing into their pajamas. Yeon-Hoon even had a face mask on. I remembered him saying he needed to take good care of his skin so his age wouldn¡¯t show on TV¡ªeven though he was only 23 years old.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Quicklye here!¡± Yeon-Hoon said, tapping the seat next to him with his palm.


    ¡°Yes.¡± I went over there andy down.


    Five grown men were all sleeping in one room. Although it wasn¡¯t amon sight, it had a strange advantage; there was a strange sense of security.


    ¡°It was so much fun today. We almost got into an ident today, but except for that, it was the best day ever.¡± Yeon-Hoon said as he took off his mask pack.


    ¡°Yeah, it was fun.¡±


    ¡°The meat was super delicious. Wish I can eat it again.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to get fat.¡±


    ¡°What in the world shall we do that with sociopath, Kang Do-Seung?¡±


    ¡°What? Kang Do-Seung? How dare you address your <i>hyung </i>so rudely, you punk?¡±


    ¡°Do I have to treat you like a <i>hyung </i>just because you¡¯re one year older?¡±


    ¡°You bastard...¡±


    ¡°Ackkk! Kang Do-Seung is hitting people!¡±


    I quietly watch Dong-Jun and Do-Seung squabble. Today was probably the day we all traveled to Sokcho together, saying that today was probably thest day before our debut. I didn¡¯t remember the trip well because it was five years ago, but I remembered that the meat I ate back then was delicious.


    ¡°What about you, Tae-Yoon?¡± Then, Woon asked me how I felt.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. Tae-Yoon is strangely quiet today.¡± Yeon-Hoon agreed.


    ¡°I...¡± I wondered what to say. ¡°It was good. Really good.¡± This was the most honest answer. There could have been no better day than today as I was able to save my group members, return to the dorm, and ally under the same nket. However, that was also why I needed to say something that couldn¡¯t be postponed any longer.


    I said, ¡°But I have something that I need to tell everyone.¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Why is that kid suddenly getting serious?¡±


    ¡°Did something happen?¡±


    After getting up and sitting down, I looked at my group members, who were all lying down in a line. They were only raising their heads while lying down.


    I almostughed for a moment because of how funny they looked, but I made a straight face and said seriously, ¡°I¡¯m going to quit being an idol.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°What the hell is wrong with that punk?¡±


    The easiest way to solve all the problems we would have to face in the future was this: to not even start it in the first ce.


    1. <i>Maknae</i> refers to the youngest of the group. ?


    2. 119 is the emergency number in South Korea. ?

 Chapter 3

    <h4>Chapter 3</h4>


    ¡°What do you mean you¡¯re going to quit being an idol...?¡± Yeon-hoon responded first while looking as if he was going to cry.


    ¡°Did you lose your mind, Bong Tae-Yoon?¡± The next one to speak was Do-Seung. He looked as if he was going to hit me though, but of course, he didn¡¯t.


    ¡°Did something happen?¡± Woon didn¡¯t ask me the meaning of my words but the reason why I said them. It was so like him to respond this way.


    Next, Dong-Jun asked yfully while turning away. ¡°Is Tae-Yoon going through his rebellious stage already?¡± It appeared Dong-Jun thought I was joking.


    ¡°I thought about it seriously on my way here during the car ride, and I don¡¯t think I can do this. I¡¯m sorry.¡± I showed how serious I was and knew how difficult it would be for my members to ept my decision. After all, it was so sudden, and I showed no previous signs of wanting to quit before. Yet, no matter how much I thought about it, I thought this was the right way. My members looked at me, baffled.


    ¡°What¡¯s the reason? There must be a reason why you suddenly want to quit,¡± Do-Seung asked. It appeared like he was trying to repress the anger erupting inside him with all his might. But if they wanted a reason, I had many avable. Yet, I knew naming all the realistic reasons why I wanted to drop out of the group would sound as if I wanted to provoke a fight with them.


    <i>¡®How would we seed in this smallpany?¡¯</i> was my first thought. The biggest problem was that the WD entertainment agency we were under didn¡¯t have the means to manage and prep their idols. It was only through thepany boss¡¯s pure greed that we were preparing our debut. In my past life, the WDpany debuted another idol group after our group¡¯s incident, and the grouppletely flopped, performing only a couple of shows before disbanding.


    Another reason was my limited talents. My dancing and singing skills were all just mediocre¡ªno, perhaps, so below that I could ruin this entire group just with my poor skills. Andstly, I knew I could make more money writing web novels. Even if I debuted through thispany, I would hardly make any money; and inparison, I knew all the future trends of web novels.


    <i>¡®My novels always did all right too,¡¯ </i>I thought. Though the endings of my stories were terrible, I always had a core audience. Thus, a better goal was to work hard on my novels and strive to earn as much money as I could.


    <i>¡®I need to save up a lot of help for these guys.¡¯</i> After my members finished their idol activities and returned to normal society again, I could help them adjust. There was a high chance that this group would fail even after they debuted. It wasn¡¯t because their individual talents werecking but because of how terrible this managementpany was. I was sure that even a person who could be a 1st-tier, globally famous entertainer would stay as a nobody if they came to WD.


    <i>¡®Of course, there¡¯s a chance that they wouldn¡¯t fail but realistically, it¡¯s too difficult.¡¯</i> I didn¡¯t want to bet on something with such low odds. Thus, I made my long-term ns with the premise that this group would fail, and I needed to help these guys who would disband without a dime to their name. Besides Dong-Jun, the others had no basis or support to start again.


    Yet, since I couldn¡¯t exin all this, I simply said, ¡°You know I have no talent.¡±


    ¡°...Haaa.¡± Even Do-Seung, who looked like he was about to punch me, chewed his lips and didn¡¯t say anything. Leader Yeon-Hoon, kind Woon, and even the carefree Dong-Jun averted their eyes. My current position in the group was a ¡®lead vocalist.¡¯ But that was only in name, and I was only ced in that position toplete the formation of the group and because the tone of my voice was evaluated as passable.


    ¡°If I¡¯m still at this level after training for three years, I suppose this is my limit,¡± I said. I was able to join a debuting group somehow, but that was because thispany had no other talent. Unlike my members who had transferred from bigpanies to WD for personal reasons, I started in thispany from the very beginning. I knew I didn¡¯t have the skills to debut. My original destiny was to be a trainee forever while moving from a mid-sizedpany to another mid-sizedpany.


    ¡°The quality of our choreography keeps falling because of me and I think I¡¯m also ruining the mood of the song. I think it will be more helpful for this team if I leave.¡±


    In the first ce, I never had big dreams of bing an idol; I simply wanted to be part of a group. After living off my rtives and never feeling like I had a home, I wanted to have something like a family. Simply put, my trainee days were just me ying house. I needed to end this foolishness and stop wasting my time just to fill this wanting in my heart; this was better for not only the group but for me as well.


    ¡°I really enjoyed living with you all. That¡¯s why I think it¡¯s even more right for me to put an end to things here. I know I will only hinder you guys during your group activities.¡± My members couldn¡¯t say a word up to this point, and I continued, ¡°I will tell the head manager tomorrow.¡±


    Then, I was about toy down again when Do-Seung grabbed me by my cor and forcefully pulled me up. ¡°You think you can just announce that you are leaving and go just like that?¡± His eyes looked furious. I thought he would really hit me, but perhaps, it wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea to get hit once or twice.


    ¡°Do-Seung!¡± Woon stopped Do-Seung. ¡°Are you seriously nning to hit him!¡±


    ¡°But listen to this guy! He¡¯s quitting because he doesn¡¯t have talent? Why did he endure for so long until now after all that trouble!¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung!¡±


    ¡°Ah! Why is everyone only yelling at me!¡± As even Dong-Jun tried to intervene, Do-Seung had to let go of his grip. The atmosphere inside our dorm became dreary then though it was what I expected to happen.


    <i>¡®I feel bad.¡¯ </i>Feelings of guilt gradually began to seep upwards. But this was what they needed to hear, and I thought my members would lose any sense of attachment towards me if I brought down the group¡¯s mood like this.


    It was preferable for them to think that there was just some nuisance right before they debuted so that when they finally started their activities, they could forget about me and focus on their work. And while they worked as idols, I could work hard on my writing and prepare a way for them to start anew after they finished failing as idols and came back to normal society.


    <i>¡®That will be my role.¡¯ </i>This was the n I thought of on the car ride. The fact that I came back to the past meant that some kind of divine existence wanted me to do something. Perhaps, they wanted me to repay my members who regretfully died in my past life, and my role was to be like an airbag shielding them from the brunt of their casualties.


    ¡°I¡¯m seriously sorry.¡±


    ¡°Ha, seriously. What? You are sorry?¡± Do-Seung became agitated once more hearing that I was sorry. He grabbed my cors again, and I clenched my eyes this time.


    ¡°Everyone stop!¡± Yeon-Hoon, who had been quiet until now, yelled. I had never heard him raise his voice until then. Though he was the oldest and the leader, he wasn¡¯t the type tomand authority. Instead, he was shy and cowardly, most unbefitting of the leader position. Yet, such a person was yelling. His voice trembled so much that it felt like a piece of fabric was getting split.


    ¡°Do-Seung, let Tae-Yoon go. It¡¯s not right to hit people no matter how angry you are!¡±


    ¡°...I didn¡¯t even hit him yet!¡± Do-Seung said regretfully. This was true. He didn¡¯t hit me even once yet, but all the other members were acting as if he had already done just that.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you see how red his chest became? That¡¯s the same as hitting him!¡± Yeon-Hoon pointed at my reddened upper chest from Do-Seung¡¯s grabbing. It did slightly sting in that area.


    ¡°W-Woon and Dong-Jun need to also stop! You guys keep only attacking Do-Seung, so he naturally feels attacked!¡± He also scolded the others. Hearing this, Woon and Dong-Jun backed away to a corner.


    ¡°And Tae-Yoon...¡± Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyesnded on mest. ¡°Let¡¯s talk alone.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°Come down with me.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon got up from his spot and took a puffer jacket, and I did the same.


    ¡°We are going to go outside for a bit, so you guys sleep before us. It might take a while.¡±


    ¡°All right.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡±


    ¡°Be careful.¡±


    It seemed like they all expected the conversation to go on for a long time, and I went outside the dorm following Yeon-Hoon.


    ***


    Yeon-Hoon and I took a seat at a convenience store in front of our form. Though it was cold during winter, Yeon-Hoon picked an outdoor table in front of the store to sit on.


    ¡°Do you want something warm to drink?¡±


    ¡°No. More than that, can¡¯t we talk inside the store?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I purposefully took you outside so you can cool your head.¡±


    ¡°Do you think my head will cool because I am in a cold ce?¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡±


    Keeping one¡¯s cool didn¡¯t literally mean lowering one¡¯s temperature, but I thought it didn¡¯t matter. My head had been feeling calm since the beginning and there was nothing the cool air could do to change my mind. Instead, there was something else that was bothering me.


    ¡°Your toes are red,¡± I noted.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like it.¡± Because of how hurriedly he came out, Yeon-Hoon was wearing slippers without socks in the dead of winter.


    ¡°Give me a moment.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    I went inside the convenience store and fortunately, there was a wallet inside my jacket. I bought one pair of socks and went outside.


    ¡°Wear this.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. Besides, convenience store socks are expensive. Refund them.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. How expensive can socks be?¡± I replied¨Cthough the socks were very expensive considering the condition of my wallet. However, since I was confident that I could soon make money, I didn¡¯t feel like it was such a waste. Then, when I tried to forcefully put the socks on him, Yeon-Hoon stopped me and took the socks from my hands. He rustled with the socks and wore them.


    ¡°It¡¯s much better, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°...Yeah.¡± Then, Yeon-Hoon and I sat while facing each other. Yeon-Hoon stared quietly at me like he had something he wanted to say. Then, as I expected, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t leave the group, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°You know I don¡¯t have any talents too,¡± I nned to continue the same stance as before.


    <i>Sigh.</i> ¡°Tae-Yoon. Let me speak honestly. It¡¯s true that your skills arecking.¡± Then, after staring at the table, he cautiously continued, ¡°But there¡¯s no one among us who is disgruntled by the fact that you are in the debut group.¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡± Everyone must know that my skills were a mess.


    ¡°Do you really ask because you don¡¯t know? Really?¡± Yeon-Hoon stared at my face frustratedly. ¡°It¡¯s not like one bes an idol on skills alone.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± If he was talking about that...there was no one in the group who had an ugly face. It was surprising that a mid-sizedpany was able to gather such talents like this one, but the members of the Siren were truly the best that WD had to offer. No, these people were too great for thispany.


    ¡°So, why don¡¯t you think about that one more time? There¡¯s only a couple of months left before our debut...¡± Yeon-Hoon said and continued to try to convince me to change my mind. However, everything he said passed from one ear to the next, and I was thinking about a title that I could use for my next web novel.


    [Retract your intention to drop out.]


    [Upon sess, you will progress to the next mission.]


    [Upon failure, the possibility of Leader Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s death increases.]


    It was the voice I heard when I first regressed¡ªthe voice void of all humane characteristics.


    <i>¡®Increases the possibility of his death?¡¯</i> I scowled. How could that happen with just me expressing my intention to drop out of the group? My mind became nk because I couldn¡¯t wrap my head around the situation.


    ¡°...So please, Tae-Yoon. Go back up and apologize to the others...¡±


    I ignored what Yeon-Hoon said and quickly scanned my surroundings. I wanted to check the source of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s increased probability of death.


    <i>Shaaa! </i>Something fell from above.


    <i>¡®A flower pot?¡¯ </i>It was no small pot either and was as big as a kindergartener¡¯s head. And a dangerous item like that was falling over Yeon-Hoon¡¯s head.


    ¡°Damn it!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Yeon-Hoon also felt something was off and looked up.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± The flower pot was already right in front of him.


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    Something changed to my side and time began to slow as if I was in slow motion. I could hear every sound clearly¡ªfrom the cars whizzing past on the highways across from here, the checkout machine operating from inside the store, and various noisesing out of the one-bedroom apartments around me. I knew it instinctively then.


    <i>¡®This is the ¡®Insight¡¯ ability.¡¯ </i>This was the ability the mechanical voice told me I gained when I first regressed.


    <i>¡®I need to save him first!¡¯</i> With this ability, I thought of the best method to save Yeon-Hoon in this situation.

 Chapter 4

    <h4>Chapter 4</h4>


    ¡®Insight¡¯ was an amazing ability, and I could clearly see why it was called ¡®Insight¡¯. Befitting its name, myprehension of everything within my sight increased significantly. It was not just an increased understanding of objects but phenomena and situations as well. Currently, a flowerpot was falling on Yeon-Hoon¡¯s head. Normally, I would have been at a loss, not knowing what to do, and watched the pot fall and hit his head. But...


    <i>Slide.</i>


    I could now clearly see the precise trajectory of what angle I needed to push Yeon-Hoon to get him safely out of the fall range. I pushed his left chest first, grabbed his left side again, and pushed him aside with force.


    <i>Baaaam!</i>


    The pot that was falling on top of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s head crashed to the floor.


    ¡°Ugh, uahh, uahhh, ackkkkk!¡± My member was a hair¡¯s breadth length away from death this time as well. If I had reacted even a secondter, he would have died. As soon as the pot fell on the floor, the Insight was over. I felt dizzy for a moment when the world returned to its original speed. However, I pushed back my headache and took care of Yeon-Hoon first.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, are you okay?¡±


    ¡°T-the flower pot...a huge pot...oh my god!¡± Yeon-Hoon seemed extremely shocked, so I calmed him down first. Then I looked up. The fact that such a big flower pot fell indicated that there was some significant problem. The convenience store that we were currently at was a convenience store on the first floor of the apartmentplex. Thus, this meant that there were only private residents on the top floors, and the main culprit of this case must be living in this apartmentplex right now.


    ¡°What kind of crazy guy...¡± When I was about to scream and wake up all the residents of the apartment, a middle-aged man came running out of the entrance.


    ¡°Oh my goodness! Are you okay!? I¡¯m so sorry!¡± There was a trowel in his hand, and he had dirt on his pants.


    I had found the culprit. I called out, ¡°Mister.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon tried to stop me. ¡°T-Tae-Yoon, don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, wait a minute.¡±


    The middle-aged man said, ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m so sorry! Are you hurt? I¡¯ll pay you any amount of hospital bills or constion fees so...¡±


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s money we want? A person almost died!¡±


    ¡°I...have no words...¡±


    While anger burned up in my heart, Yeon-Hoon said in a frightened voice, ¡°Stop, let¡¯s stop...Tae-Yoon.¡±


    It was only then did I came to my senses. The person who was probably the most frightened right now was Yeon-Hoon since he almost died.


    ¡°I¡¯m really, so very sorry.¡± The middle-aged man bowed. He really did seem sorry as he looked pale-stricken. On second thought, in a situation where the culprit hadn¡¯t been found yet, he could have pretended ignorance and moved on. However, he immediately came out and told the truth, so he seemed like a moral person.


    Then the middle-aged man suddenly said, ¡°I know this may sound like an excuse, but this flower pot was not in the position to fall at all...I took it out on the veranda to repot the flower...but there was the railing and I put it inside the veranda...I can¡¯t believe this situation happened either.¡±


    ¡°The pot wasn¡¯t in a position to fall?¡± I asked to make sure again.


    ¡°Yes, I know it¡¯s hard to believe, and I can¡¯t believe it either. But it¡¯s true...I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    I looked up at the sky nkly and realized that the voice I heard, ¡®Probability of Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s death increases¡¯ was not just a joke. I had realized it toote. It should have been obvious that a transcendent incident like this would be possible for a being that could ring mysterious orders directly to my ear.


    ¡°...No, it¡¯s all right.¡± After assessing the situation, I realized that it wasn¡¯t this man¡¯s fault. If I were to ce the me on someone for this incident, it would be¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s me.¡¯</i> It was because I announced my intention to leave the group.


    ¡°The constion money...¡± The middle-aged man seemed to want to make amends somehow.


    However, Yeon-Hoon came forward and said, ¡°No, it¡¯s all right. I¡¯m not hurt, so you don¡¯t have to give me any constion fee.¡± Yeon-Hoon seemed as if he was just going to let this whole incident slide under the rug as he wasn¡¯t injured.


    But that wasn¡¯t the case for me. ¡°No, you should give us a constion fee.¡±


    ¡°T-Tae-Yoon!¡±


    We needed to get this money.


    Yeon-Hoon might wonder why I was doing this, but it was better for both parties to take this money.


    I said, ¡°He¡¯ll give you his bank ount.¡±


    The middle-aged man said, ¡°Thank you!¡±


    I personally didn¡¯t want to take this money either as I was the culprit of this ident. However, it couldn¡¯t be helped as a person almost died in this ident. There needed to be a record that we met a mutual agreement on this ident, and there was no agreement as clear as money printed in a bank ount transfer details. This was also the reason why the middle-aged man¡¯s expression looked brighter than when we said we wouldn¡¯t take the money.


    I said, ¡°Yeon-Hoon, it¡¯s good for him and for us to receive this.¡±


    The middle-aged man agreed, ¡°Yes, please take it.¡±


    ¡°R-really?¡± Only then did Yeon-Hoon give the man his ount number. After depositing constion fees, the man carefully began to clean up the remnants of the pot. The part-timer at the convenience store also came out btedly to assess the situation and helped clean the pot. We also helped clean a little as well. The man repeatedly waved his hands, saying that we didn¡¯t have to, but I thought I would feel ufortable if I didn¡¯t help out.


    I said, ¡°Let¡¯s get going now.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon replied, ¡°Yeah, we should.¡±


    When I thought I felt like we had cleaned enough, I led Yeon-Hoon back to our dorm. Then said, ¡°I won¡¯t leave the group.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Wait, what? Why so suddenly?¡±


    I quickly reversed my decision to leave the group because I¡¯d confirmed that this game was not a joke. This was the work of some transcendent being that a mere human being like me had no choice but to follow; it was just that the joke went much too far.


    ¡®<i>How can they put people¡¯s lives on the line?</i>¡¯ If this was the work of a god, I had no idea who they were, but I was sure that they were crazy. If I died and met them, I wanted to immediately punch their face. Then, at that moment, a voice rang in my ear again.


    [Mission aplished.]


    [You¡¯ve retracted your intention to quit.]


    The same voice rang in my ear again. With this, it seemed that Yeon-Hoon moved away from the danger of death.


    ¡°Why did you suddenly decide not to quit?¡± Yeon-Hoon seemed to be curious about the reason why I changed my mind.


    But I couldn¡¯t tell him that a strange voice spoke to me, so I answered, ¡°I got persuaded by you.¡± There was no other reason I could give.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What a relief!¡±


    ¡°Right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡± Yeon-Hoon seemed quite happy that his persuasion worked. Was he happy because he performed his role as a leader for the first time? Anyway, it was fine as long as he was happy. But...


    <i>¡®Do I really have to debut?¡¯</i> My mind became conflicted. I had no intention of making my debut. An Idol¡ªit was good in many ways. Idols lived among the cheers of countless people and were the stars of a fancy stage. They earned a lot of money and received a lot of love. However¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s also a market where if you take one wrong step, it¡¯s your imminent death.¡¯</i> It was a cut-throat industry where the biggest stars could instantly fall from fame. On the other hand, it was only cut-throat for those who were sessful. For idols who weren¡¯t sessful, it was just a pitiful and hard job, since while others went up on stage with designer outfits, they had to wear cheap clothes that were crafted in factories. Or they had to buy outfits that roughly fit the theme and go up on stage.


    <i>Sigh. </i>My head became a mess after thinking about all this. I felt this in my past life, but being an idol really didn¡¯t fit me. I just wanted to have the identity of being part of a group and wanted amunity that epted me warmly, so I just stuck to being a trainee at a mid-sized agency. Back then, I thought my dream was to be an idol, but thinking back, I was just an immature child who wanted to y being an idol like a game. But now, I really had to be an idol.


    <i>¡®This is driving me insane.¡¯</i> I had no idea where to start again.


    <i>¡®First, my dancing and singing have to be up to par.¡¯</i> Even if we were a group of nobodies, we couldn¡¯t be too bad as that was just in rude. An idol was a job that had to go on stage, so I should at least avoid terrorizing the audience with my awful singing and dancing.


    <i>¡®Second, do I have to go on a diet again?¡¯ </i>The second was keeping in shape. Fortunately, my current body was already in shape, but my taste buds were a normal 24-year-old. I¡¯ve already drank before, enjoyedte-night snacks, and ate what I wanted to eat normally.


    However, I needed to pack up that old life and strictly manage my diet from now on. This also came with the job. Even if nobody knew who we were, we were still idols in the end. Managing one¡¯s diet was the minimum job requirement of working as an idol. While thinking various thoughts like this, I reached the front of our apartment already.


    Yeon-Hoon said, ¡°Let¡¯s go up, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    I followed Yeon-Hoon up to our dorm. It had already been over an hour since we came out, and our members were all probably sleeping. While thinking this, I opened the door.


    ¡°You¡¯re back?¡±


    ¡°Did you change your mind?¡±


    ¡°How did the talk go?¡±


    Do-Seung, Woon, and Dong-Jun all rubbed their sleepy eyes.


    ¡°Yeah, the talk went well,¡± Yeon-Hoon replied in a cheerful voice. Then he gave me a hint to tell everyone my thoughts directly.


    Although it was a little embarrassing to reverse my words after all the mess I made earlier, I apologized, ¡°I won¡¯t quit. I¡¯m sorry everyone, for causing such a scene past midnight.¡±


    I had my reasons, but I felt sorry for the fuss I caused.


    ¡°<i>Pweh</i>.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡±


    ¡°Seriously, you basta...¡± Do-Seung nced at me for a second and then said, ¡°...You made the right decision. Thanks. For not leaving.¡±


    He said some warm words out of character for him, and even while talking, he twisted his lips strangely as if to reveal his disgruntled feelings.


    <i>¡®Woon must have made him do it.¡¯ </i>Seeing Woon smiling softly next to me, it seemed as if Woon forced him to be nice to me.


    Dong-Jun looked at me and said with a mischievous smile, ¡°Tae-Yoon, we made some ns while you two were out~.¡±


    He spoke with his usual mischievous voice. ¡°You want to quit because you¡¯re not confident in your skills, right?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going to take turns to help you practice.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Did I hear him right¡ªthey¡¯re going to take turns to help me practice?


    I asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys already doing that?¡± I was already getting help from the other members. If I recall memories of my past life, every move and every line from a song¡ªI haven¡¯t done anything on my own. I only remember my members helping me with every single part of the nano-scale.


    ¡°No, no, not just that level~ But we¡¯re really going to stick to your side and push you until you can do it.¡±


    ¡°Ah, what?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared. You won¡¯t die at least.¡± It seemed as if the members had suggested special training as a form of punishment; I¡¯m sure they must have been furious that I suddenly expressed my intention to leave at dawn.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m grateful.¡± I had to improve my skills anyway. I¡¯m d that they were stepping forward to take on tasks that I should have asked as a favor instead. But above all¡ª


    <i>¡®As expected, they are great people.¡¯ </i>I looked around at my members. It wasn¡¯t a very long life, but I have never met people as good as them in my 24 years of life. How should I put it? It finally felt like I was really back home.


    ¡°Uh, what the?¡±


    ¡°Is he crying?¡±


    My members were asking if he was crying, but it wasn¡¯t directed towards me.


    ¡°Hahaha! Yeon-Hoon is crying again!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes were watering behind me. He said, ¡°Tae-Yoon...thanks for not leaving the group...¡±


    I said, ¡°Geez, Yeon-Hoon...¡± I wondered how this soft-hearted person got a driver¡¯s license; I thought he would have burst into tears while holding the steering wheel.


    ¡°Hummph.¡± Yeon-Hoon forced himself to hold back his tears and organized his emotions.


    ¡°Pwehh. Let¡¯s go to bed now guys. Today was seriously a long day...,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and went under the nket first. The other members alsoy down side by side.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, here.¡± Yeon-Hoon tapped the seat next to him once again. I went over there andy down.


    ¡°Good night, everyone~¡±


    ¡°Good night.¡±


    ¡°See you tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Everyone, let''s keep this up.¡±


    And like this, everyone began to say their greetings one by one on a cool night like this.


    ¡°Good night, everyone.¡± It was the same for me. For the first time in 5 years, I¡¯ve said good night to them. While I felt a surge of joy in my heart¡ª


    [Record 100,000 album sales for your debut album in the first week.]


    <i>¡®What?¡¯ </i>The next mission came at the worst timing.


    [Countdown D-365]


    [Upon sess, you will progress to the next mission.]


    [Upon failure, member Kang Do-Seung will die.]


    The contents of the mission were even worse.

 Chapter 5

    <h4>Chapter 5</h4>


    <i>¡®100,000 copies sold in the first week?¡¯ </i>After seeing the message¡¯s content, I barely stopped myself from yelling and waking up all my teammates who justy down to get to bed. This was an unbelievable mission.


    <i>¡®100,000 my ass.¡¯ </i>It was true that first-tier idols sold a million copies in their first week, but for us, selling even 10,000 copies after our debut was a reach. The wholepany might throw a party and celebrate if we achieved just that; and at most, we could strive to sell 1,000 albums. It didn¡¯t matter how good at dancing or singing we were or how handsome we were.


    People would only buy our albums and be our fans after we catch the public¡¯s attention. Yet, we were idols who weren¡¯t offered even the minimum opportunities to catch people¡¯s eyes. In my past life, all thispany could offer to their idol group was a performing spot in a music show for a couple of weeks.


    That was the maximum amount of support thispany could offer because thepany had no money. And they didn¡¯t onlyck funds, but they also had very limited connections with people in the entertainment industry. Thispany was originally made up of song producers who decided to build their ownpany instead of writing songs for otherpanies and didn¡¯t know much about the business.


    <i>¡®Why did these guys with terrible business sense decide to build their ownpany?¡¯ </i>The owners of thesepanies were only producers by name and had never produced a song for a famous idol group. They simply lived off of royalties from songs that had moderately seeded in the past.


    <i>¡®They have no talent and only greed.¡¯</i> The WD entertainment agency was the manifestation of these bosses¡¯ greed. Yet, the real problem was our hopeless head manager who constantly shirked his duties and neglected the trainees. This person was the greatest evil to thepany. However, the head manager wasn¡¯t a problem that I could yet solve, and I needed to focus on the current mission right now.


    <i>¡®How will we be able to sell so many albums in apany like this? </i>This is insane,¡¯ I sighed. There was even a time limit, where we needed to record 100,000 sales in the first week after a year of our debut. Since it was currently 2022 January and we needed to debut before 2023 January, there was still some leeway before the time limit. Yet, the biggest concern was, of course, the condition of making these sales in ¡®one week¡¯. And if we didn¡¯t fulfill this goal, Do-Seung would die.


    I tilted my head slightly and stared at where Do-Seung was sleeping. His chest heaved up and down quietly, and he appeared to be fast asleep. My head felt like it was a mess seeing him. What kind of existence was giving me a mission like this? They gave me terrible trials in my past life and made me y a death game in this current life. If my mentality had been any weaker, I would¡¯ve already crumbled in hopelessness by now.


    <i>¡®Will there be a way for me to save him like how I helped Yeon-Hoon just before?</i>¡¯ Since the mission sounded simply impossible, I kept trying to find another way around this problem. Perhaps, like how I saved Yeon-Hoon from the falling flower pot, I could prevent the cause of Do-Seung¡¯s death before it happened.


    <i>¡®But that time, my decision only increased the likelihood of Yeon-Hoon dying while this time, Do-Seung¡¯s death is supposedly definite.</i>¡¯ There was a difference between the texts, and I didn¡¯t want to gamble when someone¡¯s life was on the line.


    <i>¡®And it¡¯s not like I can constantly be near Do-Seung¡¯s side.¡¯ </i>I didn¡¯t know when and where his cause of death would ur. There were too manyplicated variables to think of. I knew that making 100,000 sales would solve everything, but that just seemed like an unreachable goal.


    <i>¡®What am I supposed to do when they give me an impossible mission?¡¯</i> I didn¡¯t know where to even begin with this issue. Feeling conflicted, Iy on my back again and stared at the wall. I finally managed to see my teammates alive again, but fear that I would lose them once more filled my heart.


    <i>¡®This is driving me crazy.¡¯ </i>My time with them ended abruptly before, and I couldn¡¯t let that happen in this life too. Fortunately, I had the memory of what would happen in the next five years. Yet, my memories of the entertainment industry were a bit disconnected and fuzzy.


    At some point, I knew what was going on in the industry better than anyone else while in other periods, I waspletely ignorant of ongoing events. This was because I had poured my all into writing web novels in those periods. Then, when I heard that someone I knew debuted, I did my research and kept up with the events happening in the entertainment industry only in those periods.


    For now, it appeared I needed to organize the big events that would happen this year, 2022.


    <i>¡®Where¡¯s my phone?¡¯</i> I thought if I wrote something down and nned things, an idea woulde to my mind. I ced my phone¡¯s brightness setting to its lowest and sneaked inside my nkets to not wake up my teammates. Then, after cing my phone right in front of my face, I began to write everything I remembered about the events that urred this year.


    ***


    Do-Seung pushed himself up as soon as he heard his phone¡¯s rm. Then, he swiftly turned it off before the other members woke up.


    ¡°Haaa,¡± he sighed. The current time was 6am. Since he went to sleep past 1am yesterday, he slept only about 5 hours. Though he didn¡¯t get a full rest, he thought it was necessary for one to know how to live with fatigue.


    <i>¡®You can¡¯t seed if you sleep too much,¡¯</i> he thought and snuck out of the nkets. All the others were still sleeping. He needed to quickly get up, wash himself, and cook breakfast. Since his teammates would have to dance and sing all day, they needed to have at least one good meal. And since they were on a diet, that one good meal naturally had to be for breakfast.


    Do-Seung thought about what ingredients were remaining in the fridge and was about to open the bathroom¡¯s doors when he saw the doorknob turn on its own.


    ¡°What?¡± He thought he was seeing a ghost for a moment when the youngest of the team, Bong Tae-Yoon popped out.


    ¡°Oh, you are already awake?¡± Tae-Yoon asked.


    ¡°...When did you wake up?¡±


    ¡°Well, like thirty minutes ago?¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Do-Seung stared at Tae-Yoon in a daze. Tae-Yoon was the sleepy head of the group and was always thest one to get up from his bed. This was the first time he saw Tae-Yoon awake this early. Do-Seung thought it was strange but went inside the bathroom. Then, after taking a shower, he got outside and found Tae-Yoon cooking.


    ¡°Are you cooking something?¡±


    Tae-Yoon was making stew with the ingredients from the fridge. Though it was a soybean paste stew in its base, the ingredients were a bit different from the standard.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s the same as the one that I was nning to make.¡¯</i> This was a meal that Do-Seung made from time to time.


    ¡°You guys! Wake up!¡± After Tae-Yoon finished setting up the table, he woke up the rest of the members.


    ¡°Ugggh.¡± The team¡¯s leader, Yeon-Hoon got up while rubbing his eyes.


    ¡°Just five more minutes...five more...¡± Dong-Jun rubbed his face on the pillow.


    ¡°Ahhh...I don¡¯t want to get up.¡± Woon frowned but still got up. Eventually, everyone dragged themselves to the dining table. Do-Seung sat in front of the table on the ground.


    ¡°Eat up guys,¡± Tae-Yoon said and each of the members picked up their spoons and began to taste their stews. Do-Seung also grabbed his share and took a spoonful.


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±


    ¡°Why is this so tasty?¡±


    ¡°What did you put in here?¡±


    It had been a while since he ate something this good.


    ***


    I prepared a nameless stew using soybean paste as its base for my members. This was a dish that Do-Seung often made in my past life and was one that I tried to replicate after I was on my own. But because I couldn¡¯t exactly copy the taste, I ended up making my own version after many trials. And it appeared everyone liked the fruit of my efforts very much.


    ¡°Good thing it suits you guys¡¯ tastes,¡± I said.


    Do-Seung stared at me suspiciously then, so I replied, ¡°I saw you make this dish a couple of times before. I memorized the recipe then.¡±


    ¡°When?¡±


    ¡°Well, I just happened to see it once.¡±


    Though Do-Seung continued to stare at me suspiciously, he continued to scoop his own servings into his bowl. Soon, the dining table became quiet except for the sound of utensils moving. My teammates gradually awakened from their sleep while eating their meals and I thought it was time for me to begin.


    ¡°I have something to tell you guys,¡± I said after cing my spoon down.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Is it something strange again?¡±


    They all looked wary of what I would say after the trouble I causedst night.


    ¡°You know how we¡¯ll have to debut this year or next year?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I mean, we can¡¯t be in a pre-debut group forever.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    ¡°Then, do you want to trying out in this show?¡± I took my phone out and showed them a poster of a program.


    <The Showcase 2- First Chance>


    As soon as my teammates saw the poster, their eyes turned wide.


    ¡°<i>The Showcase</i>?¡±


    ¡°They are doing season 2 of this?¡±


    ¡°What does it mean that this is the ¡®First Chance¡¯?¡±


    <i>The Showcas</i>e was a survival program that was a great hit at one point in time. It had been a year since the first season garnered massive sess and brought many idol fans to tears. And now, this program was looking for contestants for their second season.


    ¡°You want us toe out on this show?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it impossible for us?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like anyone can go on it because they want to.¡±


    All the members had a positive response to the program but were doubtful whether they could reallye out in the show.


    ¡°They said they are changing the format in season 2.¡± In the first season, they gathered already debuted failed girl groups. Though they were said to have performed poorly, this was certainly not true. They were all at the end of second-tiers and began to build up their careers when they came on the show.


    Thus, most people knew it was a program that not anybody could enter. Furthermore, the contestants all needed to have made their debut and have a bit of recognition from the public in order to appear.


    ¡°But see how it¡¯s written, ¡¯First Chance¡¯ here?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°They are choosing not only already debuted groups but groups that haven''t even debuted yet.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    I showed them the article and my group members gathered in front of my phone and read through the page. The main point of this show¡¯s season 2 was to gather flopped idol groups who had never stood on a broadcasting music show or pre-debut groups who had a confirmed debuting date. There was even a written condition that a pre-debuting group couldn¡¯te from a publicly listedpany.


    In other words, they were nning to make a show not with idols whose sesses were guaranteed but with only groups who had already flopped or who seemed like they would flop. Furthermore, they were going to produce an album for the show¡¯s final winning team, and the broadcasting station would make enterprise-wide promotions for the album.


    In short, the show was calling for all failed or potentially failed groups for another chance of sess. In my past life, the group who won this show overturned their lives and continued on the road to sess, easily passing over 100,000 sales in the first week.


    ¡°It¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°It says pre-debuting groups can also join.¡±


    ¡°But can¡¯t only trainees from established agencies join?¡±


    Though they confirmed that we fit the conditions to apply, my group members were still doubtful whether they could really join the show. Even they were aware of what a mess this WD entertainment agency was.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you see thest use here?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    I pointed at the small writing on the bottom of the poster.


    ¡ªThe final winning group will have to form a new joint contract with the Jaeil Company.


    It was a type of poison pill contract that struck hard thepanies that sent their idol groups to this program. Forming a new contract would mean that they were nning to steal the debuting group from their originalpanies. Though this was a good opportunity for us to leave WD Entertainment, it was a huge setback for WD. And though Jaeil Company was saying it was going to be a joint contract, it was clear that they would personally manage the group on their own.


    ¡°So, idols from goodpanies won¡¯te. They will probably gather only those from mid-sized and smallpanies.¡± This was a show for truly smallpanies, and the broadcasting station was probably aiming to center its show around this aspect. Among the idol world,ing from small to mid-sizedpanies garnered sympathy from the start. And when such a group of people were gathered in one ce andpeting, the show was inevitably going to be a tear-jerker.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s worth doing?¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    ¡°I wonder if we can do it?¡±


    My group members still appeared uncertain and worried about whether they would be able to gain the right to appear. But there was no need for them to be worried about this part.


    ¡°I have an idea. Do you guys want to hear it?¡± In my past life, I watched this whole program in sadness that my group dismantled right before their debut. I had deep, lingering feelings about the idol scene, and I watched this show thinking that it could¡¯ve been me and my group members who werepeting if everyone was alive.


    In other words, I knew the development and script of this show, the final winning group, and their future moves. It was possible for us to win the right to appear on this show with all that.


    ¡°If we utilize what we have to our best capabilities, I think it¡¯s definitely possible.¡±


    ¡°What do we have?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s use our visuals.¡±

 Chapter 6

    <h4>Chapter 6</h4>


    Utilizing avable resources was one of the first parts to consider when making a n. I thought of the strengths we currently had. All the members had good skills as idols, so I could list several strengths, but¡ª


    <i>¡®I need something I can use right now.¡¯ </i>We didn¡¯t have a second chance. In order to make use of <i>The Showcase</i>, which was the safest and surest card we had at our disposal, we needed to make thorough ns.


    We needed one solid and effective bang to make our name known. No matter how hard I thought about it, there was only one solution.


    ¡°I think we need to use our visuals.¡± The only way to get famous quickly was using our group¡¯s visuals. As soon as I said this, the members¡¯ eyes turned to Yeon-Hoon in unison.


    Yeon-Hoon avoided the gaze directed toward him by bowing his head. ¡°W-why are you guys all looking at me?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon seemed embarrassed, but we all implicitly knew that Yeon-Hoon¡¯s visual was too good for a small-sized agency like this. Judging by only his visuals, it made one wonder if any of the male idols who recently debuted were as good-looking as him. Rather than a ssic handsome face, he had soft features that made him look more like a pretty boy, but thebination of his features was so perfect that even those who had different personal tastes would find him incredibly handsome.


    Even if our songs or style didn¡¯t suit their personal taste, there were fans who would be willing to check us out if there were good-looking members. In that sense, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face was a Michelin-star-level delicacy that hadn¡¯t been known yet.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, let¡¯s sell your face and get some viral feed.¡±


    ¡°W-what. How can we gain poprity with my face...?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll work.¡± Frankly, it would be hard to make headlines just on visuals alone, so I had other ns as well. However, I couldn¡¯t tell the other members my ns for now, so I just pushed forward with the idea that we should use Yeon-Hoon¡¯s visuals.


    ¡°Trust me. We¡¯ll get a good reaction.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m all for it~¡± Dong-Jun was the first to agree.


    ¡°I also don¡¯t think it¡¯s a bad idea either. Whether it works or not, we¡¯re free to participate.¡± Woon also showed that he was in favor.


    ¡°Yeah, we never know what¡¯s going to happen.¡± Do-Seung also nodded.


    The only one left was now Yeon-Hoon. ¡°If you guys think that¡ªthen, yeah, let¡¯s try it.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯s okay for us to use your face to market our group?¡±


    ¡°Ye....yeah.¡± Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face was now so red as if it was going to explode. He was a person who alwayscked confidence in his appearance.


    However, Yeon-Hoon soon calmed down and said, ¡°Before that, we have to tell the head manager first.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell him.¡± I came out of the dorm with my phone.


    * * *


    I came out of the dorm and stood in the corner of the rooftop. Since it was still winter, it was chilly outside, but I paid no attention to it. I held up my phone and searched through the address book. Since it was the phone I used 5 years ago, it still felt unfamiliar in my hand.


    ¡ª Head Manager Yoon Tae-Hyung


    Before I pressed call, I thought briefly, <i>¡®This guy was trash during this time too.¡¯</i>


    Yoon Tae-Hyung was both Siren¡¯s manager and head manager of WD Etertainment. The reason why he was the manager of Siren <i>and</i> the head manager of WD was because he was the only one in WD entertainment¡¯s management team. As a result, he was the head manager who was also responsible for doing all the grunt work as well. On paper, he seemed like a high-quality worker struggling in a small ce. But in fact¡ª


    <i>¡®He¡¯s a man who¡¯s only looking out for himself.¡¯</i> He didn¡¯t even have the basic work ethics as an office worker.


    When I pressed the call button and put the phone on my ear, the call line was immediately cut off.


    <i>¡®As expected, he doesn¡¯t answer in one try.¡¯ </i>When I tried calling him again, I heard a voice after a brief pause.


    ¡ª ...Hello?


    He sounded like he hadn¡¯t fully woken up yet. No, considering his usual behavior, he might be groggy from drinking.


    ¡°Hello, head manager. It¡¯s Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡ª Ah, yeah. So, what¡¯s up?


    ¡°We¡¯re nning to apply for Season 2 of <i>The</i> <i>Showcase.</i> Is that okay?¡± I got straight to the point, as it was more convenient for both of us if I spoke bluntly.


    ¡ª Well, are you guys busy? Isn¡¯t <i>The Showcase</i> a big program? Can you guys participate in that show even if you didn¡¯t debut yet?


    ¡°No, we aren¡¯t busy, and this time, groups that haven¡¯t debuted yet can also receive support. I know we might not get epted, but we just wanted to give it a try.¡±


    ¡ª Okay. Just go ahead and tell me the results. As long as it doesn¡¯t cost money, it¡¯s fine.


    As expected, I knew he would answer like this. As long as it was not bothersome for him, he didn¡¯t care about what happened. The first thing he asked was if we were busy after all. I just needed to deliver the most basic news to him like this. It would be extremely annoying to work with a person like thister on in our career, but as of right now, it was better for me if he didn¡¯t care whatever we did. I hung up the phone and went back to the dorm.


    I told everyone, ¡°He said we can go ahead.¡±


    ¡°You got permission that fast?¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t say anything else?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I reported the results of the call to my members and sat down at the table to finish the meal. Then I said, ¡°Let¡¯s hurry up and eat and go to the practice room.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yep.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°It feels so hectic even in the morning.¡±


    From today on, we had a lot of work waiting for us.


    * * *


    We arrived at the practice room. Frankly, the ce was too sad to be called a practice room. The WD Entertainment workce wasrgely divided into two spaces. One was a real office where office workers worked. The office was housed in arge venture center building, where small and medium-sized enterprises usually resided. The other ce was our practice room. We were renting and using a ce near our dorm. But the problem was¡ª


    ¡°Let¡¯s turn on the air purifier~¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave the door open.¡±


    ¡°It seems the air has be stuffy after noting for only a few days.¡±


    Just like our dorm, the environment was extremely poor. It was a space of about 534 sq ft underground, but the building itself was old, so there was little venttion. The only thing helping this situation was an air purifier in the corner. If I recall correctly, that was not even provided by thepany but purchased from the money we saved as a group.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s still a mystery why WD wanted tounch an idol group.¡¯ </i>I didn¡¯t understand why they had epted idol trainees when they weren¡¯t going to support us to this extent. In the past, they supported us a little bit, but the current state was nothing short of neglect.


    <i>¡®Are they indirectly telling us to leave?¡¯</i> Perhaps, this was their intention. Although not manypanies did this, I have heard ofpanies that gathered idols who dropped out from otherpanies to make easy money but kept pushing off the debut date because they didn¡¯t have enough investment funds. But for us, it would be a relief if they just decided to push off the debut date.


    <i>¡®They might be trying to throw us away because it seems like we¡¯re not going to make money.¡¯</i>


    After making assessments and judging that we would only be losing money, they might have cut off all support, hoping that we would all drop out on our own. I wasn¡¯t sure if this was what WD was attempting to do¡ªno, WD was apany that was more than capable of carrying out such shady practice as it was clear as day that they didn¡¯t have the funds. I couldn¡¯t believe that I needed to get our group to make 100,000 album sales in the first week at such a shadypany.


    <i>¡®This is fucking insane.¡¯</i> I couldn¡¯t help but curse.


    ¡°Pwehh.¡± When I sighed in frustration¡ª


    ¡°Hmm! The air is so bad here right now! Don¡¯t take a deep breath!¡± Yeon-Hoon misunderstood my sigh as having difficulty breathing and worried about me. My head hurt from Yeon-Hoon, who was worrying about things like this, and the condition of the practice room that made him have such concerns.


    ¡°Since we have to film a video today, let¡¯s clean up the practice room,¡± Do-Seung suggested.


    We decided to clean the practice room as a recement for stretching. After cleaning, we sat around and started a meeting about the video concept. I said meeting, but everyone was looking at me as I was the one who suggested this n in the first ce.


    ¡°First of all, this is the concept and song I came up with.¡± We could post the application video on <i>The Showcase</i>¡¯s home page on the application page, and I nned to gain poprity by using the time of upload and the thumbnail to my advantage.


    The song that made the best use of the ce I had in my head was¡ª


    ¡°What do you think of <Sweet Boy>?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    <Sweet Boy> was a viral inte meme that everyone knew. It was from a video of elementary school studentsing out and introducing themselves as made-up idols. It was first spotlighted as a cringe-fest video that gave all viewers intense second-hand embarrassment, but these days, it was just treated as a funny meme and was trendy among inte users.


    ¡°Are you out of your damn mind?¡± Do-Seung was angry. ¡°Did you ask us to apply to do something dumb like this?¡±


    It seemed as if Do-Seung had wanted to do something more befitting of an idol. I could understand his sentiments as he probably wanted to do something cool for our first official activity under our group name, Siren.


    ¡°This is the best way to do something that can utilize our visuals.¡± As I said this, I showed everyone the <Sweet Boy> reference that I had searched for beforehand. When I showed them the video, the members began to be persuaded.


    ¡°We¡¯re seriously doing that?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Well, if Yeon-Hoon does that, it¡¯ll definitely get attention.¡±


    Although it was a ridiculous video and proposal, the only reason why it was persuasive was because of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face. The term, ¡®his face did everything¡¯, was applicable to this situation.


    On the other side, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes were trembling. ¡°A-are you serious, Tae-Yoon...? For real...you want to do this...?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m dead serious.¡± I have never been anything but serious.


    * * *


    A little past lunchtime, the Siren members were a little solemn. They checked the final edit of the application video to post on <i>The Showcase</i> website. Even though it was a simple video, it took quite a while to shoot because they had no cameraman and had to take the video by changing the viewpoint with only a tripod. The result of all that hard work in the morning was¡ª


    ¡°Seriously? This is going to be <i>our</i> application video?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Are you pranking us?¡±


    It was a terrible video with poor quality; nevertheless, Bong Tae-Yoon was as calm as ever.


    ¡°Are we really going to upload it like this?¡± Woon asked Tae-Yoon again to make sure.


    ¡°Yes, it came out exactly as I expected.¡±


    ¡°This trash is the quality you wanted?¡± Kang Do-Seung asked again with slightly stronger wording.


    ¡°Yes.¡± But Tae-Yoon was as firm as ever.


    ¡°I¡¯m asking to be sure, but are you really,<i> really</i> sure you want to upload this...Tae-Yoon?¡± Woo Yeon-Hoo asked.


    But as expected, Tae-Yoon¡¯s answer was the same. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Personally, I think it¡¯s funny and good. Who cares? These are all going to be good memories in the end.¡± The only one who was carefree about this was Park Dong-Jun, but that was his usual personality. Everyone stared at Tae-Yoon with suspicion, but he closed theputer without paying heed to their wary gazes.


    Tae-Yoon said, ¡°I think this will be enough.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t we just film again?¡±


    ¡°Just one video more like an actual idol.¡±


    ¡°Won¡¯t it be better to do our best if we¡¯ve already decided to participate?¡±


    Everyone voiced their concerns.


    ¡°If we post the same idol-like thing on the application page where only idol debut group members apply, it won¡¯t have anypetitive edge,¡± Tae-Yoon replied firmly.


    ¡°Then we can do something different than this!¡±


    Tae-Yoon refuted, ¡°No, this is perfect.¡±


    ¡°Geez, this is going nowhere.¡±


    Tae-Yoon refused to back down, and the rest of the group members desperately tried to change his mind. All the group members, excluding Dong-Jun, who didn¡¯t care, exchanged tense looks as they sat in the practice room.


    However, to their surprise, Tae-Yoon then suggested, ¡°Then I¡¯ll upload this and take it down right away if we don¡¯t get a response in a day. How about it?¡±


    The members were surprised that Tae-Yoon took a step back after seeming as if he wouldn¡¯t ever back down.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Woo Yeon-Hoon, Kang Do-Seung, and Lee Woon exchanged nces. Would this video get a response within a day? To be frank¡ª


    <i>¡®No, that¡¯ll never happen.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®I feel bad for Tae-Yoon, but it¡¯s not going to happen.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®It¡¯ll be hard to get a response from that.¡¯</i>


    The three judged that it would be difficult for this video to garner attention within a day. Not just a day, but a year. The video they filmed was just in funny and ridiculous, and these types of videos were only well-received by popr and famous idols who were showing a new, unexpected side of them. But if nobodies like them made such a video, it would be just in sad. The three epted Tae-Yoon¡¯s suggestion.


    ¡°Okay, then let¡¯s upload it and wait a day.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but I¡¯ll decide the time to post it.¡±


    Like this, the confrontation between the four and one carefree person ended.


    * * *


    Three dayster.


    ¡°G-guys, our video...the view count is strange...?¡±


    Their poor-quality video with low-level humor got 101,476 views. It was a number that they thought they would never be able to see as a group of nobodies.

 Chapter 7

    <h4>Chapter 7</h4>


    Late in the night, I sat on the toilet seat with myptop on myp and prepared tounch our video. I couldn¡¯t do this outside when the rest of my group was sleeping, and myptop¡¯s screen shed with the application video for <i>The Showcase w</i>e shot two days ago. Because the thumbnail zoomed right into Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face, I was sure that most people would try clicking on it.


    <i>¡®But it will be hard to get the rights to participate with just this.¡¯</i> Even I knew that this was nowhere near enough to guarantee a spot in the show. Though we worked hard on this video, it was just a silly, funny video that friends mightugh about and feel embarrassed about in the future. If a person who didn¡¯t know us saw the video, they could just pass over the video disinterestedly.


    <i>¡®But context is key.</i>¡¯ Even this shoddy video could gain new meaning depending on the context. Like how words gained new meaning depending on how they were sequenced in a sentence, the exact words could mean something drastically different if there was an event or description attached next to it. And I waited until I could throw this video into the best context it could be situated in.


    Today¡¯s date was January 31st at 11:50 p.m. The deadline to join the first round of applicants was January 31st at 11:59 p.m. I finished all my preparations so that I could upload the video with one click of the button. Yet, I was waiting for the catalyst that could propel our group out ofplete anonymity.


    <i>¡®When is it?¡¯</i>


    <i>Ding.</i>


    ¡°It came up.¡± It was a video of five handsome guys titled, ¡®Only One.¡¯ Only One was the debuting group from TH Entertainment Agency. I was familiar with their faces because they achieved great sess and fame in my past life. Yet, in this life, Only One was still a no-name idol group, and they appeared still youthful and inexperienced. Five minutes after Only One uploaded their video, I uploaded our video, so that our Siren¡¯s video was right next to theirs. Simultaneously, a new message appeared.


    ¡ªApplication Process to <i>The Showcase 2-First Chance </i>is Closed.


    The option to upload videos disappeared from the page. <i>The Showcase</i>¡¯s first round of applicants officially closed with Siren¡¯s video to be thest one uploaded. After confirming this fact, I closed myptop. Then, I snuck out of the bathroom and went under the nkets.


    ¡°Urgh.¡± Yeon-Hoon hung his leg over me and snuggled close to me. But I carefully removed his legs and prepared to go to sleep. The die had been cast now. I needed to see the results of the throw. I was over 90 percent sure that I hit the jackpot, but I couldn¡¯t celebrate just yet. I needed to sleep first because I predicted that we would be quite busy tomorrow.


    ***


    Late in the night, the conference room of <i>The Showcase2 - First Chance </i>was stirring in quite the excitement. All the producers who were plotting to kill the producing director for making them pull an all-nighter were in a festive mood now.


    ¡°Did Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team really apply?¡±


    ¡°Yes! It¡¯s Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s ¡®Only One¡¯ team!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡±


    They were all fixated on the name, ¡®Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯. Hyun-Sung was a member who ranked 2nd ce in the huge hit idol survival program from 2 years ago,<i> Select Your Idol.</i> <i>Select Your Idol </i>was a program that got 100 idol trainees and made the public vote for their favorite. Though the show was always tied with controversies, <i>Select Your Idol</i> achieved massive sess in the end because of how entertaining it was.


    Furthermore, the project group that debuted from this show, ¡®Yours¡¯ did tremendously well. They made 500,000 album sales in a week, had an all-kill in the music charts, achieved triple crowns in a music show, and so on. And as someone who ranked 2nd ce in such a sessful program, Hyun-Sung was a key member of his team. Thus, it was huge news that Hyung-Sung was applying to this program<i>.</i>


    ¡°It must be because hispany is so small.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°This is good for us.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s originalpany had been small. Thus, after receiving massive support fromrgepanies as part of a project idol group, he must have found it difficult to adjust after returning to his originalpany. He must have been well aware that his group stood a low chance of sess if they debuted in their current states and applied for this program.


    ¡°All their visuals are good as expected of Hyun-Sung¡¯s team.¡±


    ¡°Theirpany is famous for that. Though it¡¯s small, their ability to find talents is amazing.¡±


    It was hard to decipher what Kang Hyun-Sung was feeling after performing like a first-tier idol and having to start from the bottom again.


    ¡°Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s mentality is amazing.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s famous for that.¡±


    ¡°What a contrast from his soft and pure appearance.¡±


    There were already rumors inside the industry that no one could match up to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s pure grit for seeding. Perhaps, he had gone half-mad after participating in such a rigorouspetitive environment as <i>Select Your Idol</i>, but behind his gentle face, there was an obsession for sess that was close to madness. There were even rumors that he had cried so sorrowfully on thest episode of the program not because he was happy to have won second ce but because he felt so regretful that he failed to win first ce.


    ¡°Is the group¡¯s name, ¡®Only One¡¯?¡±


    ¡°It means that they will be the only ones at the top.¡±


    ¡°Seems like Hyun-Sung was really upset to have not won first ce.¡±


    ¡°This is a good sign Kang Hyun-Sung is thest one to apply for <i>The Showcase.</i>¡±


    The producers discussed and were checking for other applicants when one person murmured.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    One more video popped up.


    ¡°Oh,e on. I wanted to end this day with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s group,¡± the producers said and checked thest video¡¯s team.


    ¡°Siren?¡±


    ¡°From WD Entertainment. Has anyone heard of them?¡±


    ¡°Hm. It¡¯s my first time hearing the name. Is it a newpany...?¡± The producers looked at the Siren video¡¯s thumbnail next to Only One¡¯s video.


    ¡°...He¡¯s handsome.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, what¡¯s with him?¡±


    They spoke with hushed voices. These were visuals hard to see from small-sizedpanies.


    ¡°Look at the guy in the very front...it¡¯s quite astonishing.¡±


    ¡°Why is a guy like him in thispany...?¡±


    These were shocking visuals, and the guy who stood at the very front and had his face zoomed in was particrly good-looking. His round eyes shone, and his pale skin glowed. Though he looked generally soft and cute, all his facial features stood out. His appearance was the embodiment of the phrase, ¡®pretty and handsome.¡¯


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s good for the program if guys with good visualse out.¡± Everyone thought and reyed Siren¡¯s and Only One¡¯s videos.


    ¡°W-What?¡±


    ¡°Gasp!¡±


    ¡°W-Wait! y their videos again!¡±


    Everyone peered into theirptops more closely after a surprising turn of events. Then, they yed Siren¡¯s and Only One¡¯s applicant videos simultaneously.


    ¡ªHello! We! Are! Sweet! Boys!


    This was the Siren video¡¯s introduction.


    ¡ªHello! We! Are! Sweet! Boys!


    And this was Only One¡¯s introduction. Thest two videos toe up were precisely in sync.


    ¡°They are the same,¡± somebodymented.


    ***


    After The Showcase stopped epting more applicants, the idolmunity buzzed with news about Kang Hyun-Sung. It was shocking that after not showing many activities after the disbandment of ¡®Yours¡¯, he had gathered a group of no-name idols and applied toe out in another survival program.


    ¡ªThis is crazy. Is Hyun-Sung from Only One really the Hyun-Sung from <i>Select Your Idols</i>??


    Reply: Shit. Is that really our Hyun-Sung?


    Reply: Only One? Sounds like some name from the early 2000s.


    Reply: How could a first-tier idole out as a no-name idol group? This is ridiculous.


    Reply: Noooo Hyun-Sung :¡¯((( I¡¯m going to kill the CEO of hispany. Nobody can stop me. If newses out that there was an arson in TH Entertainment, it¡¯ll be me.


    There were many people who predicted Hyun-Sung¡¯s fall from stardom after he moved from a bigpany to a small one. But as if he wasughing at them, Hyun-Sung immediately became the center of the idolmunity¡¯s attention with his most recent appearance.


    ¡ªOur genius Maltese...I will follow you to the ends of the earth.


    Reply: But don¡¯t you think this is too much? He¡¯s going on another survival program? It feels as if he is too obsessed with seeding. It¡¯s a bit too much...


    Reply: You should worry about yourself first and touch grass, you low-life idol junkie.


    All sorts of opinions were pouring out about Hyun-Sung¡¯s appearance in <i>The Showcase</i>. This news was especially shocking because Hyun-Sung was an idol who already had a reputation for turning his life around and rising to stardom despite hiscking environment. And as many feeds and pages filled with talks about Only One, new types ofments began to flood in.


    ¡ª???? What is this??


    One person asked.


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t this the same as Hyun-Sung¡¯s group?


    Reply: For real?


    Reply: ??


    People began to bring the Siren group¡¯s parody of ¡®Sweet Boy¡¯ which was the same as the video that Only One uploaded.


    ¡ªWhat loooool I don¡¯t think you can even call this giarism.


    Reply: This makes meugh lol


    Reply: But this is crazy


    There was no controversy about one team copying the other because both teams took their idea from a separate, single source. Furthermore, since the teams uploaded their videos with a five-minute time difference, it didn¡¯t seem like there was enough time for a group to copy another group¡¯s video.


    ¡ªHa. Is this destiny or what?


    Reply: What destiny? Don¡¯tpare Hyun-Sung with some no-names.


    Reply: Ah don¡¯t start your fan wars here.


    ¡ªBut how is this even possible for them to be so alike?


    ¡ªThis is seriously hrious haha


    ¡ªPerhaps, handsome guys even think alike.


    People continued to talk about the issue. Since there was nothing about this incident that could be controversial, they simply enjoyed the funny coincidence. And the people who learned about the incident grew more interested in all aspects of it.


    ¡ªAnyone wants to see more pictures of our cutie pie, Hyun-Sung?


    Reply: He shakes up the whole K-pop world with his visuals.


    Reply: But don¡¯t you think everyone in Only One also looks good?


    Reply: Yeah, everyone is above average. Should I start following them?


    Truthfully, there wasn¡¯t much to go on the fact that two groups parodied the same meme that was already kind of dying out. But this was something that could put Siren on the map and help people recognize the group members¡¯ faces.


    ¡ªBut the two groups¡¯ parodies are pretty good


    Reply: The Siren¡¯s one is more to my taste.


    Reply: Both groups¡¯ faces don¡¯t belong to smallpanies.


    As Only One¡¯s video racked in views, Siren¡¯s video also garnered more.


    ¡ªI have been reying this video for one hour and it never seems to get old??


    Reply: Who are you talking about?


    Reply: Siren. I¡¯m talking about their video.


    Then, some even uploaded videos where they divided the Siren¡¯s and Only One¡¯s videos into two parts and showcased them side by side.


    ¡ªSiren and Only One both look so good.


    Reply: I will never get sick of seeing handsome faces.


    Reply: Can¡¯t both groups just debut?


    And when two groups wereing out on the same screen, people were able to make more objective assessments.


    ¡ªI honestly think Siren¡¯s is better.


    Reply: I agree.


    Reply: Besides Hyun-Sung, everyone else in Only One isgging.


    Reply: Hyun-Sung has gotten all sorts of care and support by now but the Siren guys didn¡¯t get any of that yet...considering that, aren¡¯t the Siren guys better?


    Many thought the Siren beat the Only One team in terms of their visuals, but because everyone had their own types, there were others who thought the contrary. Furthermore, some people had negative opinions about the incident and felt displeased that two identical videos had been posted at simr time frames.


    ¡ªStop bringing Hyun-Sung¡¯s name into this. Despite whatever any of you say, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that he used to be a first-tier idol.


    ¡ªShouldn¡¯t hispany seriously look into this matter instead ofughing about it?


    Yet, even bad press was good press and led to our video going viral. Thus, the next morning I uploaded our video, Siren video¡¯s view count was 101,476, and Only One video¡¯s view count was 150,754. There was only about a 50,000-view count difference between our videos. Among the applicant videos that had been uploaded on the page, both videos were overwhelmingly above the rest in terms of view count.

 Chapter 8

    <h4>Chapter 8</h4>


    ¡°That¡¯s crazy! We¡¯re in second ce right now!¡±


    ¡°What, this really worked?¡±


    ¡°What the hell happenedst night...¡±


    ¡°Wow~ Tae-Yoon has a great eye~¡±


    After checking the view count for our application video, my group members were in a festive mood. Even Dong-Jun, who was always rxed, was very excited. As a result, I also had no choice but to get up from the bed and join the celebration.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Is this real? It¡¯s not a dream, right?¡± Yeon-Hoon brought his phone screen right to my face and asked.


    Our video had around 100,000 views. It must be hard for them to believe our video had so many views. Frankly, it felt a little sad that they were so happy with 100,000 views in an era where first-tier idols¡¯ music videos easily had hundreds of millions views. However, there was a saying that a thousand miles began with a single step. No matter how hard the path was, it always began with a first step, and in many ways, this was a good first step.


    <i>¡®No, it¡¯s more like a long jump.¡¯ </i>If we won the right to appear on <i>The Showcase</i>, 100,000 album sales in the first week would no longer be a pipe dream.


    ¡°No, seriously, what in the world happened? Is this all a coincidence? To upload the same concept as Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team at the same time?¡± Woon approached me and asked. His sweet and pretty face was all smiles.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a coincidence.¡± Of course, it was not a coincidence at all, but I couldn¡¯t reveal the truth.


    The group that Kang Hyun-Sung belonged to was called Only One. I remembered how sessful they were in my past life and also remembered how they first started. Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s group Only One officially began their activities by appearing in <i>The Showcase 2 </i>as a no-name idol group.


    However, they were notpletely unknown, and thanks to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fame, they became popr as soon as they uploaded their application video. Therefore, I remembered that they joined the show with a significant boost in poprity. Thus, my n this time was as follows:


    <i>¡®To take half of the attention that Only One will get.¡¯</i> Only One first gained attention using Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s poprity, and Kang-Hyun-Sung probably joined<i> The Showcase 2</i> to also take advantage of his fame and raise his group¡¯s poprity. I thought we could jump on the bandwagon and share some of their fame. To take some of the buzz they would be receiving, I remembered what sort of video they filmed at the time and when they posted their video.


    Since I had been interested in Only One as a group and admired them, I remembered their journey to fame. Among them, their first appearance was constantly talked about among their fans as a deeply emotional video, so I couldn¡¯t help but remember it. Thus, I posted the same concept video at the same time as them.


    Since I couldn¡¯t remember the exact time their video was uploaded, I stayed on the application page and waited all day. I remembered that they were thest to post their video on thest day, but I didn¡¯t know the exact hour and minute. And as a result of my efforts, I was able to upload the video around the same time as them.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s a relief that we got the attention together as expected.</i>¡¯ As I hoped, our group also received a part of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fame. If it was possible, Only One was one of the groups that we needed to keep clutching onto as we would most certainly garner attention by sticking close to them.


    Only One would be the final winner of <i>The Showcase 2 </i>in the future where I lived. Since then, they were able to record 300,000 album sales at the beginning of their debut. If possible, I hoped to keep making contact with them without provoking them too much; that way, we would appear on air more often. Kang Hyun-Sung was someone who appeared in <i>Select Your Idol </i>and <i>The Showcase</i>. He was an idol who overcame the limits of his small-sized agency twice in total and gained fame.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s a person with an intense desire to be sessful.¡¯ </i>Frankly, I also felt a little guilty for stealing some of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fame like this as he worked hard and came up to this position on his own. It felt like I was riding on the coattails of his passion.


    However, my situation had no ce for conscience. If we didn¡¯t get 100,000 album sales in the first week, Do-Seung would die. Regardless of my conscience, I had no choice but to employ any methods possible.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon, you did a great job. Thanks.¡± Do-Seung approached me before I realized and gave a small grin. Then he pretended to act cool by messing up my hair. It seemed as if he wanted to suddenly y big bro, so I didn¡¯t stop him.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, do you have some kind of foresight ability? That¡¯s awesome.¡± Dong-Jun also approached me and gave me a pat on the shoulder.


    It was a relief to see everyone enjoying themselves. However¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s going to get harder in the future.¡¯ </i>My ns to livefortably for the second time in my life were going awry as I had no choice but to be an idol now. Considering my skills, I needed to stay up all night and practice every day. With the young body of a 19-year-old, it might be possible. I got up from my seat first and organized the nkets.


    ¡°Let¡¯s quickly eat and go practice.¡± Although it was fortunate that the response to <i>The Showcase </i>application video was good, this was only the beginning.


    If we took even one step wrong in the future, Do-Seung would die. Thus, I shouldn¡¯t becent already.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we should.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat whatever Tae-Yoon wants for breakfast.¡±


    The members began to return to their original tension.


    * * *


    Inside the <The Showcase 2-First Chance> staff meeting room. Park Soo-Chul, the main producer, looked at the application video page. There were a lot more groups that applied than expected, but the group that stood out the most was¡ª


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s group toe out,¡± Soo-Chul said.


    ¡°Yes, I agree, sir.¡±


    ¡°I thought TH Entertainment¡¯s CEO would never let Kang Hyun-Sung go.¡±


    ¡°Well, Kang Hyun-Sung must have made a proposal TH CEO couldn¡¯t refuse.¡± Park Soo-Chul nced at the video views. As expected, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s group Only One topped the list.


    However, what stood out more than that was¡ª


    Soo-Chul asked, ¡°Come again, where did you say Siren was from?¡± ¡°WD Entertainment, sir.¡±


    ¡°What kind of agency is that?¡±


    ¡°It was established three years ago, and it was originally apany that didn¡¯t manage celebrities but just received requests for songposition.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s the CEO?¡± ¡°He¡¯s not someone you would know, sir. He¡¯s just someone who produced a few songs and created a group.¡±


    ¡°But he still decided to make an idol group?¡±


    ¡°Well, he must have heard that idols made money and gathered trainees that dropped out from bigpanies tounch an idol group.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I agree.¡± Soo-Chul could roughly guess how it went. There were many times trainees received a boost after a group debuted from the samepany. Thus, there werepanies that tried to get a hold of these kids and make them debut at a cost-effective price.


    ¡°But even then, don¡¯t you think these numbers are too high? 100,000 is too much.¡±


    ¡°Well, isn¡¯t it just luck, sir? They were lucky to have the same concept as Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s group and were lucky enough to post it around the time.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re saying it¡¯s all just luck?¡±


    ¡°Well, they are handsome as well, but it¡¯s still luck as this is not a market where you can get famous just on good looks alone.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Park Soo-Chul looked at Siren¡¯s video thumbnail. The man at the very front was indeed very handsome and all the members behind him were all above average as well. However, who caught his eyes the most was¡ª


    ¡°Who¡¯s in the back?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s the <i>maknae </i>of the team. His name is Bong Tae-Yoon, and he¡¯s 19 years old.¡±


    The man standing at the very back had long, sharp eyes and gave off a cold impression. He looked like he would take charge and rule over the older members judging on his face alone.


    ¡°Is it just luck?¡± Although judging by the situation, it could only be exined as luck; it strangely felt like an experienced hand was involved in all this. It felt like an artificial stage that someone manipted.


    ¡°Let¡¯s use them first. Well, if they¡¯re really lucky, that luck might also help the program.¡±


    ¡°Shall we contact them, sir?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, contact them.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± After saying this, Soo-Chul got up from his seat. This was the moment when Siren¡¯s appearance in <i>The Showcase</i> was finalized.


    * * *


    After breakfast, I came to the practice room with my members.


    ¡°Let¡¯s ventte~ ventte here and there~¡± Dong-Ju started to ventte the practice room by singing a strange song.


    We turned on the air purifier and opened a small window above to let out the stuffy air. Fortunately, it was not difficult to practice choreography because the practice room was equipped with a full-body mirror. Three days have passed since we posted the application video, but we hadn¡¯t done any real practice.


    On the first day, we spent all practice time filming our application video and discussing it. On the second day, we spent more time doing basic muscle training and stretching rather than practicing. Today was the day we were finally going to do some real practice. I put down the duffel bag in the corner and looked at myself in the mirror.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m in good shape.¡¯ </i>From what I recalled, I worked really hard to take care of my appearance during this time. Since I wascking in skill, I had thought I should at least keep up by maintaining a good appearance. Since I was tall and big, my body was well-bnced overall.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stretch first!¡± Woon led the group by stepping forward and stretching. Since he was the main dancer of the group, Woon was in charge of leading all exercises or practices that involved physical ability.


    ¡°Stretch forward like you¡¯re making way for your muscles to extend.¡±


    I copied Woon¡¯s movements and warmed up. After stretching, Woon called us together and asked, ¡°What should we do today?¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Yeah, what should we do?¡± Yeon-Hoon frowned and seriously pondered about the question.


    ¡°What about this? When I looked at what actors do, I saw them imitating objects or animals. Shall we also do that to improve our expressive abilities?¡± Dong-Jun just threw in any idea that sounded fun to him.


    ¡°How about a hip-hop dance?¡± Do-Seung wanted to do hip-hop.


    However, Woon firmly shut him down. ¡°We did that a few days ago.¡±


    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re right.¡±


    Although Woon was kind and caring to everyone, he often acted sternly toward Do-Seung. It might be because they were the same age and feltfortable around each other.


    ¡°What about you, Tae-Yoon? What do you want to do?¡± Woon asked me.


    ¡°Hmm, please wait a minute.¡± I pondered for a moment about what we should practice today for choreography. Honestly, it was funny that we were pondering about this as usually, idol trainees had a dance trainer who decided what idol trainees should practice. However, this small entertainment agency did not even hire a separate trainer for us.


    In the beginning, we did have a separate dance and vocal trainer, but they suddenly disappeared at one point, and a system where we had to create our own curriculum and practice by ourselves was implemented. The five of us, the only trainees and pre-debut group of this agency, were each other¡¯s teachers as well. No¡ªthe other members were each other¡¯s teachers, and I was just a student as I was not good enough to teach anyone.


    <i>¡®This is the first choreography I¡¯ll be practicing after regressing.¡¯</i> I thought I should do something easy, but then changed my mind.


    <i>¡®It might be even more problematic if I choose something easy.¡¯ </i>Currently, I couldn¡¯t copy even the simplest choreography. After five years of rest, all my skills and knowledge of dancing and singing have been reset. Thus, I wanted to start with something easy to adjust, but my members would be shocked if I couldn¡¯t do even the easiest choreography.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m sure I can¡¯t even do a super easy choreography either. I¡¯m a hundred percent sure¡¯</i>


    My members would probably say things like, ¡®no matter how bad his skills are, our Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t use to be this bad,¡¯ and Yeon-Hoon might be genuinely concerned that there was something wrong with me. All that happened was that I¡¯ve gotten older and years have passed.


    <i>¡®So I should do something hard instead.¡¯</i> Since it was only natural that I couldn¡¯t do a hard choreography, my members would expect this and kindly help me out.


    ¡°Then I want to try the performance that the krumping dancer did recently on a show.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Krumping?¡±


    ¡°Yes, the one that The Jack did.¡±


    ¡°The Jack?¡±


    Everyone¡¯s eyes widened. The Jack was a renowned dancer and professional krumping dancer, and he was famous for performing hard choreographies. Furthermore, krumping was a dance genre that if you do it wrong by even a little bit, you look like you¡¯re just iling your limbs around.


    ¡°Will you be able to do it, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Of course, I wouldn¡¯t be able to do it. However, if I was going to fail anyway, I shouldpletely, utterly fail.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s learn the choreography first.¡± Woon brought hisptop and found some videos of The Jack on stage. I chose the one that looked the most difficult among them all.


    ¡°I think this would be hard for me to learn as well...¡± Woon looked a bit flustered as well but said, ¡°Let¡¯s first try it.¡±


    We set up the video to y it over and over again and started to learn the choreography separately. Woon said it would be hard for him, but he quickly got the hang of it. Do-Seung seemed to get lost a bit but quickly followed along as well. Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun also learned the moves by looking sideways at Woon and Do-Seung. Normally, I wouldn¡¯t be able to follow a choreography like this even if I used the whole day to practice but...


    <i>¡®...What?¡¯</i>


    ¡°T-Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Whaaat?¡±


    ¡°What the?¡±


    ¡°Who are you?¡±


    Even though I¡¯ve only seen it once, my body was automatically dancing to the choreography. And the reason was¡ªthanks to my ¡®Insight¡¯ ability.


    [Special ability of variant, Insight, has been activated.]


    When I made up my mind and began following the movements, a simr situation as when I tried to save Yeon-Hoon unfolded. Time seemed to slow down, and only my thoughts elerated. At the same time, the way all of The Jack¡¯s movements flowed and connected was copied and pasted into my head.


    <i>¡®What really is this ability?¡¯</i> This ability, called Insight, was much more versatile than I thought.

 Chapter 9

    <h4>Chapter 9</h4>


    It was the first time I was experiencing something like this. As soon as I saw the dance, I could see their exact movements and what kind of emotions they were expressing. The krumping movements looked like fighting moves and expressed strong, raw feelings that made my adrenaline rise.


    I thumped my feet on the ground and swung my arms hard into the air. Before, I would¡¯ve thought of these moves as simply extending out my arms and stomping my feet on the floor. But now I sensed where to pour my energy, at which moment I was supposed to retract my hands and feet and heave, and what kind of feelings I was supposed to convey to my viewers with these movements.


    As if I had known these facts all along, this information immediately became absorbed into me. After just one nce at the video, I was able to naturally copy all The Jack¡¯s movements. After finishing my dance, all my group members looked at me in shock like a cluster of meerkats.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...?¡±


    ¡°Ah, um.¡±


    ¡°...What happened to you?¡±


    Simultaneously, my ¡®Insight¡¯ ability wore off, and the speed of the world¡¯s flow came back to normal. I felt a light ache inside my head and looked around. It was then I realized what happened. I was supposed to be someone who barely managed to get by in dancing and singing. It must have been unbelievable for my group members that my skills suddenly improved so dramatically almost overnight


    ¡°Um...¡± I tried to quicklye up with the most persuasive exnation. ¡°This is the song I had been working on for a long time by myself.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°You worked on this one?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°When?¡±


    ¡°Just sometimes. Alone in the night.¡±


    ¡°Really...?¡±


    As expected, they all looked like they had a hard time believing me. Woon especially looked at me suspiciously. He seemed to be almost wary of me.


    ¡°We decided on practicing a dance all five of us didn¡¯t know well. Why would you suddenly suggest doing a dance you already practiced on your own?¡± Woon said in a slightly cold voice. Perhaps, he was angry though I didn¡¯t know the reason why he would be. But my priority was making excuses.


    ¡°Um, I¡¯m sorry. Because you guys said you will go super hard on practicing from now on, I got scared and said a dance I already knew. It was so that I could do a little less practice,¡± I spat out a reasonable enough exnation.


    Woon narrowed his eyes and replied, ¡°Tae-Yoon, I understand that you¡¯re worried, but you shouldn¡¯t try to pull any tricks on us.¡± Then, Woon¡¯s expression turned gentle and soft like his usual self. It seemed I was able to pass over this hurdle somehow.


    Then, I felt a strong gaze from my side and slightly turned my head.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! You were just like The Jack just now! How much did you practice for this!¡± Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes shone like he was genuinely impressed.


    ¡°Haha,¡± Iughed awkwardly in response.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s try a different song instead of this one,¡± Woon then brought another dance instead of The Jack¡¯s krumping performance. This time, I controlled my ¡®Insight¡¯ ability when dancing so that I was a bit better than my usual self but not at an abnormally surprising level. Like that, the afternoon dance practice continued for some time.


    ***


    Inside the WD conference room, the management¡¯s head manager¡ªYoon Tae-Hyung blinked rapidly while sitting on a chair.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s killing me.¡± The width of his waist increased quite significantly after he entered his mid-forties this year. Perhaps, the problem wasn¡¯t his age but alcohol. Even if he was still in his twenties, he would¡¯ve gained this much weight with all the alcohol he poured into his body night after night.


    Just yesterday night alone, he had gone through three rounds of drinking and drank anything he could grab his hands on. As a result, he was still suffering from a hangover while staring nkly at the wall. On top of the desk, the bottle cap of a hangover drink was rolled around.


    ¡°I can¡¯t get rid of my hangover even with medicine now,¡± he murmured and looked around. Though he was attending thepany¡¯s top conference meeting, there were only three people in the room, including him. He was the only manager in the group, and when the bosses didn¡¯te to work, he acted as their recement. And since the bosses stayed in their individual studios most of the time, he was basically the true head of thispany.


    ¡°When will we get these guys to debut and put them on stage? This is giving me a headache~¡± Tae-Hyung said, but in his heart, he possessed no real desire to debut his trainees. He nned to push off their debut as long as possible until the bosses gave him an earful because he knew once their idols actually began their debut, he wouldn¡¯t be able to push off work any longer.


    When that happened, he would have to prepare promotional materials to market the group,work with producers to allow their idols toe out in music shows, prepare ways to get their outfits, hair, and make-up done whenever they had events on their schedules, and prep the stage set. Furthermore, even if they got the music from the bosses, they would need to hire out of thepany to get the choreography for their song.


    ¡°Ah, my head hurts.¡± In the past, there was a time when he used to have passion for these matters, but that was all gone now. His only goal was to work under rich bosses and fill his pockets with easy money. It had been three years since the Siren members came to thispany, and only a little more than a year since the past head manager left, and he came to fulfill the position in their stead. He thought he could drag another half a year before he had to finally let their trainees debut.


    ¡°Should we eat some hangover soup today?¡± Tae-Hyung asked and scanned his surroundings. One member of the design team and another member from the administration team smiled awkwardly at Tae-Hyung.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t we also eat hangover soup yesterday too, sir...?¡±


    ¡°So, what about it?¡±


    ¡°N-No, hangover soup sounds good, sir. Haha,¡± the employee from the administration team smiled sheepishly.


    Then, the employee from the design team cautiously asked, ¡°Um, sir did you happen to see Siren¡¯s video by any chance?¡±


    ¡°A video? There was a video?¡±


    ¡°Yes, <i>The Showcase</i> application video.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, that¡¯s right. I think I heard something about that.¡± He remembered. It was something Bong Tae-Yoon asked him one morning. Tae-Hyung thought it had been incredibly rude for that young twerp to bother him so early in the day.


    ¡°Just leave them be. I¡¯m sure nothing much will amount to it,¡± Yoon Tae-Hyung swished his hands around disinterestedly.


    ¡°But why don¡¯t you take a look at it once, sir...?¡± The design team employee asked.


    ¡°I will watch it <iter</i>,¡± Tae-Hyun said like he couldn¡¯t be bothered and closed his eyes while leaning his back on the chair. ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep for one hour now. Wake me up if the bossese.¡±


    ¡°...Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°I understand, sir.¡±


    The employees replied and turned their eyes back to their monitors.


    <i>Riiiing.</i>


    It was then theirpany phone, which had never rung before, sounded. The first one to get the phone was the administration team¡¯s employee.


    ¡°Hello, this is Lee Hyuna from the WD administration team.¡± Hyuna felt tense from getting an outside call for the first time since she joined thispany.


    ¡°Yes, ah, sorry?¡± She responded ineloquently because of how shocking the content of the call was. Seung-Yeon from the design team carefully approached Lee Hyuna and mouthed the words.


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s going on?


    Hyuna read Seung-Yeon¡¯s lips and after sending a signal with her eyes, she ced the phone back to her ears and replied, ¡°Ah, yes, I understand. I will contact you again after passing the news to the management team and the artists.¡±


    Then, after ending the call, Hyuna called her fellow employee in a daze, ¡°S-Seung Yeon.¡±


    ¡°Yes, what is it?¡± Seung-Yeon appeared anxious to hear what the call was about. Hyuna still looked a bit in a daze as she replied, ¡°O-Our kids got an offer to appear on <i>The Showcase 2</i>...¡± She looked as if she couldn¡¯t believe it even after saying the words aloud.


    ¡°What? Gasp!¡± Seung-Yeon also blocked her mouth with her hands and muffled her gasping. If they could, they both wanted to scream their hearts out. They both pitied the Siren group members, who had their own charms and talents but weren¡¯t able to spread them out to their full potential because of how horrible thispany was. It was to the point that they wanted to help the trainees transfer to anotherpany if they could.


    ¡°Will the head manager be happy to hear this...?¡±


    ¡°Who...knows?¡±


    The two knew intuitively that the head manager, Tae-Hyung, wouldn¡¯t be pleased about this news. Yet, Seung-Yeon cautiously approached Tae-Hyung¡¯s side. Tae-Hyung was so deep asleep that he was snoring. This was normal since he always napped during this time.


    ¡°Um...sir?¡±


    ¡°...Erm, what is it...?¡± Tae-Hyung responded sleepily.


    ¡°Well, the Siren was offered an opportunity to appear on <i>The Showcase</i>...?¡± she stated and asked, ¡°...What should we do?¡±


    Considering the head manager¡¯s personality, he might tell them to not do it because it was bothersome. Yet, Seung-Yeon desperately hoped for that to not be the case.


    ¡°...<i>The Showcase</i>?¡± Tae-Hyung responded with great annoyance.


    ¡°Yes, sir. It¡¯s <i>The Showcase 2</i>.¡±


    ¡°Ha, did they seriously get into that?¡± Tae-Hyun asked with his eyes still closed. Then, he smacked his lips in displeasure. ¡°This is so bothersome. But I know those guys will keep whining if I refuse...¡±


    He furrowed his eyebrows while Seung-Yeon prayed in her head that Tae-Hyun wouldn¡¯t refuse.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you guys do it?¡± Tae-Hyung finally said.


    ¡°Sorry, sir?¡± This was an unexpected response.


    ¡°You and Lee Hyuna don¡¯t do anything in thispany anyway. So you guys handle this and just give me the reports of itter on,¡± Tae-Hyung replied and gave the managing role to Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna.


    ¡°B-But we never did something like this before, sir¡± Though it was true that the two didn¡¯t do much work in this ce, they had never done management work before.


    ¡°Just use yourmon sense and do as you see fit,¡± Tae-Hyung replied and waved his hands. He was telling them to shoo away since they finished their reports. Thus, Seung-Yeon went back to her spot and approached Hyuna.


    ¡°D-Did he really tell us to manage the Siren members just now?¡± Hyun asked, baffled.


    ¡°...Yes, he did.¡± Seung-Yeon also appeared astonished. She thought at worst, Tae-Hyun would refuse the offer, but she didn¡¯t imagine she and an employee from the administration team would be put in charge of managing theirpany¡¯s idols. Her head felt like it was in a mess


    ¡°But maybe...this is for the better.¡± Perhaps, it was better for them to be in charge of the group rather than the man in front of them. They had already been feeling great guilt towards the Siren members and were nning to quit their jobs this year anyway.


    <i>¡®I should leave after helping them out.¡¯ </i>Seung-Yeon was determined to work her hardest before leaving thepany, but it was hard to tell how well both Seung-Yeon and Hyuna would do when they both had very little experience in the entertainment business.


    ***


    We then began our vocal training in the afternoon. The training was led by the team¡¯s main vocalist, Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°You need to loosen up your lip muscles well. When you think your voice can¡¯t rise any higher, it can slightly go a bit more up if you stretch out your mouth,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and then opened his mouth wide like a baby hippo and made strange yelling sounds. Though it was funny to look at, it was an effective method, and all of us followed him. I could clearly feel the muscles around my mouth rx.


    <i>Knock, knock.</i> Somebody knocked on the practice room¡¯s door while we were busily training.


    ¡°Hm? Did somebody order food?¡±


    ¡°No, nobody did.¡±


    ¡°We just ate.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    <i>¡®It must be the news.¡¯ </i>Though we were wondering who it was, I intuitively knew that people from thepany must¡¯vee to tell us that we were offered a spot in <i>The Showcase</i>.


    ¡°I will go open the door,¡± I said and opened the door.


    ¡°Hello!¡±


    ¡°Has everyone been well?¡±


    Two women popped out of the door and greeted us. They felt unfamiliar now because it had been five years since Ist saw them, but before my regression, I had seen them plenty of times before.


    <i>¡®Aren¡¯t they WD employees?¡¯ Yet, </i>I remembered them as not being part of the management team.


    ¡°Oh? Hello!¡±


    ¡°Hi~¡±


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s people from thepany.¡±


    All the group members recognized the two and greeted them. I thought the head manager, Yoon Tae-Hyung, would visit us to tell us about <i>The Showcase</i>¡¯s offer so I was surprised to see these two. What was this about?


    ¡°We came in ce of the head manager to ry some important news to you all,¡± one of them spoke first. ¡°<i>The Showcase 2</i> offered you all a spot to appear on their show!¡±


    Hearing this, all the group members¡¯ mouths dropped open.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°To us?¡±


    ¡°What...wow...¡±


    ¡°What in the world?¡±


    ¡°This is crazy.¡±


    They acted all surprised though they had half-expected this news; hearing the news in person had a different effect from knowing it beforehand.


    ¡°So, we are already discussing your team¡¯s schedules with the broadcasting stations!¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s already happening.¡±


    ¡°This is huge, guys.¡±


    Everyone appeared excited, thinking that they coulde out in a show.


    ¡°So then, will it be possible for you all to shoot tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°...Excuse me?¡±


    A huge bomb seemed to drop over our heads. It was great news that we were able to appear in <i>The Showcase</i> since I already had it in my head what to do from then on. Yet, this was way too early.


    <i>¡®Damn it.¡¯</i>


    ¡°Well, we asked, and they said it was difficult for other teams to match their schedules, so our only option was to shoot tomorrow. Haha,¡± thepany employee said.


    <i>¡®They have no sense about the entertainment business,¡¯</i> I thought.


    It was amon urrence for people in the broadcasting area to exaggerate and bluff about their schedules. I couldn¡¯t believe that they weren¡¯t able to see through the broadcasting team¡¯s bluffs and just epted their terms. It was then I realized that the employees in the WD entertainment agency were eitherzy or bad at their jobs. There were only those two worst options avable.

 Chapter 10

    <h4>Chapter 10</h4>


    ¡°We¡¯re shooting tomorrow...?¡± I struggled to grapple with the reality of our situation and asked the two employees in front of us.


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°Uh, Mr. Tae-Yoon, are you angry?¡±


    I must have looked angry even though I was just pondering what to do. Since I also knew that I had an intimidating appearance, I rxed my expression a little.


    I replied, ¡°I was just thinking.¡±


    Frankly, I was also a little angry since they agreed to tomorrow¡¯s shooting without any questions and were pushed around by the broadcasting program¡¯s request.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m d we at least got epted to The Showcase.¡¯ </i>It was a huge relief that n A had seeded. I had been constantly clicking in and out of the productionpany¡¯s website to win the right to appear in ¡®that drama'' for n B, but now, there was no need for that. Although we could just focus on <i>The Showcase</i>, there was something that bothered me.


    <i>¡®Will we be able to shoot tomorrow?¡¯ </i>Although the time frame to upload the application video for<i> The Showcase</i> was closed, it had only been about a day since we uploaded our application video. Of course, thanks to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s video, we were able to instantly rise to second ce in total views, but frankly, there was no need to progress so quickly.


    <i>¡®Is there something else they¡¯re scheming?¡¯</i> The production team for <i>The Showcase </i>must be moving fast because they wanted something from us.


    <i>¡®Perhaps, they must have sniffed out that we were truly struggling, no-name idols.¡¯</i>


    They might have approached us after researching our environment and situation. I carefully looked around our practice room. Since we filmed the video in this practice room, the production team must have realized that our practice room was also dreary and poor. Though every scene in our application video was close-up shots, the production team must have noticed our humid, moldy mess of a practice room right away.


    Even the practice room of TH Entertainment, another small-sized agency, was not at this level. Although their practice room was small, it had a modern aesthetic. In contrast, our practice room had a run-down aesthetic, let alone a modern one. Thus, the reason why the production team must have wanted to shoot this early was because they wanted to catch the footage of struggling idols when they were most struggling.


    <i>¡®Are they nning to rush in without giving us time to prepare to get things as raw as possible?¡¯</i>


    Usually, even for struggling idols, if they managed to snag a big deal, the agency began managing them more heavily, and there were times when they even quickly moved their dorms. Since both the agency and idols knew that their lives couldpletely change if they took advantage of this opportunity, they were willing to go to great lengths.


    Of course, if they went too far, their efforts could backfire and earn the disfavor of the public. Anyway, it seemed as if the production team was nning to invade our living and work spaces before we got a chance to change their appearance for filming. If that was the case¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s actually better.¡¯</i> I thought this wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea for us as well.


    ¡°Won¡¯t shooting tomorrow be a bit tight?¡±


    ¡°We haven¡¯t even cleaned our dorm yet.¡±


    ¡°I think we should also clean the entire practice room thoroughly.¡±


    The members began expressing concerns about tomorrow¡¯s filming schedule. It wasn''tpletely fixed on whether we could shoot tomorrow.


    ¡°Personally, I think shooting tomorrow would be a great idea.¡± In this case, if one person took the lead, other people¡¯s opinions would naturally follow.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, you want to shoot tomorrow?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked to make sure.


    ¡°Yes, I prefer it that way. Since it¡¯s a shoot that we need to do anyway, I think doing it quicker will help my nerves.¡± I said that and took a deep breath to pretend that I was nervous.


    ¡°...Yeah. It would be better for our nerves if we get it done quickly.¡± Yeon-Hoon must have sympathized with my anxiety in that short time frame as there was pity in his eyes while looking at me.


    I added, ¡°Also, if we shoot quickly, we can get the first stage hint quicker.¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon reacted positively to my second point.


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°After listening to Tae-Yoon, I think there¡¯s also an advantage in getting the shoot done quickly.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do it quickly~.¡± Last but not least, Dong-Jun, sounded like he didn¡¯t have much thought on the topic as always. Dong-Jun was not really a thoughtless person, but strangely, he rarely participated in important discussions like this.


    ¡°Yes. Then, I¡¯ll confirm tomorrow¡¯s shooting schedule with the production team!¡± The two people from thepany said and left the practice room to contact the broadcasting crew of <i>The Showcase</i>.


    ¡°Ahhhh. We¡¯re really going to be filming now.¡± Yeon-Hoon rolled his feet with slight fear after the two from thepany left the room.


    ¡°We¡¯ll do well.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s clean up first.¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯d be better if we all starve tonight.¡±


    The other members made suggestions that we could aplish right away for tomorrow¡¯s shoot.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we eat a lot for dinner instead of cleaning tomorrow?¡± Yet, I opposed. The reason was clear¡ªif we cleaned up our ce, we would feel less like struggling idols and our situation would appear less striking on screen as well. If we were going to use the struggling idol angle, I thought we should go all out to receive all the benefits as possible. Therefore, improvements in our environment need to be avoided as much as possible.


    On the other hand, there was no particr reason why I refuted the suggestion of skipping dinner. I just didn¡¯t want the other members to starve. We could go on a diet after we debut, so why were they already thinking of starving themselves? When they were all already skinny as hell too?


    ¡°I-is that okay?¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it look unnatural if we seemed to have put too much care and cleaned the whole ce?¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s also true.¡±


    ¡°I think it would be better to focus more on practice.¡±


    The members seemed to ponder about this for a moment and then said:


    ¡°Yeah, since it was thanks to Tae-Yoon¡¯s idea that we won the right to appear on <i>The Showcase</i>, let¡¯s follow Tae-Yoon¡¯s opinion.¡±


    Since Yeon-Hoon took the lead to support me, the rest of the members epted my suggestion.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s practice some choreography that we can use on stage from now on.¡±


    ¡°Okay~¡±


    Like this, thest practice of the day before the shooting began.


    * * *


    The production crew of <<i>The Showcase 2¡ªFirst Chance</i>> gathered at the filming site at 6 a.m. They suggested a filming schedule to WD Entertainment at an extremely short notice yesterday and were informed that the shooting date was confirmed. They had asked on a short notice, expecting WD Entertainment to refuse, so they were all quite surprised by the turn of events. They couldn¡¯t gauge if the agency was extremely seasoned and nning something or were simply bad at their jobs.


    Kim Min-Young, a scriptwriter for <i>The Showcase</i>, looked nkly up at the apartment¡¯s rooftop. She said, ¡°So that¡¯s Siren¡¯s dorm, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what they said.¡±


    Although it was annoying to work so early in the morning, Min-Young felt happy that the smell of a struggling idol strongly permeated from the small, rundown apartment. The concept of <i>The Showcase</i> Season 1 had been ¡®the rebellion of unknown idols¡¯, but the concept for this time was ¡®discovering struggling idols¡¯.


    The goal of this season was to make further use of the heart-wrenching stories of unpopr idols and intensify their struggles and hardships by showcasing idols who were bound to flop rather than unpopr idols who had already debuted before. In addition, although the idols that came out inst season were called unknown idols, there was, in fact, a collection of groups whose names were already known by idol-loving fans.


    However, it was for real this time. They were legit struggling idols who had barely any support and backup. Currently, two teams that have already flopped and three groups that would have clearly flopped after their debut have been garnered. Among them, Siren was the most likely group to fail. When Min-Young looked up WD Entertainment agency before the shoot, she even wondered how apany like this could exist. The representatives of this agency were song producers who have written a few famous songs in the past.


    However, they were now out of touch, and their work wasn¡¯t in demand anymore. They could now only sell a few songs here and there. However, for financial matters, it seemed as if they had a bit of money from the few hit songs they made in the past. When she searched the inte, it seemed as if one of the top representatives was rich enough to own a small building, so it didn¡¯t seem like there would be a major problem with the agency¡¯s financing but¡ª


    <i>¡®There is something fishy about the way they work.¡¯ </i>Min-Young could sniff it from a mile away.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go up.¡± The production team, led by Kim Min-Young, went up to the rooftop to film. Since there was no elevator, they needed to walk up with heavy equipment. After they arrived and knocked on the door¡ª


    ¡°Yes~ I¡¯m heading out!¡± They heard a cheerful voice from inside.


    ¡°Uh? Hello! You¡¯re very early!¡± When they opened the door, the person who stood at the very front in Siren¡¯s application video appeared behind the door¡ªit was Woo Yeon-Hoon. His round and pretty eyes curved softly into a bright smile.


    ¡°Guys! The filming crew is here!¡± At the leader¡¯s call, the Siren¡¯s members beganing out one by one.


    The tall and sharp-looking member was Kang Do-Seung, the second oldest in the group and the rapper of the group. The member with the lean and elegant body and face was Lee Woon. The member who was as pale as a ghost was Park Dong-Jun, the third oldest in the group. Andstly, the person standing at the end was Bong Tae-Yoon, the youngest member of the group. He was tall and gave off a cold aura.


    Min-Young didn¡¯t say this out loud, but she thought, <i>¡®If they didn¡¯t tell me who the youngest was, I would think it was Woo Yeon-Hoon.¡¯</i>


    Bong Tae-Yoon strangely gave off the impression of an adult even though he was the only one who was a minor at 19 years old*.[1]


    It didn¡¯t mean that he looked old.


    <i>¡®How should I describe it?¡¯</i> He looked very intimidating and didn¡¯t seem like he would be picked on by anyone.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have a team greeting yet, so can we just do a basic greeting?¡± Woo Yeon-Hoon hesitated and asked.


    ¡°Ah, yes. You can just do a basic greeting.¡± Kim Min-Young said and captured Siren¡¯s greeting on camera.


    ¡°Hello! This is Siren! Nice to meet you!¡± Five handsome young men greeted the camera loudly.


    Then Min-Young said, ¡°From now on, you can move freely and go on with your daily activities. The concept is like a reality show.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. I see.¡±


    Kim Min-Young stepped back, and the filming team began to attach observation cameras all over the room. Then all the unnecessary personnel went out. It was to make the setting as realistic as possible, but it was also because the room was too small for many people to stay inside.


    Min-Young ordered, ¡°If you¡¯re done installing, please leave right away.¡±


    Soon after, everyone left, and the only person left from the filming crew was Kim Min-Young. She sat in the corner and watched how the Siren members lived. She had worked at broadcasting stations for many years and had met many idols, but it was the first time she saw five members living together in a dorm that was no different from a studio apartment.


    <i>¡®I¡¯ve never seen anything like this before.¡¯ </i>The room was small and the facilities were greatlycking. Depending on how they filmed, the video could be mistaken for a grave documentary instead of a program about idols. The documentary topic would be about idols suffering in the dark spots of the idol industry. Then concerns began to arise in her head.


    <i>¡®Won¡¯t the public criticize us for exaggerating the situation?¡¯</i>


    The filming crew hade here to garner sympathy and pity for struggling idols, but Min-Young had no idea Siren¡¯s living conditions would be this poor. Since this was a house where people lived, Min-Young kept a calm face and didn¡¯t show her surprise, but she was quite shocked.


    It was to the extent that their show might get involved in a controversy for manipting the environment and trying to garner fake sympathy if they aired the dorm as it was. While Min-Young was concerned about neutralizing their situation so that it could be easily consumable by the public¡ª


    ¡°Okay! Get the table out! Ah,e on, set up the table!¡± The member who looked aloof and sharp, Kang Do-Seung, brought a pot of stew and called the other members.


    ¡°Yeahhh!¡±


    Then the other members opened a round sitting table together. It looked like a tin table found at a grandma¡¯s house. Min-Young watched the scene with interest.


    ¡°Egg rolls areing out. Egg rolls!¡±


    ¡°Spam ising out next, spam!¡±


    Min-Young was worried that their daily life would also be extremely pitiful and sad because their living facilities were so poor, but they showed a scene in direct contrast to their environment.


    <i>¡®They had a side like this as well.¡¯ </i>The members showed a scene of a family busily preparing breakfast and eating together.


    ¡°Park Dong-Jun, I told you that you can¡¯t eat double portions of rice.¡±


    ¡°Come on! You said I can eat a lot for breakfast!¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s still a limit.¡±


    ¡°But if there¡¯s spam and egg rolls, you need to eat a lot of rice.¡±


    ¡°No, you should eat moderately.¡±


    ¡°Seriously.¡± <i>Sigh.</i>


    ¡°Do-Seung, don¡¯t be too hard on Dong-Jun.¡±


    While Kang Do-Seung and Park Dong-Jun quarreled with each other over food early in the morning, Lee Woon mediated between the two.


    ¡°Yum! The stew is so good! Did you make it, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°I just boiled the stew that I made yesterday again.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s good~ So good~ I¡¯m starting to hum because of how good it is~¡±


    Woo Yeon-Hoon and Bong Tae-Yoon were sharing a friendly conversation to the side, and when Woo Yeon-Hoon happily moved his shoulders up and down as he ate, Tae-Yoon stared at him with a smile.


    Kim Min-Young captured the scene unfolding in front of her without missing a single detail. She stared at the soy-bean stew, egg rolls, and grilled spam on the tin table and the members talking amongst themselves¡ªMin-Young had been racking her brain, trying to figure out how to make their situation look less sad, but the solution was right in front of her. Even in a piss-poor environment, the members didn¡¯t seem to care at all, and they had a deep bond like a family. Although directing the video with this storyline was a bit clich¨¦¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s a ssic for a reason.¡¯ </i>There was a reason why clich¨¦s became clich¨¦ in the first ce. With these members, Min-Young thought she could make an interesting story even with a clich¨¦ storyline.


    Even though they were struggling idols who were expected to be in charge of the program¡¯s tear-jerking scenes, Min-Young thought, <i>¡®I think I can depict them as moreplex characters.¡¯</i>


    Rather than using them as characters for throwaway, heart-wrenching scenes, Min-Young decided that it would be better to use them as a more important group for the program.


    1. Tae-Yoon is 19 years old in Korean age, so he would actually be 18 or 17. Under Koreanw, anyone who is under 19 in international age is considered a minor. ?

 Chapter 11

    <h4>Chapter 11</h4>


    Our hectic breakfast came to an end. <i>The Showcase</i> scriptwriter, Kim Min-Young, who was in charge of writing our story nced at us. The Siren group members were showing their natural selves to live up to the name of no-name idols. We didn¡¯t even clean our rooms and showed our living space as it was. The nket we all used together was pushed to the corner, and we didn¡¯t move the hangers away to somewhere inconspicuous but just let them be.


    At first, even writer Kim Min-Young appeared taken aback. She tried not to show it out of politeness, but she couldn¡¯t hold back the look of bafflement in her eyes. I thought she was surprised by how real our living spaces were, but at some point, the look in her eyes changed. Perhaps, she adjusted to the environment or her opinion of us changed, but she looked at us a bit more favorably from then on.


    ¡°Is this the nket you all use?¡± she asked and pointed at the nket by her side as we finished eating and cleaned up our table.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied while putting the dishes on the sink.


    ¡°And you all use this one nket together?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it ufortable for all five of you to sleep together?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t find it particrly ufortable.¡±


    ¡°Are all these hangers shared too?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that usually the case?¡±


    ¡°Ah, haha. That¡¯s true.¡± The scriptwriter, Kim Min-Young, surveyed our dorm more eagerly than when she first arrived. The content of her questions was based on how much information we were willing to share.


    <i>¡®At this rate, maybe we will be edited as desperately struggling idols.</i>¡¯ I was a bit scared that our image would be idols who were so poor that they had to share all theirmodities. Even if we could earn a couple of sympathy posts from themunity, it was questionable if that would lead to ongoing interest and be good for us in the long term.


    <i>¡®But grabbing people¡¯s attention is our current priority,¡¯</i> I thought. There would be opportunities to change our image during the program. Right now, it was most important for us to free ourselves from the grim anonymity we possessed.


    ¡°Are you all going to practice now?¡± As we finished washing our dishes and began to pack our belongings, the scriptwriter, Kim Min-Young asked again.


    ¡°Yes! Our practice room is right in front!¡± Yeon-Hoon answered this time. ¡°It¡¯s veryfortable because it¡¯s only five minutes away by walking!¡±


    ¡°Oh, how nice.¡±


    We each took our individual baggage and headed to the practice room. Producers and writers followed us from behind.


    ***


    Nothing much changed even when we went to the practice room. The camera directors came inside and stationed their cameras, and scriptwriter Kim Min-Young told us to practice as we normally would. From then on, Yoon Seung-Yeon from the design team and Lee Hyuna from the administration team appeared and joined the scene. Though they told us to practice as we normally would, we certainly couldn¡¯t do that when there were so many eyes on us.


    ¡°Okay! One! Two! Three! Four! When I¡¯m at four, we go<i> tadada!</i> All right?¡± Woon¡¯s voice sounded unusually loud as he taught us an especially difficult sequence of footwork. Though he usually spoke in a soft voice, he was raising his voice and teaching us passionately now. But I knew he wasn¡¯t ying it up for the camera but was just being considerate of us so that we wouldn¡¯t make mistakes in front of the camera. After all, if we made mistakes here, our videos could remain forever on the inte. In contrast, there was one person who was being overly self-conscious of the camera.


    <i>¡®What¡¯s going to happen to Do-Seung?</i>¡¯ Standing next to Woon¡¯s side, Do-Seung kept ncing at the cameras and producers. If he acted more awkwardly than this and just kept staring at the cameras, I worried that the producers would say a word, and there wouldn¡¯t be any cuts for them to use. But it appeared that I wasn¡¯t the only one who realized this.


    ¡°Do-Seung, you keep getting it wrong~¡± Dong-Jun said jokingly and brought Do-Seung¡¯s gaze toward him.


    ¡°W-What do you mean I¡¯m getting it wrong! I¡¯m the only one doing the footsteps properly!¡± It was as Do-Seung said. After Woon, Do-Seung was the next best dancer on the team.


    ¡°You are the one getting it wrong,¡± Do-Seung replied.


    ¡°What, me?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Whaaat?¡± Dong-Jun naturally made a surprised expression and slowly changed his footwork. While he danced, he very slightly missed one dance move.


    ¡°See, look. You have to go <i>tadadada!</i> Here but you ended at<i> tadada</i>. You are missing a beat.¡±


    ¡°Ah, okie. You are right.¡±


    I held myself back from smirking after seeing Dong-Jun. I had always thought Dong-Jun to be a carefree, thoughtless guy, but after regressing, I realized that he had the quickest wit among the group members. He caught on that Dong-Jun was too focused on the cameras and naturally brought Do-Seung¡¯s gaze towards himself while highlighting Do-Seung¡¯s charms.


    <i>¡®And though he showed his mistakes on camera too, he¡¯s not the type to dwell too much on that.¡¯ </i>Seeing how carefreely he was smiling right now, it didn¡¯t appear Dong-Jun was sensitive about lowering himself to let others shine.


    ¡°Come on! Let¡¯s get back to practice!¡± Woon settled the room and continued the choreography.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for interrupting in the middle of practice but do you all not have a separate dance trainer?¡± The scriptwriter, Kim Min-Young asked. Hearing this, we all turned back to her.


    ¡°Yes! We don¡¯t!¡± Yeon-Hoon replied in an unnecessarily bright voice. I then clearly saw Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna from WD flush in embarrassment. The question was basically asking if thepany did not care for their idols, and one of the members answered cheerfully that was precisely the case.


    ¡°Was it like that from the very beginning?¡± Kim Min-Young asked.


    ¡°No, not in the beginning.¡±


    ¡°So, you did have one at the start?¡±


    ¡°We had a trainer for about a year and a half? But after that, we began practicing by ourselves!¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± Kim Min-Young nodded and gestured that we could continue our practice. Though her attitude was a bit arrogant, perhaps, it was only expected that a second-in-lead scriptwriter of a popr program would behave like this when dealing with no-name idols. Furthermore, nobody seemed to have thought of her behavior as particrly rude.


    Besides that, this got me thinking. ¡®<i>Thepany¡¯s care for their trainees dramatically disappeared after a year and a half.¡¯ </i>Since we¡¯ve been in training for three years, this meant that WD Entertainment Agency gave us care that could be considered average among the industry for about half of our time.


    <i>¡®It all became cut off after Yoon Tae-Hyun joined thepany.¡¯ </i>This was all because of the head of management, Yoon Tae-Hyung. The head manager before him wasn¡¯t bad as a work boss or a human. It had also been the previous head manager who gratefully gathered all five of us in this ce.


    <i>¡®Sigh.¡¯</i> Yet, at some point, the previous head manager disappeared with no warning and Yoon Tae-Hyun came. I first felt betrayed when I heard of the previous manager¡¯s departure, but I now understood why he might have acted that way now.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m sure that person also had his family to care about. He couldn¡¯t stay in apany like this forever.¡¯</i> No matter how good a person was, this ce was just a workce in the end and he probably had his family to consider.


    ¡°Okay! Everyone, focus!¡± As I was thinking these thoughts, Woon showed us the choreography again. I controlled my ¡®Insight¡¯ ability so that I followed the dance moves without going too overboard.


    ***


    <i>The Showcase</i>¡¯s scriptwriter, Kim Min-Young organized her thoughts while watching the Siren group members practicing.


    <i>¡®There¡¯s definitely a sincere friendship among the members,¡¯ </i>she concluded after questioning them throughout the day. It appeared that the members had developed a deep camaraderie with one another in their dire environment where thepany provided them with no support.


    Surprisingly, there weren¡¯t many groups whose members had a good friendship with one another; this was especially so for groups who were just about to debut like this one. Most people thought members would be the closest and most dependent on each other right before their debut, but that wasn¡¯t the case.


    It was moremon for group members who had seen each other through thick and thin for many years to develop a good bond. For male idols who were about to debut, they were either one of the two following types: <i>¡®Sports team style or sand grain style.¡¯ </i>


    In the sports team style, the idol group acted like sports athletes, and the team was led by one authoritative, director-like leader. In cases like these, the group¡¯s teamwork and coboration were superb, but they couldn¡¯t help but appear tense and rigid even in front of the cameras.


    The second type was the sand grain style. In this case, the group members were dedicated to their craft as artists. They overflowed with artistic spirit and were deeply immersed in their own worlds. Perhaps, they were good as individuals, but they were a mess when gathered together. Thus, each of the members simply considered each other as business partners or even tools who would help them shine. Yet, it appeared that Siren didn¡¯t fit either of the two categories.


    The Siren group felt as if they had gathered a couple of close male students. They weren¡¯t too different from ordinary guys their age except that they were all handsome.


    <i>¡®And all their skills are good even without considering that they don¡¯t have separate trainers.¡¯ </i>This was surprising, but what caught her eyes foremost was Bong Tae-Yoon, who was dancing lightly behind Lee Woon, leading the lesson.


    <i>¡®What¡¯s with him?¡¯</i> Lee Woon was clearly good at dancing and seemed to have a natural talent for the art. On the other hand, Bong Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t appear to show much passion for dancing and didn¡¯t give the sense that he was very good at it.


    <i>¡®Yet, his movements are the most precise,¡¯ </i>she thought. Tae-Yoon managed to perfectly copy each of the moves though he failed to really liven them up. He never missed a beat either.


    <i>¡®What? Is he purposefully holding himself back?¡¯ </i>Rather than that he was incapable of livening up the dance, it seemed he was intentionally dancing without much energy.


    <i>¡®They say his position is a lead vocalist.¡¯ </i>Kim Min-Young thought Tae-Yoon also had potential as a dancer.


    Eventually, the dancing practice ended and the second lesson began.


    ¡°After a ten-minute break, let¡¯s immediately go into vocal training guys!¡± The main vocalist and this lesson¡¯s teacher, Woo Yeon-Hoon announced.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s rare for the visual to be the main vocalist,¡¯ </i>Kim Min-Young thought and watched them. They began by loosening up their vocals and stood in front of Yeon-Hoon and presented a song they were individually working on.


    ¡°Okay! Why don¡¯t Do-Seung start first!¡± Yeon-Hoon stood in front of the piano keyboard and called Do-Seung toe forth. Do-Seung frowned reluctantly and sang in front of Yeon-Hoon.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s not a singer,¡¯ </i>Kim Min-Young noted. She thought Do-Seung wouldn¡¯t be able to hit the high notes with his low voice, and as expectedly, he wasn¡¯t good at singing. But since his position was the rapper, his singing ability was understandable. Yet, because his voice was pleasant to listen to, there was a possibility that he could be good if he really tried his best. Yet, it sounded like he was the one who was holding himself back.


    ¡°Do-Seung, you are not confident enough in your own song. Since your tone is good, you should practice on really expressing yourself and bringing your voice out boldly,¡± Yeon-Hoon gave advice to each of the members and continued the practice. Lee Woon had a gentle, high-tone voice. Dong-Jun¡¯s voice was soft and pleasant to listen to, and it was hard to find any fault in it. Lastly, Tae-Yoon...


    ¡°Hm?¡± The producers who had been listening without much thought all turned their heads. The song that Tae-Yoon chose was a famous bad song and all he did was sing the first lines of the song.


    ¡ªYou walked through long nights to find me


    ¡ªMy heart rises into full bloom


    ¡ªThese are the days I can no longer see


    He didn¡¯t even have a unique voice nor did the song have a high note.


    <i>¡®But why is there so much emotion in his voice?¡¯ </i>Kim Min-Young wondered. Tae-Young sang as if he had juste back from a heartbreaking farewell.


    ¡°T-Tae-Yoon?¡± It seemed it wasn¡¯t only the producers who were surprised but also the group¡¯s members.


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°What happened to him seriously?¡±


    ***


    I sang thoughtlessly in front of Yeon-Hoon. I didn¡¯t prepare much for it since I was nning to sing a normal bad song and try to not pop out too much. Yet, when I opened my mouth and was about to sing the song¡ª<i>whoosh! </i>My Insight ability suddenly popped out. Even though I could control it sometimes, there were other times when it would pop out abruptly with no warning. Because of that, in the short period while I sang the song, I felt the song¡¯s writer¡¯s emotions clearly in my heart.


    <i>¡®What¡¯s the point of me understanding someone who just went through a heartbreak?¡¯</i> I thought to myself and med my Insight ability for making me sing this song so sorrowfully. This Insight ability gave me an understanding even in unnecessary areas. Nevertheless, the producers were surprised by my singing first and then, my group members also appeared stunned. I quickly stopped singing and excused myself.


    ¡°I practiced this song a lot for this show. I didn¡¯t think I would be able to sing it so well either,¡± I said.

 Chapter 12

    <h4>Chapter 12</h4>


    Kim Min-Young, the scriptwriter of <i>The Showcase</i>, stared at Bong Tae-Yoon, the youngest member of Siren.


    ¡°I practiced this a lot because we¡¯reing out on a show. I didn¡¯t know I could sing this well either.¡± Bong Tae-Yoon suddenly began making excuses after singing so well.


    ¡°Pff.¡± Min-Youngughed without realizing it; she nned tough quietly in case the audio caught her voice, but she had identallyughed out loud. However, she wasn¡¯t the only oneughing. The staff also had a big smile on their faces. As for the Siren members¡ª


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    ¡°Do you think we¡¯re going to bully you for singing well?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon must be on a roll today.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, you¡¯re improving fast these days.¡±


    They allughed cheerfully and congratted Bong Tae-Yoon, and Tae-Yoon looked at the older members and the filming crew with a somewhat dazed expression. Judging by how his ears were slightly red, he seemed embarrassed. However, he tried to keep a straight face as much as possible.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s funny.¡¯</i> It was cute in a way.<i> ¡®He finally seems like the maknae now.¡¯</i>


    The youngest, who had looked solemn all day, now finally seemed like a <i>maknae</i> a little bit.


    * * *


    I made an awful mistake. I had made excuses in a hurry because I was flustered and was now aughing stock.


    <i>¡®If only it wasn¡¯t for that damn krumping.¡¯ Sigh.</i>


    After going through the krumping dilemma, I became wary of improving my abilities dramatically since my members would find it strange. Thus, I had made excuses in a hurry, but it seemed as if that had made me look weirder instead. In the case of my singing, only my emotional expression had be more vivid, and I had shown no technical change, so I could have justughed about it and easily glossed over it. I felt embarrassed that I unintentionally performed a one-man show for everyone to see.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon passes too. Your singing improved a lot. Well done.¡± Yeon-Hoon said and gave me a pass sign. This meant that I didn¡¯t have to practice singing anymore for today. And thest one left was now¡ª


    ¡°Do-Seung, can youe and y for me now,¡± Yeon-Hoon asked.


    ¡°I got it,¡± Do-Seung replied.


    The only one left to sing was Yeon-Hoon, who was our main vocalist and leader.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve heard Yeon-Hoon sing.¡¯</i> I went to a corner and stared at Yeon-Hoon.


    After Do-Seung switched positions with Yeon-Hoon and made eye contact, he asked, ¡°Which song do you want to sing?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, what should I do?¡± Rather than an official vocal practice, this must have felt like ying for him.


    <i>¡®There¡¯s nothing more for him to practice.¡¯ </i>Technically, Yeon-Hoon had nothing more to practice for singing as he was already on the level of a professional vocalist. Furthermore, he was slightly better than most main vocalists of other idol groups. After those two exchanged signs, Do-Seung began ying the piano.


    <i>Ding.</i>


    As soon as he began ying, everyone knew that it was the OST of a famous historical drama. The filming crew looked surprised by his choice of song as Yeon-Hoon had only shown a yful and cheerful appearance until now. It must have been surprising that a person like that chose to sing a historical OST that invoked sorrowful and longing emotions.


    ¡ªLate spring, flowers wither


    As soon as he sang the first note, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s cheerful expressionpletely dissapeared from his face. His eyes looked as if he were already deeply immersed in the character¡¯s emotions and situation.


    ¡ªIn the dead of night, I am too restless to sleep


    ¡ªYou are a ray of light, warm and soft


    ¡ª who embraced and awakened me.


    That was what talent was. It was something that I could only follow for a moment with a sort of trick called Insight. The filming crew¡¯s eyes were filled with deep emotions, almost of awe. Since we had heard this song often and knew of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s skills well, we weren¡¯t very surprised.


    <i>¡®But I was also shocked when I first heard him sing.¡¯</i>


    The filming crew¡¯s current reaction was the normal, general reaction when listening to Yeon-Hoon¡¯s singing for the first time. He had a clear and pure voice, but it also sounded like the cold wind of winter. To put it simply, he had a sweet and gentle voice, but it sounded sad at the same time. It was striking that two opposite characteristics came from one person¡¯s throat. In particr, the serious expression he made when singing made the audience even more immersed.


    ¡ªEven if I run away, it chases after me


    ¡ªThis emotion called love


    ¡ªis a flower that has bloomed btedly


    ¡ªbut will never wither


    The song gradually moved towards the climax. The staff¡¯s eyes began to look almost sentimental, and when everyone was getting ready to shout at the uing climax¡ª


    ¡ªAnd that, ack!


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What the?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon suddenly stopped singing. Then he went to the corner and coughed like crazy. He immediately pulled out a tissue and brought it to his mouth. When I thought something seriously bad might have happened to him from singing in a ce with bad air¡ª


    Yeon-Hoon shouted, ¡°A bug entered my mouth! Eeeeeckkkk!¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Pweh.¡±


    I whispered, ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡±


    It was just a bug.


    ¡°How is it a relief that I ate a bug? Seriously.¡± Yeon-Hoon must have heard my quiet whisper as he began expressing how hurt he was.


    I replied, ¡°It¡¯s too bad that you ate a bug.¡± Honestly, I didn¡¯t feel bad, since that could happen from time to time. However, injuries to his neck needed to be avoided at all costs. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s neck was way too valuable to lose for us in the future.


    ¡°Let¡¯s end today¡¯s vocal practice here. I don¡¯t feel like singing anymore after eating a bug.¡± After saying this, Yeon-Hoon clicked his tongue in regret.


    ¡°Ah...¡± Then suddenly, Kim Min-Young sighed in disappointment. Her eyes were not of a scriptwriter but more like¡ª


    <i>¡®An audience.¡¯ </i>She looked like someone who had fallen in love with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s singing.


    Then her expression quickly changed, and she said, ¡°Then, let¡¯s take a break for a moment and continue filming.¡±


    She returned to a cold professional in an instant.


    * * *


    During the ten-minute break, Kim Min-Young reviewed the parts they filmed today. However, even if she tried to recall the contents, she couldn¡¯t do it well as Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s singing continued to linger in her head.


    <i>¡®Woo Yeon-Hoon, what was that?¡¯</i> She had seen many idols, but she had never been this surprised. Of course, there were idols who sang better than him, and there were idols, albeit not many but definitely a few who were more handsome than him. She had worked with idols like that but today was...how should she say it¡ªthere was something strange about it.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s really good, for real.¡¯ </i>However, she needed to forget about that moment and focus on work right now.


    <i>¡®If he sang a bit more, you might seriously fall for him...how interesting.¡¯ </i>Min-Young thought she finally understood the feelings of idol fans a little bit.


    <i>¡®Hmm?¡¯ </i>Even though it was break time, Min-Young felt her eyes naturally follow Woo Yeon-Hoon as if she was attracted by a ma and then began doubting her professional skills.


    She muttered inside her mind, <i>¡®You¡¯re crazy, Kim Min-Young.¡¯</i>


    * * *


    During break time, my group members and I decided to buy coffee at a caf¨¦ and pass it around the staff. Of course, WD Entertainment¡¯s Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna also joined us.


    ¡°Mr. Yeon-Hoon, wow, your singing was amazing!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I got goosebumps.¡±


    ¡°Really? Was it that good?¡±


    While going to the caf¨¦, Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna chatted with Yeon-Hoon. We ordered all the coffee for the staff as takeout. Now, we just had to pay when I heard a muttering next to me.


    ¡°Pweh. Seung-Young, you can do it. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just one time.¡± Yoon Seung-Yeon muttered to herself while shaking her hands as if she were chanting a spell.


    Wondering what she was doing, I looked closer at her card.


    <i>¡®A check card?¡¯ </i>It was a pink check card with a famous character on it.


    I said, ¡°Wait a minute.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Yoon Seung-Yeon asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s not thepany¡¯s card.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes!¡±


    Hyuna and Seung-Yeon were using their own money to pay for the drinks. Then the members¡¯ eyes were all gathered towards Seung-Yeon.


    ¡°What, your own money?¡±


    ¡°Ms., you don''t have thepany¡¯s card?¡±


    Seung-Yeon asked in puzzlement, ¡°Why, what¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±


    Yoon Seung-Yeon seemed to have felt pressured by the members¡¯ eyes as she hurriedly gave her card to the caf¨¦ staff, ¡°P-pleaseplete the payment quickly!¡±


    The caf¨¦ staff seemed to have intuitively realized that if not for this chance, it would take forever for us to pay, so they quicklypleted the payment.


    However, the situation was still not over. I asked, ¡°Why did you use your personal card?¡±


    Seung-Yeon answered, ¡°Well, only the head manager has thepany card. Also, even if we get apany card, we¡¯ll definitely get scolded like crazy if we use it.¡±


    I could roughly guess what happened. Yoon Tae-Hyun was the source of all evil; I couldn¡¯t believe that he didn¡¯t even give them apany card while they were working. Since the drinks have already been paid for, we couldn¡¯t do anything about it.


    Instead, I said, ¡°Please send me your ount number.¡±


    ¡°What? It¡¯s all right.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not all right.¡± I couldn¡¯t put the burden on one person alone. I was going to at least share the burden when¡ª


    ¡°If there¡¯s anything that costs money during promotions, let¡¯s all pay for it!¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t let Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna pay for everything!¡±


    The other members also joined in.


    ¡°You can just use my card~.¡± At that moment, Dong-Jun behind me said this. I understood what he meant, but the other members seemed to not know it yet.


    Yeon-Hoon shouted, ¡°No! We have to share it evenly!¡±


    Well, I didn¡¯t reveal it for now because they would all find it out eventually. We left the caf¨¦ with arge amount of coffee. While going to the practice room, we all pinched into Ms. Seung-Yeong¡¯s ount. I knew thepany was working desperately to not spend any money on us, but they were going too far by not providing us an activities fee.


    <i>¡®I¡¯ll have to get thepany card even if I have to fight for it.¡¯ </i>Even if we couldn¡¯t do anything about today¡¯s payment at the caf¨¦, we couldn¡¯t do this every time. This was a problem that we needed to deal with at least once. I thought I should talk to thepany to prevent this from happening next time.


    * * *


    Filming resumed after the break. From now on, the reality show-like shooting was over. Before starting the official shooting, the scriptwriter exined the scene we were going to film.


    Min-Young said, ¡°We will now be filming scenes that are essential for the broadcast. I¡¯ll give you the script here, so please read through it.¡±


    The script we received was roughly to give our first greeting to the viewers of <i>The Showcase</i>, y several games, and receive our first mission.


    The filming progressed quickly.


    ¡°Hello, We¡¯re Siren, the debut group of WD Entertainment! Please give us your support!¡±


    First of all, we gave our first official greeting to the viewers, and then we introduced ourselves briefly. It was nothing much as we just introduced our names and positions in the group.


    ¡°I¡¯m Woo Yeon-Hoon, the team leader!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Kang Do-Seung, the rapper.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Lee Woon, the main dancer!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Park Dong-Jun, in charge of cuteness~!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Bong Tae-Yoon, the <i>maknae</i> of Siren.¡±


    Everyone except Dong-Jun and I said our positions, but frankly, positions were not that important so the writers didn¡¯t interfere with our greeting. Then there was time for us to exin Siren¡¯s strengths. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna must have written this part in advance and sent it to the broadcasting station.


    Yeon-Hoon began to exin our strengths in an overly nice voice, ¡°Our Siren group has a variety of charms in five different talents! With many years of practice, our members have all developed a strong...¡±


    It was an extremely normal andmon introduction, and there were lines that didn¡¯t have much substance. So after our introduction was over, the official shooting began.


    ¡°First of all, congrattions on joining <<i>The Showcase 2¡ªFirst Chance</i>>.¡±


    ¡°Yesss!¡±


    The official shooting began, and the scriptwriter, Kim Min-Young, acted as the host. She exined that the video we uploaded had be a hot topic with a lot of views and asked how we ended up filming it.


    Yeon-Hoon answered the question by saying that the youngest of the group suggested it and that they were also all really surprised to see that it ovepped with Only One¡¯s group. The scene gave off a moderately friendly and warm atmosphere. However, there was a moment when that atmospherepletely flipped.


    ¡°It¡¯s our first official shoot in 10 days.¡± The atmosphere instantly changed when Min-Young ryed the message about the first shooting. She continued, ¡°There¡¯s a mission that every group must fulfill.¡±


    Mission delivery was the heart of the program. The members began to look noticeably nervous. Yeon-Hoon literally froze and even Dong-Jun seemed to stiffen a bit.


    ¡°But it won¡¯t be fun to just get the mission, right?¡± After saying this, Kim Min-Young took out something. The identity of that object was¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s a wheel.¡¯</i> It was a spinning wheel with the names of various groups on it.


    ¡°You have to spin the wheel and film a deration of war video to deliver to the group that younded on to receive the mission!¡±


    As expected, it was exactly as I remembered. However, if I remembered correctly, <i>¡®it¡¯s all staged.¡¯</i>


    Even if we span that wheel a hundred times, the same name woulde out, and that name was probably¡ª


    <i>¡®Only one.¡¯ </i>It was probably Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s group.

 Chapter 13

    <h4>Chapter 13</h4>


    At a nce, a spinning wheel appeared to be the most challenging game to rig since viewers could witness the process leading up to the result. Yet, these people even manipted the spinning wheel in their favor. The method to achieve this was easy: they simply needed to change the weights of the different parts of the wheel so that the arrow would stop at the section they wished. This was clearly immoral, but it was also hard to say that it was downright horrible.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s kind of iffy,¡¯</i> I thought. From an ethical standpoint, it was something that shouldn¡¯t be done.


    <i>¡®But it will be a loss for both the broadcasting station and us if the show isn¡¯t fun.¡¯</i> In some ways, this was preferable to goingpletely authentic and having a boring show. It would be a problem if they screwed over a person¡¯s life through evil editing, but it was understandable to do some at a moderate level; and in my perspective, this spinning wheel was a suitable and almost necessary trigger for the show to be more entertaining.


    ¡°Okay! So, I just need one person toe out and spin this spinning wheel as a representative of his group,¡± the scriptwriter, Kim Min-Young said and ced the spinning wheel right in front of us.


    ¡°Wow...ah...¡± Everyone had a hard time making a proper reaction. Even Yeon-Hoon, who always maintained a smiling face, looked stiff and his lips froze in ce.


    ¡°I-Is it absolutely necessary for us to make a provocation to another group...?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Kim Min-Young said firmly.


    ¡°This is hard,¡± Do-Seung added.


    ¡°I have never done something like this before,¡± Woon said worriedly.


    ¡°How interesting.¡± Only Dong-Jun remained as carefree as ever. He looked a bit tense before hearing the mission, but it appeared he loosened up after hearing what it was.


    I knew that depending on the results, we could be easily edited as viins of the show. We could be edited to appear arrogant or thoughtless, and we needed to think carefully about how we would react after rolling this spinning wheel. In the end, I came to a decision. Rather than my group members receiving evil editing, I thought it was better for me to take the burden.


    ¡°Can I spin the wheel?¡± I had already received my share of hatements, and I even got death threats whenever I wrote the endings of my novels. Thus, it was better for me, who was better trained in this area, to do this.


    ¡°Will you be all right?¡±


    ¡°It could be risky for you.¡±


    It appeared all my group members realized that this was the perfect chance to get viinized.


    ¡°Yes, I want to do it,¡± I said and waited for my group members to agree. Yeon-Hoon pondered on this for a bit and then dered.


    ¡°T-Then we can all spin the wheel together and provoke the other group together!¡±


    ¡°No, the mission is only one of you guys to spin the spinning wheel and dere war on the chosen group,¡± the producers firmly replied. The producers already had a scenario in mind and wanted to lead us in that direction.


    I fixed my expression and stepped forward. Then, I said, ¡°I will do it. There are some phrases I thought of too.¡± Since I already knew this mission beforehand, I had already thought of lines to say. My group members seemed to think about this for some time until they finally said:


    <i>Sigh</i>.


    ¡°All right.¡±


    ¡°You have to spin well.¡±


    ¡°Be really careful.¡±


    My group members backed away a step and let me go.


    <i>¡®You would think I¡¯m going on a real war or something.</i>¡¯ Based on my group members¡¯ response, it appeared as if I was getting dragged to the ughterhouse. Perhaps, this scene could be used in the show as older group members worrying for their <i>maknae</i>.


    I grabbed the spinning wheel¡¯s handles. I knew that there would be only one result no matter how I spun this wheel.


    <i>Drrrr</i>! I pushed the handles hard, and the wheel written with group names spun. The wheel kept spinning until it stopped at one ce.


    ¡ªOnly One


    The result was just as I had expected.


    ¡°Gasp!¡±


    ¡°What in the world!¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    ¡°Oh...¡±


    My group members seemed at a loss for words and soon pressed their lips tightly. They were probably all scared. We had already made a bad impression on Kim Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans since we uploaded the same video as Only One. In the process, a small battleparing our looks with Only One was made.


    Though most peopleughed and passed over the incident, there were some fans who expressed their discontentment. Though they didn¡¯t openly rebuke us, they seemed displeased about the situation and our tie to Kim Hyun-Sung. Thus, if we made the wrong move here, we could receive a bucket load of insults from Kim Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans.


    <i>¡®Those broadcasting guys must be aiming for this.¡¯ </i>It appeared that the broadcasters wanted to make Only One and us rival groups.


    <i>¡®But rather than a healthypetition, we would look like challengers who didn¡¯t know our ce.¡¯</i> Perhaps, the broadcasters¡¯ n was to make us the annoying viin extras who stood in the way of the main characters¡ªOnly One.


    There was no one who didn¡¯t know that <i>The Showcas</i>e would center around Only One after Kang Hyun-Sung joined the scene, and the only question was how the other no-name groups would be ced around him. And in these pre-nned theatrics, the role that Siren would have to fulfill was to spice things up in the beginning to inevitably fall in the end.


    <i>¡®I should try to overturn the game.</i>¡¯ That was the only way to prevent our fall. Of course, I couldn¡¯t do that right now since I needed to deal with the current crisis in front of me. I stared at the camera and asked, ¡°So, do I just have to make my provocations while looking at the camera?¡±


    ¡°Yes, please start when you are prepared.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± I stared intently at the camera. This provocation part was quite important, and I knew my part could be entirely edited out if I did a boring job. We would have to be grateful if we just came out for five seconds of the show or if we got edited out for only one episode. But once we were marked as a boring group from the start, we could not get any cuts in the future too. This was a test of some sort to see our variety show skills. Considering that, it was better to give them the scene they wanted.


    ¡°We will definitely beat Only One,¡± I said. For now, I said ament that seemed to ept my role as viin extra 1, who didn¡¯t know his ce. Kim Min-Young¡¯s eyes slightly widened. It seemed she liked the fact that I said a line she wanted. Yet, I won¡¯t be led into the scenario these people wanted.


    As I continued, I changed the wording of my lines just ever so slightly so that I was dering a fight against Only One but wasn¡¯t really provoking them. My words created a slight tension and had just the right amount of humor. Moreover, it didn¡¯t cause anyone to scowl in dismay.


    After hearing my deration, Kim Min-Young stared at me strangely. My group members also looked like they didn¡¯t know how to respond and whether I had done the right thing or not. But this was what I intended, and their faces seemed to indicate that I did my job.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± A short silence filled the practice room. There were some people who were trying to hide the smiles on their faces. It didn¡¯t seem like I did a bad job since Kim Min-Young also looked pleased. She probably didn¡¯t expect me to dere a fight so readily. Kim Min-Young stared at me intently and smiled. That was enough. I didn¡¯t know how I was going to get edited, but it seemed I was able to avoid gettingpletely edited out.


    ¡°All right, I will acknowledge this as missionplete.¡±


    ¡°Gasp!¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°I-It¡¯s done!¡±


    My group members raised their heads in surprise. Then, Kim Min-Young handed us a piece of paper. I took the paper as the representative of the group even though I already knew what its content was. Then, I handed the mission paper to my group members, and everyone gathered around Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°I¡¯m opening the mission...!¡± Yeon-Hoon spoke tensely while looking at the camera and opened up the sheet of paper towards the camera. This was the mission:


    ¡ªPrepare for a 120-second first-meeting performance


    Compared to how much fuss we made, the mission was too ordinary and simple.


    ¡°Uh, is this all?¡± Yeon-Hoon nced around at his members and asked. Though there was the condition of 120 seconds, there wasn¡¯t anything special about it and everyone had already expected to do a first-meeting performance. After all, what kind of broadcasting show would gather idols and just make them greet each other in their first meeting? Everyone appeared disappointed by theckluster mission.


    ¡°Yes, you all just need to prepare a performance in ten days when all groups will meet. The time limit for the performance will be 120 seconds.¡± Even while my group members looked unenergetic, the scriptwriter confidently continued the show. And knowing that they could be edited out if they showed their disappointment any more than this, my group members quickly brightened their faces.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we have a time limit of 120 seconds...!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what we are going to do.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s insane~¡±


    ¡°As expected, it¡¯s an interesting mission...!¡±


    Everyone took turns, making fake reactions.


    ¡°Then, we will see you in ten days,¡± Kim Min-Young said and raised her sketchbook.


    ¡ªClosing statement


    It seemed we were supposed to say our farewells here.


    ¡°We will all work hard to give a cool performance for the other groups and viewers in ten days!¡± Yeon-Hoon stood in the front and started our closing lines. These were lines he hadn¡¯te up with on his own but what a writer showed him before they began filming.


    ¡°Then, until now, it has been Siren from The Showcase 2 First Chance!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    Like that, we finished our closing statement.


    ¡°Good work, you all~¡±


    ¡°Nice job~¡±


    Then, all the producers and writers who had been watching us with their lips tightly pressedplimented us and began to take their equipment.


    All my group members turned limp, thinking that their first shooting was finally over.


    ¡°Haaaa~¡± Yeon-Hoon whimpered and hugged anyone near him. He tried to hug Do-Seung, but because Do-Seung pushed him away annoyedly, he went to Woon. The room began to be emptier as people left, and as thismotion was going on, Kim Min-Young approached us and said, ¡°Thank you for working so hard on the shooting today.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for all your hard work today too, ma¡¯am!¡± We all simultaneously bowed and greeted her.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to act this politely. Thank you for doing a good job when it¡¯s the first shooting. Anyways, let¡¯s see each other in ten days,¡± Kim Min-Young said and left the practice room with the other producers. But before she left, her eyes seemed to linger on Yeon-Hoon a bit. Well, I supposed it was good that this show¡¯s writer was looking favorably on us.


    ¡°So, what should we do for our 120-second stage?¡±


    ¡°Ummm. It¡¯s hard to think of one now that the timees to do it.¡±


    After the producers left, we all began to talk about the 120-second stage. In ten days, we needed to prepare for a performance that could make us stand out from all the other groups.


    ¡°Should we do something really tough?¡±


    ¡°What about hip hop?¡±


    ¡°Since Tae-Yoon was good at krumpingst time, maybe we can do something like that.¡±


    ¡°What about mixing some contemporary dance?¡± My group dancers wondered. Yet, I knew what the first-meeting stage would be like and what would go on it. Thus, I also knew we needed to wear sailor suits on that stage.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wear sailor suits,¡± I suggested.

 Chapter 14

    <h4>Chapter 14</h4>


    ¡°A sailor uniform?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked to confirm. He seemed to be full of questions, but when I inspected his face closely, he seemed to not have any resistance towards the idea.


    <i>¡®Yeon-Hoon seems to be happy about it for now.¡¯ </i>Rather, he seemed strangely excited. On the other hand¡ª


    ¡°...Sailor uniform?¡± Do-Seung let out a murderous aura. He looked like he heard something that shouldn¡¯t have ever been uttered.


    Unlike Do-Seung, who let out a chilling air, Woon had a gentle smile on his face. He nced at Do-Seung and asked me, ¡°Why did you suggest a sailor uniform, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    It was as expected of someone who always asked for a reason first. Dong-Jun also agreed with Woon¡¯s question.


    Woon continued, ¡°Usually, you start with the concept first and not the outfit first.¡±


    Everyone must be wondering why I suddenly suggested a sailor uniform out of the blue. However, it was hard to exin the reason to my members. The only good excuse I could make was, ¡°We would look good in a sailor uniform.¡±


    Do-Seung looked at me baffled, as if he couldn¡¯t understand my reasoning at all. He alternately pointed his fingers at himself and me, questioning the idea of whether a sailor uniform would truly fit us. Woon and Dong-Jun looked like they would look pretty good in a sailor uniform, and there was no need to even talk about Yeon-Hoon.


    Although Yeon-Hoon would look good in anything with a face like that, he would look even better in refreshing and colorful clothes like a sailor uniform. On the other hand, Do-Seung and I were quite far from the images given off by cutesy sailor uniforms.


    I said, ¡°It would look good on you too.¡± In cases like this, it was better to repeat the same words than to give other semi-usible reasons.


    I added, ¡°Yeon-Hoon would especially look good in it.¡± This was a good enough reason by my standards, but in the end, this was just my perspective.


    Do-Seung said, ¡°So you chose sailor uniforms because they fit well with Yeon-Hoon? For just that reason?¡±


    Of course, Do-Seung was right too, as the reason I gave him might seem trivial and insignificant to him. However, to support my viewpoint, the reason I gave could not be easily dismissed as trivial.


    I said, ¡°In our application video, we put Yeon-Hoon at the center. Because of that, I think our group¡¯s image is still centered around him to the viewers as well as the other cast members.¡±


    ¡°So that¡¯s why you want us to go with sailor uniforms?¡±


    ¡°Yes, since Yeon-Hoon looks good in a sailor uniform, I think we should go with a concept that builds on our previous image and leaves a strong impression on the audience¡¯s mind. Since it¡¯s still in the early stages of broadcasting.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Do-Seung seemed to finally understand my reasoning, but he seemed a bit worried. I knew what he was worried about. He was worried that we might have to keep fixating on this image after going with a refreshing concept in the beginning.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go with a refreshing and bright concept until the next performance and then do something else.¡± I also had no intention to continue with the same concept.


    ¡°...Is that so?¡± Do-Seung seemed to ept my suggestion after I listed out all my reasons.


    However, he seemed a bit disappointed as there must be a concept that he wanted to do. Of course, the concepts that Do-Seung thought of must be good as he had much better artistic sense and ability than me. However, we had to go with a sailor uniform for this stage.


    I said, ¡°Just trust me one more time. I¡¯ve done well so far.¡± This one seemed a bit of a stretch, but I used myst card on the line. I was asking them to believe me using the performances I had shown them so far.


    ¡°Pweh. Fine, I got it. Let¡¯s go with a sailor uniform.¡± Do-Seung also nodded as if it couldn¡¯t be helped.


    ¡°Yeah, I like it! It¡¯s a great idea to wear a sailor uniform! Since our group¡¯s name is also Siren!¡± Yeon-Hoon joined the conversation as soon as the moment arose and lifted the mood.


    ¡°Yeah! The Sirens are wearing sailor uniforms!¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s some context behind it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it might turn out well.¡±


    I was d that everyone epted my suggestion quickly. The only thing left was now¡ª


    <i>¡®A sailor uniform...¡¯</i> It was difficult for me to ept it. The fact that I had to wear a sailor uniform...Imented the cruel reality that forced me to abandon my self-identity as a shut-in novelist for five years and wear a cutesy sailor uniform.


    <i>¡®But I have to wear it.¡¯</i> I had to¡ªso that we could avoid that disaster.


    * * *


    After Siren¡¯s shoot was finished, Kim Min-Young entered the conference room of <i>The Showcase</i>. Producer Park Soo-Chul was inside with a tired face.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here?¡± Park Soo-Chul rubbed his red eyes and asked.


    ¡°Eat this and sober up.¡± It was already approaching dinner time, but Soo-Chul still seemed to have a hangover. Kim Min-Young handed him a hangover relief kit that she bought at a pharmacy on the way.


    ¡°Thanks. You¡¯re really the best.¡± Park Soo-Chul opened the lid of the hangover cure with a skillful hand and swallowed it at once with the pills.


    ¡°Ahhh, I¡¯m never going to drink again for real this time.¡±


    Then Min-Young asked, ¡°So how did the talk about the production cost go yesterday?¡±


    ¡°I think the production cost will be approximately covered by showing thatpany¡¯s drink more than three times per episode.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡±


    The reason why Park Soo-Chul was dying of hangovers was that he had to go through numerous meetings to cover the production cost of the broadcast. Since<i> The Showcase</i> was such a big project, production costs were always a problem. They needed to have a big budget and get a lot of sponsorships from otherpanies.


    ¡°I should have gone instead of you. Thanks for covering me. Since I also had to take Cho Seung-Woon to thepany dinner, you had to take charge of it by yourself, but you did a great job without any directions.¡± The Cho Seung-Woon that he mentioned was the production team¡¯s <i>maknae</i> producer.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I would have only used Seung-Woon as the luggage carrier anyway.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Park Soo-Chulughed as he said this and then asked, ¡°So how did it go, the shooting with Siren? You said you didn¡¯t know whether you should cry orugh because the shooting schedule got fixed in a day.¡±


    ¡°First, we did buy some leisure time in our schedule because we got done with one team before we got really busy.¡±


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s good. What¡¯s the official report?¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Kim Min-Young took some time to think before reporting to Park Soo-Chul. She had initially nned to use Siren as mere viins for Only One. Furthermore, she had nned to use them as a way to maximize the tear-jerking concept of struggling idols, which was the main identity of <i>The Showcase</i>¡¯s second season.


    She had nned to just add in Siren¡¯s dorm or practice room with a lot of effects whenever the program¡¯s concept was getting loose. Since they were idols who hadn¡¯t debuted yet, they could edit them however they wanted. However, after seeing them directly, they were much better than expected.


    Min-Young said, ¡°To be honest, it¡¯s a waste to use them as t viins or for tear-jerking scenes.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I thought they just had good looks, but they were skilled as well.¡±


    ¡°But they¡¯re in a strangepany like WD?¡±


    ¡°Well, they must have their reasons. After researching a bit, it seems as if their head manager changed once before, and I think things were pretty good before that.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I see.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but most importantly¡ª,¡± Kim Min-Young was about to say Yeon-Hoon¡¯s singing was mind-blowing, but it seemed like she was going too overboard, so she closed her mouth.


    Park Soo-Chul asked again, ¡°Most importantly, what?¡±


    ¡°That, uh, they have a good bond.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°No, they seem like real brothers, so it was nice to see.¡±


    ¡°What, that¡¯s it?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Min-Young pretended to be ignorant.


    ¡°Then why did you smile while talking?¡±


    ¡°When did I smile?¡±


    ¡°You just cracked a smile while talking.¡±


    Kim Min-Young looked at the corners of her mouth and as he said, the corners of her mouth were lifted upwards. She muttered, ¡°That¡¯s crazy.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Soo-Chul burst out intoughter, and Min-Young frowned.


    He said, ¡°It¡¯s making me curious what kind of kids they are. They must be great to earn your approval.¡±


    To Soo-Chull Min-Young¡¯s smile just now was a more important indicator for determining the quality of Siren¡¯s potential than any of the words that Min-Young had said before. Like this, time flew by until the day of the first shooting.


    * * *


    Today was the official first day of filming for <The Showcase 2-First Chance>.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m burned out.¡¯</i> Our lives were so hectic that I couldn¡¯t even remember how thest 10 days went by. Since nothing was set besides wearing a sailor uniform, there was a truckload of things we needed to consider and n. We literally had to create something out of nothing. We needed to find the song to cover, make the choreography, and consider the outfits and other details, and pay for them.


    Fundamentally, we needed to get money from the agency, as these were areas that we couldn¡¯t pay with our own money as it was not a couple of pennies or two. As a result of Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna going to Yoon Tae-Hyung and asking him for apany card, they were finally able to receive a budget after a long period of struggle. Of course, the budget was too tight for us to do anything significant, but we got at least a bit of money.


    <i>¡®We at least can take care of a few things.</i>¡¯ With that money, we matched our outfits and bought a navy sailor uniform that was within our budget that didn¡¯t look as cheap as possible. Everyone else probably had a stylist to style them, but we had to do the fitting for each other. And currently¡ª


    ¡°Are we really going to the salon?¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°But doesn¡¯t WD not have the funds?¡±


    We were heading to the salon for the first shooting. It was very difficult for us to make an appointment at this salon as well, as there were almost no salons that we could go to with our budget. It was impossible to get our hair and makeup done at a salon with our current budget. Rather, it would be faster to search for a low-cost professional willing to provide services within our budget.


    However, the problem was whether there was a professional ready to provide early morning services with such a pitiful amount. It was at that moment, Lee Hyuna of WD Entertainment showed herwork. She said her cousin ran a small salon somewhere in Gangbuk and called her and eventually made all of this possible.


    Although it was not a salon where celebrities went, we could leave our hair and makeup in the hands of professionals, and then go to the shoot with peace of mind. Today¡¯s shooting started at 9 a.m. However, we had to wake up at dawn because the filming location was at a studio in Gyeonggi-do, and we had to do our hair and makeup.


    Despite waking up at the crack of dawn, the atmosphere of our group was cheery and bright. Since we had finally found a salon to go after oveing all kinds of impossible hurdles, we felt ted.


    When we came down to the first floor of our apartment, a van was waiting for us. The person behind the wheel was Yoon Seung-Yeon from the design team of WD Entertainment.


    Seung-Yeon shouted, ¡°Everyone, get in!¡±


    ¡°Everyone, great job for waking up so early in the morning!¡± Lee Hyuna from the management support team was in the passenger seat.


    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s really a van.¡±


    ¡°So cool.¡±


    ¡°It feels like we¡¯re famous.¡±


    We all boarded the vehicle. This vehicle had also been dragged out after being neglected in thepany¡¯s parking lot for a long time. Although we had nothing until ten days ago...


    <i>¡®Now, we look pretty much the part.¡¯ </i>From going to a salon to the outfit and van, it looked like we were part of the entertainment business now.


    Seung-Yeon shouted, ¡°Here we go!¡±


    We headed straight to Hyuna¡¯s cousin¡¯s salon in Gangbuk.


    ¡°Oh my~ Hello! You¡¯re trainees from Hyuna¡¯spany, right?¡± The salon that we arrived at was not as small as we thought. Rather, it was such arge ce I wondered why it was so huge. Although it didn¡¯t do celebrity hair and makeup, it seemed as if this hair salon was famous for being good at styling hair in the neighborhood and unlike small neighborhood salons, it even had a separate makeup artist.


    After getting our hair and make-up done and putting on our outfits, we headed to the studio at Gyeonggi-do.


    On our way to the studio, Yeon-Hoon spoke in a serious voice to boost our morale. ¡°We can do a good job, right guys?¡± He also said, ¡°You guys remember our team greeting, right?¡±


    We even made a separate team greeting in thest 10 days.


    ¡°We all learned it so don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll be able to do a great job today, so don¡¯t be nervous, Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    ¡°We practiced a lot so all we have to do is go and enjoy ourselves. Yeon-Hoon, you look really cool today.¡±


    Although Yeon-Hoon had spoken first out of concern for the group, he received everyone¡¯s encouragement and support instead.


    ¡°Uh, yeah! That¡¯s right! I look really cool today!¡± However, Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t think of it as strange and just smiled brightly.


    I looked out the window, ¡®It finally starts today.¡¯


    We had gone through all kinds of hardships and trials to prepare for the past 10 days, and now, it was starting all over again. Although there was no stage that was not important, the first performance that we prepared was especially important.


    <i>¡®We need topletely turn the table over at least once.¡¯ </i>We needed to flip the board that the production team had already set. I looked out the window alone with a heart twice as solemn as the others. After riding in the car for about an hour, we finally arrived in front of the studio where the shooting will take ce today.


    ¡°Okay! We¡¯ve arrived!¡±


    ¡°Argh!¡±


    ¡°My body is so stiff!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get off.¡± We came out of the car in our long padded jackets. And what we came across as soon as we came out was¡ª


    ¡°What?¡± It was Only One¡¯s van.

 Chapter 15

    <h4>Chapter 15</h4>


    Only One¡¯s car was right in front of us.


    ¡°Ah...¡± We could tell it apart from other cars because a member of Only One, Park Young-Ho, came out of the car. Park Young-Ho was the lead vocalist of the group, and he froze when he saw us. By his immediate reaction, it appeared he was also aware of our existence.


    ¡°Ah, hello Siren members! I am Park Young-Ho from Only One!¡± He greeted us in a loud voice.


    ¡°Hey! Hello! I¡¯m Woo Yeon-Hoon from Siren!¡± Yeon-Hoon greeted him cheerfully with a big smile on his face. Park Young-Ho looked a bit taken aback as he epted Yeon-Hoon¡¯s greeting when another voice intervened from far away.


    ¡°If you got what you needed, quickly return to the waiting room! What are you doing there!¡± It was someone who looked like the Only One¡¯s manager.


    ¡°Ah, oh! Um, well then, see you guys,¡± Park Young-Ho said. It appeared he came to this ce alone because he had forgotten something in the car. Park Young-Ho greeted us hastily and ran toward his manager.


    ¡°It gives me a weird feeling seeing other idols,¡± Yeon-Hoon said. He appeared to be happy to see other groups.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s strange,¡± I responded and nced in the direction that Park Young-Ho disappeared from. Park Young-Ho recognized us at first nce even though our profiles hadn¡¯t even been uploaded online, nor were we famous yet. That seemed to mean that the Only One members must have discussed Siren on their own. It was understandable since we uploaded a video with the exact same song as them.


    <i>¡®They seem to be wary of us,¡¯</i> I concluded after thinking about Park Young-Ho¡¯s reaction just now. Maybe this was how a South Korean would respond when seeing a North Korean person on vacation. Their eyes would be filled with surprise, shock, and curiosity all at once.


    <i>¡®It would be stranger for them to not be wary of us, considering how many posts were tying Siren and Only One together on the inte,¡¯</i> I thought.


    ¡°What are you thinking so long about, Tae-Yoon?¡± Woon asked, seeing my expression. It seemed my expression looked serious.


    ¡°Ah, I was just thinking about the shooting.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t think too deeply about it. I¡¯m sure you will do well since we thoroughly prepared for it,¡± Woon said and patted my back.


    ¡°Okay! Let¡¯s all go inside!¡± WD¡¯s Hyuna and Seung-Yeon both stepped forward and announced.


    Thus, we all went inside the studio.


    ***


    The producers were waiting for us inside the studio.


    ¡°You can use this waiting room. We will call each group separately during rehearsals, so pleasee up when we call your group¡¯s name. Please refrain from moving out of this room as much as possible. When you have to move elsewhere, we ask that you report to us before moving.¡± After giving us a couple of warnings, we went inside the waiting room.


    Since we hadn¡¯t even debut yet, everything was new to us. My group members looked around the studio set excitedly while moving toward the waiting room. Everyone expressed their amazement once we arrived inside the official room that had been prepared for us as a participant in this show.


    <i>¡®I suppose it¡¯s natural that my members would feel this way,</i>¡¯ I thought while crashing into the room¡¯s sofa. <i>¡®I¡¯m sure The Showcase is the only program that will provide a private waiting room for an idol group that hasn''t even debuted yet.¡¯ </i>But in the end, this was for the fun of the show; if several groups used the same waiting room and developed a friendship with one another, it could lessen thepetitive nature of the show.


    On the monitor installed inside the waiting room, there was a warning:


    ¡ªIt¡¯s against the rules to watch the rehearsal.


    The message warned us to not turn on the monitor which would allow us to see the situation up at the stage. It was probably because we would only keep our current tension and nervousness if we went up the stage not knowing anything about what the other groups would do.


    Even I, who knew what type of performances the other groups would do, felt nervous. Yet, this was a different type of nervousness than the one others were feeling. I was nervous not because I didn¡¯t know what would happen but because I didn¡¯t know whether everything would happen as I had nned inside my head or not.


    ¡°Ugggh. I wonder what the other groups would do.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°What if they like, fly around the stage?¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung, how could a person fly?¡±


    ¡°...Dong-Jun, do you want to get hit before going up the stage?¡±


    ¡°Everybody, Do-Seung is going to hit me!¡±


    Perhaps, it was because they were nervous but my group members seemed more energetic than usual.


    <i>¡®Or maybe they are talking a lot for the cameras,¡¯</i> I thought. They could also be constantly spitting out lines to fill up the audio.


    ¡°Let¡¯s warm up our bodies for now,¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Should we?¡±


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s do some light stretching.¡±


    The waiting room was spacious enough for us to even do dance training. Truthfully, it was almost simr to the size of our practice room at WD. We each took off our long paddings and began to warm up. Though we were inside, it felt a bit chilly after taking off our outerwear. This was especially so because of the outfits we were wearing.


    <i>¡®The clothes are short.¡¯</i> Though it was winter outside, our clothes were summer-wear. Do-Seung and I both wore long pants but Woon, Dong-Jun, and Yeon-Hoon all wore short pants.


    ¡°It¡¯s a bit chilly.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s like we are the only ones in the summer.¡±


    ¡°You know what they say. True fashionistas dress coolly the colder it gets.¡±


    My group membersmented and began stretching. All in all, it wasn¡¯t easy to get a good response from the audience by simply wearing out-of-season clothes. There was hardly anyone who wanted to hear a sorrowful bad song when it was drenching hot or wanted to hear a cheery summer song when it was frigid cold. Yet, today was the exception.


    I twirled my wrists and ankles like my group members did and continued to assess the situation. We went over our choreography again, took some breaks, and tried to kill time by doing various activities.


    <i>Knock, knock, knock</i>. It was then, someone knocked on the waiting room.


    ¡°Yes!¡± We simultaneously approached the door.


    ¡°It¡¯s Siren¡¯s turn to do their rehearsal. Please prepare yourselves ande up,¡± the person told us. It was finally rehearsal time.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Pwehh. Haaa.¡±


    ¡°...I¡¯m suddenly getting really nervous.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m getting the jitters.¡±


    My group members said and we all headed towards the stage to do our rehearsal.


    ***


    <i>The Showcase</i>¡¯s main PD, Park Soo-Chul stared at thepletely vacant rehearsal stage and chewed on his fingernails. After seeing four teams do their rehearsals, he realized a pattern he hadn¡¯t expected.


    ¡°Min-Young.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°Do you also sense the problem that I¡¯m seeing right now?¡±


    ¡°Well, yes.¡±


    ¡°Haa, well, I guess there¡¯s no one to me for this. It¡¯s all my fault,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and wiped his face exhaustedly. The rehearsal that had begun early in the morning would be over with Siren¡¯s performance. After thest rehearsal, they would take a short break before starting the shoot. In other words, there was only one performance left before their shooting began.


    ¡°This is driving me crazy.¡± Yet, a problem he hadn¡¯t expected popped up.


    ¡°Why is everyone¡¯s concept so dark?¡± Park Soo-Chul asked.


    ¡°Yes, I know.¡±


    All the performances they had seen until now were simr. This 120-second performance was an opportunity for these idol groups to introduce themselves to the viewers. As idols, they expectantly prepared cool performances that showcased their talents in dancing and singing.


    <i>¡®But why are they wearing all ck, looking so solemn with shing spotlights?¡¯ </i>It was hard to differentiate between these groups because they were all doing the same things. They all wore the same cool-style ck clothes from head to toe and swished left and right across the stage beforeing down. There was no team that did a bad job.


    Everyone was good and seemed to have put all their hearts and souls into their performances with the mindset that this could be theirst opportunity. But that didn¡¯t mean much. South Koreans were known for working hard, and effort was separate from producing noticeable results. And in this idol business, it was even more important for one to stand out from the rest.


    ¡°At least Only One stands out a bit,¡± Park Soo-Chul noted.


    ¡°Even if they are wearing the same ck and making shy moves, the quality of their performance is different,¡± Min-Young responded.


    There was no performance that remained in their memories except Only One.


    ¡°I read through each of their performance exnations, but it didn¡¯t give me this feeling,¡± Kim Min-Young said and ced the exnation notes that she got from each of the idol group¡¯spanies down.


    ¡°Of course, it will sound all perfect and dandy on paper.¡± On the files, all thepanies had written about their group¡¯s performances like some music critics, going on about ¡®sharp synchronization, deep basebined with trendy dance music, movements expressing their ambition, and so on.¡¯ Park Soo-Chul sighed deeply and pushed the papers aside.


    ¡°What in the world are they going on about? Synchronization and deep base? Tell them to not write things like this but only describe their stages as dark, bright, cute, sexy, and the like.¡± Park Soo-Chul said a bit sharply in worry that the show coulde out nd.


    ¡°Siren ising up!¡± One of the producers then approached him and said.


    ¡°Haa. Okay, let me have a look at them,¡± Park Soo-Chul turned his head and saw the Siren members going up the stage. He hoped that they wouldn¡¯t all be wearing the same ck as all the other groups.


    ¡°Hm?¡± Park Soo-Chul¡¯s voice suddenly turned a bit softer. After all the idols who had just been wearing ck with strange ornaments dangling off them, there was a group of five handsome men wearing white and navy sailor uniforms.


    ¡°Look at them, Min-Young.¡± It was as if his eyes were getting refreshed. ¡°I won¡¯t even need an eyedrop seeing them.¡± Park Soo-Chul¡¯s sour face immediately brightened.


    ¡°Min-Young? Did you hear what I said? Why aren¡¯t you replying?¡± Park Soo-Chul tapped Kim Min-Young while feeling a bit hurt that she didn¡¯t respond to his joke.


    ¡°What¡¯s with you?¡± he asked and saw Kim Min-Young¡¯s eyes fixate on the stage and not move. Park Soo-Chulughed seeing this and turned back to the stage. Then, he also watched Siren¡¯s performance that Min-Young regarded so highly, and the whole time while the rehearsal went on, the two couldn¡¯t pull their eyes away from the stage.


    ¡°Thank you! We are Sirens!¡± the group shouted at the end.


    ***


    After the rehearsal ended, we came back to our waiting room and slumped on the couch.


    ¡°Pweh! I think I was really nervous. Look at how sweaty my palms are!¡± Yeon-Hoon pointed at his wet palms and almost bragged about them.


    ¡°It really feels different when you are dancing in front of the cameras.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, especially when we are also wearing our outfits on top of the stage.¡±


    ¡°I think I know why you have to do rehearsals now. After doing it once, I think I have a good feeling about what to do on the real stage.¡±


    My group members talked and then discussed how we could do better; these topics included what details we would highlight, how bigger our formation should be because the size of the stage was different from our usual practice room, and so on.


    <i>¡®I already knew this, but these people have the skills,¡¯</i> I thought. My beliefs were confirmed once again seeing my group members. Though they had been unlucky in their past life, Siren wasn¡¯t a group that should¡¯ve disappeared without a trace. We were still having our meeting and break time when there was an announcement.


    ¡°Shooting will begin!¡±


    ¡°Please go up the stage in the order we call you!¡±


    I thought the producers sure worked hard to limit our interaction with other groups.


    ¡°The first group in line is Only One! Pleasee up!¡± Only One went in first.


    ¡°Bleshue up!¡±


    ¡°OnebyOnee up!¡±


    ¡°Luminine up!¡±


    Then Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Luminin went up. In my past life, only four teams appeared on <i>The Showcase 2</i> andpeted, but this time, we were also included.


    ¡°Siren,e up the stage~¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do a good job, everyone!¡±


    We all opened the waiting room¡¯s door and walked up the stage. This was the first time we were officially working with the Siren name on the line.


    ¡°We can do it, Siren!¡± Yeon-Hoon yelled what sounded like a little cheer.


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    ¡°We can do it, Siren!¡±


    The rest of the members also followed him.<i> ¡®We can do it, Siren,¡¯ </i>the words stuck to my tongue.

 Chapter 16

    <h4>Chapter 16</h4>


    I went up to the stage with the rest of the members. Since we were calledst, we were naturally thest ones to go up on stage. The other groups were probably awkwardly greeting each other and waging a war of nerves. I thought it was fortunate that our name was calledte so that we wouldn¡¯t be involved in such a bothersome fight.


    ¡°We can do it. We can do it. Ugh.¡± Yeon-Hoon kept muttering to himself to calm his anxiety.


    ¡°You can do it, Yeon-Hoon.¡± I said and massaged Yeon-Hoon¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right, I can do it!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon quickly recovered his energy with our encouragement. Although we had already climbed the stairs once for our rehearsal, it felt especially nerve-wracking.


    ¡°The walls here will open on both sides so don¡¯t panic and walk straight.¡± We prepared ourselves after listening to the staff¡¯s exnation.


    Soon after...


    <i>Ziiing¡ª</i>


    With the sound of mechanics moving, the center of the wall in front of us split and began to open on both sides. Then, a long, rectangr stage came into view. Several chairs were arranged on both sides of the long stage. Luminin was sitting at the innermost left seat, and Bleshu was sitting next to Luminin. The group sitting at the innermost right seat was OnebyOne, and the group sitting next to OnebyOne was Only One. Siren¡¯s seat was¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s at the left end.¡¯</i> It was the seat next to Bleshu and right across from Only One. In other words, it was a ce where we had no choice but to keep making eye contact with Only One.


    <i>¡®They were aiming for this.¡¯</i> It seemed as if the production team were trying to stir up drama by constantly putting us up with Only One. As soon as we came up on stage, all the eyes of the other groups were on us. There were no groups that pretended to wee us or look surprised as they already received information about which group woulde out. They all just looked at us with a moderate look of vignce. We slowly walked to our seats. After getting into our seats, I looked forward, and I could see Only One right in front of me.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s bothersome as hell.¡¯</i> After sitting down, this setup was quite burdensome. I saw Park Young-Ho, whom we met before entering here, and I saw the other members of Only One: Kim Si-Woon, Kim Ju-Hyun, and Lee Chul-Woon. And the member who sat right in the center was Kang Hyun-Sung.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s my first time seeing Kang Hyun-Sung in person.¡¯</i> Kang Hyun-Sung was right in front of me.


    I wasn¡¯t sure if I should say this, but I thought, <i>¡®He really does stand out.</i>¡¯ I could see why the word ''star potential'' existed.


    Kang Hyun-Sung was a fair man with tinum hair, and there was nothing remarkably handsome about his features. He didn¡¯t give off a fierce impression but had rather soft features instead. He had the type of face that senior citizens would like, saying that he had a gentle and friendly face. Yet, his face also left asting impression and grabbed one¡¯s attention. And the reason for that was¡ª


    <i>¡®What¡¯s up with his eyes?¡¯</i> Hyun-Sung¡¯s eyes were a little different from the norm. I wasn¡¯t talking about whether his eyes were deep-set or anything about his eye shape; his gaze was clearly different from the others. It seemed as if his eyes shook less than the others; no, his eyes didn¡¯t even tremble in the slightest.


    <i>¡®His eyes are mad for sess.¡¯ </i>I alone called him ''mad eyes''. Since it was with absolute certainty that I would be bombarded with insults if I said this in front of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans, I secretly called him by that nickname in my head. On the other hand, his eyes looked even more intense in person. He really seemed crazy about sess. Kang Hyun-Sung was probably the only person who gave such an impression with only his eyes. The other Siren members seemed a bit scared as well.


    ¡°Pwehh.¡± Yeon-Hoon took a deep breath and tapped his chest to calm his mind. Do-Seung was frozen and didn¡¯t budge at all, and Woon couldn¡¯t stay still and kept twirling his fingers. Only Dong-Jun remained rtively calm. However, his face also looked slightly nervous as he kept looking around.


    The stage was still silent. Originally, we would have greeted each other, but the war on nerves seemed to be continuing. Perhaps, the other groups had already shared greetings with each other and were not sure whether they should share greetings once again. It seemed as if it would be better for us to say hello first. I slightly poked Yeon-Hoon¡¯s side. He looked at me for a moment, nodded as if he understood what I meant, and got up.


    ¡°Ah, we¡¯ll introduce ourselves, everyone!¡± Then after speaking loudly for the other teams to hear, he drew everyone¡¯s attention. Only One and the other groups looked at us in unison.


    ¡°One, two, say yes! Hello! We¡¯re Siren! We look forward to meeting you all!¡±


    When we shouted our team greeting and bowed our heads, apuse, and hellos came from all over the ce. The first group that came forward with a friendly reaction was Bleshu, who was right next to us.


    ¡°Hello! We enjoyed watching Siren¡¯s application video!¡± The leader of Bleshu said and approached us towork.


    Since the leader of Bleshu came forward, it was only right for our leader to step forward as well. Without us even asking, Yeon-Hoon immediately answered with a smile. ¡°Really? Thank you! That was our <i>maknae</i>¡¯s idea!¡±


    ¡°Ah, <i>maknae</i>?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Tae-Yoon here is our <i>maknae</i>.¡±


    ¡°Ah, he must be one smart <i>maknae</i>.¡±


    ¡°Yes, he¡¯s a smarty pants!¡±


    ¡°Oh, Bong Tae-Yoon, the smarty pants<i> maknae</i>. What a brainy kiddo~¡± Dong-Jun sneaked into the conversation and called me ''smarty pants <i>maknae''</i>. I don¡¯t know why Yeon-Hoon decided to use that phrase of all words. It was a phrase that might onlye out in a kid''s show.


    ¡°Have you watched our application video too?¡± Bleshu¡¯s leader asked whether we¡¯ve seen their video as well.


    ¡°Yes! Of course!¡± Yeon-Hoon answered with a nod and continued, ¡°It¡¯s the video where you all took turns singing, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right! We sang a song continuously as if we werepeting for the mike.¡±


    ¡°I thought that was a really good idea when I first saw that video.¡±


    I silently watched our leader socialize with the Bleshu leader. Since Yeon-Hoon maxed out in sociability stats, he didn¡¯t seem awkward about it; rather, it seemed as if it was a little too much for the Bleshu leader. He looked like someone who attempted to make light conversation and wanted to exchange a few words but was forced into a lengthy conversation. Well, he would have to hang in there, since he was the one who decided to socialize.


    I turned my attention away from Bleshu and looked at Only One. Only One was also talking to the team next to them and socializing. However, it felt more like a fan signing event as I could hear people repeatedly saying that they were fans of Kang Hyun-Sung. When it felt like the atmosphere¡¯s tension was slowly loosening up¡ª


    <i>Tap!</i>


    ¡°Uh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± The stage light suddenly went dark. When people began to look around to find the source of the sudden change, then¡ª


    <i>Ziiiiing¡ª</i>


    A familiar mechanical sound rang on the stage.


    <i>sh!</i> One spotlight shed at the end of the stage. A pair of male and female hosts walked out of the door. The male host was a famousedian, Kim Young-Jin, and the female host was solo singer Nahyun. Both were celebrities who frequently appeared on TV shows. I knew they were going to be the hosts, but I didn¡¯t think anyone else knew as I was the only one from the future.


    ¡°Oh my gosh...¡±


    ¡°Is this for real?¡±


    ¡°Wow, crazy!¡±


    ¡°Mr. Young-Jin is so tall...¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s handsome.¡±


    Everyone was surprised and stared at the hosts. The funny thing was that none of the numerous reactions were about Nahyun. Since reactions to the opposite sex could be problematic in the future, they were already being extremely careful. The two hosts came out to the center of the stage and looked straight at the camera.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯median Kim Young-Jin, the host of <i>The Showcase 2 First Chance</i>, a war to find the most brilliant gem on stage.¡±


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m singer Nahyun. Nice to meet you, everyone!¡±


    After greeting the camera, the two hosts turned their eyes and greeted us as well.


    ¡°Hello, ma¡¯am!¡±


    ¡°Hello, sir!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re handsome!¡±


    Perhaps due to how young and innocent we looked, Kim Young-Jin and Nahyun smiled slightly and met each of our eyes one by one. Then they returned to their original position and continued to talk while looking at the camera.


    ¡°Among countless applicants, a total of two idol groups and three pre-debut groups here were specially selected to join us here today, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, there were countless applicants for <i>The Showcase 2</i>, and among them, the five teams gathered here obtained the highest number of views with their unique talent and wit.¡±


    Their remarks continued naturally like flowing water. Their lines might have been written by the scriptwriter, but it was a whole different ball game to ry it so naturally.


    ¡°Now, shall we look at their faces?¡± Comedian Kim Young-Jin said so in a yful tone and pretended to look around jokingly.


    The only one who epted that ad-lib was our team leader, Yeon-Hoon. He matched Young-Jin''s gesture and cupped his face with both hands and shook his head gently. I had no idea Yeon-Hoon would be this good in front of the cameras. He had been so nervous before going up on stage but now didn¡¯t hesitate to grab attention.


    ¡°Hahaha! How cute.¡± Young-Jin burst intoughter at Yeon-Hoon¡¯s actions.


    <i>¡®We got at least one more cut in the bag.¡¯ </i>Thanks to Yeon-Hoon¡¯s wit, I thought we coulde out for at least a few more seconds on air.


    After exchanging a few more ad-libs so that the atmosphere could be rxed for a while, the hosts began rying their lines.


    ¡°Each of the five teams gathered today was selected based on the application videos that best represented their team, so let¡¯s now take some time to check out the videos that have garnered massive attention.¡± At Nahyun¡¯s remarks, the lights went dark one more time and a video came out of the electronic disy at the end of the stage.


    The first to appear was Luminin¡¯s video. It was a performance video of a six-member group, and there was nothing unusual about the dance itself. However, their excellent skills were clearly noticeable, so they were able to achieve a moderate number of views of 30,000. Luminin was a flopped group that had debuted a year ago but hadn¡¯t even been able toe out on any major music shows.


    The next video was from OnebyOne. Like Luminin, they had debuted 1 year ago but weren¡¯t able to draw significant attention and were being buried by other groups. OnebyOne had posted a video reminiscent of a hip-hop cypher.


    As expected of a hip-hop group with three rappers and two vocals, it was a video that paid more attention to rap and atmosphere than choreography. Since they showed a rare hip-hop video among many simr idol performances, they were able to receive a bit of attention and recorded 35,000 views.


    The next was Bleshu¡¯s video. Bleshu was a pre-debut group like us, and in their video, they sang one song whilepeting for the mike. They filmed it in a fun variety show manner and all the members had good vocals so they were able to reach a high number of views for a total of 50,000.


    However, this was actually just getting a taste of the program and the real show started from here on. Frankly, I knew that the reason why our application video was being shown again was to pit us against Only One. Sure enough, Only One and our videos didn¡¯t y separately but were¡ª


    ¡°Side by sideparison?¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    Our videos were ced side to side on one screen. The aim of the broadcasting show was way too obvious. When the show went on air, they would probably add a reaction cut with the phrase, ¡®Siren and Only posted exactly the same video¡¯, at the bottom. The reaction cut that they would use at that time will most likely be us looking taken aback. After the application video was finished, the hosts continued their lines.


    ¡°Did you guys enjoy the application video that showed the charms of the five teams?¡±


    ¡°Yessss!¡±


    We all gave the appropriate reply, and by this point, the atmosphere was still amicable. However, this congenial atmosphere would most likely not continue.


    <i>¡®If the atmosphere is warm and friendly, they would have to think about breaking it somehow.¡¯ </i>Even though I didn¡¯t remember the whole set-up of the show, this was just my feeling as a writer. Although we were in different fields, all writers were of the same blood. And as expected¡ª


    ¡°But if it ends here, it won¡¯t be <i>The Showcase</i>.¡± One of the hosts made ament that broke the friendly mood.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve alreadypleted this mission. Let¡¯s now watch the deration of war videos that all of you sent to each other at the same time!¡±


    It was now time to watch the provocations we were all forced to make. Those cruel production bastards immediately ryed those videos right in front of us. The first to appear was¡ª


    ¡ªAh, um, hello Siren. This is Kim Siwoon from Only One.


    It was a video of Only One dering war on us.

 Chapter 17

    <h4>Chapter 17</h4>


    The atmosphere immediately turned cold as soon as the video yed.


    ¡ªAh, um, hello Siren. This is Kim Siwoon from Only One.


    The first video toe up was Only One. Everyone here knew that a strange tension existed between our group and Only One because we uploaded the same video as them. Thus, our image among Only One¡¯s fans wasn¡¯t very favorable, and the fact that the group was dering war on us meant that the result of their spinning wheel had been manipted as well.


    After manipting our result, there was nothing stopping the production team from pulling the same trick on them as well. It appeared these broadcasting guys also pulled the same tricks on Only One. Nevertheless, Only One¡¯s Kim Si-Woon was having a difficult time continuing.


    Though this group was like ¡®the king¡¯ among no-name idols thanks to Kang Hyun-Sung, they were also from a smallpany in the end. It was unlikely that Kim Si-Woon was properly trained and educated about show business manners and speech like idols from bigpanies were. And even if he had received training in these areas, he would¡¯ve been nervous for his first shoot. Kim Si-Woon hesitated like he had no idea what to say.


    ¡ªI-I saw that you guys shot the same video as us.


    He tantly brought up the topic that was on everybody¡¯s minds, and the atmosphere on the set turned cold to frigid. Nobodyughed or talked.


    ¡ªI don¡¯t know if this is just a coincidence or fate, but we would definitely not lose to you guys...!


    Kim Si-Woon murmured a line that could¡¯vee out from the main character of aic book and disappeared from the screen. It seemed Kim Si-Woon tried to end the video on a light-hearted note somehow but failed.


    At this rate, he would just look awkward as the person who made the provocation while we would be viinized. We needed to loosen up this atmosphere to change the story, but it was dangerous for us to hastily say something orugh because it could also be edited as us scoffing at the other group.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Yeon-Hoon thenughed very brightly as if the video he saw was very funny. He seemed to have really enjoyed the video as he looked at Kim Si-Woon with no ill but positive feelings.


    ¡°Yes! It really feels like this is destiny!¡± Rather than pointing out the part about not losing to us, it seemed Yeon-Hoon was only focusing on the part that our teams were perhaps fated for each other.


    ¡°Uh, yes perhaps this could be the beginning of a new love?¡± Kim Si-Woon immediately clutched to Yeon-Hoon¡¯sment as if he had received a lifeline in a dangerous situation.


    The atmosphere in the set became light and warm again.


    ¡°Ah~ It seems like there¡¯s some connection between the two groups already!¡± Kim Young-Jinmented at just the right time to continue the light-hearted atmosphere. ¡°And since Only One¡¯s video came out, it seems only natural that Siren¡¯s video should y next. This is Siren¡¯s deration of war!¡±


    The Siren¡¯s video, where I came out, yed next.


    ¡ªWe will definitely beat Only One. We seriously can¡¯t lose to them.


    The atmosphere changed drastically again because I dered we won¡¯t lose to Only One right from the beginning. Yet, what came next was enough to make the rest of the groupsugh in pity.


    ¡ªI mean, have you guys ever danced while inhaling concrete dust?


    ¡°Concrete dust...¡±


    ¡°...Pft,¡± everyone covered their mouths and tried to stifle theirughter.


    ¡ªOur wooden floor squeaks every day, yelling at us to spare its life.


    Bleshu¡¯s leader blocked his entire mouth when he heard about the wooden floor and turned bright red while trying to hold back hisughter.


    ¡ªEven though I turned neen this year, my back already hurts. Do you know why? It¡¯s because there isn¡¯t even a single foam roller inside our practice room.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Oh, how sad...¡±


    When they heard about the foam rollers, everyone looked at us pitifully without any signs of amusement. My video changed the battle of nerves to a battle of who has the most pitiful background story. Yet, the responses from my group members weren¡¯t that great.


    ¡°<i>Sigh</i>....¡±


    ¡°Ughh....¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    Do-Seung red at me sharply like a high school student whose pride was hurt. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face was bright red as if it was going to explode, and Woon stared at the video screen despairingly. Only Dong-Junughed as if he found the whole situation funny.


    ¡ªWe can¡¯t lose to Only One, because then, we would really not have anywhere else to go.


    Then, when our video ended, people called out.


    ¡°I will buy you a foam roller!¡±


    ¡°Us too!¡±


    ¡°We have many foam rollers in our practice room! We will give you one!¡±


    ¡°You can have your choice of colors from us!¡±


    Many offered to give their foam rollers. I didn¡¯t think that was the point many people would get fixated on but I didn¡¯t n on refusing what people offered me first.


    ¡°If you tell me your address, I will also buy you a foam roller and send it to you. Haha,¡± Nahyun also added while looking at us.


    ¡°We are fine! After that interview, we bought him a foam roller!¡± Yeon-Hoon tried to cover up the situation with his still bright red face, but I retorted.


    ¡°They didn¡¯t.¡± I refuted it since that was the truth.


    ¡°Ughh...Tae-Yoon...¡± Yeon-Hoon appeared at a loss for what to do because I wasn¡¯t helping him.


    ¡°But you didn¡¯t buy me one,¡± I said firmly again. I couldn¡¯t lie about what happened. And it appeared our interaction looked like aedic skit of sorts and all the other group members burst outughing. The mood that could¡¯ve turned sour becamepletely bright again. After that, they also yed other teams¡¯ videos. Perhaps because the atmosphere had already loosened up once, everyone was able tough at the videos and pass over them without many problems.


    ¡°Since we saw all the videos, let¡¯s not wait any longer to see each of the group¡¯s 120-second introductory performances,¡± Young-Jin said and changed the tone of the set again. All theughing faces turned serious now and looked tense. I was surprised by how instantly and drastically the atmosphere changed with just this one line. On the other hand, this showed how much effort each group put into their performance.


    ¡°Then, we will now reveal which team will go first and the order of the performances!¡± Nahyun said, and a list came up on therge electronic disy behind her.


    1¡ªLuminin.


    2¡ªOnebyOne


    3¡ªBleshu


    4¡ªOnly One


    5¡ªSiren


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Whaat?¡±


    It was a surprising order. I knew that the producers had decided the order of the groups¡¯ performances after a meeting. Thus, I thought Only One would naturally have the ending stage.


    ¡°But we have the ending stage?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Only One would perform fourth while we will go after them. I thought the producers¡¯ n was to just use us as unlikeable viin extras, but with this, it appeared that they were nning to use us for a bigger role.


    <i>¡®Maybe the main producer¡¯s mind changed after seeing our rehearsal.¡¯ </i>I thought. It appeared that PD Park Soo-Chul came to a new decision during rehearsal time.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this good?¡±


    ¡°I-I mean, why wouldn¡¯t it be?¡±


    But it wasn¡¯t like there were no setbacks to this. If we did well in this performance, we could soar in poprity and fame but if we messed it up, we could receive a great wave of criticism.


    <i>¡®If we screw things up, people could use us of being the PD¡¯s personal pick or the show being staged.¡¯</i> People could say that it had been the producers who made us upload the same videos and could shoot down the reason that had helped us rise to our current position.


    ¡°Luminin, please prepare for your stage!¡± MC Kim Young-Jin said and called the group towards the center. Luminin went up and as the set settled with just the right amount of tension, he dered, ¡°Let <i>The Showcase 2 First Chance¡¯</i>s first set of performances begin!¡±


    The official stage opened.


    ***


    Our performances began with Luminin. Luminin was a group that centered around performance. They turned on music with a strong base and only danced without singing. They were so good that it would¡¯ve been believable if they said they were professional dancers.


    <i>¡®Yet, the stage is too dark.</i>¡¯


    It was hard to differentiate and remember their faces. Though they looked cool, it was hard to see who danced where and what. The second stage was OnebyOne. As expected of a hip-hop group, they got a song with a strong 808 bass sound. Their raps clearly struck the listeners¡¯ ears as the vocal lines¡¯ singing contrasted them. The group was good at singing and rapping, but in the end, their stage, clothes, and concept were also all too dark. This was exacerbated by the dark lights they used to apany their strong and heavy song.


    And the third in line was Bleshu. Unlike the cute and familiar image they showed in their videos, they surprisingly prepared a krumping stage. They used a conceptual and one of the hardest songs of a famous idol group and did a good job.


    <i>¡®But their performance is the darkest of them all.¡¯</i> My eyes kept shifting elsewhere. If I had to review the first, second, and third performances, it felt as if a herd of guys wearing ck rushed in, shifted from here and there while iling their limbs around, and ended their performance with a scream. But of course, this was only my opinion and other people around me seemed to think much more favorably of the performances.


    ¡°Wow, they are so cool!¡±


    ¡°Amazing!¡±


    ¡°Everyone is so good at dancing.¡±


    ¡°I can see how hard they worked on this.¡±


    It seemed my group members all appreciated the performances very much. Besides, the dances were much cooler to witness with all our six senses experiencing the performance. There were times when songs were better to hear through official audio clips than live, but dances were almost hundred percent cooler to see in person.


    But for the viewers watching this on television, they would probably think along the lines of, ¡®<i>Ah, they are good¡¯, </i>and theirmentary would end there. They wouldn¡¯t have the same impression as the people eximing and cheering on this set.


    The next one to go was finally, Only One. After finishing their performance, Bleshu filmed their ending poses and returned to their seats. Because of how strongly they had danced, they kept heaving after they sat down.


    ¡°You guys were really cool!¡±


    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s not easy to do krumping well but you guys did such a good job.¡±


    ¡°I also saw a bit of locking movements. Did your group mix two genres?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to see someone recognize our efforts.¡±


    Woon, Yeon-Hoon, and Do-Seung continued to build their friendship with Bleshu and gave theirpliments. In contrast, I didn¡¯t pay any more attention to Bleshu and only stared at the stage in front of me. It was time for those who had gone on about how well and cool these performances were to feel a bit embarrassed of their assessments.


    ¡°Thank you, Bleshu, for your fiery performance! You all showed apletely different side of yourselves from the application video!¡± After the MC¡¯s formalmentary, there came the announcement. ¡°Now, let us see the next group in line! Only One, pleasee up to the stage!¡±


    The set¡¯s atmosphere changed as soon as Only One went up. Everyone was looking at the stage much more intensely than all previous times.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s like the main event.¡¯</i>


    All the other teams were probably most wary of Only One since it was the group where Kang Hyun-Sung was. Though he was in <i>The Showcase 2 </i>where other no-name idol groups like us gathered, Kang Hyun-Sung used to be part of a first-tier idol group not so long ago. And because the one-year project group, ¡®Yours¡¯ from<i> Select Your Idol</i> did their activities during the time when all other first-tier idol groups were on their break, they left an especially big impact on the entertainment world.


    Considering that Kang Hyun-Sung used to be the main member of such a group, he was a character one couldn¡¯t help but pay attention to. Furthermore, Kang Hyun-Sung had already proved his abilities through <i>Select Your Idol.</i>


    I watched as Only One got into their positions on stage. They were all wearing ck tech outfits and fake swords on their waist. I couldn¡¯t see what kind of swords they were holding inside their sheaths, but based on their outfits, I supposed their theme was cyberpunk. Already at this point, I could sense what kind of press woulde up among the idol fans.


    <i>¡®There¡¯s a reason why idols from smallpanies stay where they are and Kang Hyun-Sung is Kang Hyun-Sung.</i>¡¯ At first nce, there wasn¡¯t much of a difference between Only One and the other groups. They were wearing ck like the other groups and yed music with strong bases. Yet, the important part wasn¡¯t what genre they were performing but who was doing it.


    <i>Boom.</i> A heavy bass sound rang out. The lights went off and spotlights tinted red shone on Only One.


    <i>Screeech</i>¡ªa sharp electronic sound rang out and Kang Hyun-Sung stepped over his group members, who were lined up in formation likedders and jumped upward. The moment hended on the ground, the beat perfectly dropped in sync.


    ¡ªWe will TAKE OVER! HOOK!*[1]


    ¡ªMatch the beat of my footsteps!


    The hook of their song burst out. It was a scene that wouldn¡¯t have formed with just a single-second offbeat or wrong move. At the sight of their perfect timing and synchronization, everyone on the set eximed.


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°This is insane.¡±


    1. The capitalized words are English lyrics. ?

 Chapter 18

    <h4>Chapter 18</h4>


    Idols fundamentally needed to be good singers and dancers. Depending on their visuals or bnce of talent, their singing or dancing ability could be slightly inferior, but they needed to be fundamentally above a certain level. However, that was not everything about idols. No matter how good someone was at singing and dancing, there were numerous people who would not catch the camera''s attention. It was not because they werecking in skills. There was only one reason¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s because of people like Kang Hyun-Sung.¡¯ </i>No matter how good at singing or dancing or good-looking someone was, there was something you couldn¡¯t have unless you were born with it. Some people called it star potential, show talent, or celebrity fate. There was someone who was the very embodiment of that innate star potential standing over there.


    ¡ªWe will TAKE OVER! HOOK!


    ¡ªMatch the beat of my footsteps!


    Kang Hyun-Sung stepped on the members¡¯ backs, jumped into the sky, andnded on the floor with a superheronding. At the same time, the hook of the song made the audience burst into cheers. The tinum-haired, former first-tier idol group member, scanned the stage and something simr to madness shed in his eyes. The formation changed in perfect sequence, and the song rose in energy.


    Each member of Only One stood in the way of Kang Hyun Sung, and movements that were difficult to distinguish as specific genres of dance came out. It felt more like the dances were telling a story rather than just being basic dance moves. Kang Hyun-Sung performed a pair choreography with each of the members in front of him one by one, and the movements made it seem like they were fighting. He extended his fist, stretched out his feet,y on the floor, and got back to his feet. When he reached thest member after passing through the three members¡ª


    ¡ªTAKE DOWN! HOOK!


    ¡ªWe will be the LAST ONE to break you down!


    Once again, the chorus came out and the song reached its climax. With a heavy bass sound that created heavy tension, a pair choreography between Kang Hyun-Sung and thest member followed. It was only then did the sword that he had been wearing on his waist came out.


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    It was an object that instantly caught people¡¯s eyes; a sword shed fluorescent light everywhere.


    <i>¡®I didn¡¯t expect a lightsaber toe out in my past life.¡¯</i> Someone with good sense would have expected that he woulde out with a lightsaber from the very first moment he came out wearing a cyberpunk costume. Yet, people like me in my previous life wouldn''t have expected it. Dancing with a lightsaber could look very cringy or excessive as it was a strong concept on top of a strong concept.


    However, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s dance and expressions perfectly executed these concepts. Perhaps, the other members couldn¡¯t do the same as they all wore cloth-like masks that concealed their faces. After knocking down thest member and thest outro of the song rang out, Kang Hyun-Sung moved to the center of the stage as if he was stumbling.


    <i>Bang!</i> The stage ended with the lightsaber on the floor. Only then did the fluorescent light of the lightsaber flick away. Kang Hyun-Sung also fell to the floor at the same time as when the sword fell to the floor. All that remained on stage was a broken lightsaber and the corpses of five handsome men. It was aposition that clearly conveyed a story.


    <i>¡®It feels like I just watched a cyberpunk movie in a few minutes.¡¯ </i>It was a stage that reflected Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s taste. No, this stage probably didn''t reflect his personal taste as he was not the type of person to invest his time in movies or dramas.


    <i>¡®He must have picked what he could do the best in.¡¯</i> Kang Hyun-Sung was good at things that were conceptual and hard, and among such concepts, he probably did a genre that he had never done before.


    ¡°Wow, that was a stage that reminded me of a blockbuster movie!¡±


    ¡°Wo!¡± Young-Jin said his lines and moved the show''s progress along. As the lights returned to their original brightness, the Only One members, who had fallen on the stage, got up.


    ¡°I never imagined that you would perform this kind of stage. Whose idea was it?¡± Kim Young-Jin said and passed over the microphone to Only One.


    The one who took the microphone was Kang Hyun-Sung. It was probably the first time he talked during today¡¯s shooting. Kang Hyun-Sung steadied his breathing and wiped his sweat.


    He scanned the audience once and said, ¡°It was my idea.¡± Then he added, ¡°And my members also helped out as well.¡±


    Usually, people would say that they created a performance with the members first and then, say that they were the ones who proposed the idea first. Well, I supposed the order didn¡¯t really matter. Then Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s eyes stopped in one ce. Sadly, it was where I was.


    <i>¡®What the?¡¯</i> I had no idea why he was trying to make eye contact with me but¡ª


    <i>¡®Is he trying to pick a fight?¡¯</i> However, I had no reason to run away if he wanted to fight. Kang Hyun-Sung slightly raised one of the corners of his mouth and shifted his eyes to the hosts.


    One of the hosts said, ¡°I was really surprised when the lightsaber came out.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief. I added that to surprise everyone.¡±


    ¡°Then you¡¯ve really done your job well.¡± After that, the conversation between Only One and the hosts continued a little longer. Strangely, it gave the impression that they were paying a bit more attention and care to Only One. After all their lines were over, it was finally our turn.


    ¡°Siren, who will perform next! Pleasee up to the stage!¡± We were called.


    I looked at my members one by one. Was it because we just watched Only One¡¯s performance?


    ¡°Wow?¡±


    ¡°Why are we doing the ending?¡±


    ¡°Pwehh.¡±


    Everyone¡¯s spirits were dampened and discouraged. Only One had done such a splendid performance that it lowered not just ours but the other group¡¯s spirits. Only One¡¯s stage made those who had worked hard on their performance feel as if a gigantic wall was standing in front of them. Even though we were all also from a small agency and they wore the same ck outfit and vibe as the other groups, how could their performance be so different from the others?


    There was actually no good way to say this¡ªthe only difference between Only One and the others was their key members. It was just the difference between who was at the center. Except for Kang Hyun-Sung, there was no one in Only One who danced super well, and many didn''t have the capabilities to pull off a very difficult concept. Since the song lyrics only consisted of two lines, it was hard to judge their singing, but it didn¡¯t sound like they were that amazing at singing either.


    Kang Hyun-Sung stood at the center and pulled the whole team and concept by himself. He had carried all four members by himself, and perhaps there was a reason why the stage wasposed only of one-on-one pair choreography.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± I pulled my members back to their senses. Only One pulled off their performance by using a star center member. But...


    I said, ¡°Yeon-Hoon, don¡¯t be scared.¡±


    ¡°Yeah! I¡¯m not scared.¡±


    Our center didn¡¯t lose to them either. With our current concept, there was probably almost no one who could be a better fit for the center position than Yeon-Hoon either. I gently massaged Yeon-Hoon¡¯s shoulder to encourage him.


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°We practiced so hard~¡±


    Woon, Do-Seung, and Dong-Jun also raised the team''s energy with their encouragement. No matter how good the previous stage was, they couldn¡¯t act like frightened dogs with their tails tucked between their legs and too scared to go to battle. Even if they thought they were going to lose, they needed to pull themselves forward.


    <i>¡®And I also don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to lose.¡¯ </i>Frankly, I wasn¡¯t afraid of Only One. We stood on the stage in a prearranged formation. I took a deep breath and yed a simtion of the choreography inside my mind once and then¡ª


    <i>Ding-ding-ding¡ª</i>


    The apaniment began. The electronic piano sound of the major scale resonated on the stage. After that, kitsch-sounding samples echoed repeatedly, and the song slowly sped up. When we reached an exciting BPM where all Koreans would shake their hips, we moved our shoulders and legs slightly to the beat.


    Do-Seung and I stood in the front and covered the members behind. Then, when the song¡¯s hook came out, Do-Seung and I quickly moved to both sides, and the members popped out between us. Among them, the first toe forward was Yeon-Hoon, who stood at the center. The camera approached Yeon-Hoon, and Yeon-Hoon smiled brightly in front of the camera and sang the first line.


    -LET¡¯S GO SAILING!


    -Get out to the sea


    -AND KEEP SMILING~


    -Forget about your fears


    As soon as his clear and beautiful voice rang out clearly on the stage, I understood why Park Soo-Chul made us take the ending performance.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s done.¡¯ </i>The producer must have felt that the program''s atmosphere was feeling down and dreary because all the other groups had performed only very conceptual and dark songs. That was also the very reason why I chose this bright outfit and song.


    <i>¡®But it feels different experiencing it directly.¡¯ </i>The atmosphere at the scene must have been darker than I expected. As soon as Yeon-Hoon was caught on camera, I saw the production crew break into a grin.


    * * *


    Park Soo-Chul clenched his fist intuitively as soon as Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s first line rang out. It seemed as if he had muttered to himself, ¡®<i>We got it¡¯</i> over ten times. He wanted to kiss himself for switching the order and making this group gost.


    As soon as Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face appeared on the monitor screen, some of the staff even eximed ¡®wow!¡¯ in admiration. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s good looks were only half of the reason for their reaction. All the production crew were tired of dark songs, dark lighting, and hard-to-understand lyrics. However, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s refreshing visual was enough to burst that dark atmosphere in an instant so that was why they reacted even stronger.


    The standard sailor uniform with points in white and navy was a perfect fit for Woo Yeon-Hoon. The shorts, knee-high socks, and glitters on his eyes perfectlyplemented him. But above all, his voice sounded indescribably beautiful when he cleanly hit all the high notes.


    <i>¡®We got the hooking point.¡¯ </i>They had a thumbnail strong enough to pull the viewers. At first, Park Soo-Chul had Siren in mind as a simple card to use and throw away. However, from the very first shoot, Siren had continued to miss his expectations. It was a team that surprised him in the best way. Park Soo-Chul looked at the stage, moving his shoulders to the beat.


    -SAILING, SAILING~


    -KEEP DREAMING


    -Embrace the wide, blue sea with open arms


    -Run until you¡¯re out of breath


    -Towards the TREASURE at the end of the horizon


    Woo Yeon-Hoon, who had been at the center the whole time, fell to the side and the main dancer, Lee Woon, came forward. When Lee Woon came to the center, the entire group¡¯s form seemed to change.


    Park Soo-Chul heard quiet exmations as Woon began to extend his arms out as if he were swimming. They were movements that provided visual enjoyment to the viewers, and there were no gaps or ws in his movements. In particr, the foot and pelvis movements that moved ording to the half-beat between therge movements made the whole dance look more exciting.


    -I won¡¯t let go of your hands


    -Hold on tightly tonight


    -Let¡¯s go to the deep sea together


    -FULL DIVING


    -CRUSHING


    -I¡¯M FALLING


    -TO YOU


    Kang Do-Seung¡¯s rapping, which followed Lee Woon, was also cleverly made without damaging the bright and light atmosphere. In particr, despite the fast beat of the song, the rap maintained a uniquely slow beat like aid-back style and made the song moreplex. The next part of the song was a dance break time. It felt like they showed all thepositions that could be shown in 120 seconds.


    Lee Woon came out to the center again, and the atmosphere of the apaniment became heavier. In the midst of a strong bass sound, Lee Woon slid to the floor, spun round and round, and then stood up again using only his core strength.


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°Is his back okay?¡±


    Lee Woon showed such light body movements that it would have been believable if he said he majored in contemporary dance. The scale of his movements themselves was notrge, but the flow was so smooth and light that it was easy to watch from the viewer¡¯s perspective. Since he was also right on the beat, everyone couldn¡¯t help but exim in admiration.


    After the dance break was over, the atmosphere of the song became bright again and the song began to get heavier and faster; anyone could tell that the song was reaching its high note. Kang Do-Seung and Bong Tae-Yoon approached the main vocalist Woo Yeon-Hoon and then lifted him into the air.


    -We finally found the TREASURE©¤©¤!


    -My ending is with you¡ª


    -A FAIRY TALE for just us two-


    -that we will never forget©¤©¤!


    Since both Kang Do-Seung and Bong Tae-Yoon were tall, it really felt like Yeon-Hoon had flown into the sky. Woo Yeon-Hoon, who had flown up into the sky with the help of the members, poured out even higher notes. People¡¯s mouths dropped as he sang out high notes after high notes without breaking a sweat like a machine. When Yeon-Hoonnded safely on the floor and the melody began to fade away, Park Dong-Jun said one line in a low and soft voice.


    -KEEP SAILING


    Dong-Jun¡¯s beautiful voice resonated gently on the stage.


    -KEEP DREAMING


    Then Bong Tae-Yoon also uttered one line. There was something about his voice that pulled people¡¯s heartstrings.


    -Atst, we¡¯ve met our ocean.


    The ending was, of course, sung by Woo Yeon-Hoon. Woo Yeon-Hoon stared at the camera, which hade right in front of him, with a sentimental gaze. Soon, the song slowly died down, and Woo-Yeon¡¯s chest, which had been breathing hard, slowly began to subside.


    The whole stage was over. Park Soo-Chul stared nkly at the stage and began to think about how to set the direction of this introductory performance. All kinds of ideas shot out of his head like fireworks. There were so many things he wanted to say, but if he cut out all the misceneous thoughts and summarized them together in just one sentence, it was, ¡®while Kang Hyun-Sung leapt, Yeon-Hoon flew.¡¯


    This was how he could organize today¡¯s event¡ªit was the difference between stepping on the other members¡¯ backspared to receiving support from every member.

 Chapter 19

    <h4>Chapter 19</h4>


    The performance came to an end, and we did everything we possibly could in the 120-second time limit given to us. My heart thumped hard, and I continued to focus on the cameras until the very end. Though it was clear who would be the ending fairy* among us, I knew I couldn¡¯t rx my facial expression since it would affect the producers¡¯ impression of us. [1] After shooting our ending scene, my group members and I bowed deeply towards the producers.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± I said and checked my group members¡¯ faces. All their faces appeared bright. While doing the performance, they must have also sensed it.


    <i>¡®...We are first ce.¡¯</i> Perhaps, Only One¡¯s performance had better stage quality and refinement, but in terms of the whole show and the impact it caused, we were number one. Do-Seung cautiously approached me from the side and whispered that I did a good job. He could¡¯ve just told meter, but he appeared urgent to tell me this. Well, this didn¡¯t feel bad.


    Another proof that we were number one was the other contestants¡¯ faces. Besides Bleshu, the rest of the three teams looked disgruntled. Members of Luminin especially looked sour, and I wondered how enraged they would lookter in the show if they were showing their annoyance so openly like this now. It was hard to ignore them when all six of them were ring at us passionately.


    Only One stared at us unaffectedly. They seemed to control their expressions for the cameras and pped and said ament or two for the show. But among them, Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t show much of a reaction and continued to stare at me piercingly. He had stared at me after his own stage was over. It appeared something about my behavior bothered him. Perhaps, he was the type to not consider anyone else around him when something bothered him and tantly provoked a fight like this.


    ¡°That¡¯s the end of Siren¡¯s performance! Their performance was so refreshing that it seemed to clear my eyes!¡± The hosts, Kim Young-Jin and Nahyun both said theirmentaries after going up the stage. We stood like decorative figures as we waited for the hosts to finish speaking.


    ¡°I expected you all to do a fun performance as soon as I saw your sailor uniforms, but it¡¯s more vibrant and joyful than I expected!¡± Kim Young-Jin said and asked. ¡°And who can we give credit to for the wonderful idea behind this performance?¡±


    I wondered why they had to always ask such questions when they didn¡¯t even seem that interested.


    ¡°My group members and I all created this performance after discussing it together. I made the first suggestion though,¡± I replied. My group members smiled faintly like they were swelling with pride and looked at me.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard this song before. Did you all perhaps produce this song?¡± Nahyun asked.


    I had many things to say about the song we used for this performance, ¡®Sailing¡¯. First, this song didn¡¯t belong to another singer.


    ¡°I added lyrics onto a melody that I found on SoundClown and used it,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Ah, then did you guys only write the lyrics?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And who wrote...?¡±


    ¡°I wrote the lyrics.¡± As soon as I dered this, the hosts¡¯ expressions changed. Both appeared genuinely surprised. It seemed I didn¡¯t appear like the type to write lyrics though I used to be a web novelist in my past life. Yet, that wasn¡¯t even the entire story behind this Sailing song.


    Two weeks ago, after we decided on wearing sailor uniforms, I endlessly searched through SoundClown to find a suitable song. At least that was what I pretended to do since there was already an ount that I had in mind.


    The ount¡¯s name was ¡®victory 0505¡¯. It was a very small ount that hardly anyone knew, but the reason why I chose this ount was that the ¡®0505¡¯ at the end of this id represented one of my member¡¯s birthdays¡ª the birthday of Do-Seung who kept smiling awkwardly, hoping that the conversation about our song choice would end soon.


    This ¡®victory0505¡¯ was a secret ount that Do-Seung hid from us, and after finding it, I pretended not to know about it. When I suggested asking this ount owner if we could use one of their melodies, Do-Seung disagreed at first, while everyone else agreed. It was only inevitable because that was his secret ount.


    Yet, he couldn¡¯t win against our continuous pressure, and he agreed to the idea in the end. Then, he even took the initiative, saying that he would personally contact the ount owner. I almostughed at this suggestion since he was basically saying he would ask himself for permission for the song.


    But that was how the song, ¡®Sailing¡¯ was created. Its lyrics were created by me while the melody wasposed by ¡®victory0505¡¯ or a.k.a. Kang Do-Seung. The way I found this truth wasn¡¯t a happy one because it was when I was looking through my deceased members¡¯ goods in my past life that I found out Do-Seung had a secretposing ount.


    It seemed he wasn¡¯t confident about his work and kept it a secret from us but simultaneously wanted to receive some feedback and made a secret public ount. The ¡®victory0505¡¯ was still an unknown ount, but I couldn¡¯t let it remain that way forever.


    <i>¡®I need to quickly spread the word that it¡¯s Do-Seung¡¯s ount,</i>¡¯ I thought. After this shooting was over, I needed to have an honest talk with him. Anyway, that was how our performance ended sessfully.


    ¡°All right! With this, the first round of performances for <i>The Showcase2 First Chance</i>es to an end!¡± Kim Young-Jin said and dered the official end of the first event. Then, another announcement dering the end of the first shooting rang out.


    ¡°We are going to take a short break before resuming again!¡± The second shooting was going to start after break time.


    ¡°Ahhh! Good job!¡± As soon as the shooting came to an end, Yeon-Hoon ran toward me and hugged me. ¡°Good job Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°I think it was a good idea for us to wear sailor uniforms.¡±


    ¡°I like the song choice too.¡±


    My other group members also added. It looked like they were all confident that our concept had been effective. It was obvious by the producers¡¯ response. Though they must¡¯ve been tired after seeing all the previous performances, the biggest cheer exploded for ourst performance.


    ¡°You guys did such a good job!¡± It was then the members from Bleshu approached us.


    ¡°Really? Thank you!¡± Yeon-Hoon rushed to them instantly and responded with a bright smile on his face. The leader of Bleshu appeared a bit taken aback by Yeon-Hoon¡¯s brightness once again.


    ¡°Because the mood of your outfits and song was different from the others, it was more memorable.¡±


    ¡°It was our <i>makna</i>e¡¯s idea!¡±


    ¡°He really is the smartie <i>maknae.</i>¡±


    ¡°...Haha,¡± Iughed humorlessly at the nickname they gave me.


    ¡°Mr. Yeon-Hoon, your expression and singing were especially impressive,¡± Bleshu¡¯s leader began again.


    ¡°Ah no~ Don¡¯t tter me~¡±


    ¡°No, it seemed as if the song was made for you.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s because theposer of this melody did such a good job!¡±


    ¡°I would also like to know who thisposer is.¡±


    As soon as the conversation reached the topic of the song¡¯sposer, Do-Seung flinched, and I pretended not to notice anything. Do-Seung was probably feeling embarrassed that his secret had been revealed to the public and simultaneously, feeling a sense of satisfaction that his work was receiving praise. I personally hoped that he was feeling more of thetter so that he would be more cooperative when I suggested revealing the identity behind his ount.


    ¡°I was also really surprised that Mr. Tae-Yoon wrote the lyrics for the song.¡±


    ¡°Ah, thank you.¡±


    ¡°Did you have previous experiences?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. Because I had some interests in that area, I read some books about writing lyrics.¡± It wasn¡¯t aplete lie since I read two books about the topic in two days to convince my group members to let me do the job. And the books actually helped me.


    ¡°We also didn¡¯t know Tae-Yoon could write lyrics.¡±


    ¡°Our smartie <i>maknae </i>has a lot of abilities~¡± Dong-Jun approached me and moved my arms like a machine. I didn¡¯t resist and let him be since I thought he would stop after a while. It was then I sensed something was off and looked around. Though it was break time and an opportunity for other teams to get to know each other, the atmosphere was very tense.


    ¡°Hm, are we the only ones talking?¡± I asked. The only voices that could be heard were Bleshu and us. Luminin, OnebyOne, and Only One sat in their individual spots inplete silence. The Only One members gathered in a circle and were discussing only amongst themselves while Luminin and OnebyOne were tantly staring at us. It was hard to decipher whether they were looking at us warily or staring nkly in our direction. Nevertheless, it made us feel awkward that we were the only ones talking.


    <i>¡®Seems like the ending of this shooting won¡¯t be pleasant.¡¯ </i>I could predict the end of today¡¯s shoot.


    Then, we heard another announcement. ¡°We are going to resume shooting!¡± Bleshu and our group returned to our own spots and the hosts, Kim Young-Jin and Nahyun, also returned to the set. The electronic disy and the stage¡¯s lights turned on again.


    ¡°All-righty! We just finished our first round of performances for the show! Is everyone having fun?¡±


    ¡°Yeeees!¡±


    ¡°Ohhh!¡±


    The shooting started with Kim Young-Jin¡¯smentary, and we responded to it as expected of us.


    ¡°We saw each of the group¡¯s spectacr performances just before. Is there anyone who can guess what¡¯sing up next?¡±


    Who wouldn¡¯t be able to guess?


    ¡°The highlight of The Showcase! It¡¯s time to decide your ranks!¡±


    ¡°Oh....Ohhh!¡±


    ¡°Haha, hahaha.¡±


    Everyone¡¯s faces stiffened slightly hearing that our ranks would be decided. Though we expected this to happen, it still worried us when the time came. Yet, I wasn¡¯t too nervous since I had a general guess as to what the list would look like.


    ¡°Today¡¯s ranks won¡¯t affect your total points which would decide the winner of the show. But if you are dreaming of being the final winner, first ce is definitely something to strive for because there is a special privilege associated with it!¡±


    As the host said, there was nothing bad about ranking first in the first meeting. Yet, that wasn¡¯t the problem.


    ¡°Okay then, I will tell you all how the ranks will be decided,¡± Kim Young-Jin said and rested momentarily. ¡°You all will be the ones to decide! Each group will decide who did the best and worst job and we will decide on the ranks by the results!¡±


    The problem was this very unfair and cruel method of deciding the ranks. It was the method that made many people insult this show when it was aired in my past life. In <i>The Showcase 1</i>, the voting was more democratic since professionals and producers were the ones who made anonymous votes.


    Yet, this voting method was not only undemocratic but also immoral. It was basically telling us to rip each other apart and fight. Naturally, the ranks won¡¯t really be based on skills or performance but ording to how we saw fit. My group members appeared surprised by this turn of events and scanned their surroundings.


    ¡°You all will now move to your designated voting booths behind the stage. You all just need to decide on a group that you think was the best and another one you think did the worst! Moreover, you are not allowed to choose your own teams for either of the two categories!¡± After finishing the exnation, the host continued, ¡°Okay then! We will go in the reverse order of the performances. Siren! You guys are up first!¡±


    We were the first ones to go voting.


    ¡°Ugggh.¡±


    ¡°This is strangely making me nervous.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you guys~¡±


    My group members said while moving. Then, when we arrived at the voting booth, we discussed which team was the best and worst.


    ¡°Who should we pick? <i>Haaa</i>.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to choose.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not easy.¡±


    I didn¡¯t care too much about who to choose because I could already see the general ranks. If my guesses were correct, we will probably be...


    <i>¡®Last ce.¡¯ </i>Fifth out of the five teams. It was only expected since they gave us the order that we had to make the vote amongst ourselves. It was the industry¡¯s standard to stomp down the rising rookie before they could peak.


    It wasn¡¯t like we had some cheat code like Kang Hyun-Sung nor did we have a bigpany backing us. In the end, we were still just a pre-debut group that did a good job on our first performance. They must have all sensed the uing threat and realized that they needed to stop us before it was toote.


    1. Refers to the idol group member who gets a close shot at the end of the performance. ?

 Chapter 20

    <h4>Chapter 20</h4>


    We were going to ce fifth out of five teams. I felt sorry for my members since their faces were full of hope and joy. It seemed as if they firmly believed that we would win first ce, or even if we were not first ce, we would definitely be able to earn the top spots.


    ¡°The best team. Hmm. Everyone is so good that it¡¯s hard to pick just one team...¡±


    Since they were confident of their victory, my members were happily choosing the best and worst teams with a leisurely attitude. However, I knew that we were going to cest despite our performance being up to par or even better than Only One. The fact that our performance wasparable to Only One¡¯s would probably be most irritating for groups that have already debuted, like OnebyOne and Luminin.


    Even if they couldn¡¯t win because Kang Hyun-Sung was in Only One, they wouldn''t want to miss second ce. Thus, they would feel threatened if a pre-debut group that they had never heard of won second ce. Although it was only right and fair topete with pure skills¡ª


    <i>¡®Who would y fair and square on a battlefield like this?¡¯</i> These were groups that came out in the show by selling their sad stories. This was no time for ying games fair and square when our basic livelihood was on the line. It was only obvious that the other groups would try to rig the voting system and lower our ranking since there were no other tricks they could pull off. In my previous life, an innocent group hadest in this way, and it was clear that we would meet that same fate.


    ¡°Guys, who do you think did the best job?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked as he lifted the card of the four groups in front of us.


    ¡°Honestly, everyone did a good job.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to just pick one group~¡±


    My members had a hard time making their decision. I nced at the cards Yeon-Hoon was holding. Despite what they were saying, the members probably had a rough idea of who did the best and who did the worst today.


    However, they were all skirting around the issue as we woulde out mean or problematic if we easily made our decision without much discussion. On the other hand, no matter what we did, this scene was bound to be cleverly edited out. Rather than getting edited out, I thought it would be better to clearly state my opinion out loud and go with the standard ranking.


    I said, ¡°I think the best is Only One and the worst is Luminin.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked in surprise at my straightforwardness.


    ¡°The reason why Only One is the best is because they performed extraordinarily on stage, and the reason why Luminin is the worst is not because of poor skills but because they had the least wow factor on stage.¡± I gave a reasonable exnation, and the ranks I just gave were not based on my personal taste. I didn¡¯t think that Only One or Luminin did anything particrly wrong or bad.


    <i>¡®How can I rank people who danced their hearts and souls out?¡¯ </i>The ranking I mentioned was based on the public opinion that was formed when this show first aired in my previous life. The general public opinion after <i>The Showcase 2''s </i>first episode was that Only One did the best and Luminin did the worst.


    I didn¡¯t think the public opinion would differ much this time either, so I thought it would be the safest to follow this ranking. Even if PD Park Soo-Chul made us look bad by ''evil-editing¡¯, people¡¯s overall reaction would agree with us.


    In fact, in my previous life, Bleshu had been the one to getst ce in the actual show while the public opinion had thought Luminin should have beenst ce. The innocent team that I mentioned earlier was Bleshu. In my previous life, Bleshu shared a simr position as us. They were considered the only group who stood a chance against Only One.


    Since other groups tried to keep Bleshu in check, Bleshu, who should have been in second ce, came inst ce. Of course, we would best this time, not Bleshu. I felt bad that I took away Bleshu¡¯s position from my previous life, but since I was in a desperate situation, I pushed my conscience away.


    ¡°I do agree with Tae-Yoon.¡± Then Do-Seung backed my opinion.


    ¡°Hmm. I¡¯m also leaning a bit towards...¡± Lee Woon seemed to share the same opinion as me and Do-Seung.


    We already had the majority, and even Dong-Jun cautiously supported my opinion, ¡°Yeah, I think Luminin¡¯s hook was a bit weak.¡±


    ¡°Okay, then, let¡¯s go with Only One as the best and the worst as Luminin,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and put Only One¡¯s card in the best box and Luminin¡¯s card in the worst box.


    Then we left the polling station and went back to our seats. There was only awkward silence on the stage. It was an ufortable and unpleasant situation where we had to rank each other. All we could do was wait for this time to pass quickly.


    * * *


    After Luminin came out of the polling station, all the votes were finished. The two hosts resting in the back returned to the stage. The lights came on again, and the electronic disy brightly shed.


    When the stage came back to life, host Kim Young-Jin raised his mike and began saying his lines, ¡°All the votes for the introductory performance have just ended. The five groups here have just selected the best and worst groups respectively.¡± Even though he was just reading the script, he induced a strange tension in the surroundings. This was the moment when I realized the value of a skilled and experienced host.


    Kim Young-Jin continued, ¡°The group voted as the best would get 1 point. The group voted as the worst would get minus 1 point. This was how the scores were aggregated.¡± It was a simple and clear method. ¡°Then, with that out of the way, I¡¯ll announce the results now.¡±


    Ellipsoidal lights began to sweep the darkened stage, and a bass sound rang in the background. I thought they added this sound after filming during the editing process, but I guess they turned it on set as well. Perhaps due to the power of lighting and music, Yeon-Hoon became nervous and grabbed my arms and shook my body.


    ¡°Aghhh! Ahhh! Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Ohhh! Wow!¡± On the other hand, Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes were shining with curiosity.


    ¡°Pwehh. Let¡¯s take a deep breath. Deep breath in.¡± Lee Woon breathed in and out.


    <i>Sighhhh. </i>And Do-Seung sighed deeply.


    ¡°Okay! Then I¡¯ll put up the total scores on the screen for everyone at once!¡±


    ¡°Wooow! At once!¡±


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    ¡°Ugh. Please...!¡±


    As various reactions burst out, the atmosphere of the scene boiled like a furnace.


    <i>Tap.</i>


    The electronic disy shed, and the rankings and scores were released at once.


    -1st: Only One (4 points)


    -2nd: Luminin (0 points)


    -3rd(tie): Bleshu, OnebyOne (-1 points)


    -5th: Siren (-2 points)


    ¡°Look at that!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Shouts of joy and exmation came from the Only One side.


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°What a relief.¡±


    A sigh of relief from Luminin.


    ¡°Good job.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°We can do better next time.¡±


    And while Bleshu and OnebyOne shared encouragingments¡ª


    ¡°Uh...?¡±


    ¡°Minus 2 points...?¡±


    ¡°Us?¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    Our team¡¯s atmosphere instantly plummeted. I looked around the members. After the electronic disy shed, the members¡¯ expressions, which had been overflowing with joy and hope, rapidly deteriorated. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes lost their vitality. Do-Seung frowned deeply and stared at the screen, and Lee Woon had his mouth open wide as if he couldn¡¯t believe it. Dong-Jun looked around the other groups as if he was genuinely a bit angry.


    Seeing their raw reactions, I was slightly worried about how it would appear on screen, but then I thought,<i> ¡®No, it might be better this way.¡¯ </i>After realizing that our performance had been good enough to win first ce, their realistic responses wouldn¡¯t be so bad as the viewers would be able to empathize with them.


    <i>¡®Perhaps we can use this to our advantage instead.¡¯</i> I thought we could use the ill intent of the groups that gave usst ce against them.


    ¡°I want everyone to know that regardless of the ranking, each and every group¡¯s performance really shone on stage.¡± At that moment, Kim Young-Jin recited the lines written by the writers and looked at us. He was looking at us with eyes to console us but¡ª


    <i>¡®Why the hell are they talking about whether we shone on stage and whatnot after making us rank each other?</i>¡¯ As expected, TV show producers must be sociopaths.


    Kim Young-Jin was not in the wrong, and it was the production crew¡¯s fault.


    ¡°Ah, hahaha.¡± Yeon-Hoon, who had nked out for a while, managed to regain his grip and smiled. However, that smile looked even more pitiful so I just covered his face with my hand. Then it surprised me that a person¡¯s face could be so small that I could easily cover it with one hand.


    Do-Seung, Dong-Jun and Woon also gradually fixed their expressions as they seemed to have quickly realized that it was not beneficial for us to show a strong reaction now. Just in time, Young-Jin approached us with a mike.


    As he approached, there was a slightly apologetic look in his expression. He handed us the mike and asked, ¡°Unfortunately, Siren came inst ce. Are you guys okay?¡± It was a cruel question that the scriptwriters had put in, and this must be the reason why he had looked sorry earlier.


    ¡°Ah...¡± Yeon-Hoon looked at him with a slightly pouty expression as if he was in disbelief about being asked such an inconsiderate question.


    No one in our team except me seemed fine enough to receive the mike now, so I took the mike from Yeon-Hoon. ¡°Yes, we¡¯re all right.¡±


    Then I scanned my members one by one. I knew that one shouldn¡¯t be emotional in front of the camera. However, after making appropriate calctions, I thought that deliberately expressing my feelings could add to the excitement of the show.


    <i>¡®It could work in our favor.¡¯</i> I spoke my mind as honestly as I could, ¡°But I don¡¯t think our group is inst ce.¡±


    Kim Young-Jin and Nahyun¡¯s eyes widened at my words. I guess they didn¡¯t expect me to respond like this as I openly said that we were notst in terms of skills. It was a remark that could not be made without considerable confidence on stage.


    <i>¡®At the same time, it¡¯s also an indirect criticism targeting those who are so blind with envy that they will manipte the votes.¡¯</i> I nned to make the guys who gave us the ''worst team status'' get some insults when the show went on air. Of course, since I made a strong remark, I thought I would get some criticism as well, but it didn¡¯t matter. The other members were also surprised by my remarks.


    ¡°Ack! Uh, Tae-Yoon...!¡± Yeon-Hoon almost fell off his seat in shock and grabbed my arms.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon...?¡±


    <i>Sighh.</i>


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    Do-Seung called my name quietly, Woon sighed deeply, and Dong-Jun seemed genuinely surprised and seemed to admire me.


    ¡°Ah, hahaha! Yes! All right! Then we¡¯ll hear from Bleshu next.¡± Kim Young-Jin must have thought a real fight might break out if I said any morements. He hurriedly retrieved the mike and went straight to Bleshu. The atmosphere of the set froze in an instant, but since it was a show in the end, everyone said lines they were expected to.


    After Only One finished their thoughts on winning first ce, Young-Jin said, ¡°Then shall we begin revealing the benefits the No.1 team would receive for the introductory performance?¡± The show moved on from exchanging thoughts on the ranking to revealing the benefits of the No.1 team. The set¡¯s atmosphere, which had been tense due to my remarks, was instantly revived.


    ¡°Yes! So the benefit that would go to Only One for winning first ce at the introductory performance is...¡± Nahyun paused for a moment and then said, ¡°You have the authority to decide the order of the performance in the nextpetition and¡ª¡±


    Since there was more than one benefit, thements continued after another pause. ¡°You are the only one who has the right to choose your own options for the next mission!¡±


    People made moderately surprised reactions when the benefits were announced. No one was actually surprised because the benefits were not out of the ordinary. However, since we were on a show, they showed a certain degree of reaction. In fact, what people were curious about was not the benefits but the subject of the contest in two weeks.


    Young-Jin said, ¡°Well, then, we also have to talk about the next mission.¡±


    It was only then did real curiosity began to appear in the contestants¡¯ expressions. People earnestly waited for the next contest mission toe out of Young-Jin¡¯s mouth.


    After another pause, he finally said, ¡°It¡¯s ¡®Color of Showcase!¡¯¡±


    It was a vague remark, and everyone tilted their heads as it was hard to understand what it was by just the title. The hosts seemed to catch on that we couldn¡¯t understand and shouted, ¡°Color of Showcase! You need to decorate the stage with color as the theme!¡±


    ¡°Color?¡± ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°It sounds fun!¡±


    Even our members, who had been crest-fallen a moment ago, looked at the hosts with shining eyes. On the other hand, there was only one among our group who looked grim and that was¡ªme.


    <i>¡®Color of Showcase?¡¯</i> A stage with color as the theme.


    <i>¡®The future has changed...?¡¯</i> It was not a mission I knew.

 Chapter 21

    <h4>Chapter 21</h4>


    It wasn¡¯t the mission I remembered. From my memories, the theme of the mission at this time was props instead of colors. Afterying out an array of props, we were supposed to pick one item ande up with a performance around it. I clearly remembered it because at the time the show aired in my past life, many people ridiculed the mission saying that the concept was like a <i>doljanchi</i>*.[1]


    <i>¡®Colors?¡¯ </i>It wasn¡¯t what I expected. It seemed my actions were already having a butterfly effect and making changes in the current time. I didn¡¯t know what this could mean in the future, but I thought I needed to solve the current problem at hand.


    <i>¡®I will have to change my ns.¡¯</i> I had already thought about which prop to choose and what kind of stage we would create ording to it, but this wasplicating things. I would need to throw all my ideas away. Though I felt bewildered, I maintained a calm demeanor on the outside.


    ¡°Colors?¡±


    ¡°Is there anything you want to choose?¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    My group members temporarily pushed aside the shock of rankingst ce and discussed the mission. It was then, one of the hosts, Nahyun came forward and announced. ¡°Okay! We will now give our benefit to Only One who ranked first ce!¡± Simultaneously, the staff ced a table on top of the stage. There were five different colored papers on top of the table: red, ck, white, gold, and blue. After checking all the colors, I sighed in relief.


    <i>¡®At least, they didn¡¯t throw a curveball at us.¡¯ </i>It wasn¡¯t too difficult to think of performance for each of the colors, and the colors weren¡¯t obscure, like khaki or maroon.


    <i>¡®We should just avoid blue,¡¯</i> I thought because the color could ovep with today¡¯s performance, ¡°Sailing.¡± We would have only four opportunities to perform on <i>The Showcase 2</i>. Including today¡¯s introductory performance, that would be five performances in total but that was still a very small amount. If we had a simr concept two times in a row, that would be a loss of an opportunity for us.


    There was nothing more inefficient than that. We needed to show performances that were as diverse as possible because we didn¡¯t know which point could draw people to be our fans. Furthermore, if we did two of the same performances in a row, it would lower the impact of the second one and wouldn¡¯t make us stand out as much. In a time when every moment was important, we couldn¡¯t allow for a single mistake to happen.


    ¡°Members from Only One, pleasee out to choose your colors!¡± The hosts announced. The Only One members all stood in front of the table to choose their color. They were able to choose their own color because of the benefit they received by ranking first ce. I personally wanted them to pick blue.


    ¡®<i>If we also get blue, it¡¯s the worst,¡¯</i> I thought. My head was already in a mess because things weren¡¯t ying as I expected, but the situation would grow worse if we had bad color luck on top of that.


    ¡°We will pick gold,¡± they said. Though it was disappointing, I could tell why they chose gold.


    <i>¡®Maybe they are trying to maintain their royal image,¡¯ </i>I thought. Only One was the overwhelming first ce in <i>The Showcase</i> right now, and with this choice, they could do a concept that signified their kingly status. It appeared that they wanted to maintain their role as this show¡¯s main characters. Though it was unfortunate for us that they didn¡¯t choose blue, it was a smart choice.


    ¡°Okay! Since Only One chose their colors, it is time for the other teams to choose theirs,¡± Kim Young-Jin said and scanned the stage. Besides Only One, the rest of the four teams couldn¡¯t choose the colors they wished. They probably needed to go through some process to get one.


    <i>¡®I think they will make us choose the other group''s colors,¡¯ </i>I guessed because that was what they did in my past life. Personally, I hoped that was not the case this time since that meant we couldn¡¯t take matters into our own hands, and our positions would be decided by other groups.


    <i>¡®It would be better if they had a simple mini-game or something,¡¯ </i>I thought and hoped that we would be able to do something that could change the results. Yet, the host announced.


    ¡°Now then, we ask each of you to choose each other¡¯s colors!¡±


    ¡°Ohhhh!¡±


    ¡°Awesome!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    Damn it. I hoped that this event would change after the mission changed, but it didn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t know why this part had to be the same.


    <i>¡®Nothing is going as I nned.¡¯ </i>Like this, everything seemed to run out of my control and expectations. I looked back at my group members.


    ¡°What color should we pick?¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we be okay as long as it''s not blue?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, since it will be too simr to ourst concept.¡±


    It seemed the rest of my group members had a simr thought as me and wanted to only avoid blue.


    ¡°But it¡¯s not like we can choose the colors. Let¡¯s do a good job despite whatever color they choose.¡±


    Yet, unlike me, who thought we shouldn¡¯t get blue at all costs, it appeared they were more open-minded than me. I suppose they were satisfied as long as they could stand on top of a stage, and the color blue was something they would only avoid if they couldn¡¯t help it. Yet, we had different stakes on the line. I needed to do well even in a mission like this to potentially block Do-Seung¡¯s death while my group members were simply trying to get their names known.


    ¡°Bleshu will choose Luminin¡¯s color, while OnebyOne will choose Bleshu¡¯s color. Lastly, Luminin will choose OnebyOne¡¯s color and Siren will take the color left,¡± the host said. It seemed they were going by our ranks. The first group who would get their color chosen was Luminin, then, Bleshu, and the third was OnebyOne. We were thest ones to get our colors and had no choice but to take the remaining color. I knew there was no ce that gave rewards tost ce, but this was too pitiful.


    I was still praying that other groups would take blue when one of Luminin¡¯s members dered, ¡°I hope the Sirens¡¯ next performance will be blue!¡±


    I didn¡¯t know if I was materializing all my fears, but blue was thest remaining option on the table.


    ¡°Ah...?¡±


    ¡°Blue...¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    All my group members froze and looked displeased for a moment. Everything happened smoothly and so fast I needed to take a moment to take it all in. When Luminin was choosing OnebyOne¡¯s color, the group¡¯s members saw that the only colors left were red and blue and smirked at us.


    Then, they left blue while fakely stating that they wanted OnebyOne to show a fiery performance that fit the color red. Those guys must have known that if our group did another blue-themed concert, we would naturally have less impact on the second one.


    <i>¡®How aggravating.¡¯</i> I could understand their behavior, considering how desperate their situation was, but still, I wanted to throw a punch at them because of how obvious their intentions were.


    ¡°So everyone¡¯s colors are decided!¡± Only One was gold, Luminin was white, Bleshu was ck, OnebyOne was red, and we were blue. It was an annoying situation but I couldn¡¯t do anything to change it.


    ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see what you all wille up with these colors! And with this, today¡¯s episodees to a close and we will say our goodbyes.¡± It was time for the shooting to end now. ¡°The <i>Showcase 2! First Chance</i>! Everyone who stayed with us from the beginning, thank you so much!¡± Kim Young-Jin and Nahyun both said their lines and the first official shooting of <i>The Showcase </i>came to a close.


    ¡°Good work, everybody!¡±


    ¡°Good work!¡±


    I thought we rose victorious for our first shooting but we ended fifth ce and received the color blue. It had a bitter end. I also nced at my group members. The expressions they had been maintaining in front of the cameras began to break slightly.


    ¡°We rankedst. Haha.¡±


    ¡°And our color happens to be blue of all things.¡±


    ¡°Haha. Hahaha....¡±


    Our team¡¯s morale was dreary. I decided to think positively about the situation somehow. Since we got blue again, perhaps, this was an opportunity to establish and solidify the group¡¯s color.


    <i>¡®Perhaps, we could overturn things and make an even bigger impact on the audience,¡¯ </i>I hoped. I tried to imagine a rosy picture and did my best to give my group members hope. After wearing sailor uniforms, we could do a simr concept with blue. Though the concepts ovepped, we could showcase a much better performance and stage that was as fresh and vibrant as the group...


    <i>¡®It won¡¯t be easy,¡¯</i> I thought. I couldn¡¯t picture the image clearly in my head after thinking about it for a bit. To make an impact with the same concept, we couldn¡¯t simply do a good job. We needed to do so well that it would make everyone¡¯s eyes pop out. And while I was thinking this, I noticed somebody walking toward us.


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung was approaching us. I wondered why a guy whose team ranked first had toe to visit us when our moods were at our worst, but Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly tried to make some small talk.


    ¡°I just wanted to say that I enjoyed your group¡¯s performance very much,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said.


    ¡°Ah, uh, uhh! Hello, sir!¡±


    ¡°Hello!¡±


    All my group members froze and bowed deeply. Though we were in a panic, we still had to greet our seniors properly. Yet, I couldn¡¯t react as punctually as my group members. Though it was strange that Kang Hyun-Sung approached us first, there was too much going on inside my head to celebrate seeing a celebrity. I nned to escape from the scene after my greeting, but Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°You have good sense. Not only in writing lyrics but in many other areas too.¡±


    I first wondered who he was talking to but realized his eyes were on me. What did he want? Based on his wording, he seemed to be remarking about how we uploaded the same application video as him and was trying to see whether it was just a coincidence or a ploy we devised with leaked information. I felt myself growing tired that Kang Hyun-Sung was trying to provoke a fight with me when I was already feeling conflicted about other matters. I knew I was the one who caused this situation, but it was still bothersome to deal with the consequences.


    Thus, I stared directly at Kang Hyun-Sung and simply replied, ¡°Yes. Thank you.¡±


    I replied without overselling or belittling myself. Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me piercingly. Though his face was very expressive on stage, it was expressionless outside of it. Since I also didn¡¯t lose to anyone in having a straight, poker face, I stared back at him with the same expression. Usually, one side turned away from a reaction like this but our unpleasant eye contact uselessly continued. After a short period of silence, Kang Hyun-Sung finally said, ¡°I look forward to seeing your blue performance,¡± and left.


    <i>¡®That¡¯s it?¡¯ </i>I thought and was surprised that he came all this way to not even say much. I was about to dive back into my thoughts when Yeon-Hoon eximed with a cheer in his eyes.


    ¡°Woooow!¡± he said, ¡°He was so good-looking! I thought lights wereing off his face!¡± It was strange for a truly handsome guy like Yeon-Hoon to talk about aparatively normal-looking human like this.


    ¡°Yeah. His voice is much better in real life too.¡±


    My other group members seemed to have also fallen for Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s reputation and name and gave a very favorable assessment of him. I looked back at Kang Hyun-Sung, who was standing far away now. He was exchanging a line or two with his group members, and our eyes met again. I quickly turned away and looked at my group members. Then the producers and cast began to leave the scene one by one.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see each other in 2 weeks!¡±


    ¡°Good work, you guys!¡±


    ¡°Have a safe trip back!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Sirens!¡± Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon also came to pick us up at that time.


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go.¡±


    Though our team¡¯s mood went slightly up because Kang Hyun-Sung hade to talk to us, it still wasn¡¯t good. While we moved back to our dorms, the group members¡¯ faces still looked downcast. Though being fifth ce could make us more memorable to the viewers in hindsight, it still didn¡¯t give me a good feeling to see my group members looking so sad.


    <i>¡®We can¡¯t let this blue thing affect us,¡¯</i> I thought. My fighting spirit boiled on our way back. While looking outside the car window, I thought about our concept. Not all shades of blue were the same and there were some that could be a better fit for us. I tried to rack my head for something when an idea came from an unexpected ce.


    ¡°But if it¡¯s blue, it will be a bit gloomy,¡± Yeon-Hoon suddenly murmured while sitting in the front.


    ¡°What? Gloomy?¡± Woon asked.


    ¡°¡®Feeling blue¡¯¡ªdoesn¡¯t that mean you are feeling mncholy? I am worried about how we would have to make a gloomy performance.¡± It appeared Yeon-Hoon was thinking about ¡®blue¡¯ in a different way from all of us. While everyone was trying to avoid blue because they thought it would ovep with the ¡°Sailing¡± concept, Yeon-Hoon wanted to avoid it because blue was too gloomy for him.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Ohhh!¡±


    Besides Yeon-Hoon, all of us raised our heads.


    ¡°Hm? What is it, you guys?¡± Yeon-Hoon said surprisedly.


    ¡°We can go with that!¡± We all screamed at thepletely different possibility presented before us.


    1. A ceremony that celebrates the first birthday of a baby; in the ceremony, babies choose an item that is believed to signify their future career. ?

 Chapter 22

    <h4>Chapter 22</h4>


    Yeon-Hoon was right; we could also go in that direction.


    ¡®Feeling blue¡¯ meant being mncholy in English, and in fact, there were many songs that utilized this term. When the color blue was used as a means to express sentiments of loneliness and sadness, we could leave an unexpected impact on the viewers. As soon as I thought of this, ideas sprang up inside my mind.


    ¡°Ah.¡± I was itching to share my ideas but then thought,<i> ¡®I should think about it a bit more.</i>¡¯ I knew from many years of writing that 90% of ideas that popped up hastily were trash. I curbed my excitement and watched the members talk amongst themselves.


    ¡°Mncholy? Mncholy Blue? I don¡¯t think that would be a bad idea.¡± Dong-Jun showed interest in the new direction.


    ¡°Mncholy. Hmm. I think it would be good to refer to modern dance and incorporate that into our choreography.¡± Woon was already thinking about the choreography.


    For reference, the choreography for ¡°Sailing¡± had also been made by Woon. I had prepared appropriatementary toud Woon¡¯s ability, but there were so many variables during ourst performance that I couldn¡¯t find the right timing to say it.


    <i>¡®What a shame.¡¯ </i>It was a waste to think that I missed the chance to get one more cut for us. Soon, we went back to the topic of the color blue.


    ¡°Blue. Blue hmmm~¡± Do-Seung was already working on a melody he came up with based on the idea of blue. Since it was still a secret that he wasposing songs, the other members must have thought that he was just randomly humming.


    Andst but not least, Yeon-Hoon seemed as if he just didn¡¯t like anything gloomy. ¡°How do we do something gloomy? I don¡¯t like gloomy...¡±


    A gloomy color didn¡¯t fit Yeon-Hoon, but apart from that, ¡®<i>I think it will fit well with his vocals.¡¯ </i>Although he had a high, soft voice, there was something deep and sorrowful about his voice. Thus, I thought he could pull off a mncholy song quite well. Excluding Yeon-Hoon, it seemed all the members were generally positive about going for a gloomy song to convey the color. And regards to Yeon-Hoon, he always followed the direction we wanted to follow, so there seemed to be no problem even if we finalized this concept.


    <i>¡®Let¡¯s show it. A story.¡¯ </i>I thought about a storyline that expressed this concept, and why the narrator would be feeling mncholy. I thought about what lyrics we could sing and what to express with our dance and based on these factors, I began to write a story that we could show on stage. The other team would probably use previously released songs, arrange them appropriately, and perform on stage.


    However, I wanted our group to use only songs that we created from start to finish on this show. The first reason was because I didn¡¯t think we would be able to produce good results if we left the song rearrangement to our agency.


    <i>¡®Also, there are strong merits to self-producing a song.¡¯</i> In the long run, the power of self-production was going to be more and more significant. It went beyond providing more substance and talent for our fans to enjoy.


    <i>¡®We could gain a say inside the agency.¡¯ </i>When our contract was transferred to a joint contract after the program was over in the future, self-producing our songs could be our weapon to not be treated as mindless puppets in the new agency. That was a distant story for the future, but for now, we could garner a bit more attention if we possessed the title of self-producing idols. I was nning to make good use of that, and in order to carry out this n¡ª


    <i>¡®First, I need to persuade Do-Seung today or tomorrow.¡¯ </i>We needed to secure the songposer first. I made ns, drafted a storyline, chose the lyric theme, and looked out the car window. I watched the car drive straight ahead.


    * * *


    Inside Only One¡¯s car, the trip back to the dorm was dead silent. There was only one person who could make the atmosphere so tense like this. It was Kang Hyun-Sung sitting behind the driver¡¯s seat. Since Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t say a single word before he got into the car, no one could dare to break the silence.


    Only One¡¯s<i> maknae</i>, Park Young-ho, nced sideways at Kang Hyun-Sung. He was in the same group as Kang Hyun-Sung and had once practiced together in the past. At that time, Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t have a bright and warm personality, but he wasn¡¯t someone with such a chilling atmosphere like now.


    However, Kang Hyun-Sung became apletely different person after the <i>Select Your Idol</i> show and performed as part of the group ¡®Yours¡¯. Of course, Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t bully them or vent his anger at another member. Rather, it was the opposite. He acted strictly businesslike with them to the tee.


    Sometimes it felt like he was being overly polite like someone drawing a line and treating people he wouldn¡¯t be seeing for long. He didn¡¯t talk to his team members unless it was strictly necessary. As a result, Hyun-Sung¡¯s mannerisms influenced the whole group¡¯s atmosphere, and everyone treated each other businesslikely.


    Since Hyun-Sung acted cold to everyone, they all became cold to each other. However, he was a bit different from usual today and appeared a bit more emotional. Park Young-Ho tried to think about events that might have led to Hyun-Sung¡¯s change of mood when Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly called his name.


    ¡°Young-Ho.¡±


    ¡°Ah! Yes, sir!¡± A very formal answer intuitively popped out of Young-Ho¡¯s mouth as his name was called out of the blue.


    Hyun-Sung smiled slightly at his reaction and stared at him. He asked, ¡°You¡¯re a year younger than Siren¡¯s <i>maknae</i>, right?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. That¡¯s probably the case.¡±


    ¡°Do kids around that age normally give off a vibe like that?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Park Young-Ho thought about the group called Siren. It was a group that filmed and uploaded a video with the same concept as them. Frankly, they were all very shocked when Siren uploaded the same video as them and wondered how the same video could be uploaded at around the same time.


    Their video¡¯s idea hade from Kang Hyun-Sung. He said that rather than doing a half-hearted version of a striking idol performance, it was better to do something funny instead to get a good response. When Kang Hyun-Sung, who was always so cold and aloof, brought out such aical concept and began acting, Young-Ho had thought he was dreaming. Thus, it was more surprising that there was someone who had the same thoughts as Kang Hyun-Sung in Siren¡ªthe group¡¯s <i>maknae</i>.


    Young-Ho had heard Siren¡¯s <i>maknae</i> was 19 years old, and he hadn¡¯t yet heard if Bong Tae-Yoon went to school or not. Was Kang Hyun-Sung bothered that there had been someone with a simr idea as him? It seemed as if throughout the shooting, Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to have been watching Siren¡¯s <i>maknae </i>more keenly than the others. Furthermore, this thought was supported by how Kang Hyun-Sung was asking about Siren¡¯s <i>maknae</i> separately like this.


    ¡°Well, uh, he does feel different from an average 19-year-old...?¡± Young-Ho also felt like Siren¡¯s <i>maknae</i> was an unusual person; the high school boys he knew were rowdier and louder. However, Bong Tae-Yoon even gave off the impression that he was the oldest in the team.


    ¡°...But why are you asking me that?¡± Park Young-Ho cautiously asked the intention of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s question.


    ¡°No, it just bothered me.¡± Hyun-Sung sinctly replied and turned away his gaze. After that, the car heading to their dorm was again engulfed in silence. It felt stuffy like someone was suffocating them. Park Young-Ho habitually tapped his chest. From a certain point in time, he felt like something was continuously pressing down on the area near his stomach.


    * * *


    ¡°It¡¯s here~ We¡¯ve arrived at the dorm!¡±


    The car, which had been full of energetic conversations about the topic of the color blue, finally became quiet after arriving in front of our dorm.


    ¡°Let¡¯s first go up and think about the stage a little more!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, all right!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get off~.¡±


    ¡°Agggh!¡±


    As the members sitting in the front got off one by one, I, who was sitting in the back, pulled the car seat back and came out. Since this was an old car, the third-row seat was utterly terrible to sit in.


    <i>¡®My back hurts.¡¯ </i>I thought I should really buy a foam roller.


    ¡°Then, don''t hesitate to get in touch with me whenever you have an emergency! Ms. Hyuna and I will now go back to the agency!¡±


    It seemed like they had to return to the agency¡¯spany building.


    Yeon-Hoon asked, ¡°Are you not going to get off work?¡±


    Seung-Yeon replied, ¡°Well, we have to fill out and submit an activity report today. Hahaha.¡±


    Then Hyuna said, ¡°We also have to organize the history of ourpany card usage and handle expenses...¡±


    This was the pain of working as an administrator. No matter what they did, they had to write a report to the higher-ups. The biggest problem was that the higher-up was head manager Yoon Tae-Hyun, who didn¡¯t do crap.


    <i>¡®Well, he won¡¯t even look at it even if they report it. It¡¯s all a formality.¡¯ </i>This was the moment when I missed the head manager before Yoon Tae-Hyung. The atmosphere was at least hopeful when he was around. I pushed away my misceneous thoughts and looked up at our dorm. It was an old apartment¡¯s rooftop.


    <i>¡®We should move soon.¡¯ </i>It wasn¡¯t because I wanted a spacious and nice house. After the broadcast, we may gain a fandom, whether big or small. Then there was definitely a risk that there might be a stalker-fan. It was clear that if we lived in a house with such poor security, they''de breaking in at the slightest opportunity. From their perspective, our living spaces would be a full-course meal for them.


    <i>¡®Should I ask Dong-Jun about this?¡¯</i> I stared at Dong-Jun, who was doing a strange tap dance with Yeon-Hoon with a huge smile on his face. He was someone who was extremely energetic every single day. In the past, I used to wonder why he was always smiling, and I found out there was somewhat of a reason for that.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s still fascinating.¡¯</i> I thought I should leave that matter aside for now and look at Do-Seung first. After calming down Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun by telling them to stop, he dragged them up the stairs.


    <i>¡®I need to make him officially startposing for us.¡¯</i>


    While I was thinking about ways to convince him, Woon came up from behind and asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡± I climbed the stairs with Woon. We reached the rooftop, opened the front door, and entered our dorm.


    ¡°Everyone, sit here for now. Before today is over, let¡¯s talk a little bit about what we¡¯re going to do for the next stage and then go to sleep,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and spread the sitting table in the middle of the living room. We put our luggage down in the corner and sat in a circle in front of the table.


    ¡°First, it''s definite that we¡¯re going with the concept of mncholy blue, right?¡± Yeon-Hoon brought out a notebook and pen from somewhere and wrote down the words ''mncholy blue'' in the middle of the paper.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I like it.¡±


    ¡°I also like it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m all for it.¡±


    Since all five people agreed, that part waspletely set.


    ¡°Hmm, then we have to find a sad song topliment the color blue,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and entered the streaming app. After entering the tab that categorized songs by keyword, he clicked on the tab called sad.


    ¡°They¡¯re mostly bads.¡± This was the reality. Of course, there were some mncholy idol songs as well. However, the problem was¡ª


    ¡°There¡¯s no dance in this.¡± Most of the gloomy idol songs were non-title track songs with no choreography, and they weren¡¯t suitable to dance to either. Although they were idol songs, they were all basically slow, bad songs as well.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard.¡± Although our theme was good, no song perfectly fit our goals.


    ¡°Shall we get a melody from that SoundClown site again? And then how about adding lyrics to that?¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a great idea. If there¡¯s no suitable song, we have to make it anyway. ¡°


    ¡°Since it would be hard for us to get a professionalposer, I think our best bet would be to get permission from one of the people who released their music for free.¡±


    Dong-Jun and Yeon-Hoon exchanged opinions and continued to talk in the direction of using SoundClown.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, can you write the lyrics this time too? If it¡¯s difficult, we can all¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, I can do it,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wow, that was fast. Then we at least got the lyrics down and...¡±


    It seemed as if they wanted to add the lyrics I wrote to a song we found on SoundClown again. Although we ranked fifth, we all knew that ¡°Sailing¡± was well received. Since this was a method that seeded once, it was natural that they wanted to utilize it again.


    As our meeting continued, two people remained particrly quiet. One was Do-Seung. Since the SoundClown idea was brought up, Do-Seung began to stiffen and nce around his surroundings nervously. The second person was Woon. I wondered why Woon wasn¡¯t saying anything when he was usually the type to speak up in meetings.


    <i>¡®Hmm?¡¯ </i>I saw that he kept ncing at Do-Seung and then moved his lips as if he was about to say something but closed his mouth again.


    <i>¡®What?¡¯ </i>There seemed to be some unknown secret between the two. Perhaps, it was expected since they hung out every day and were the same age.


    At that moment, I realized that I might not be the only one who knew about Do-Seung¡¯s songwriting ount.


    <i>¡®Ah, perhaps. Does Woon know?¡¯</i>


    When I realized this, I thought, <i>¡®Maybe I don¡¯t have to do anything and reap the benefits.¡¯ </i>There seemed to be a more usible and easier direction than getting Do-Seung topose a song for us.

 Chapter 23

    <h4>Chapter 23</h4>


    I studied Woon and Do-Seung. I realized then that the two kept ncing at each other. Considering their personalities, I doubted they were using each other¡¯s secrets to ckmail each other.


    If I had to guess from their reactions, I thought this was probably what was happening: <i>¡®Woon probably knows that Do-Seung is the owner of the ount, and Do-Seung is worried that Woon might reveal this fact to everyone else.</i>¡¯


    It was as if I was seeing a frustrating,edic act between two kind people. Do-Seung kept checking on Woon even though Woon wasn¡¯t the type to spill other people¡¯s secrets, and Woon looked nervously back at him. Though I didn¡¯t show it outwardly, I was chuckling inside my mind.


    ¡°Hmm. What song should we choose? I can¡¯t find anything suitable on SoundClown,¡± Yeon-Hoon said while cing his phone down. Everybody had been surfing through SoundClown for some time now. I told them to share with the group if they found a song that gave them a good feeling, but it seemed none of the songs hit the mark.


    SoundClown was generally a tform for amateurs. Among the sea of songs, there could be a scatter of professional-sounding songs, but the majority had something missing in them.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Do-Seung remarked and flinched. I wondered if he was going to confess the truth himself when he suddenly announced, ¡°I need to go to the bathroom for a bit.¡±


    It was not the statement I expected in the slightest, and I stared intently at Do-Seung¡¯s back as he left. Truthfully, there was a part of me that could both understand and not understand Do-Seung¡¯s behavior. I got that he was embarrassed about rashly revealing his work to the public.


    <i>¡®But why is he still not revealing it at this point?</i>¡¯ I thought. The song, ¡®Sailing¡¯ was created and presented on stage for everyone to hear. Of course, the show wasn¡¯t broadcasted yet but when it did, there was a high possibility that it would be revealed that Do-Seung was the true identity behind ¡®victory0505¡¯.


    The show had to file a copyright report and in the process, they needed to get theposer¡¯s official name. Thus, I wondered why Do-Seung wasn¡¯t revealing a truth that everyone would inevitably find out in the future.


    <i>¡®I thought he would reveal it while we were working on Sailing.¡¯ </i>I thought when Do-Seung had gone to get permission from theposer, he was half-agreeing to reveal his identity as ¡®victory0505¡¯. And I thought he would at least give us, his fellow teammates, a heads-up. Yet, this process was taking longer than I expected. Perhaps, there was something more that I didn¡¯t know about. At first, I thought he was simply embarrassed about putting his name on his own work but that didn¡¯t seem to be the case.


    <i>¡®He is being way too hesitant.¡¯</i> Do-Seung was trying to prolong the inevitable for some reason.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can do more of this. I can¡¯t even tell what is what after listening to so many songs...¡±


    ¡°Yeah...¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun slumped to the ground. While Woon, I, and Do-Seung were eyeing each other and only thinking about revealing ¡®victory0505¡¯s identity, the two were earnestly trying to search for a song. I felt a bit sorry for them.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop for today,¡± I announced, ¡°If we hear any more, I think it will affect our judgment and we could end up picking a weird song.¡±


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s gather in the practice room tomorrow morning to choose a song again.¡± Woon proposed tomorrow¡¯s meeting time first.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good~¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun both agreed.


    ¡°I also agree,¡± I said, satisfied by the idea.


    Do-Seung returned to the room and then asked, ¡°Hm? The meeting is over?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we decided to meet again at the practice room tomorrow morning,¡± Woon answered.


    It was then, I noticed them exchanging a secret signal.


    ¡°Ah, um, yeah I got it,¡± Do-Seung spoke in an uncharacteristically awkward tone and sat back down.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough work for the day! Let¡¯s go to sleep now! It was so exhausting the whole day!¡± Yeon-Hoon said andy on the ground with his arms and legs spread out. He must have exhausted all his energy after the first shooting, so it was natural that he was tired. But seeing him like this, I wanted to tease him a little.


    ¡°Old man, you have to sleep on the nkets,¡± I teased.


    ¡°O-Old man?¡± Yeon-Hoon looked genuinely shocked. ¡°Old man...?¡±


    ¡°I was just joking,¡± I quickly tried to retract my statement, sensing that the situation could turn for the worse.


    ¡°I¡¯m not an old man! Are you teasing your older members now? You don¡¯t think you would get older too? Furthermore, I¡¯m nowhere near old yet. I¡¯m still twenty-three¡ªa<i> child</i> by society standards!¡± Yeon-Hoon said angrily. I knew he was self-conscious about being older than us but not to this point.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    ¡°Just you wait. I¡¯m going to get my revenge,¡± Yeon-Hoon heaved and went to sleep. I thought he should at least wash up but I let him be. I didn¡¯t want to get scolded for waking him up too.


    <i>¡®I shouldn¡¯t tease Yeon-Hoon about his age.¡¯</i> I thought and made a personal rule for myself.


    ¡°Then, who is going to wash up first?¡±


    ¡°I will.¡±


    And while Yeon-Hoon went to sleep, we each decided the order that we would use the showers.


    ***


    After waking Yeon-Hoon up to get himself to wash up, we ally down to go to bed. Today was a truly exhausting day. Yeon-Hoon instantly fell asleep again right after washing up, and even Dong-Jun, who always chattered away while lying on top of the nket, was quiet.


    By the sound of snoringing from his direction, it appeared he was already asleep. It was natural that they¡¯d be knocked out after their first shooting. Yet, two people were still awake: Do-Seung and Woon.


    <i>¡®They keep touching their phones,¡¯ </i>I noticed. The two had been fumbling with their phones once every ten minutes. Though the two were pretending to sleep, they were probably having trouble falling deep asleep. I quietly got up and carefully moved to not wake Dong-Jun and Yeon-Hoon up.


    ¡°Woon,¡± I whispered in a very quiet voice.


    ¡°Hm?¡± Woon, who had been pretending to be sleeping, opened his eyes and responded. Instead of replying, I gestured for him toe out with my hands. Woon nodded and slid out of his spot, careful not to wake Do-Seung next to him. The funny thing was that Do-Seung wasn¡¯t asleep either and he was only pretending to be.


    ¡ªLet¡¯s go.


    Woon said soundlessly with just the shape of his mouth. I nodded and we quietly opened the entrance door.


    ***


    We sat in front of the convenience store in front of our vi. It was the same convenience store Yeon-Hoon and I visited. Perhaps, the store owner had been shocked by the flower pot fallingst time and installed a sturdy barricade on top of the terrace. Wrapped in our padded jackets, Woon and I sat while holding two warm cups of quince tea.


    ¡°Why did you suddenly want to see me outside?¡± Woon asked after taking a sip of his drink. Instead of answering, I stared intently back at him. I pretended to ponder a bit so that he would be worried.


    ¡°Why? What happened? Is there something worrying you?¡± Woon asked, not missing any reaction I made. I didn¡¯t feel good because I felt like I was using his kindness but I thought it couldn¡¯t be helped. I looked directly at Woon and asked, ¡°You know victory0505?¡±


    Woon looked a bit surprised by me bringing up the ount. Then, he asked tensely, ¡°Yeah, what about it?¡±


    It seemed he had already sensed what I was going to say.


    ¡°It¡¯s Do-Seung right?¡± I asked a bit unsurely, still hiding everything I knew. Yet, Woon appeared extremely conflicted by my statement, and his eyes wavered. I thought, at this rate, he could deny my statement if I didn¡¯t act firmer.


    ¡°I saw Do-Seung¡¯s email by coincidence, and it said victory0505.¡±


    Woon appeared even more shocked, and he froze in ce while holding the quince tea in the air. It was certain that Woon knew something. Then, after not moving like a gargoyle, he finally admitted it.


    ¡°...Yes, that''s right.¡±


    ¡°When did you know about it?¡± I asked. This was a personal question. Though I knew the truth because of my past life, I was curious how Woon knew.


    ¡°You know how Do-Seung and I used to be in the samepany?¡± Woon said and looked far off in the distance. The two were originally trainees from a pretty big agency. Then, when the pre-debut group was decided, their positions in thepany became unclear and unstable. It was then, the head manager from WD Entertainment before Yoon Tae-Hyun recruited them, promising them a definite chance of debuting. Since WD was still a normal agency that provided all the adequate needs before Yoon Tae-Hyung joined, they agreed and joined the agency.


    ¡°While we were at that ce, Do-Seungposed songs too. He would upload songs not on SoundClown but on various social media sites, and his ount name was also victory0505,¡± Woon said and took another sip of his drink.


    ¡°But at that time, the atmosphere at the agency was...hm, how should I say this?¡± Woon hesitated before continuing. Then, after a long pause, he began again, ¡°It was reallypetitive among the people whoposed their own songs. That¡¯s all I can tell you.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± I roughly understood the situation and why Do-Seung had a hard time revealing his ount. It seemed he was still traumatized from his experience at his past agency. They said there wasn¡¯t creation without suffering and pain, yet what made this suffering multiple times worse and more painful waspetition. Competitions were efficient for pushing people to create works out of their suffering since those who ced first gained a massive sense of satisfaction and confidence. Yet, it was a different story for the rest.


    <i>¡®It sounds like Do-Seung couldn¡¯t ce first among them,¡¯ </i>I thought. If he had, he would¡¯ve probably debuted at his pastpany, and I had a general guess as to who that member who ranked first ce and debuted was; it was probably that idol who was actively promoting his work right now.


    Regardless, those who didn¡¯t ce first tended to lose many things. First, they would lose the ability to objectively assess their skills and lose a great amount of confidence. Furthermore, they would have a strange attachment to the area they failed in and would keep holding onto it, never letting it go. It was a prison of sorts that sucked the soul out of a person to thest drop. I supposed Do-Seung¡¯s situation was like that.


    Rationally, he must also be aware that his skills were above average in the industry. Furthermore, he must also know that he would have to reveal that he was the creator behind <i>Sailing</i> shortly. Perhaps, a part of him wanted to reveal this truth and that was why he pretended to contact theposer of the song. Even now, he could be preparing his heart right now to open his ount to the world again.


    <i>¡®It can¡¯t be helped then,¡¯ </i>I thought. ¡°I suppose we have to wait.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    I thought I needed to act aggressively and push Do-Seung to reveal his identity. But that had been my misconception. Do-Seung was already struggling his hardest and trying to break out of the chains from his past. Since he came all this way, Do-Seung would be able to figure out the rest on his own. It was all up to him to settle all the internal problems in his mind, and it wasn¡¯t something that I could interfere with.


    ¡°It seems I¡¯ve overstepped my ce and tried to meddle. I¡¯m sorry to you and Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°Hm? What? No, it¡¯s fine,¡± Woon smiled and took another sip of his tea. Then, hemented, ¡°By the way, this is really tasty.¡±


    ¡°It has to be tasty with all the additive sugars poured into it,¡± I said.


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°Tea drinks like this are usually filled with sugar.¡±


    Woon looked at me like he was betrayed and quickly read the ingredient list.


    ¡°L-Look at the calories in this thing...¡±


    ¡°Who cares about that? You are already so thin¡ª¡±


    ¡°You should¡¯ve told me!¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    Woon acted as if he had binged a heavy meal during a diet.


    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, Woon.¡±


    ¡°Seriously?¡± <i>Siiigh</i>.


    It seemed I needed to make another personal rule. When I gave food to Woon, it always needed to be diet food. Perhaps, it was because he was a dancer, Woon was very careful about his figure.


    ¡°...Anyways, pretend you don¡¯t know about Do-Seung¡¯s ount,¡± Woon said and closed the lid of his drink.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I nodded. And I intuitively felt that I wouldn¡¯t need to feign ignorance for long.

 Chapter 24

    <h4>Chapter 24</h4>


    We decided to pretend that we didn¡¯t know victory0505 was Do-Seung¡¯s ount. However, when the next day arrived, Do-Seung made an important announcement to us sitting around the practice room.


    He said, ¡°Um, I have something to say.¡±


    We were sitting in a circle looking for a song in ordance with the promise we made yesterday. Do-Seung slowly opened his mouth in a serious tone. There was probably only one reason why he was saying something so seriously in this atmosphere¨C


    ¡°I¡¯m victory0505.¡± It was to reveal his identity.


    Woon and I had made a promise to pretend to not know it was him yesterday, but Do-Seung revealed it himself the next day. I had never thought this would happen. Woon and I looked at each other andughed humorlessly. The situation progressed so fast that it made us almost embarrassed that we made such a fussst night. On the other hand, Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun were so shocked that their eyes became as big as saucers.


    ¡°What did you say, Do-Seung?¡± Yeon-Hoon¡¯s reaction was actually on the milder side.


    ¡°Do-Seung was Sir victory0505...?¡± Dong-Jun actedpletely bamboozled. No, he really was shocked to that extent. Seeing that he added the title ¡®Sir¡¯ to victory0505, he must have personally admired victory0505 as it was surprisingly rare for idols to be goodposers.


    Since victory0505 was someone who produced and gave out such good music for free, Dong-Jun must have admired him greatly. However, after finding out that this person¡¯s identity was Do-Seung, who he teased and yed around with every day, he must have felt a strong dissonance between them.


    ¡°You¡¯re theposer?¡± Dong-Jun stared at Do-Seung¡¯s face in disbelief.


    ¡°Is this a hidden prank?¡± Then he went through the early stages of denial and began to show signs of delusions. ¡°The Showcase staff! Come out now! I caught your prank now!¡±


    Lastly, Dong-Jun began to express simple, infantile levels of emotions. ¡°There¡¯s no way Do-Seung can be victory0505. No way! It can¡¯t be! I refuse to believe it.¡± In short, he threw a tantrum.


    ¡°Geez! Come on! I told you it¡¯s me!¡± Do-Seung couldn¡¯t stand it any longer and shouted at Dong-Jun.


    Dong-Jun shouted back, ¡°Prove it! Prove it to me!¡± At this point, he was beingpletely unreasonable.


    Do-Seung showed his ount information after entering SoundClown with his phone.


    ¡°You see this?¡±


    ¡°Haha. Hahaha.¡± Dong-Jun beganughing hollowly now. I guessed he gave up now.


    ¡°In the first ce, you can guess it¡¯s me by the user ount since my name is Do-¡®Seung¡¯[1] and my birthday is May 5th,¡± Do-Seung said as if he was frustrated.


    ¡°...I thought theposer was just a winner who likes children¡¯s day[2].¡± Dong-Jun murmured to himself, and Do-Seung smirked at how ridiculous he was being. Dong-Jun seemed as if he didn¡¯t want to admit that Do-Seung, who he frequently joked around with and pranked, was the person he admired so much.


    But besides that, I was surprised by Dong-Jun¡¯s reaction. <i>¡®It¡¯s my first time seeing Dong-Jun react so intensely.¡¯</i>


    It was something I¡¯ve never seen even in my previous life. He was someone who always lived leisurely like a sailboat drifting in the calm sea. He was also someone who wanted to be an idol because it looked fun.


    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you tell us and try to hide it? Can you tell us, Do-Seung?¡± It was then Yeon-Hoon carefully asked Do-Seung.


    Do-Seung began to answer calmly as if he knew he would get this question. ¡°In my previous agency, there was a songwriting assignment, so I had to present a song every week.¡±


    ¡°What! Every week?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I was fine with creating a new song every week because I could just give up on sleeping for a few days, but the cold and tense atmosphere after the presentation was the hardest for me.¡±


    I could understand what he meant. There must have been some kind of war of nerves between the trainees takingposition sses when they released their songs every week. No matter how good the song was, they must have received harsh criticisms and probably tried to keep each other in check rather than encourage one another.


    Since the atmosphere at that time must have been imprinted in his head, he must have hesitated to let us hear his songs. If our responses were not good, he must have been afraid that it would bring back old memories. Though he must have confirmed that his songs elicited good reactions through <i>The Showcase</i>, he must have still felt hesitant as painful memories sometimes obscured our judgment enough to interfere with our rational thinking. It was then I finally understood Do-Seung a bit more clearly.


    ¡°When Tae-Yoon brought out my SoundClown ount and said let¡¯s contact this person to use their song, I thought I should reveal myself. But I still couldn¡¯t bring myself to say it until now.¡± Do-Seung bowed his head with an uncharacteristically emotional expression.


    ¡°On the day we were on stage, I made up my mind to reveal it, but I pushed it off again. I tried to say it in the car on our way back to the dorm, but I pushed it off again. I tried to say it at the meetingst night, but I postponed it once again, and it¡¯s only now that I''m finally revealing it.¡± Do-Seung sincerely apologized, saying that he felt like he had tricked us for no good reason.


    ¡°No, not at all! What are you sorry about! If it was me, I would have also worried a lot about it. You¡¯ve gone through a lot, Do-Seung,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and tried to hug Do-Seung.


    However, Do-Seung slightly moved away to avoid Yeon-Hoon. A slightly awkward atmosphere passed between a person who hated PDA, and a person who liked PDA.


    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll reveal that I¡¯m victory0505 to the production team and ask them to register the music with my real name.¡± Do-Seung organized what he said. ¡°And as far as my abilities go, I will try to create our group¡¯s music.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s expression brightened up at Do-Seung¡¯s words. ¡°Really? You can do that? Isn¡¯t it hard?¡± He looked worried but couldn¡¯t hide the excitement in his voice as it was a huge advantage to have a member who could produce songs that fit our team¡¯s color.


    ¡°Yes. Of course, I¡¯ll say it if I can¡¯t do something, but I got a rough picture of what song to make for this mission.¡± His words gave us strong confidence in this mission.


    ¡°Then shall we go to make a song?¡± There was a moment of silence in the practice room at Do-Seung¡¯s words.


    Yeon-Hoon asked, ¡°What, where are we going?¡±


    ¡°Ah, right. I didn¡¯t tell you. I have a separate studio. Let¡¯s go there.¡± Do-Seung revealed that he had a separate studio, and Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun looked shocked once again when they heard that.


    <i>¡®Since you need equipment to make a song, isn¡¯t it natural that he has a separate studio?¡¯ </i>Furthermore, there was no ce to put equipment in our small, rooftop dorm.


    ¡°It¡¯s not very far. Let¡¯s walk there.¡± We followed Do-Seung out of the practice room.


    * * *


    Do-Seung¡¯s statement that the studio was not far from here was true. It was just across the crosswalk from the building where our practice room was.


    He said, ¡°I¡¯m not renting this ce. While studyingposition at the agency, someone I got to know lent it to me for free. This is a public studio run by him.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe that he met such a generous benefactor. Do-Seung seemed to be rather lucky¡ªno, I corrected my thought. If he had been really lucky, he wouldn¡¯t havee to WD Entertainment. In the end, it felt like his luck was abination of pluses and minuses that ended up as zero. Do-Seung exined that the studio lent by the benefactor was a public studio that lent to the customers for an hourly fee. Do-Seung used the room at the end of therge studio.


    ¡°It¡¯s not very big, but if five of us can sit together, I think we¡¯ll all fit.¡±


    When he opened the door, there was definitely not much space to move around as he said. However, if we all stuck closely to each other, we could all fit. We sat close together on the mini sofa in the back. Do-Seung sat in front of a table with a desktopputer and other equipment. We were amazed by how he turned on the desktop with ease and turned on the songwriting program. Do-Seung said not to overreact, but he seemed pleased by our reactions. Dong-Jun, who initially was in denial, began to genuinely admire Do-Seung¡¯s unexpected side.


    Do-Seung said, ¡°First, these are songs that I made a long time ago, but do you want to hear them first? There are about three or four songs that can fit the theme of mncholy blue.¡±


    Dong-Jun asked, ¡°That many?¡±


    ¡°Well, they may not be good because they¡¯re all practice songs. Don¡¯t expect too much.¡±


    ¡°Bro, that¡¯s so cool!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk like that to me, Dong-Jun. I¡¯m older than you.¡±


    ¡°Booo. What a bore.¡±


    While Do-Seung and Dong-Jun bantered, I waited for what song Do-Seung would show us.


    He said, ¡°For the very first song, I will turn on this one first.¡± Do-Seung clicked aposition file and yed the file, and we sat still and listened to the song.


    The introduction began with a drum sound that felt somewhat cold. It was a very unique sound, so it instantly grabbed the audience¡¯s attention. It was a song that was slightly slower than medium tempo.


    The tempo was slower than ¡°Sailing¡±, so I thought I could use more words when writing the lyrics. The overall atmosphere of the song could be described as dreamy.


    ¡°That¡¯s nice.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I agree.¡±


    ¡°This is a practice song?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, Dong-Jun, and Woon were all surprised. I thought it was good as well.


    ¡°What about you, Tae-Yoon?¡± At that moment, Do-Seung specially called me out.


    I was about to say it was good but said, ¡°Can we listen to the next song?" instead. I hurriedly added, ¡°Ah, the song was good.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I guess it was not that catchy. Let¡¯s listen to the next one.¡± Do-Seung must have read the meaning between my words, and I felt apologetic that I was giving a poor reaction to someone who had trauma aboutposing.


    ¡°When ites to songs, it¡¯s better to be honest. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± After saying this, Do-Seung picked the next song and said, ¡°This is a song that I made when I was hooked on violin melody.¡±


    As he said, the melody of the strings demanded attention right from the hook. Thepletion of the song was quite high, and it was good enough to be used as a title song just as it was. However, the problem was¡ª


    I said, ¡°I think this feels more like spring than gloomy blue?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what bothered me too. I thought I could rearrange it and make it more mncholy, so that¡¯s why I showed it to you.¡±


    ¡°But this song seems to have already beenpleted in this state, so I don¡¯t think you should touch it anymore. If just one thing goes wrong from here, I think the whole song would be ruined.¡±


    Do-Seung looked at me unexpectedly and twitched his brows. Yeon-Hoon, Dong-Jun, and Woon also turned their heads and looked at me. Rather than wary eyes, they looked a little surprised. Despite just giving my honest thoughts, I wondered if I had been too forward.


    ¡°I¡¯m really not trying to rebuke you, but you have a good ear, Tae-Yoon. I mean it,¡± Do-Seung said and yed thest song. Thest song was a song with a piano melody in the beginning like droplets of rain. Piano music on a minor scale flowed out in the introduction.


    ¡°Uh?¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    It was definitely better than the previous songs and fitted well with the image of mncholy blue. It seemed as if the only instrument he used was the piano. It had a chord progression that could be considered a minor bad, but when looking at the tempo and overallposition of the song, I thought we could certainly add dancing to it. Above all, it was impressive that he made the tempo a little faster than medium while highlighting the abstract image of mncholy blue since it was normal to think of slow songs as sad songs.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s strange.¡¯</i> It had the power to draw people in.


    At that moment,<i> Ziing¡ª</i>


    The Insight ability was suddenly activated.


    <i>¡®Right now?¡¯ </i>I didn¡¯t know why this skill popped out while listening to Do-Seung¡¯s song.


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    My thoughts elerated to the point where the world seemed to be slowing down.


    <i>¡®Huhh?¡¯</i> At the same time, knowledge about Do-Seung¡¯s song entered my head. Information about how the song was made, what instrument would be suitable, and which parts should be kept or strengthened entered my mind. Based on the information about the song that just came into my ear, the Insight ability was correcting the song with maximum efficiency. The song, which had been good to start with, began to transform and develop in my head and began to form a clear image as if I were drawing a picture.


    ¡°Ack!¡± The Insight ended, and the world returned to its original pace.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, what¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°Are you sick?¡±


    The other members looked at me with concern and asked.


    Rather than that, there was something else that was more important. ¡°Do-Seung.¡±


    Do-Seung replied, ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°<i>Gugak</i>[3]...Please look for a sample of<i> gugak</i>.¡± I needed to manifest the same picture that I just saw into reality.


    1. Seung means victory in Korean. ?


    2. In Korea, Children''s day is a national holiday that falls on May 5th every year. ?


    3. Gugak is Korean traditional music. ?

 Chapter 25

    <h4>Chapter 25</h4>


    ¡°<i>Gugak</i>?¡± Do-Seung tilted his head. It seemed it wasn¡¯t something he had ever thought about. Yet, through my Insight ability just now, I was certain that we wouldn¡¯t be able toe up with a better idea than that. Truthfully, it was bothersome for me to change the direction of our performance like this too since I already had an idea in mind centered around the ¡®mncholy blue¡¯ concept. Originally, I was nning to reference a movie, and I had already chosen a sentimental and artistic European movie for it.


    <i>¡®But this idea is better.¡¯ </i>A song using<i> gugak </i>could create a better story.


    ¡°Hm, <i>gugak</i>?¡± Do-Seung stared piercingly at the musicposition software and pondered. I waited for his response for a bit and he asked, ¡°Which instrument?¡±


    I liked that he was giving me a positive response from the beginning, but the problem was that I wasn¡¯t knowledgeable about instruments.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have an instrument in mind?¡±


    ¡°Ah well, I just thought of <i>gugak</i>.¡± Since the Insight ability sporadically increased my senses, problems like this arose. Thus, I asked, ¡°Is there a site with<i> gugak</i> samples or something?¡± Yet, I didn¡¯t back down because I was confident that if we stuck to the idea I had in mind, we would seed.


    ¡°I do remember that there are instrument samples on the National Gugak Center¡¯s site ...¡± Do-Seung said and searched the inte. Then, he began to find each of the<i> gugak</i> instrument¡¯s samples.


    ¡°This is the <i>gayageum</i> that everyone is familiar with,¡± Do-Seung exined. Then, I listened to each of the samples that Do-Seung turned on.


    There were <i>gayageum, geomungo, ajaeng, haegum</i>[1], and some more. We continued listening to find a sound we liked, and the process didn¡¯t take long because I had a good intuitive feeling about which sounds we needed to use or avoid.


    ¡°No, this isn¡¯t it.¡±


    ¡°This is good,¡± I remarked and then said, ¡°I think we are done deciding which string instruments to use. Let¡¯s try to find instruments to use for our bass sound.¡±


    After I picked a couple of sounds, Do-Seung seemed to get the general picture of what I was trying to make. ¡°Ah, then, this sound will also go well with this,¡± he said and started to find instruments on his own and yed it for me before I said anything.


    Do-Seung seemed to really have a talent forposing if he was able to form an idea that I barely managed to envision with my Insight ability with just a couple of clues. And after Do-Seung got a general idea of what I was trying to do, he worked faster. Like that, Do-Seung and I sat right in front of the monitor and created a song together.


    The song we were creating wasn¡¯t an authentic <i>gugak,</i> and naturally, its basic structure was based on modern pop and had an idol-feeling to it. Yet, we would create a song that was infused deeply with the<i> gugak</i> genre. Like that, the first sample of our song waspleted.


    ¡°This is crazy...¡± Do-Seung said in a low voice.


    ¡°I think it came out well.¡± I was also satisfied with the result since it was very simr to what I envisioned. We were about to finally present our song when I realized that the rest of our group members were sitting at the back with hollow eyes.


    ¡°...Are you guys done?¡±


    ¡°Urrrrgh.¡±


    ¡°Ah, my back is so stiff.¡±


    It was then Do-Seung and I checked the time. About two hours passed since we began. I thought we took quite a bit of time to create this first sample and I expected it to be 30 minutes at most, not a couple of hours. Yeon-Hoon, Dong-Jun, and Woon had basically waited for us at the back without saying anything for approximately two hours.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t even move because we didn¡¯t want to break your concentration,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and yawned widely.


    ¡°I need to stretch my legs...¡± Dong-Jun staggered out of his position and stretched in strange yoga poses. It seemed their bodies felt stiff after sitting in a small space for a long time.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± Dong-Jun yelled like he was making a big roar and spread out his arms and legs.


    ¡°...I think I got a cramp in my legs.¡± Woon painfully rose from the mini sofa. He supported himself by clutching on the wall and rolling his ankles while arching his back.


    ¡°Ugggh...¡± The studio was filled with painted groans. I was nning to make them listen to the song right away but it seemed there needed to be some break time first. Thus, after the group members all stretched and loosened up their bodies, they officially got in the mode to listen. This song¡¯s quality was one they wouldn¡¯t be able to find after days of searching in SoundClown and fitted the concept of a ¡®mncholy blue¡¯ perfectly.


    <i>¡®Moreover, it¡¯spletely different from Sailing.</i>¡¯ We were going to do a drastically different concept from before.


    ¡°It¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°I like it.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s perfect.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun all agreed to the song choice.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do our first official performance with this song,¡± I said and our song choice became fixed.


    ¡°By the way, what is the title of this song?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t really think of a title...¡± Do-Seung said and tilted his head while looking at me. It seemed he was passing over the responsibility of creating the song title to me. I reyed the melody we created again in my head and replied.


    ¡°What about <i>Walya</i>?¡± I pulled out the words that I had learned while trying to increase my vocabry as a web novelist in my past life. The word meant a night with an especially bright moonlight. It was the word that sometimes came up when the daybreak felt especially bluish.


    ¡°<i>Walya</i>?¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°It sounds cool.¡±


    ¡°It fits the song well too.¡±


    My group members seemed to like the title of the song.


    ¡°Okay then, it¡¯s decided. Our first-round performance¡¯s song is ¡®<i>Walya¡¯</i>.¡±


    Our preparation for the first-round performance and the second shooting progressed bit by bit like this.


    ***


    While the casts of <i>The Showcase 2 </i>prepared for their first-round performance, the show¡¯s preview was finally released to the public and drew in viewers. <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s preview wasn¡¯t much different from other idol survival programs. It started it with a sob story and reyed memorable and emotional moments from <i>The Showcase 1 </i>in short clips. And while these videos yed, cast members¡¯ lines filled up the audio in the background.


    ¡ªWe were so, <i>so </i>desperate.


    ¡ªWe knew this was thest chance for us.


    ¡ªPlease, <i>please</i>...


    There was a scene of girl group members from thest season talking with tears in their eyes. Then, there were more scenes of them standing and sobbing on top of the big stage. For those who watched thest season, they would probably feel a stir in their hearts seeing these clips again. And at the end of all these clips, the screen turned ck and the title, <i>¡®The Showcase 2¡¯ </i>popped up with a heavy <i>¡®dudun¡¯</i> sound effect.


    After the title, <i>¡®First Chance¡¯</i> also rolled down, the screen filled with girl group members became reced by boy group members. Unlike the previous season, these people were much less known to the public.


    ¡ªThis is really ourst opportunity.


    ¡ªIf this doesn¡¯t work out for us, it will be all over.


    ¡ªWe will prove to everyone that we also deserve love and have the skills.


    It was very simr to what the girl group members from season 1 said. And with this, viewers could easily get the sense that they would be able to expect the same tear-jerking moments in season 2. Then on, the video yed cuts of various boy group members practicing. The camera zoomed into rough movements and did a slow motion for an idol collecting his breath in a corner at break time.


    ¡ªAgain! Again!


    ¡ªYour feet don¡¯t match!


    ¡ªHow are you going to stand on the stage like this!


    There were scenes that showed conflict.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s good.


    ¡ªYou can do it!


    ¡ªOkay! Let¡¯s do it one more time!


    Then, there were scenes of members coborating to fit their choreography.


    ¡ªGet up!


    ¡ªHahaha!


    ¡ªYou are so sensitive~ Are you angry~


    And there were also scenes of idolsughing and joking with one another. It was as if this video was trying to contain all the ups and downs of life. All scenes from the first-meeting performances were edited out to prevent spoilers and then finally came the catchphrase.


    ¡ª2022.


    ¡ªThese groups are yet to see the lights. Come find the group for you.


    As the screen turned ck again, the show¡¯s title passed.


    ¡ª<i>The Showcase 2 First Chance</i>


    And with a clicking sound, the preview came to an end. Though the preview was dramatic overall, it was very normalpared to other idol survival programs. Thements below the video also seemed to not receive the video so positively either.


    ¡ªI feel seriously bad for the people in  survival programs.


    ¡ªI want programs like this to stoping out...I¡¯m not going to watch this and will stop anyone who tries to.


    ¡ªI can already see that they are going to do so much evil editing looooool it¡¯s so clear what they are going to do.


    There were many negativements about the preview, but there were also some contrasting opinions.


    ¡ªI bet they are going to cause quite a stir and bring something new.


    ¡ªWho is the guy crying in the video? Please, it¡¯s urgent. I think I found my future husband.


    ¡ªThe more drama there is in a show, the more fun it is.


    There were also some people who imed that they had immunity to these sorts of self-harming shows after the recent swarm of idol survival programs. These people wrote that an idol show wasn¡¯t truly one without having these kinds of dramas. Yet, among these responses, there was one topic that took up most of thements.


    ¡ªWhat? Isn¡¯t that <i>Select Your Idol,</i> Kang Hyun-Sung?


    ¡ªHyun-Sung, nooooo


    ¡ª#KangHyun-Sung_DropOutofOnlyOne Why won¡¯t Hyun-Sung just go to a bigpany? He has all the qualifications: visuals and skills. What is hecking that he is standing among these no-name idols?


    ¡ªGotta work hard in life¡ªjust like Kang Hyun-Sung who ising out in another survival show after cing second ce on <i>Select Your Idol</i>.


    Most of thements were asking why Kang Hyun-Sung was even in a show like this. They must have known that he wasing out in <i>The Showcase 2 </i>already because his application video was circting around the inte and there were articles about it. But people were surprised yet again after seeing him in the official preview video. In this preview that was about 2 minutes long, Kang Hyun-Sung appeared for only about ten seconds but 90% of thements were talking about him. The rest of the 10% was a variety of mockeries at the show and rarely,ments about the other four groups. But fortunately, among these rarements, the group that was most talked about was Siren.


    ¡ªAre these the guys who uploaded the same application video as Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s group?


    ¡ªSiren? Didn¡¯t they have some scandal?


    Reply: They don¡¯t have a scandal and just uploaded the same video as Only One at the same time. Please don¡¯t misunderstand :(


    ¡ªAren¡¯t they the copycat group?


    Reply: They uploaded their video at the same time, you idiot. The fandom for Kang Hyun-Sung is as toxic as its idol.


    Siren was still riding on the coattails of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fame. And thankfully, there were alsoments talking about other things like Siren¡¯s Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face.


    ¡ªBut who is that guy in the corner? I think he will be my bias.


    Reply: His name is Woo Yeon-Hoon, the leader of Siren. Also, Siren didn¡¯t copy Only One¡¯s video :((((


    ¡ªWho is that guy sitting in the corner again? I am going to choose him as my bias.


    ¡ªHe¡¯s going to shake up the idol industry for sure with his visuals...


    ¡ªKang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans should stop going on about how their <i>oppa </i>is the visual of the new generation lol It¡¯s clearly this guy


    Reply: Woo Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sung are the same age


    Reply: Doesn¡¯t that make it more of a problem?? One looks so much better than the other


    Commentsparing Hyun-Sung and Woo Yeon-Hoon came up on social media sites and themunity from time to time. Butpared to the majority of thements, it was still a small minority. Thus, the general response of the preview could be shortened briefly like this:


    ¡ª#KangHyun-Sung_DropOutofOnlyOne


    ¡ªNooooo Kang Hyun-Sung


    They were cries of pity that Kang Hyun-Sung wasing out in a program for no-name or doomed idols. Though many people said this and that, <i>The Showcase 2</i> drew in more attention than the previous season. Simultaneously, the show began to recruit audiences to assess the first-round performances.


    ¡ªLook, they are recruiting <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s audiences


    ¡ªOh, I¡¯m going to see that <i>oppa </i>in the video


    ¡ª? What¡¯s with the evaluation method?


    And the peculiar thing about it was that the evaluation method was different from previous idol programs.


    ¡ªThey are going to have a grading system¡ªA, B, and C to rank the groups this time!


    Reply: For each group? That¡¯s so cruel


    Reply: As expected of


    Reply: Even Satan is going to think this is too much


    In this first-round performance, the show¡¯s cast members would have to suffer the two evils of idol survival programs at once: the ¡®ranking system¡¯ and the ¡®voting system¡¯.


    1. All types of traditional Korean string instruments. ?

 Chapter 26

    <h4>Chapter 26</h4>


    Rank A was 100 points.


    Rank B was 75 points.


    Rank C was 50 points.


    All spectators had to assign one of the above three ranks to each team, and the average score was calcted from all scores to determine the first to fifth ces.


    ¡ªThey racked their heads like crazy to think of this lol


    ¡ªYeah, to prevent Only One from winning by andslide


    This was clearly a way to keep Only One in check. Although the program said they were recruiting audiences, it was clear that most of the audience would be Kang Hyun Sung¡¯s fans as the rest, including us, were no-name idols with no fame to speak of.


    If each person was allowed to vote only once, the audience voting score would be heavily concentrated on Only One. Yet, a voting system would prevent that from happening as the spectators had to score all the groups and rank each group like they were doing an evaluation. Since this could prevent votes from gathering only on Only One, it could look like a fairer evaluation method. However, the problem was that it only ¡®looked¡¯ fair.


    ¡ªf*ck, it¡¯s all just a show


    Reply: hahaha


    ¡ªCan that system even filter out Hyun-Sung¡¯s crazy fans? Won¡¯t they just give A to Only One and C to the other teams? lol


    Anyone could figure out it was unfair by just thinking even a little bit. Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s individual fandom was as strong as most top-tier idols, and it was the prevailing opinion that even if he released a first solo album alone, he could easily sell 100,000 copies in the first week.


    In contrast, the rest of the groups could not sell even more than 1,000 copies if they released an album now. Poprity needed to be rtively simr among the groups for there to be realpetition, but if there was such an overwhelming difference, thepetition itself could not be established. Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans would obviously use dirty tricks and try to take advantage of the blind spots, and the production team was probably well aware of this as well.


    ¡ªTF  using shallow tricks to not get cussed out


    Reply: It¡¯s he unfair no matter what they do. At this rate, it would also feel iffy if Only One got first ce


    Reply:  gonna say they tried their best


    Since this was the case, the production team had to give the impression that they were doing their best to even out the ying field, or it would just be a show that tantly favored Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡ªThey should change the title to Kang Hyun-Sung and the doomed idols hahaha


    ¡ªShouldn¡¯t the show be called Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s Second Chance, not First Chance? lol


    Reply: That¡¯s f*cking hrious


    Reply: It¡¯s going to be Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s one-man show


    Reply: By the way, what¡¯s Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s group name?


    Reply: Only One haha it¡¯s so f*ckingme, giving early 2000s vibe


    People mocked Only One for bing an invasive species that destroyed the ecosystem of no-name, doomed idols. But among them, those who were not fans of Kang Hyun-Sung began to apply to be an audience one by one.


    ¡ªI¡¯m not Kang Hyun-Sung''s fan, but I might go to look for a new<i> oppa</i>


    ¡ªThe survival show narrative is chef¡¯s kiss* though. I¡¯m going.


    There were people who were tired of their mundane lives and wanted to find a new source of vitality and those who were curious about the program itself. For many reasons, people who were not Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans also applied to be part of the audience. Of course, the number was certainly smallpared to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans, but it was a number that couldn¡¯t be ignored.


    * * *


    The second shooting day and firstpetition day dawned. Thest two weeks seemed to have flown by. In the meantime, the filming team came to our dorm and filmed us practicing and brainstorming for our concept. Of course, it wasn¡¯t a real meeting but where we pretended to be in a meeting for the show. During the shoot, Do-Seung revealed that he was also theposer of ¡°Sailing,¡± victory0505 and also theposer of our contest song this time, ¡°Walya.¡±


    There was a smallmotion among the production crew, and they had a brief phone call with the program¡¯s scenario writers to exin this fact. I would only know how this whole process would y out when it came out on air. Nevertheless, two weeks quickly passed by with various events and stage practice happening in between.


    And today was finally the d-day, our firstpetition stage. Like the day of the introductory performance, we woke up at the crack of dawn. I, the youngest, woke up first at 4 a.m. Then, I went to the shower room, washed up, put on my clothes, and prepared breakfast.


    Then I woke up the members. ¡°Everyone! Wake up!¡±


    ¡°Ugh...¡± Yeon-Hoon couldn¡¯t lift his head and could only sluggishly move his lower body.


    <i>Sighhh. </i>¡°It¡¯s morning.¡± Do-Seung put his hand on his forehead and was in disbelief that it was already morning.


    ¡°Agh! Ha!¡± Woon stretched his arms and legs while lying down. Andstly¡ª


    ¡°...¡± Dong-Jun was still fast asleep.


    It was a morning like any other. I said, ¡°Quickly wash up and eat breakfast.¡±


    There were about thirty minutes left until breakfast was done. Since the members¡¯ washing time has been reduced to five minutes these days, I thought I had enough time to finish preparing breakfast before they all washed up. Starting from Yeon-Hoon, everyone took their turns using the bathroom. Dong-Jun didn¡¯t wake up until the end but finally began squirming out when Woon came out of the bathroom.


    And he said his usual line in the morning, ¡°...Instead of breakfast, I¡¯m going to sleep more.¡±


    However, he always received the same answer. ¡°Get up and wash upzy head.¡± Do-Seung forced Dong-Jun to stand up, dragged him to the bathroom, and coerced him to wash his face.


    ¡°Argh! It¡¯s cold! I said it¡¯s cold!¡±


    ¡°Wash up ande out.¡±


    After Dong-Jun finished taking the shower like this, morning preparations were finished with Dong-Jun sitting at the table.


    ¡°It¡¯s a sandwich?¡±


    I replied, ¡°Yes. I thought we might get bloated if we eat something too salty.¡±


    What I made today was a simple sandwich. I made it with ham, scrambled eggs, and a handful of vegetable mix I bought for a sd. The taste was like any normal sandwich.


    ¡°Yumm! It¡¯s delicious!¡± Yeon-Hoon took a huge bite until his cheeks bulged out and did a little shoulder dance. He always gave good reactions to foods that weren''t anything special.


    ¡°It¡¯s good, Tae-Yoon. Thank you for making it.¡±


    ¡°You did a great job with the sandwich. I¡¯ll make breakfast tomorrow, so you can sleep in next time.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung also took their turns toment. These days, Do-Seung and I took turns making the meals. Originally, all the members were responsible for making meals and were supposed to take turns cooking, but since the other members¡¯ food was inedible, it was decided that Do-Seung and I would take charge of the meals. But in exchange, we were excluded from cleaning the room and bathroom and doing theundry. Dong-Jun chewed his sandwich with his eyes half-closed. He looked like he might fall asleep while eating like that. After a simple meal, there were still about 20 minutes left until Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were supposed to pick us up.


    I asked, ¡°Did you guys monitor the responses yesterday?¡± By monitoring, I meant if they checked the responses to <i>The Showcase</i> trailer and the evaluation method.


    ¡°I roughly looked over them.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve checked out a fewmunity forums and sites as well.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty hot in Bluebird as well. It even came up in the top viewed topics.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I did it, but I couldn¡¯t do too much because I was scared...¡±


    Everyone seemed to have monitored the responses at least a bit. Then I thought they would understand a bit what I was trying to say.


    I said, ¡°Anyhow, it seems like Only One will win first ce, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Most of the responses seem to think that.¡±


    ¡°It seems like the production crew thought a lot about the evaluation method, but I don¡¯t think it would be enough to prevent Only One from taking a huge lead.¡±


    The idea of voting with ranks A, B, and C seemed good in its own way. However, as expected, it was not enough to prevent Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s dominance. The production crew gave off the impression that they had done their duty, but this made it even more of an issue.


    <i>¡®It feels more like they¡¯re goingl idk, just let it be.¡¯ </i>I saw more people mocking the show for using shallow tricks not to get insulted than actuallyuding their efforts.


    I asked, ¡°Won¡¯t it be better to getst ce again?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°Last ce again?¡±


    ¡°...Why?¡±


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    The members reacted a little sharply to my opinion. Everyone didn¡¯t show it, but it seemed as if cingst in the introductory performance had left deep emotional wounds. If we came inst because we didn¡¯t do well, we wouldn¡¯t have felt this frustrated. However, since we obviously did the best but came inst, it was only natural that they felt frustrated andmented how unfair the whole show was. They must also be feeling that everything was futile and this was only the nature of the show business.


    However, when it aired, there would definitely be some people who would feel sorry for us. We could be confident of that since there were no ws in our skills.


    ¡°If we can¡¯t be first, I think it would be most impactful to be inst ce.¡± I thought it would be better to continue this impact for a long time. In order to do that, it was better to be first orst. Since it was unlikely for us to win first ce, I was saying we shouldest.


    ¡°But can we best ce even if we want to?¡±


    Of course, it was reasonable to ask a question like this if we couldn¡¯t force the results. But I said, ¡°Won¡¯t it be possible to cest?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans don¡¯t like us.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right.¡±


    Because we gained attention by copying Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s video, we were receiving a light level of hate within Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fandom. Since more than 90% of the audience would be Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans, it was crystal clear that we would get rank C. Maybe my words came off a little too strong, as the members¡¯ faces didn¡¯t look good. The atmosphere instantly became chilly in the morning.


    Honestly, I hadn¡¯t meant to say this in advance, especially on the day of our performance. Perhaps, it was better to hold these ns or expectations alone. However, after seeing the members¡¯ expressions drop after finishingst in thest recording, I thought it would be better to tell them in advance. I reasoned that they could feel a little less sad if they prepared themselves beforehand.


    ¡°We¡¯re not inst ce because we¡¯re not good enough.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°True.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to be ashamed of.¡±


    The members also knew that judging on skills alone, we shouldn¡¯t havee inst ce.


    ¡°So this could be the driving force to create a fandom big enough that we could turn the tables at thest minute.¡± In order to be the final winner of <i>The Showcase</i>, we just had to win first ce in thestpetition since thebined score of the first, second, and thirdpetitions and the individual fourthpetition were weighed as fifty-fifty.


    The reason for that was that the fourthpetition would be done live by text voting. In other words, we could win first just by winning first ce in the third andstpetition to win.


    I asked, ¡°Why don¡¯t we just think of the first and secondpetitions as stepping stones to flip the whole stage over?¡±


    The members nodded lightly in agreement.


    I continued, ¡°So let¡¯s not worry too much about our ranks today, since we¡¯ll probably do the best today too.¡± I thought so from the bottom of my heart because I¡¯ve seen all the other group performances in my previous life. Since I clearly knew their skills, I thought our performance could definitely rank first. However, the members seemed to have taken my words a bit differently.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m hearing constion from Tae-Yoon of all people.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...¡±


    ¡°Wow, how cool~¡±


    ¡°Thanks, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    Everyone seemed moved. Yeon-Hoon approached me in a tearful voice, hugged my shoulder, and gave me a pat. Although I hadn¡¯t said all that for them to be touched. Yet, if our sense ofradeship and unity increased thanks to that, that was good enough. Just in time¡ª


    <i>Ziing.</i>


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s phone began vibrating. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna must have arrived.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get out, guys!¡± Yeon-Hoon organized the situation and got up and said, ¡°As Tae-Yoon said, we¡¯ll do the best today, so let¡¯s not dwell too much on our rankings.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°We can do it, Siren!¡±


    The members moved out, shouting encouragement, and I also left the dorm with them while taking my long padded jacket.


    * * *


    At<i> The Showcase</i> 2 production team¡¯s office. One of the scenario writers, who was selecting the audience list, tilted their head. The total number of spectators was set as 150, and of course, a lot of people applied. They had originally thought 140 out of 150 people would be Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fandom.


    ¡°Unexpectedly, not a lot of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans were chosen, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Well, we didn¡¯t check them one by one, but when we monitored the responses yesterday, I heard that was the case.¡±


    They were told that not too many Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans were chosen by the estimates. Frankly, there was no way the production team could check whether the currently selected audience was really Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans or not. However, if they looked through thements inmunity forums, inte galleries, and various social media, they could get a rough estimate of the proportion of those who applied.


    ¡°They said that more than 50 people were not in any fandom at all, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re more in the category of people who are just curious about what we¡¯re doing and wanted to check the show out.¡±


    ¡°Nice...¡± The ratio came out better than expected. Of course, more than two-thirds were probably Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fandom, but from their rough estimate, one-third were not a fan of any group.


    One writer said, ¡°At this rate, we might really not know what¡¯s going to happen.¡±


    However, this thought was quickly shut down. ¡°No way. Only One will probably win first ce.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Even then, the scenario writer, who was looking at the audience list, couldn¡¯t stop thinking about another possibility. There were many cases where a single, small variable could change the final result. Therefore, this variable was definitely enough to bring about a big change.

 Chapter 27

    <h4>Chapter 27</h4>


    On their way to <i>The Showcase 2</i> shooting, Only One¡¯s members were on cloud nine. Though they usually kept their mouths closed to not bother Kang Hyun-Sung, they were excitedly talking amongst themselves today.


    Thanks to the explosive new attention they received after the show¡¯s preview was released, everyone was feeling ted. Their social media ount, which only had a simple greeting video, began to exponentially gain followers even without a special marketing ploy or an eye-grabbing post. This was the moment that made the members realize the power of social media and the power of a great preview.


    ¡°There are a lot ofmentsplimenting Young-Ho.¡±


    ¡°They say that you are cute, Young-Ho.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, our <i>maknae</i> is cute.¡±


    The Only One¡¯s <i>maknae</i>, Park Young-Ho smiled embarrassedly, hearing his older members¡¯pliments and quickly scanned thepliments about him on the phone screen.


    ¡°Maybe this could really be our big break,¡± Kim Si-Woon said.


    ¡°Yeah. We are off to a great start,¡± Kim Ju-Hyun replied.


    ¡°Perhaps, we could try out for this year¡¯s Rising Star award.¡±


    The inside of Only One¡¯s car was unusually filled with chatter as the members talked about their hopeful aspirations. It was then, a t voice clearly pierced through the noise.


    ¡°Everyone sure looks happy.¡±


    He neither raised his voice nor enunciated each word clearly. He spat out the words as if he was just a passerby walking by. Yet, all the Only One members¡¯ attention shot toward Kang Hyun-Sung, who sat right behind the driver seat. Kang Hyun-Sung spoke with his gaze fixed on his phone screen. Though he didn¡¯t say anything bad and hisment was actually positive instead, the mood shifted.


    ¡°Um, were we too loud?¡± The oldest of the group, after Kang Hyun-Sung, Lee Chul-Woon cautiously asked.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. It is something to celebrate,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said while not looking up from his phone screen. ¡°Let¡¯s just do well in today¡¯s performance. Then, everything will be okay,¡± he said and closed his mouth again. Though he didn¡¯t rebuke the members or say anything out of the ordinary to sour the mood, everyone instantly became tense.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do well in today¡¯s performance.¡±


    ¡°Definitely.¡±


    Park Young-Ho, who had also been talking excitedly with his older members, calmed himself down and stared ahead. Then, he nced at Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s phone screen. Kang Hyun-Sung was looking at a social media page. He was probably monitoring the videos and responses for <i>The Showcase</i> as he usually did. Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to use his phone for only two functions: monitoring responses and discussing work-rted matters. He usually did the former when he had a phone in his hands.


    Next, Park Young-Ho nced at Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s face instead of the phone screen this time. Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s face was expressionless but for some reason, he appeared to be in a subtly worse mood than before. Park Young-Ho thought deeply about what the reason for Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s worsened mood could be.


    <i>¡®Is it because of the uing performance?¡¯ </i>Park Young-Ho thought about what Kang Hyun-Sung just said and the uing performance. Then, he began to understand a bit more why Kang Hyun-Sung could be in a bad mood. Only One¡¯s fame was like a double-edged sword. They would likely rank first ce in everypetition thanks to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s poprity. Yet, the problem was that Only One could ce first even when other groups did noticeably better. That would be like an open invitation for criticisms to arise.


    ¡®<i>We could have our crowns stolen at the end,¡±</i> Park Young-Ho thought. If Only One began to get bad press, there was a possibility that in the final episode, where audiences voted by texting on live broadcast, all the votes could gather in another group. Then, they would lose their first-ce title near the end of the show.


    This wouldn¡¯t be a concern if they had a massive fandom, but Only One wasn¡¯t at that level of poprity yet. They were still just the biggest fish in a small pond. And in the end, the only method to prevent this from happening was to do really well in their performances.


    Everything would be solved if Only One performed above theirpetition. Since they were clearly ahead of the other group in this regard, they needed to maintain this momentum. It was easy because they just needed to do what Kang Hyun-Sung told them to do. Yet, for some reason, Park Young-Ho kept having a bad feeling in his stomach. His heart felt ufortable while unpleasant energy gripped his entire body. They needed to do well. A strange pressure heavily weighed down Young-Ho''s heart.


    ***


    ¡°Woooow!¡± As soon as we came out of the car, producers holding cameras greeted us. Yeon-Hoon hollered on the spot, seeing the cluster of cameras.


    ¡°Were you all really waiting to shoot us?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°Wow! That¡¯s amazing!¡± Yeon-Hoon appeared stunned by the sheer fact that cameras were shooting us. In our first shoot, cameras didn¡¯t tag along like this at our entrance. Surveince cameras only went on from the time we entered the waiting rooms and a separate broadcasting camera began filming us after we went up to the studio. Yet, now, cameras were filming us on our way from the parking lot to the waiting room. It was understandable that Yeon-Hoon was surprised but perhaps, he was feeling too high-spirited.


    ¡°Did you guys already eat?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked the cameramen.


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    ¡°We ate a sandwich for breakfast. Tae-Yoon made it for us and it was really tasty.¡± Yeon-Hoon tried to make extra conversation and said things that were TMIs. The cameramen looked a bit conflicted to hear questions they didn¡¯t expect.


    ¡°Are you ufortable somewhere, sir? You don¡¯t look so good,¡± Yeon-Hoon said, not knowing that he was the source of this difort.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon,e here,¡± I intervened.


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    I forcefully pulled Yeon-Hoon back and ced the quiet Woon to the front. Woon smiled awkwardly in front of the cameras and quietly went up to the waiting rooms. The cameraman''s face appeared much more rxed then. And when we entered the waiting room, one of the writers of the show sat, waiting for us. It was a familiar face, but I couldn¡¯t quite pinpoint her name.


    ¡°Ms. Min-Young!¡± Yeon-Hoon responded first. Kim Min-Young was the writer who led our first shooting at our dorms. I remembered her face because usually, assistant directors did her job instead of the writer, but it seemed Yeon-Hoon remembered both her face and name and friendly greeted her.


    Yeon-Hoon asked, ¡°It¡¯s been a while! How have you been?¡±


    Min-Young replied, ¡°Ah, good. Thank you for asking.¡±


    ¡°Why weren¡¯t you at the shootingst time?¡±


    ¡°I was there but I wasn¡¯t on site because I was writing the script for the next shooting in the office.¡±


    ¡°Then, are you the one behind the script that we are all looking at?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. It is our job after all.¡±


    ¡°Wooow, that¡¯s amazing!¡±


    The way Kim Min-Young responded very flusteredly to an overly enthusiastic guy like Yeon-Hoon made a pretty entertaining watch. It seemed the cameramen also thought the same as me and filmed the scene with a smile on their faces.


    <i>¡®But was she always like this?¡¯</i> I wondered. From my memories, writer Kim Min-Young was a cold and expressionless person in our first meeting.


    <i>¡®But she seemed to have softened quite a bit.¡¯ </i>There was a more emotional side to her now.<i> ¡®I thought she became a fan of Yeon-Hoonst time. I must be right.¡¯</i>


    I thought Kim Min-Young might have been impressed with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s singing in the first shooting. Perhaps, she became a bigger fan in a couple of weeks since that time. After all, she must have seen our first-meeting performance if she was the show¡¯s writer. And after looking at the same clips a couple of times to write subtitles, even an uninterested person would gain interest in the person they were watching.


    ¡°Please sit down first.¡± Soon, Kim Min-Young returned to her usually nd expression to progress the show. Since we already received today¡¯s script beforeing here, I had a general guess what woulde next. It was time for us to do our interviews.


    ¡°Did you practice a lot in the past two weeks?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°We practiced a lot!¡±


    We all answered while wearing our padded jackets.


    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. We look forward to seeing your performance,¡± Kim Min-Young said stiffly as if she was reading off a script. ¡°Then, I will tell you the order of the first round of performances.¡± She took out a piece of paper from her belongings and handed it to us. Yeon-Hoon went out to ept it as the representative of the group.


    ¡°This is the order that Only One decided as their benefit for ranking first cest time.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    My group members responded. It wasmon practice for the first cing group to decide the order for the other groups.


    ¡°Should we open it after counting to three?¡± Yeon-Hoon said, trying to make a moment for the cameras, but Do-Seung just replied.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just open it.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± Yeon-Hoon looked a bit disappointed by Do-Seung¡¯s nd response but still opened the paper. I checked the order as soon as I saw the opened paper.


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    ¡°Oh...¡±


    ¡°Nice.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not bad.¡±


    ¡°I see, that¡¯s what it is~¡±


    We had some broken reactions in the beginning, but quickly fixed ourselves for the cameras and said lines expected of us. This was the order that Only One decided:


    1-Bleshu, 2-OnebyOne, 3-Siren, 4-Luminin, 5-Only One


    There was nothing strange about the order but the fact that they put us at the dead center of the schedule seemed to mean...


    <i>¡®They pretended not to but they are wary of us.</i>¡¯ It was obvious. We weren¡¯t the first or thest performance but right in the middle¡ªperfect to leave a forgettable impression.


    <i>¡°Well, it¡¯s not like our skills would be forgettable because our order is bad.¡¯ </i>Though the order of one¡¯s performance was important, it was nowhere near enough to ruin the whole thing. As long as we gave a good show, we would be able to pop out no matter where we were ced. No, perhaps, this was better for us. If we gave an overwhelming performance, we could remain on people¡¯s minds until the end.


    ¡°Did everyone check your group¡¯s order?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°We are nning to do the rehearsals in that order too. Of course, you all are not allowed to view the rehearsal likest time.¡± It was the same as before. ¡°See you on the stage soon,¡± she said and left the waiting room.


    ¡°Haaa.¡±


    ¡°Number 3? We are going third?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a spot someone needed to take, but it is a bit regretful.¡±


    My group members started to share their true feelings then. I wondered how their reactions would appear on broadcast, but I thought this level of response was eptable and not too strong. After all, everyone knew that going third was often the worst scenario for a performer. Perhaps, emphasizing how bad this order was and how unfair our circumstances were could garner more audience sympathy for our group.


    ¡°What about you, Tae-Yoon? What do you think?¡± Woon then approached me and asked.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m fine with it.¡± Though it was a bit regretful, I didn¡¯t pay much mind to it. ¡°If we go in the middle, we could overwhelm the beginning andtter groups¡¯ performances,¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s perform with the mindset that we would kill the stage!¡±


    ¡°Good, good!¡±


    My group members¡¯ morale strangely all rose again. Though it was unexpected, it wasn¡¯t something toin about.


    ¡°Then, should we warm up a bit before rehearsals?¡± Yeon-Hoon said and took off his long padded jacket. I couldn¡¯t help butugh when I saw him do that because it looked as if a snake was shedding its skin. But after Yeon-Hoon, everyone else also took off their jackets and pushed them aside.


    ¡°It looks really cool now that we are seeing it like this.¡±


    ¡°I feel like we did a good job choosing the outfits.¡±


    ¡°Come here, you guys! Let¡¯s all take a picture together!¡± Yeon-Hoon gathered us at one spot and we all took a picture together in front of the mirror. On Yeon-Hoon¡¯s phone screen, a picture of us wearing a blue outer coat and white <i>jeogori</i>[1] shirt popped out. These were our <i>hanbok </i>outfits for our performance of ¡°Walya.¡±


    ***


    The area outside the studio that was filming <i>The Showcase 2 </i>was crowded with people who won tickets to view the first-round performances.


    ¡°You can only receive these if you show the text message that you voted for Hyun-Sung in <i>Select Your Idol</i>,¡± one person said. Many of the people in this crowd were Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans who were exchanging stickers, posters, and other unofficial goods with each other. Though five groups were participating in <i>The Showcase</i>, it was startling how the majority of the people who gathered at this ce were Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans.


    Yet, apart from them, there was one woman giving off a different feel from Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans. She was scanning her surroundings disinterestedly and wondering to herself if she should just return home.


    Though she had told everyone she knew that she wasing to this ce in the hope of finding a new idol group to support, she was already starting to lose motivation. She began to feel foolish for going out of her way to find a new obsession. Thus, she was determined to give this idol business a break if she didn¡¯t find a group she liked this time.


    Amotion rose around the studio entrance then. It seemed there were now letting people in, and she walked towards the entrance. She didn¡¯t realize it when she was sitting still, but there appeared to be quite many people who weren¡¯t just Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans.


    <i>¡®Looks like there are people like me too?¡¯ s</i>he thought, seeing people who didn¡¯t have anything in their hands. Then, she walked toward their studio. At that time, she didn¡¯t realize that she would return home, buzzing with excitement to write her review of the day.


    1. Upper garment of hanbok (Korea¡¯s traditional garment). ?

 Chapter 28

    <h4>Chapter 28</h4>


    We finished our rehearsal.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± We bowed our heads to the production crew who worked hard for the rehearsal and came down the stage.


    ¡°When we were on stage just now, our spacing and formation was really good. You guys all skillfully adjusted the distance, knowing the stage''s size is different from the practice room''s, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about! We were right on beat! It was great!¡±


    The members moved to the waiting room and exchanged feedback on the rehearsal they had justpleted. Since the rehearsal went without a hitch, everyone seemed to be in a good mood. This was good. If we made mistakes in our movements or lyrics during rehearsal, it would greatly bother us until we went back up on stage.


    ¡°We¡¯re back to the waiting room!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s take a break for 10 minutes!¡±


    ¡°Nice~¡±


    After returning to the waiting room, the members copsed on the sofa. I sat at the very end of the sofa. Then Woon sat next to me and said with a soft smile, ¡°How was today¡¯s rehearsal?¡±


    I replied, ¡°It was good.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    Did he suddenly have something to say to me? Or was there something that he wanted to point out about my performance? He seemed like he had something serious to tell me.


    Woon continued, ¡°I feel like the speed at which you learn dances has greatly increased these days. You even memorized the choreography I showed you this time by seeing it just once.¡±


    I flinched when he told me that my dancing skills had increased greatly since that wasn''t the result of my true skill but my Insight ability.


    ¡°The details in my movements are stillckingpared to yours.¡± I made an appropriate reply and smiled awkwardly.


    Then Woon took a deep breath and continued as if he was finally getting to the main point. ¡°But I think the choreography would look even better if you glue your eyes to the camera and give a piercing gaze.¡±


    ¡°Piercing gaze?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you look a bit like a machine right now. Should I say your eyes look a bit dull?¡± He must have started with apliment to tell me this, since giving apliment before saying constructive criticism was a basic setup.


    ¡°DulI?¡± I reviewed the rehearsal in my mind. I personally didn¡¯t think there was much of a problem with the way I performed. I got all the moves right, and it didn¡¯t feel like I was stiff. I did my part well so I didn¡¯t stand out in a bad way. But¡ª


    <i>¡®Ah.¡¯ </i>I thought I knew what Woon was talking about.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, your eyes are like a person who¡¯s just carrying out a job. I think it would be better if you looked at the camera as if you like being on the stage, with enthusiasm and passion in your eyes. Or as if you were fully immersed in your performance. I think your performance would be greatly enhanced if you look at the camera with those kinds of eyes!¡± Woon smiled and gently patted my shoulder and went back to his seat.


    I stayed in my seat and reflected on what Woon said. I thought my part of the performance was over without a problem if I just did the proper moves and sang my assigned parts, but, <i>¡®I guess not.¡¯</i>


    After hearing what he said, I started to get a sense of what was wrong. I could exin this problem in many ways, but the most urate way to describe it would be, <i>¡®myck of self-identity as an idol ising back to bite me in the butt.¡¯</i>


    I asked myself, <i>''how much of my self-identity is based on being an idol?'' </i>Although it sounded like an insignificant issue, it had a huge effect on the stage. I hardly based my self-identity on being an idol, and most of my self-identity was based on being a novelist or lyricist.


    Rather than doing well on stage, I thought more about how to set the stage and sell our performance to the public. Frankly, it had been less than a month since I arrived in this life from my past life, and I had lived as a web novelist for more than three years. In a way, it was natural that I did not identify myself as an idol, and I was just doing my best to save Do-Seung.


    <i>¡®I have to glue my eyes to the camera with piercing eyes?¡¯</i> I looked in the mirror of the waiting room, recalling what Woon said. Then I tried to change my eyes to look a bit more emotional than the other members. I stared at the mirror with piercing eyes as I would look at a camera but...


    <i>¡®...Damn it.¡¯ </i>I couldn¡¯t bear to see my face any longer because I looked way too self-absorbed and full of myself. I was also well aware that I looked colder and a bit stand-offishpared to other people, but my face in the mirror was of a narcissist who saw other humans as insects.


    <i>¡®What the hell?¡¯ </i>Among the novels I wrote in my past life, I made a viin who looked down on people like this, and the responses I got about this viin were extremely bad. I created him to be the main viin of the story, but the reader¡¯s response about him was so bad that I had to kill him off in just three episodes after his first appearance. If I made the same expression I just made on an actual broadcast, I might meet social demise within the third episode of<i> The Showcase</i>. I think I needed to use my eyes in a different way.


    <i>¡®Hmm.¡¯</i> However, it was not easy at all. I put earphones in my ears and started searching for videos. I referred to stage videos of people with strong idol self-identities and who were known to make great eye contact with the camera.


    * * *


    Producer Park Soo-Chul and the other production crew members of <i>The Showcase 2</i> stared at the stage. Only One¡¯s rehearsal had just ended, and this meant that the rehearsal of all five stages was now over.


    ¡°Only One is definitely up there.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I agree.¡±


    ¡°Since Kang Hyun-Sung takes the center, all the parts that arecking get bnced out.¡±


    The production crew conversed and shared their thoughts about the Only One rehearsal.


    Park Soo-Chul asked one of the production crew, ¡°You said that kid was the youngest member of Only One, right?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes, sir.¡±


    Only One¡¯s <i>maknae</i>, Park Young-Ho, had caught his eyes. Overall, Only One¡¯s stage was high-quality, but in thest dance break, the <i>maknae</i> made a mistake in the line change. Although it was not a big mistake, he took a step less than what he was originally supposed to do.


    It wouldn¡¯t have mattered if he had taken a step further instead, but because he took a step less, his movement almost ovepped with Kang Hyun-Sung, who was standing next to him. However, Kang Hyun-Sung moved to the side and continued the dance break as if nothing had happened.


    Of course, mistakes could happen. Kang Hyun-Sung handled the situation perfectly, so except for a few of the production crew, including Park Soo-Chul, most didn¡¯t even notice the mistake. However, Park Young-Ho¡¯s condition was aplete mess after the rehearsal. He began to get way too nervous around Kang Hyun-Sung, and his body froze up. Yet, they had just gone down to the waiting room since there were no other problems that stood out.


    ¡°Let¡¯s keep a close eye on Park Young-Ho today. I think he¡¯s mentally weak.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    Somehow, it felt like something was going to explode in the performances today.


    ¡°Is Park Young-Ho the youngest among all the contestants?¡± Park Soo-Chul suddenly became curious and asked.


    ¡°Ah, no, sir. The youngest in the cast is Siren¡¯s Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Oh, really? I had no idea.¡±


    ¡°He does give off a mature aura.¡±


    ¡°And Park Young-Ho also feels slightly younger for his age.¡± Park Soo-Chul said and thought about Bong Tae-Yoon. From what it got, it seemed as despite being the <i>maknae</i>, Bong Tae-Yoon wasn¡¯t afraid to speak up around the older members and said everything he wanted to. Rather, it felt like the team¡¯s direction was made with ideas from Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s head. He was a perfect member regarding singing, dancing, and visuals.


    ¡°But he¡¯s a bit weak on stage, right?¡±


    ¡°You mean his performance on stage, sir? Was it weak? Since it¡¯s not memorable, his stage presence must be weak.¡±


    ¡°Rather than being good on stage, is he the type toe up with ideas behind the scenes?¡±


    ¡°What, sir?¡±


    ¡°No, I was just suddenly curious about how our youngest members are doing. Despite their age, they sure work hard.¡±


    ¡°Sir, I''m surprised to hear that from someone who makes money by making those hard-working children cry.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! That¡¯s also true too.¡± The private conversation between Park Soo-Chul and the production team ended there.


    Since the rehearsal was over, it was now time to prepare for the shooting.


    ¡°Let the audience in when it¡¯s the time, and let¡¯s prepare for the broadcast.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir~.¡±


    The time for the firstpetition of <i>The Showcase 2</i> was closely approaching.


    * * *


    Time passed quickly as I sat in the waiting room and practiced my gaze. The members spent time matching their choreography and eating snacks. I continued to look for references during this time. Yeon-Hoon came up to me, asking what I was looking at so intently, but I shrugged him off and continued to look at the videos. It felt like the technique was just out of my reach.


    Frankly, I wondered if there was a need for me to work so hard on this. However, after Woon pointed out this problem once, I felt like all the problems I had in my performance were being confirmed at once, so I couldn¡¯t help it. I didn¡¯t want to put my team at a disadvantage due to myck of ability, especially at a critical time like this.


    At that moment, Woon came next to me and said, ¡°Tae-Yoon, they said they¡¯re going to start filming now.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    His eyes looked a bit apologetic. He must have felt sorry that I was bothered about something he told me, so I said, ¡°There¡¯s no reason for you to feel sorry as it was a problem I needed to fix someday anyway. Thank you for pointing it out.¡±


    ¡°R-really? Is that how you feel?¡± Woon smiled awkwardly and sat next to me. We turned on the monitor installed in the waiting room. The monitor connected to the stage camera showed in real time what the studio was like, and when the monitor lit up.


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    We first saw the audience who entered the studio set. I thought I heard that about 150 people would be recruited, but 150 people were a lot more people than I envisioned.


    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since we¡¯ve performed in front of this many people.¡±


    ¡°How fun!¡±


    ¡°There are quite a lot of people~¡±


    The members seemed more excited with an audience. On the other hand, I felt more nervous now with an audience.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s not easy.¡¯ </i>No, it was natural to be nervous, and my members were the strange ones for being so at ease. I tried to shake off the anxiety, but once I realized that my brain was nervous, it was hard to shake this feeling off.


    First of all, what concerned me was that there was a slight risk for today¡¯s stage. It didn¡¯t have anything to do with our performance but the fact that Icked information about the other group¡¯s performances. I knew what type of performances the other groups would do in the introductory performance, but it was different this time as a different mission from the one I knew in my past life came out.


    Of course, since I knew the other groups¡¯ skill levels, I thought performances within my range of expectations woulde out. However, I was still worried because who knew what would happen in the end. While my head was about to be overloaded with concerns, Dong-Jun came and sat next to me.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, why do you look so dreary~¡± Then he naturally put his arms around my shoulders and looked at me. ¡°Are you nervous because we¡¯re about to go on stage?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so nervous~¡± Dong-Jun said with a peaceful expression. Looking at Dong-Jun¡¯s easygoing expression, it felt like my nervousness eased a little. He smiled and stared at me and then said, ¡°Even if you mess up the stage, you can just quit being an idol~ I¡¯ll give you a house so you can live there. I have enough money to at least feed and take care of one person.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure whether he was trying tofort me or pressure me even more. But strangely, when I heard that, Iughed and eased up a little. It was good Dong-Jun was rich. After my mood eased a little, I felt like I could sort out my heavy thoughts.


    Then I also joked, ¡°I¡¯m not going to ruin the stage, and I¡¯m not going to quit being an idol. But in exchange, I¡¯ll take the house.¡±


    ¡°What? Hahaha!¡±


    It was only then I began to rx a little.


    ¡ªHello to all our viewers and the audience who came to see this performance!


    ¡ªWe are the hosts of<i> The Showcase 2 First Chance</i>. I amedian Kim Young-Jin.


    ¡ªAnd I¡¯m singer Nahyun! Nice to meet you!


    The hosts came on stage, and the firstpetition finally began. I took a deep breath; worrying any more about today¡¯s performance would exacerbate things. It was time for me to concentrate on the stage.

 Chapter 29

    <h4>Chapter 29</h4>


    Among the audience, there was a girl who hade to this ce to find a new group to stan. She scanned her surroundings warily. The distribution of the fandoms was so biased towards one group that it was hard to tell if she was at Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fan meeting or <i>The Showcase.</i>


    <i>¡®Maybe I¡¯m just wasting my time</i>,¡¯ she thought. Her mood had already reached the lowest point after shivering in the cold outside for hours and because of how aggressive Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans were. Though she had expected this to happen, it was apletely different matter to experience it in real life.


    Eventually, she sat at her designated spot and stared at the stage nkly. Though the shooting was going to start soon, nothing was happening, and the stage was quiet. There were hardly any staff moving about as well. She was wondering if it was normal for a show to be this quiet when¡ª<i>click!</i>¡ªall the studio¡¯s lights turned off.


    ¡°Ahh?¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°I think they are going to start!¡±


    Only the camera¡¯s lights shone in the dark room with no natural light. A strange energy and a sense of anticipation began to rise in her heart. Simultaneously, the lights returned, and the show¡¯s two hosts appeared on the stage.


    ¡ªHello to all our viewers and the audience who came to see this performance!


    ¡ªWe are the hosts of<i> The Showcase 2 First Chance</i>. I amedian Kim Young-Jin.


    ¡ªAnd I¡¯m singer Nahyun! Wee!


    ¡°Ahhhhhh!¡±


    Though the hosts appeared in a ssic way with flickering lights, the cheer that came from the audience was bigger than the girl expected; perhaps it was because the show used high-tech equipment, but it made her gasp.


    ¡ª Okay, so this is <i>The Showcase 2 First Chance</i>! After finishing our introductory performances, we are about to start our first round. What did you think about the performancesst time, Ms. Nahyun?


    ¡ªSeeing all the five groups work so passionately, I was reminded of my rookie days.


    Nahyun and Kim Jin-Young exchanged a couple of lines that might or might not be broadcasted on television but filled up content for the show. The majority of the audience knew that their lines were 90% false. Many had to swallow back theirugh when they heard Nahyun say that she was reminded of her rookie days while seeing these no-name or doomed idols. It was a well-known fact that Nahyun debuted at a big agency and worked without a period of anonymity. The difference between her and these idols¡¯ beginnings was far too big.


    Yet, since the audience was also aware that these weren¡¯t Nahyun¡¯s personal thoughts but what the scriptwriters had written for her, no one med her for her insincerity. And after a couple more formalities, the hosts announced:


    ¡ªShould we now introduce the first group who created their performance around the first round¡¯s theme, ¡®<i>The Color of Showcase¡¯</i>?


    ¡ªThis is a group known for their skills and where every member is the main vocalist and dancer. They decorated their entire stage in ck. Let¡¯s see Bleshu¡¯s performance, ¡®<i>Hide</i>¡¯!


    They finally introduced the next performance, and the audience cheered even louder than before to greet Bleshu. The lights turned off, and when it came again, five men were standing on top of the stage.


    ¡°Ohh.¡±


    All the group members were wearing ck from head to toe¡ªck leather pants and rider jackets. The girl who came to find a new group to stan looked at the stage hopefully. It couldn¡¯t be helped that she was unfamiliar with most of their faces. She tried to memorize the members in different groups by the preview, but all their faces were mixed up inside her head because there were so many of them. The only one she could properly remember was Bleshu¡¯s leader, and he was the guy who was ring at the camera with a serious look on his face.


    <i>Screeeeech</i>. The girl wondered what kind of song they chose when a scratching sound rang as if an electric guitar was plugged into the wrong code.


    ¡ªEVERYBODY!


    ¡ªHOLD ON.


    With the group¡¯s leader¡¯s yell, the group began with a dance break.


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Ohhh!¡±


    This was the moment when the girl realized that the hosts hadn¡¯t been joking when they introduced this group as skilled artists. All the members of this group were said to be the main dancers and main vocalists. They were amassing all their efforts to dance in perfect synchronization, and even while dancing roughly, they didn¡¯t go off-pitch while singing. The girl felt her weariness and bad mood lessen partly.


    <i>¡®Yes, there¡¯s no way I could take a break from this,¡¯ </i>she thought. This was in her DNA.


    <i>¡®Ah, um...¡¯ </i>But about a minuteter, something about the stage began to feel a bit dull. They seemed to show the same familiar dance moves and even the song they chose was a well-known one¡ª a clich¨¦ that people would think of first when thinking of the color ck. There were no wow moments or creativity in this performance. The only thing that was noticeable about them was the insane amount of practice they clearly poured in for this performance.


    ¡°Oh my....¡± But rather than looking cool, they began to look pitiful, and instead of shining brightly on stage, they looked as if they were struggling with all their might. Besides their clich¨¦ production, the biggest problem was that none of the group¡¯s members had the ¡®it¡¯ factor that made them stand out. Though they were good at dancing, idols who danced well weremon.


    There were plenty of other idols who sang as well as them, and though they were good-looking, it wasn¡¯t enough to make people¡¯s gazes fix on them. Furthermore, they didn¡¯t have a center that knew how to act and draw people¡¯s attention towards them. In the end, the girl¡¯s assessment of the group was this: Bleshu was a hardworking and talented group, but unfortunately, one that didn¡¯t make asting impression.


    It seemed many people thought the same as her. Though the audience¡¯s responses had been good in the beginning, they began to be distracted as the performance continued. The hands that energetically shook the cheering batons slowed, and the audience¡¯s response noticeably cooled. Finally, Bleshu¡¯s performance came to an end.


    ¡ªWhat did you think about Bleshu¡¯s passionate performance?


    ¡ªI could instantly sense that they practiced a great amount.


    The hosts came out again to say theirmentaries. These werements that didn¡¯t possess an inkling of creativity and were only said to progress the show. The girl knew that in programs like this, the hosts weren¡¯t supposed to do much and were just decorations on the wall; yet, perhaps, because she didn¡¯t feel any interest in the uing performances, even these manual-likements began to feel a bit grating. Still, as part of the audience, she reacted and cheered when she was asked to.


    ¡ªWhy don¡¯t we wee our next performance?


    ¡ªIt¡¯s a group with a strong hip-hop base. Let¡¯s enjoy OnebyOne¡¯s red performance, ¡®<i>Blood</i>¡¯!


    The girl thought, perhaps, this performance might be different. Since this song was based on another genre, hip hop, she thought OnebyOne would show something new and more colorful than the previously ck-themed performance.


    Yet, contrary to her expectations, she was shocked when a group of five men all walked up to the stage wearing ck suits. They weren¡¯t even wearing decorated suits but ordinary ones that a sryman would wear; they didn''t wear neckties and appeared to have just found any shirt to wear.


    Yet, all this seemed to have been an intentional fashion choice rather than ack of funds. The group¡¯s concept appeared to be mafias from Korean movies, as evident by the gold ne and bracelet they were also wearing. The girl predicted that there would be an acting scene before the music began. As expected, one of the group members walked to the center of the stage and took out a gun from his suit.


    He shot toward his members.


    ¡°Ah!¡± A couple of people from the audience screamed at the suddenly loud noise. Eventually, the stage¡¯s lights turned off and when it brightened again, some of the members had blood stains on their faces and shirts. It wasughable to call this a ¡®red¡¯ performance because there were some drops of blood stains here and there, but the audience supposed that they could make it up with a good performance.


    ¡ªWe are going to take over this ce


    ¡ªI¡¯m going to make money in this zone


    ¡ªI will not lose any of my bros


    <i>¡®It¡¯s super cringy,¡¯</i> the girl thought. The group did a strange rap that didn¡¯t even fit the melody of the song. It was so obvious that they jammed in rap here and there to make their performance more gangster-like, yet lines that suddenly talked about ¡®money¡¯ and ¡®bros¡¯ came out of the blue with no context. The audience¡¯s responses were dreary. They had expected to see a high-quality performance even if these wereing from doomed idols, but this was too much.


    <i>¡®Who in the world thought of this idea?¡¯ </i>the girl in the audience thought. If one of the group¡¯s members hade up with the idea, that person should seriously think about dropping out of the idol scene altogether. Yet, in cases like this, it was unusual for idols to think of their own ideas and carry them out; it was more likely that the boss of theirpany meddled with their performance and pushed their own idea forward.


    As expected of a boss of a smallpany with doomed idols, they had no sense, and this time, they basically ruined the futures of these young men with their own hands without knowing it. Even if this group did wellter on, this performance was one that would haunt them, and it was too terrible to be considered even cute or funny.


    <i>¡®Did their boss see a mafia moviest night or something?¡¯</i> The girl wondered and other audiences watched OnebyOne¡¯s performance pitifully. If they were going to give a bad performance, they should¡¯ve just gone all out to make an impact. Yet, all the group members tried their best to liven up this terrible concept and worsened the damage.


    Thus, now, they were even failing to make an impact and began to feel like the epitome of a ¡®flopped idol group.¡¯ The girl who hade to find a new group to stan clicked her tongue and soullessly stared at the stage. There had been two performances and both of them fell way below her expectations. All the interest she had for the uing performancespletely disappeared.


    <i>¡®Is this why people like idols from bigpanies?¡¯ </i>she wondered. She couldn¡¯t imagine the past groups she supporteding out on broadcast and showing a performance like this. Finally, OnebyOne¡¯s performance came to an end. Then, the hosts conversed again.


    ¡ªIt was as if I was seeing a scene from a movie.


    Yes, but the problem was that this movie was nowhere a masterpiece but ame domestic noir. However, nobody said anything about this and watched the stage with sealed lips.


    ¡ªNow, it¡¯s time for us to see the next performance. Ms. Nahyun, could you introduce what kind of performance it is?


    ¡ªYes, this performance is by a group that has gotten quite the attention recently because of their application video: the Sirens.


    The girl and the audience¡¯s interest rose again upon hearing this. The girl remembered most of the members in this group, unlike the others. It was not only because their visuals were generally good but because they became a hot issue for uploading the same video as Only One.


    ¡ªThey are going to show us a blue performance with a song they produced themselves!


    The group even seemed to do some self-producing. It wasn¡¯t clear how good they were yet, but this was something that set them apart from other groups.


    ¡ªThen should we watch their performance? Let¡¯s hear their song, ¡®<i>Walya¡¯</i>.


    <i>¡®Walya?¡¯ </i>The girl reiterated the title in their minds again and looked towards the stage.


    <i>¡®Huh?¡¯</i> The stage went dark again and when the lights turned back on, only one person was standing on the stage. It was the main dancer, Lee Woon, posing under a bluish spotlight. But the most noticeable thing about him was the clothes he was wearing.


    <i>¡®Isn¡¯t that a hanbok?¡¯ </i>It was a modernized stage hanbok, and the bluish overcoat over him was especially eye-catching.


    <i>Dang, Daaaang, dang.</i>


    ¡°Ohhh!¡± A tune made from only<i> gugak </i>string instruments rang out; it gave a clearly different feel from a tune made up of Western string instruments¡¯ sounds, and the main dancer, Woon smoothly extended out his arms and legs. His elegant dance moves looked like Korean modern dance and his outer coat pped around and seemed to sweep the stage.


    As the edge of his coat¡¯s fabric touched the bluish lights and scattered them, it gave off a chilly atmosphere. Then, after the main dancer finished his dance, the stage became quiet again.


    <i>Thud. </i>The silence continued and as people''s hearts swelled in anticipation, a rush of soundsbined with not only <i>gugak</i> sounds but also Western instruments filled the room.


    <i>Tap.</i>


    The lights brightened again, and a giant moon rose on the giant LED screen at the back. The audience¡¯s bodies trembled slightly from the cold and chilly energy it gave off, and the five members of Siren appeared. The Siren members stood straight without shifting the slightest amount and looked determined. As the <i>gugak </i>sound poured around them, the member in the center extended his hand and looked forward.


    ¡ªOn a deep dark night, Iy wide awake


    ¡ªThe boundless azure sky, bluish moonlight


    ¡ªSoftly envelops me and drives me to the streets once again


    The main vocalist¡¯s heart-wrenching voice dug into the audience¡¯s ears. The girl who hade to find a new group to stan stared with her eyes wide open. She intuitively sensed it then... she found her group.

 Chapter 30

    <h4>Chapter 30</h4>


    The audience opened their eyes wide. All of Siren¡¯s five members were standing in a line on the stage and looking down at the audience. The stage setting gave off a mncholy atmosphere, and the chilling and cool sensory visuals gave them goosebumps. The big moon rising on the electronic disy sprinkled blue light everywhere, and the members, dressed in blue <i>dopos</i>[1] stared at the camera with steadfast eyes.


    Their performance certainly felt different from the previous stages performed by other groups. The hanbok and moon set it apart, but rather than these obvious differences, they gave off a calm and collected vibe.


    <i>¡®What is it?¡¯</i> They didn¡¯t give off a raw and unpolished feeling of a new idol group but rather of veteran performers. They seemed a bit nervous and tense, but it wasn¡¯t nervousness that came fromck of skills but the light nervousness mixed in with anticipation that came from performing on stage. Rather, their emotions brought the stage to life even further.


    ¡ªOn a deep dark night, Iy wide awake


    ¡ªThe boundless azure sky, bluish moonlight


    ¡ªSoftly envelops me and drives me to the streets once again


    Main vocalist Woo Yeon-Hoon stepped up to the center of the stage and sang. His hand waving in the air was sensual as if he was stroking something. As he spread out his arms to the side, the members standing behind him jumped out one by one as if he was spreading his wings. Soon, the members raised their arms high in the sky like a bow. It was obvious what the curves created by their connected arms represented.


    <i>¡®A crescent moon!¡¯ </i>It was a crescent moon hanging in the night sky. The crescent moon cracked, and in between, the main dancer Lee Woon burst out.


    ¨CI long for your beautiful gaze


    ¨CThe warmth of that day that¡¯ll nevere back


    ¨CI thought our distance couldn¡¯t get any further


    He made a light waving movement as if he was walking in ce, but his soft and urate movements reminded the audience of a ripplingke. After Lee Woon, Park Dong-Jun came out and sang the next part.


    ¨CBut my longing is getting deeper


    ¨CUnder this moonlight, the memories of that day


    ¨COf you and I are shining blue


    His soft and fair voice spread across the stage. After his clear voice with long reverberations ended, the group¡¯s <i>maknae</i>, Bong Tae-Yoon came out.


    ¨CLike a sad flower that blooms under the moon.


    ¨CLike a cruel tragedy that happens in the middle of the night


    ¨CI remember the stream of blood that flowed down your hand


    ¨CAll those moments beyond my control


    Every word he sang had strong power inside them as if he was deeply immersed in the song. After Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s part ended, Woo Yeon-Hoon, who was hiding behind, jumped forward. The formation of the members changed rapidly. They surrounded Woo Yeon-Hoon in the middle. Soon, the members spread across the stage widely as if a flower bud was opening. The formation they created was that of a full moon. At the same time, the moon, which was shining blue on the electronic disy, turned upside down.


    <i>¡®Red Moon?¡¯ </i>The atmospherepletely changed.


    ¨CMoon, dear moon, don¡¯t chase me down


    ¨CI¡¯m looking for my dear who has run away


    ¨CI¡¯ll search through this forest once again


    Woo Yeon-Hoon spoke with a lonely yet sad voice.


    ¨CNight, dear night, don¡¯te back


    ¨CI¡¯ll go find my dear who has left


    ¨CTo return to my side again


    At that moment, the song stopped ying and then¡ª


    ¨CAwooo-!


    A wolf¡¯s cry reverberated on the stage. Only then did people realize what the song was about. The audience, who had merely thought this song was about a schr who missed his lover, watched the stage with their mouths slightly open. Main dancer Lee Woon came forward and started the chorus choreography.


    ¨CFleeing the moonlight shining at night


    ¨CFleeing the night you ran away


    ¨CI endure this night again and again


    ¨CFor you who ran away from me


    ¨CAnd for my precious self


    He threw away the blue <i>dopo </i>and wiped off the red rouge around his mouth. The atmosphere instantly changed as if there was a bloodbath. This was actually not a song about a schr who could not fulfill his love but a wolf disguised as a schr. In short, it was a story of a werewolf in the <i>Joseon</i> dynasty. The audience, who thought Siren would be singing a historical drama clich¨¦ of a schr who couldn¡¯t fulfill his love because of social ss differences, gaped in shock and stared at the stage.


    <i>¡®It wasn¡¯t because of differences in social ss but race?¡¯</i>


    The girl already liked the fact that they wore <i>hanbok</i> to a historical drama-style song. Siren not only showed the blue light of the moon but added the concept of a werewolf. Some might say their concept was excessive, but the different elements were appropriately harmonized on the stage. But most of all, her favorite conceptual topics were seamlessly tied together.


    ¡°Woww!¡± A genuine exmation broke out. Everything was a home run for her. She had thought that no idol would be able to perfectly fit her taste, but she felt tingles all over her body, and her heart stopped as if someone had shot right into her heart.


    * * *


    Producer Park Soo-Chul gaped in shock as the atmosphere heated up more than he expected. His wide-opened mouth curved upwards and stretched into a wide smile. He was grinning from ear to ear. When he saw Siren¡¯s rehearsal, he thought they had done a good job. It was to the point that any annoyance he had felt about them hiding the fact they self-produced their songs instantly melted away. However, the real performance was much better than their rehearsal. Usually, groups became more anxious in front of an audience, but¡ª


    <i>¡®They¡¯re eating the stage up.¡¯ </i>Each member was performing much better on stage. There was a difference just by the way they were using the stage¡¯s space. They were using a lot more space with ease, and if they hadn¡¯t felt at ease, their movements would have be smaller, and their movement size would also decrease. However, in the case of Siren, their movements were not only big but urate. Therefore, it was even more enjoyable for the audience to watch them.


    ¡°OMG!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Kyaaaahhh!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡±


    The moment it was revealed that the stage was not about schrs but werewolves, the audience who had only cheered and pped ceremonially, sincerely cheered and screamed. Park Soo-Chul wondered how to edit this scene to avoid usations about the show favoring Siren. While thinking this, he kept looking at the stage.


    * * *


    ¨CMoon, dear moon


    ¨CShining blue


    ¨CMy heart that I couldn¡¯t tell you in the end


    ¨CI¡¯ll bury my heart in this night and take my leave


    The performance was over. The girl stared nkly at the five Siren members on stage. Only she was in a daze, and everyone else was still screaming their hearts out. The reason why she was in a daze was because she had screamed so much that she had quickly lost her strength. Thest person who decorated the outro was rapper Kang Do-Seung. After Kang Do-Seung sang the outro, Lee Woon came back to the stage center again and made the ending pose. It seemed as if Lee Woon was the center of their performance this time.


    While this fact didn¡¯t seem to matter, picking Lee Woon as the center had been the decisive factor to lift the performance to its full potential. Lee Woon¡¯s delicate and flexible dancing and eyes that seemed a bit out of the world made the stagee alive.


    <i>¡®It was this.¡¯ </i>It was then the girl finally began to solidify her decision to stan this group. For a while, she hadn¡¯t felt excitement or butterflies for a long time while being a K-pop fan, and at some point, she began to watch only the most famous performances. After her bias, which she had been a fan of for a long time, caused all kinds of problems and fell from stardom with a splendid crash, a lot of top-tier fan website moderators and fans began to fall out of the fandom for her all-time favorite group.


    During this process, she got weary and felt a lot of disappointment towards idols in general. However, she had loved K-pop for a long time, so she kept wandering around the K-pop scene like a ghost, trying to find the next group to stan. There were a lot of handsome idols and those who were good at singing and dancing, but strangely enough, she didn¡¯t feel drawn towards them. She found them enjoyable but hadn¡¯t felt truly happy while watching them, but that wasn¡¯t the case today.


    <i>¡®I love it!¡¯</i> The girl had never imagined that she would find a new group to stan in a program that garnered doomed idols. Of course, it was still too early to jump to conclusions as this could have just been a legendary performance from them, and there was no guarantee that they would be able to perform at this level in the future. However, that didn¡¯t matter as she was already in love with Siren at this very moment. Even if this feeling might disappear by tomorrow morning, she wanted to enjoy this moment to the fullest.


    It had been too long since she had felt this way¡ªthe feeling of wanting to keep watching even while watching them in front of her eyes. The feeling of wanting to treasure every gesture and movement. Maybe it was because she had been out of the loop for so long, but even in her own opinion, she was fangirling too hard. However, that also didn¡¯t matter as her desire to stan a group was probably running wild after being repressed for so long.


    It was now time for Siren to film the ending fairy cut. Even though the stage was over, the members stood in position and stared at the camera. The audience watched each member¡¯s ending expression one by one.


    As expected, it was Lee Woon who caught her eye the most as the main dancer¡¯s ability including the skill of making fitting facial expressions. He looked determined and calm but as if he felt overwhelmed with emotions. It was an expression that skillfully expressed the sentiments of the performance. Lee Woon was about to carve deeply into her heart when¡ª


    <i>¡®What?¡¯</i> Strangely, her eyes moved to the member next to Lee Woon. It felt as if he was pulling all the attention to him.


    She wondered who it was and thought, <i>¡®Bong Tae-Yoon?¡¯ </i>It was the group¡¯s <i>maknae</i>. Although he was handsome, he wasn¡¯t her type as she liked more bright and innocent types. But strangely, her eyes kept being drawn to Tae-Yoon.


    <i>¡®What¡¯s up with him?¡¯ </i>Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s eyes seemed to be shouting, ¡®Look at me!¡¯ While Lee Woon¡¯s expression was reminiscent of a schr, Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s expression was reminiscent of a werewolf. Since he had a ¡®wolf-face,¡¯ the girl had expected him to fit the concept very well, but there seemed to be something that went beyond fitting well with the concept.


    <i>¡®Ah...¡¯ </i>Her personal type was Woon, but the <i>maknae</i> wrecked her bias and kept catching her eyes. On the other hand, it wasn¡¯t just her, as she could hear people talking around him.


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°His expression is amazing...?¡±


    While she was torn by these strange feelings, the stage ended.


    ¡ªThank you! We are Siren!


    ¡°Oh.¡± She regained her senses as ifing out of a trance; she had been too focused on their performance without realizing it.


    ¡°Woooooooooow!¡±


    Just in time, cheers poured out from all sides.


    * * *


    At the end of the stage, it was time for us to strike the ending pose. I didn¡¯t have much thought about it at first. I was relieved that we finished the performance well today, and I thought that it came out just as I expected. But when the close-up camera¡¯s light came on for the ending, I remembered what Woon had told me earlier.


    <i>¡®Hmm.¡¯ </i>He told me to use my eyes more. I had forgotten about it during the stage but I recalled his words at the end. I was going to pass it off because I thought it might be an embarrassing, cringy memoryter on if I suddenly tried to change my expressions but¡ª


    <i>Ziiing¡ª</i>


    <i>¡®What?¡¯ </i>Insight was suddenly activated without my will. I was flustered, but even while thinking this, I could clearly feel and understand how I should look at the cameras and what kind of expression fit this concept and stage. I rxed my facial muscles, and my expression changed at the same time. I just decided to go along with it as it was already underway, so I stared at the camera with the expression I made through Insight. Then, at that moment, I heard these words below the stage:


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°His expression is amazing...?¡±


    I felt slightly embarrassed but couldn¡¯t rx my expression now.


    <i>Flick.</i>


    After the camera lights went out, Insight naturally stopped. I looked around and made eye contact with the members. Perhaps because they were all satisfied with the performance, their expressions were bright.


    ¡°Thank you! It was Siren!¡± We all said our greetings together and were about to go down when¡ª


    ¡°Woooooooow!¡± We heard cheers pour out from all sides. The cheers made by 150 people were deafening to say the least.


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°My gosh.¡±


    ¡°Hmpph!¡±


    We all froze for a moment at the sheer might of the cheers and then everyone looked at one ce at the same time¡ªthe target was Yeon-Hoon. Considering his personality, after hearing this kind of cheer, he would definitely¨C


    ¡°Huack...! Ba....¡± Be moved to tears.


    ¡°Hey, hey!¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t cry!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s tears were on the verge of bursting like a faucet.


    1. Dopo is the overcoat in hanbok. ?

 Chapter 31

    <h4>Chapter 31</h4>


    ¡°Hmph...! Urghh...¡± Yeon-Hoon was about to burst into tears. Though I liked everything about him, this was the part about him that I found a bit hard to bear. He cried about everything, and I had even heard stories where he lost weight because he cried too much.


    Yet, that wasn¡¯t even the main concern. I wouldn¡¯t have stopped him if he was the type to cry beautifully on stage but his crying was more like a baby wailing. Perhaps, it could look cute to fans but if he cried in front of this audience, most people would be wondering, <i>¡®Huh? What is he suddenly crying for?¡±</i>


    I tried to stop the situation before it happened, but in the end, someone murmured, ¡°Oh my.¡±


    ¡°Oh....¡±


    Yeon-Hoon was already crying and ringing a siren on top of the stage. The audience looked at us a bit baffled. Since it already started, I knew it would take a while for Yeon-Hoon to recollect himself. There was nothing I could do now.


    Woon who stood closest to his side hugged Yeon-Hoon to his chest and at least, muffled Yeon-Hoon¡¯s cries. Well, I supposed this could be the special end to our performance, and I looked down the stage. The audience was looking at us with a smile on their faces and seemed to enjoy the moment.


    ¡°Don¡¯t cry!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all right!¡±


    They even shouted some encouragement.


    ¡°Thank you! We are Sirens! Hahaha!¡± We quickly retreated from the stage and went down the big stage. And as soon as we went down, the hosts came up and said theirmentaries.


    ¡ªAll right! It¡¯s time for you all to cast your votes on Siren¡¯s performance!


    The audience began to vote for our ranks. By their responses, I expected them to rate us highly.


    <i>¡®Though there are mostly Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans here, the audience¡¯s responses were good despite that.</i>¡¯ The atmosphere was better than I expected, and there were some people who were hollering passionately. I also saw some people genuinely impressed when we revealed our werewolf concept too.


    Of course, there were some people who didn¡¯t cheer for us and looked disapprovingly till the very end, but that was something we couldn¡¯t change. It was a consequence we needed to ept with all the attention we drew at the beginning.


    <i>¡®I think we turned a lot of people¡¯s hearts though,¡¯</i> I thought. The situation was much better than I hoped for. Then, after we circled around the big stage and returned to the waiting room, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s tears finally stopped.


    ¡°Are you okay, Yeon-Hoon?¡± I asked.


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    Though his eyes were swollen and half their original size, I was thankful that he stopped crying.


    <i>Sigh</i>. "I¡¯m d everything ended well!¡± Dong-Jun said while stretching his arms. It seemed all the nerves that had been piling up inside him disappeared instantly.


    ¡°Yeah, the audience gave really good responses,¡± Do-Seung said. He appeared to be satisfied by the performance just now and his face was brighter than usual.


    ¡°I never expected the audience to cheer for us this much,¡± Woon said, looking dazed as if he was still raptured by his moment on stage.


    ¡°We did a good job,¡± I said. I felt a swell of pride seeing my group members appear so happy. I had felt bad for them when they ranked fifth ce in thest shooting since the performance had been my idea.


    Though cing fifth helped us leave asting impression on the show, it still didn¡¯t take away my guilt. It was only natural since emotions were multi-faceted andplicated. Thus, I finally felt a bit relieved. It felt as if we had proven ourselves again.


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon and Do-Seung, really good job,¡± Yeon-Hoon said in a slightly hoarse voice. His face still looked like he was in a daze, and his eyes were teary.


    ¡°Come on, Yeon-Hoon. You should finish crying before talking.¡±


    ¡°Ugh! Why do you scold me even when I¡¯m trying topliment you!¡± Yeon-Hoon threw a cushion at me. Laughter spread inside the waiting room.


    ¡°But I think this performance¡¯s quality really improved thanks to Do-Seung and Tae-Yoon,¡± Woon said, following up with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s statement. ¡°Tae-Yoon¡¯s lyrics fit really well with Do-Seung¡¯s melody. I think this performance was only able toe alive thanks to a good song.¡±


    I looked at Woon with a bit of awe. It was quite a rare talent for a person to say such nice things to another person without a change in their expression. I thought the world would be a better ce if there were more people like Woon.


    ¡°I-Is that right?¡±


    But if there were people like Woon, there were also people like Do-Seung. Do-Seung was the type of person who had a hard time sayingpliments and felt embarrassed when he heard them. However, though Do-Seung acted like a person suffering from allergies hearing Woon¡¯spliments, he also looked pretty pleased with himself.


    I wondered how two people who couldn¡¯t be more different from one another could be so close. One person was friendly and didn¡¯t shy away from givingpliments, while the other was extremely resistant to it. But perhaps, this was what made the two close from the first ce.


    ¡°Oh yeah, Tae-Yoon¡¯s expression at the end was really good!¡± Woonplimented me specifically this time.


    ¡°Huh?¡± I was a bit taken aback by hispliment.


    ¡°At the end, I loosened up my pose a bit and nced behind and saw your ending pose. You had a really good gaze then.¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    I thought nobody had seen me then, and it felt like I had been found out.


    ¡°What? Is Tae-Yoon a pro at even making expressions and grabbing the audience¡¯s attention?¡± Dong-Jun said jokingly and poked my sides a couple of times.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it,¡± I said annoyedly.


    ¡°Let me see your expression!¡± Dong-Jun became more excited at my annoyance and poked my sides harder.


    ¡°Ah, seriously Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°Ahhh! Seeeriously!¡± Dong-Jun copied me.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Laughter filled the waiting room again. It was then someone knocked on the door and came in.


    ¡°It¡¯s Siren¡¯s turn to do the interviews.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± We all got up and headed to the interview room.


    ***


    It was tense inside Only One¡¯s waiting room right after Siren¡¯s performance just ended. The mood hadn¡¯t always been this bad. Besides Kang Hyun-Sung, who sat alone, the other members were usually able to say ament or two in between. And Kang Hyun-Sung interacted with them sometimes so that he wouldn¡¯te out like an unfriendly guy on camera. Yet, Kang Hyun-Sung pressed his lips tightly when Sirens came on stage.


    The members also sensed the change in Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s mood and stared at the monitor. At first, they thought Kang Hyun-Sung was simply monitoring apetitor¡¯s show.


    ¡°It¡¯s a self-produced song?¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    When he learned that this song was self-produced by Siren, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s face slightly altered. For everyone else, his face would¡¯ve probably looked expressionless as before but for his members¡ªespecially for the youngest, Park Young-Ho¡ªthey could see a clear change. As the performance continued and the members realized that the song¡¯s quality was even higher than they expected, all signs of emotions on Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s face began to disappear.


    ¡°The song is good...¡± somebody said.


    ¡°Yeah, the song is good,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung responded. Though he was agreeing with them, Park Young-Ho sensed a prickliness in his voice. And it wasn¡¯t only the song that was good. Siren¡¯s choreography, concept, and general performance were of high-quality. And when they found out that Siren¡¯s song wasn¡¯t simply a historical song but one thatbined the werewolf concept, a couple of members expressed their genuine admiration for Siren¡¯s performance.


    ¡°Oh...¡±


    ¡°They are insane.¡±


    ¡°Sirens are good,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung admitted with a more genuine tone this time. It was then the atmosphere inside the waiting room turned cold. Nobody said anything, but they all watched Siren¡¯s performance without saying a word. It was for many different reasons, including feeling threatened after seeing how good theirpetitor¡¯s performance was and feeling overwhelmed by it; or possibly, it could be because they were worried about a specific person¡¯s worsened mood.


    Park Young-Ho scanned Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s face. Their eyes met.


    ¡°Is there something on my face?¡±


    ¡°Ah, no. Haha.¡±


    ¡°Then, why are you staring at me?¡±


    ¡°Ah, sorry.¡±


    ¡°Okay then,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said and turned his head. Then Siren came down the stage. It sounded like there was somemotion before they went down, but Park Young-Ho missed it because of his conversation with Kang Hyun-Sung. Park Young-Ho tapped his chest with his palm.


    For some strange reason, this ufortable feeling in his chest appeared a couple of months ago and hadn¡¯t disappeared since. It felt like he had an upset stomach though he didn¡¯t eat anything.


    ¡°Are you feeling sick?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked him.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine,¡± Park Young-Ho said his habitual line, ¡®I¡¯m fine¡¯. Still, the suffocating and heavy feeling in his heart didn¡¯t disappear.


    ***


    The team¡¯s interview came to an end. The content of the interview didn¡¯t change much from the introductory performance. The interviewer asked what hardships they went through while preparing for this performance, what their thoughts were about today¡¯s performance, and if they had any regrets. But this time, they asked more about the songposition.


    ¡°So, are you saying that ¡®victory0505¡¯ is you, Mr. Do-Seung?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Why did you hide this fact in the beginning?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯splicated to exin, but Tae-Yoon brought my ount suddenly and...¡± Do-Seung had already said this part in thest practice shooting, but he said it again this time. The need for repitition seemed to highlight how important this issue was, and how it could be something that might garner negative criticism for Do-Seung.


    After all, other people could think that Do-Seung had simply hidden his name in the beginning only to reveal itter on to garner attention. But we just needed to remain firm and bold in this part since it was true that Do-Seung had been hesitant to reveal his ount at first.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have confidence in my work, so I tried to hide the fact that it was me whoposed the song. I didn¡¯t want to draw too much attention to the fact Iposed songs, but after thinking about it a great deal, I decided to reveal who I was,¡± Do-Seung exined.


    The interview finished after we talked generally about our performance, and we returned to our waiting room.


    ¡°Haaaa!¡± Dong-Jun stretched as soon as we returned and slumped to the sofa. We also followed Dong-Jun and began to sit on the sofa one by one. While we were doing our interviews, it appeared Luminin finished their performance since they were showing the ending clips. I felt a bit regretful to have missed this group¡¯s performance because I was wondering how well they would do after purposefully giving us the color blue.


    Fortunately, the audience¡¯s response was lukewarm. It appeared that their stage was nothing special and the Luminin¡¯s members¡¯ expressions appeared downcast. Perhaps, their performance looked even worsepared to us, and I was sure our skills were definitely better than Luminin¡¯s.


    ¡ªOkay! Please vote for Luminin''s ranks for this performance now!


    When Luminin came down the stage, the voting began. I stared at the monitor nkly and the voting stopped. There was a period of silence and even all my members became quiet. It was because it was going to be Only One¡¯s turn next. Yeon-Hoon broke the silence to say, ¡°...It¡¯s time for Only One toe out.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±


    Everyone looked a bit nervous. They knew they could be heavily criticized if they made the wrong responses since a surveince camera was going on even inside the waiting room. They all intuitively knew that they would only be able to survive in this industry by managing their conduct. Thus, we exchanged looks and signaled to each other to give positive reactions.


    ¡°Ohhhh! They areing!¡±


    ¡°Wooow!¡±


    The stage lights turned on and Only One came up. We did our best to cheer for them to avoid being marked ascking sportsmanship.


    ¡°Huh...?¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    Yet, in the middle of the stage, our reactions couldn¡¯t help but falter a bit when the youngest of Only One, Park Young-Ho made a mistake.

 Chapter 32

    <h4>Chapter 32</h4>


    When Only One came up on stage, the response was good from the start. They had the advantage of being thest group, but most of all, they had Kang Hyun-Sung in the group. Thus, the atmosphere of the studio suddenly changed when it was Only One''s turn to perform.


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°Crazy.¡±


    ¡°The audience¡¯s expressions have changed.¡±


    The change was so obvious that wemented about it. As soon as the lights turned on and the cameras focused on the Only One members, the audience broke out in shouts iparable from before.


    ¡ªKyahhhhhh¡ª!


    ¡ªWahhhhhhh¡ª!


    ¡°Amazing...¡±


    Shouts burst out as if they had been waiting for this moment all along and seemed to break through the monitor screen. I had thought that not as many Kang Hyun Sung¡¯s fans hade to the set as I expected, but it appeared that my judgment had been too hasty.


    <i>¡®There are a lot of them now that I see them like this.¡¯ </i>Hearing the cheers made me realize the difference between us and them. The lights turned on, and the Only One member appeared into view. Their color was gold-the color I had wanted at first as it was the color befitting of a main character of a stage.


    However, now that I saw the quality of their outfit, I thought<i>, ¡®It was better that Only One took gold.¡¯ </i>The outfits clearly looked expensive and were of a whole different quality than the other groups''s clothes. If we had taken gold, we wouldn¡¯t be able to afford such luxury.


    Overall, Only One wore an outfit that actively utilized a simple and ssic colorbination of ck and gold. It was abination that designer name brands often used, and as expected, it boosted their elegant and luxurious visuals to the fullest. All the members wore ck suits and a goldenurel crown on their heads.


    ¡°Their outfits are cool...¡± Yeon-Hoon murmured while staring at the monitor screen as if he was bewitched.


    ¡°Yes, it looks cool.¡± I had to give it to them for this. It probably cost them a lot, and even from a rough nce, I could tell that more than half of what they were wearing were from luxury brands. Then I recalled an interview that Only One did in my past life.


    <i>¡®Didn¡¯t they say that those all came from Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s personal finances?¡¯</i>


    I had seen an interview where the members said Kang Hyun-Sung used his own money for the stage outfits. Although his temporary group, Yours, did well, it was still only a year-long activity. Thus, it must not have been easy to use such arge amount of money while his future was still unclear.


    <i>¡®The members said they only knewter on that Kang Hyun-Sung used his own money.¡¯</i>


    Only One didn¡¯t seem like struggling idols, but their situation was actually not much different from other groups as they were idols from apany with little assets. Furthermore, even if they seeded in this program, their contract would be transferred to a joint venture with Jaeil Agency.


    During the transfer process, some profits would be returned to the originalpany, but their trainees would basically be taken away from them. Therefore, it was very unlikely that Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯spany would have provided the budget to support the stage. Yet, this happened all off the record, and the rest of Kang Hyun-Sung''s team must have thought all their luxury goods came from their current agency. As I thought this, I felt a bit bad for Kang Hyun-Sung.


    <i>¡®But he¡¯s mypetition now.¡¯ </i>I couldn¡¯t back down just because I sympathized with him, as he was my enemy until the end of thispetition. As long as there was Only One, it was going to be hard for us to reach 100,000 album sales. Furthermore, we couldn¡¯t debut at an agency like WD Entertainment, so I had to make sure my heart didn¡¯t waver.


    ¡°Ohh! It¡¯s starting.¡± Just in time, Only One began their stage. Perhaps it was because they were trying to showcase the concept of ¡®King¡¯ but they brought out a slightly old song that was the representative song of a first generation idol group and rearranged it. However, it appeared they had invested a good sum on the rearrangement as the sound didn''t sound tacky.


    ¡ªNo moment has been a mistake


    ¡ªEvery step I take


    ¡ªDON¡¯T HESITATE


    ¡ªThere¡¯s no need to hesitate


    ¡ªI CAN FIGHT IT


    ¡ªDon¡¯t be afraid


    There was something grand andbative about the sound, a characteristic unique to idols of that generation. I was amazed by the way they managed to reinterpret the song in such a modern way and perform so skillfully that it didn¡¯t make me think of the original singers at all.


    They also showed off perfect synchronization in their dance movements, which they had not shown in the introductory performance. Standing in V-formation with Kang Hyun-Sung as the center, the members performed difficult movements while nailing down all the angles to their exact degrees.


    ¡ªWahhhhh¡ª~


    The atmosphere at the scene was extremely hot.


    ¡°They¡¯re really cool.¡±


    ¡°Wow, they¡¯re really good.¡±


    ¡°I think they prepared a lot.¡±


    My members gave their genuine reactions without any fabrication. I thought we would get some good reaction cuts from them, and I also put on a slightly kind expression to not look so cold. Then¡ª


    ¡°T-Tae-Yoon, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Woon asked in a worried tone.


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°Just be like your usual self. Why are you strangely twisting the corners of your mouth...¡±


    ¡°Ah, I was smiling.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that was a smile...¡±


    It was a pretty awkward situation.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Yeon-Hoonughed hard and hit me on the shoulder as if he found this whole situation funny. ¡°Were you worried that you¡¯ll look like you¡¯re angry on the show?¡±


    Then he asked me yfully. ¡°It¡¯s okay. You can just exinter that¡¯s how you just look!¡±


    ¡°Won¡¯t it be toote to exin if there¡¯s a need to exin my expression?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay! Don¡¯t worry about it too much!¡± The atmosphere in the waiting room changed in an instant. However, we needed to focus on the stage and not linger on other topics. The atmosphere turned serious, and we focused on Only One again.


    The song passed the first verse and entered into the second verse. Then, it went through the chorus and entered into the dance break section. Frankly, this was the important moment on apetition stage. Unless it was a big or unique concept, this dance break could be seen as the highlight of the stage that made or broke the performance. However...


    ¡°What? There¡¯s a gap...¡± Woon was the first to notice that there was something strange. Before the start of the dance break, Only One members had a round formation with Kang Hyun-Sung as the center. However, the gap between Kang Hyun-Sung and Young-Ho was too widepared to the other members. Although even this point could be easily overlooked¡ª


    ¡°He¡¯s half a beatte.¡±


    Park Young-Ho¡¯s movements appeared to be getting dyed little by little in the dance break section. It was a powerful choreography, so if his movements weregging behind the beat, his whole dance would bepletely messed up. Rather, it would be better for him to skip a movement to match his movements to the beat again.


    Yet, Park Young-Ho didn''t skip a move as if he had an obsession with aplishing all the set movements. As a result, his movements, which had been slightly dyed in the beginning, began to be noticeably off from the middle of the dance break. The dance break, which should be done in perfect formation and angle, was beginning to break because of Park Young-Ho.


    Perhaps, that put too much pressure on Park Young,-Ho and while performing a movement that required using only his lower body and core while sliding across the floor...his ankle twisted.


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°W-what!¡±


    It would have been fortunate if only his ankle had been bent, but because of that mistake, hepletely messed up the whole movement. The atmosphere in the studio quickly began to cool down. It had already begun to subside when Park Young-Ho was starting to fall behind the beat, but when he twisted his ankle and the group¡¯s formation broke, things became irreversible.


    Despite that, the performance continued. Since the group reached the end of the dance break, Only One members couldn¡¯t stop in the middle. Furthermore, their dance movements after the dance break were not as intense as before. A sentimental outro sound rang out, and the stage ended with each member taking an ending pose.


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    ¡°Well.¡±


    But the atmosphere was ruined. The members seemed to not know how to respond to the situation as they could be portrayed badly for making the wrong reaction. I was also shocked by this unexpected happening. Yet, I put my feelings aside for a moment and stared at the monitor.


    As soon as the stage was over, Kang Hyun-Sung and the other members ran to Park Youn-Ho. I wasn¡¯t sure whether it was because they were sincerely worried or being camera-conscious but Only One¡¯s <i>maknae</i> went down the stage with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s help. I didn¡¯t know what was going to happen but...


    ¡®He won¡¯t be able to dance for at least a few weeks.¡¯ It went without saying that it was a painful loss of manpower for Only One.


    If he went to an oriental medicine clinic, took medicine, and did all kind of things to manage his injury, he might be able to perform on stage, but I thought, <i>¡®It won¡¯t be easy.¡¯</i>


    I thought Park Young-Ho would likely suffer a huge psychological damage. Then I stopped thinking about this as there was no need to be too cold-hearted or too sympathetic.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± With a deep breath, I organized my thoughts and looked at the members. They looked very serious as a whole, and their faces looked concerned. At that moment, the hosts came up on stage and began to makements.


    ¡ªWe enjoyed Only One¡¯s powerful performance!


    Even in this kind of situation, they began to say their assigned lines. I knew I sounded quite merciless, but I thought, <i>¡®It¡¯s not enough to stop the broadcast.¡¯</i>


    Since these kinds of events happened often, they couldn¡¯t respond sensitively to everything.


    ¡ªNow! Please cast your votes for Only One¡¯s performance!


    Soon, a rating vote for Only One was held.


    <i>¡®I wonder what will happen.¡¯ </i>Somethingpletely out of my expectations urred, and I had no idea how this would affect the oue.


    * * *


    The audience, who had been deeply moved by Siren¡¯s stage, gaped when they saw Only One¡¯s stage. It wasn¡¯t because the quality of their stage was overwhelming; rather, Siren''s stage was much more worth watching from the audience¡¯s point of view.


    <i>¡®It seemed as if he really twisted his ankle.¡¯</i> The reason why she couldn¡¯t keep her mouth shut was because of Park Young-Ho¡¯s mistake earlier. The angle in which he twisted his ankle made even the viewers squirm in pain.


    ¡ªNow! Please cast your votes for Only One¡¯s performance!


    It was to the extent that the hosts'' usual remarks sounded cold-hearted. Of course, since they were only doing this because the production team made them, she couldn¡¯t criticize them. But now, it became difficult to rate them.


    <i>¡®A? B? C?¡¯</i>


    Only One had definitely made a mistake, and a mistake that made a big impact on the quality of the stage. So if she had to give them a score, it would be a C. However, the overall quality of the performance was good so considering that, it would be okay to give them a bit higher score.


    <i>¡®But it¡¯s definitely not an A.¡¯</i> She was sure of this. Then, she looked around and thought, ¡®Will everyone here give an A though?¡¯


    Most of the people around her were obviously Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans, and if they all gave Only One an A, the girl thought that they might win first ce in the contest today.


    <i>¡®No way...Will that really happen?¡¯ </i>She thought for a moment that even the fans would be fairer in this kind of evaluation but soon came to her senses.


    <i>¡®...There¡¯s no way that would happen.¡¯</i> She wanted Siren to win first ce, and it was obvious Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans would give Only One an A regardless of whether a member made a mistake or not. Thus, she pressed C with a hopeful heart.


    Of course, she didn¡¯t know how much her vote would affect this contest, but she pressed C because of how unfair the situation was. At that time, she didn¡¯t know that there were more people who shared the same thoughts as her than she expected, and what kind of results this would lead to.


    * * *


    After Only One¡¯s rating time, a short break followed.


    ¡°We¡¯ll now go up to the stage for the ranking announcement!¡± The production crew wandered around the rooms saying this.


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    We forcibly pulled ourselves up. It was finally the time to announce our rankings and although the results were obvious, we had to go.


    <i>¡®Hmm.¡¯ </i>Park Young-Ho¡¯s mistake, our sessful performance, and the fact that a smaller number of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fandom had been gathered than I expected gave me hope. Combing all these factors together, I thought, <i>¡®Maybe our ranking might be higher than I expected.¡¯</i>


    It might be really different from what I expected. I started to think that maybe the rankings would be the opposite of what I expected, but perhaps, I was hoping for too much.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I put aside my misceneous thoughts and followed Yeon-Hoon out of the waiting room. I just prayed and hoped for good results.

 Chapter 33

    <h4>Chapter 33</h4>


    We went up the stage to hear our ranks. The stage we had danced and sung not so long ago was cleanly cleared off now; since there were markings on the stage indicating where we should go, we could tell where we were supposed to go without any guidance. Our locations were slightly right from the center while Only One took the center. Bleshu took the left side, Luminin took the back right, and OnebyOne stood at the back left.


    <i>¡®What? Are these the ranks?¡¯</i> I thought to myself. I nced at the groups and it appeared to be true. The center was first ce, right from the center was second ce, left was third ce, back right was fourth ce, and back left was fifth ce. That seemed to mean we were in second ce.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s possible.¡¯</i> I didn¡¯t think I was hoping for too much. But considering our stage quality today, even second ce was disappointing. After all, we truthfully did the best among the five teams, but it couldn¡¯t be helped that Only One was firmly maintaining their spot in the first ce. Personally, I hoped that we could avoid second ce if we didn¡¯t ce first.


    <i>¡®cingst has more impact.¡¯ </i>Of course, if that happened, we wouldn¡¯t be gettingst ce because we truly did a lousy job. We would simply deserve our ce if our performance were a mess, but if we cedst when we performed well, it could be a big issue and spread across themunity.


    <i>¡®But seeing the audience¡¯s responses, that doesn¡¯t seem to be the case.¡¯ </i>For some reason, I didn¡¯t think we would best ce. It seemed my group members thought the same, and their eyes filled with hope. They must have felt this way even more after seeing the audience¡¯s response.


    The audience had cheered and pped for us in a way that they wouldn¡¯t have if our performance weren¡¯t any good; and while sharing the space with them, we could sense the general mood of what they were feeling.


    <i>¡®You would have to be a fool not to realize it,¡¯</i> I thought. Compared to the past performances, anyone could tell that our performance was overwhelmingly the best. I raised my head slightly and nced to my side. Only One was already on stage. Perhaps, it was because their group member, Park Young-Ho was injured, but only four people were on the stage.


    Kang-Hyun-Sung and the other Only One members were making eye contact with the fans below the stage. A couple of fans were about to scream but pressed their lips when the producers gestured at them to restrain themselves.


    <i>¡®Wow, Kang Hyun-Sung is doing fan service even at a time like this,¡¯</i> I said in awe and saw Kang Hyun-Sung look pitifully at his fans. His expression seemed tofort his saddened fans, and I wondered how a usually cold-stone-faced guy like Kang Hyun-Sung was able to convey so many emotions with just his expressions. It was surprising.


    It was then, Kang Hyun-Sung''s eyes turned and looked at me. I quickly turned my head, but I felt Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s gaze so palpably that I felt it on my skin. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have stared even if I was curious.


    He could now think I was trying to provoke a fight with him; and in the end, I turned my head and just stared forward boldly. It wasn¡¯t as if I could strike up a conversation with him at this time anyway, when the entire studio was quiet. Then, the other group members began toe up to the stage. After confirming that everyone was there, the hosts also joined us on the stage, and the cameras rolled again.


    The spotlights swept the studio¡¯s insides and a heavy sound effect boomed in the background.


    ¡°The<i> Showcase 2 First Chance</i>! The first round just came to a close! Ms. Nahyun, what did you think about this performance?¡±


    ¡°I think it was a performance that showed each of the group¡¯s charms exceptionally well.¡±


    The hosts exchanged their scripted lines to fill up the show¡¯s content, and we made reactions to their lines like decorations on the wall.


    ¡°This is the special voting method of <i>The Showcase 2</i> and the results of that voting havee out just now,¡± the host, Kim Young-Jin said, flipping over the script cards in his hands. ¡°In my hand right now, there are the ranks of today¡¯s performances.¡±


    Then, the host pretended to show the results to the audience and yed with their hearts. I thought his jokes weren¡¯t funny or necessary, but in the end, this was what the broadcasting show signed him up to do. If they wanted someone who just said line after lines, they would¡¯ve used an announcer instead of aedian. I watched Kim Young-Jin without much thought, but my group members appeared quite excited.


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    ¡°Haaa.¡±


    ¡°I should calm down.¡±


    I wondered what they were expecting that they were this nervous. I nced at them and whispered so quietly so that others couldn¡¯t hear me. ¡°What ce do you think we would get?¡±


    All our mikes were turned off now because the sound could get jumbled with the hosts¡¯mentaries. Dong-Jun responded to my question first. He was able to hear my quiet voice even while standing farthest from me and gestured to me with his hands. He ced his hand as far below his waist as possible so the cameras couldn¡¯t catch it and raised one finger.


    <i>¡®First ce?¡¯</i>


    Do-Seung, who stood next to him, also raised one finger. It was the same for Woon and Yeon-Hoon. Because I opened my eyes wide in shock, Dong-Jun spread out all five fingers and waved his hands. He was telling me that we were definitely not inst ce.


    I agreed that we wouldn¡¯t cest as I first predicted but expecting first ce seemed like we were going above ourselves now. It was true that I always made conservative guesses when making ns but first ce...would we really ce that high?


    In this ce, Only One¡¯s poprity was too strong for us to aim to beat them. Though they made a mistake, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans weren¡¯t the type to lose their loyalty because of some mistakes. This was especially true for Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans. During <i>Select Your Idol</i>, Kang Hyun-Sung received all sorts of criticisms and evil editing because he came from a smallpany and had no strong backing.


    Yet, despite all that, his fans continued to upload posts exining the way he was edited on the show and amassed more fans; and at the end of all that, Kang Hyun-Sung was able to reach second ce and join the group, ¡®Yours¡¯.


    It was only natural that Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans would be firmer and more loyal to their celebrity after experiencing multiple adversities. Every time they posted writings exining the way Kang Hyun-Sung was edited, they had to endure a great wave of criticisms from all sides. Thus, this wasn¡¯t a group that would break down from one mistake.


    <i>¡®So why would all four of them expect first ce?¡¯ </i>I thought. In this case, my group members weren¡¯t just aiming high but truly expected to be first. I looked forward again, wondering if their expectations coulde true.


    ¡°Okay! Let¡¯s reveal today¡¯s ranks from now on, starting from fifth ce,¡± Kim Young-Jin raised his voice and opened up the presentation screen. Though these were all scripted lines, it made me nervous. The spotlights flickered above the stage again.


    ¡°The group that ced fifth ce is...¡± If my original predictions were right, he should call our name here. ¡°OnebyOne!¡±


    Yet, OnebyOne tookst ce. The shifting spotlight stopped at OnebyOne. OnebyOne¡¯s expression didn¡¯t appear good, and I saw that my original guesses had already gone off the mark.


    <i>¡®But then, I have a feeling we won¡¯t be third or fourth ce either,¡¯</i> I thought.


    ¡°Fourth ce is Luminin!¡±


    ¡°Third ce is Bleshu! Congrattions!¡±


    As I thought, we weren¡¯t in third and fourth ce. There were only two spots remaining: first and second ce. And now that we got to this ce, I strangely began to feel a bit greedier.


    <i>¡®What if we really get first ce?¡¯ </i>My heart thumped strangely. If I was feeling this way, I couldn¡¯t imagine what my group members were feeling. I turned to the side and saw that my members¡¯ faces looked like they were about to burst.


    <i>¡®Oh wow.¡¯ </i>Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes gleamed, Woon¡¯s shoulders looked tense, Do-Seung was trembling like a tree branch, and Dong-Jun already had a smile on his face. I was shocked at almost how transparent their expressions were. Then, I turned my head and saw Only One. They wereparatively calmer. I thought this image of us and Only One could be saved as a contrasting shot and circte around the inte because of how different we appeared.


    ¡°Okay! Now there¡¯s only first and second ce left. Let us reveal first ce first.¡± Kim Young-Jin said and scanned the audience. The audience¡¯s facial expressions changed bit by bit. Some people looked hopeful, while others looked visibly annoyed by how long the host was taking.


    ¡°The honorable first ce goes to...¡± Kim Young-Jin raised his voice and the moment he was about to announce the results, a fast drum beat resounded from the background.


    ¡°It¡¯s Only One!¡± He announced.


    <i>¡®Ah, we got second ce.¡¯ </i>It felt a bit bitter. I think a part of me had been expecting first ce after reaching this point. But rather than me, I wanted to check up on my members and turned my head.


    <i>¡®Oh my.¡¯ </i>Everyone¡¯s faces darkened. No, if they showed their feelings so tantly like this, I already had a sense of how they woulde out on broadcast. I knew they were disappointed by the results, but they couldn¡¯t make it this obvious.


    <i>¡®This is bad,¡¯</i> I thought. But then, Kim Young-Jin continued. ¡°But it¡¯s not over yet!¡±


    <i>¡®What¡¯s not over?¡¯</i>


    ¡°Here, I will show you all the average scores the 150 of you in the audience gave!¡±


    ¡ª1st- Only One- 90


    ¡ª1st- Siren- 90


    ¡ª3rd- Bleshu- 85


    ...


    Many numbers rolled up to the screen. Nothing else mattered but the individual group¡¯s ranks and average scores.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°W-What?¡±


    ¡°Am I seeing it right?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not an error, right?¡±


    I thought we were 2nd ce but that wasn¡¯t right. My group members were right.


    ¡°Today, we have no second ce but two first ces! Sirens, congrattions!¡±


    We were first.


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Uggggh!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s crazy!¡±


    ¡°Woooow!¡±


    Perhaps, because they were surprised by the results after feeling disappointed, my group members responded so loudly that even the other group members nced at us in surprise. Usually, it was expected for groups to remain calm when ranks were revealed, but perhaps, my group members couldn¡¯t hold back their overwhelming joy.


    ¡°After cing fifth in the first-meeting performances, they rose to first ce in the next round. Though this is only their second performance, the Sirens are creating quite the story.¡± Kim Young-Jin leaked information about the first-meeting ranks and there began to be a murmuring from the audience seats. They seemed to find it hard to believe that we could¡¯ve cedst in thest round of performances.


    <i>¡®Is he doing this on purpose to draw attention before the first episode gets released?¡¯</i> I wondered. I couldn¡¯t tell for sure now, but I thought there was another intention behind the host¡¯s words. We quickly recollected our expressions. We couldn¡¯t keep celebrating when there were other teams who didn¡¯t get good ranks. And Only One, who ced first, especially, didn¡¯t look pleased.


    ¡°Okay! With this, we will put a close to the first-round performance. Thank you to everyone who came and participated in this event!¡± The hosts said their closing lines and the show came to an end. The audience quickly left the studio, but our shooting wasn¡¯t over. After all the audience left, the producers wandered around to tell us to remain in our spots.


    ¡°We still have to tell you about the next mission and decide the order of your performances! All groups, please wait on top of the stage!¡±


    And while we waited on top of the stage and waited for the next shooting, my members and I murmured amongst ourselves.


    ¡°I still can¡¯t believe it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, to think we really got first ce.¡±


    ¡°Haaa.¡±


    ¡°This is crazy. Super crazy.¡±


    It was then, that Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly approached us. While looking specifically at me, he said, ¡°I didn¡¯t think you all would express blue in this way.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Gasp!¡±


    ¡°Oh Mr. Kang Hyun-Sung!¡±


    All my group members looked up in surprise at Kang Hyun-Sung. I also stared intently at him. A man with tinum hair and a sensual, pale face met my eyes.


    <i>¡®What is this bastard doing?¡¯ </i>I thought. I could just tell by his eyes that he wasn¡¯ting our way to exchange a friendly greeting.


    ¡°It felt like someone had struck me hard from behind. I enjoyed your performance.¡± There was open hostility on Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s face.

 Chapter 34

    <h4>Chapter 34</h4>


    Kang Hyun-Sung showed open hostility. I might be going too far to say that he was being outright hostile, but I saw clear antagonism in his eyes. His expressionless face, hollow voice, and the ambiguous distance he was maintaining¡ªthey were all signs, indicating that he didn¡¯t wee us.


    Even then, it was a spection to say he was being hostile by these factors alone. However, the reason why I was convinced that he wasing towards us with animosity was because I knew he was not the type to approach people first.


    Kang Hyun-Sung had seen me in<i> The Showcase 2</i> for the first time, but I had encountered Kang Hyun-Sung through countless media tforms in my previous life. Of course, there was a huge difference between directly knowing a person and seeing them through the media.


    However, a person also couldn¡¯t make up what they didn''t have. The images he showed on the broadcast were somewhat consistent with real life as well. The Kang Hyun-Sung that I knew was cautious, quiet, and never went out of his way to make friends. He was reserved to the extent that the Only One members said they only knew his inner thoughts a long time after their debut.


    The reason why I knew all this was because, although I hated to admit it, I¡¯ve loosely followed Only One¡¯s activities in my past life. While I hadn¡¯t spent a lot of money on them, I checked them out during their promotion period every time they came out with an album. However, it was questionable whether I could call myself a ¡®fan¡¯ with these actions.


    While being a fan involved affection, my actions at the time were not out of affection. It was closer to remorse, longing, and envy. I had wondered if our group, Siren, would have looked like them if our group had debuted. In other words, Only One was the object of my meaningless ¡®IF¡¯ games that I constantly ran through my mind. I got a little embarrassed when I suddenly recalled this time, and I stared at Kang Hyun-Sung without showing any emotions as much as possible.


    I replied, ¡°Thank you. Senior, I was also impressed by your performance.¡± It was basically a golden rule to give apliment back after receiving apliment first. Kang Hyun-Sung quickly reeled in the hostility that had beening out of his whole body and smoothly changed his expression.


    Then he smiled brightly at my answer and said, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Um senior, is Young-Ho okay...?¡± Yeon-Hoon brought up Young-Ho- Only One¡¯s <i>maknae,</i> who twisted his ankle. I couldn¡¯t believe that Yeon-Hoon would ask about Young-Ho so outrightly like that. After all, wasn¡¯t it like a forbidden topic right now? However, judging by Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face, he appeared genuinely worried about Young-Ho. Considering Yeon-Hoon¡¯s personality, that was probably the case, but it was questionable whether Kang Hyun-Sung would also ept it that way.


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s expression got slightly colder, but he quickly changed his expression and replied, ¡°As soon as the stage was over, he went to a nearby hospital with our manager.¡± Then he added, ¡°When we got in touch with him, he told us the injury wasn¡¯t that serious.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon replied, ¡°Ah! That¡¯s a huge relief. Please tell him to get well soon!¡±


    ¡°Yes, thank you.¡±


    ¡°No need to thank me!¡± Kang Hyun-Sung and Yeon-Hoon continued to have a friendly conversation. While Yeon-Hoon kept smiling, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s expression darkened little by little.


    ¡°Then, see you again.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung then went back to where the Only One members were.


    ¡°Woow!¡±


    ¡°I think he¡¯s even more handsome close-up.


    ¡°Yeah, I agree.¡±


    After Kang Hyun-Sung left, everyone was busy praising Kang Hyun-Sung; their assessment of him was getting skewed by his fame once again. I just stared at the members and tried to infer Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s psychology and how he must be feeling right now.


    From his perspective, a strange team had joined a program that he thought Only One would be able to easily monopolize and was now sharing the spotlight with them. I wondered how long he would be able to endure this situation. While I was thinking about various matters like this, the production team went around and told me that it was time to film again.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to shoot!¡±


    We began to prepare for the shooting again.


    * * *


    In the resumed shooting, we stood in the same formation as we had previously used at the introductory performance. We were going to shoot the delivery of the second-round mission and additional cuts.


    ¡°Now! The first round of <i>The Showcase 2 First Chance</i> has beenpleted. Thank you for your hard work, all five groups~¡± Host Kim Young-Jin said and progressed the show. We apuded each group in ordance with his lines.


    ¡°We just saw the rankings for the first round. It was definitely an announcement that had a twist in many ways.¡± Host Nahyunmented and nced at our team. The twist must be referred to how we ced fifth in the introductory performance and rose to first ce in the first-roundpetition.


    ¡°On the other hand, there are some teams with disappointing results.¡± Although no one showed it, we probably all thought of OnebyOne.


    Frankly, I thought, <i>¡®It was a performance worth being inst ce.</i>¡¯ Even I thought that performance had been unfortunate. Maybe with good execution, a gangster concept could make a solid impression, but they had a rap part that didn¡¯t fit and had sloppy acting in the beginning. Furthermore, they were shameless to argue that they showcased the concept of red by sttering a bit of blood.


    Besides this, I wondered why the hosts¡¯ lines were getting so long when Kim Young-Jin suddenly said, ¡°Now that you¡¯ve all received your results, let¡¯s hear how you feel.¡±


    I realized they went on for so long to make us do this. Come to think of it, these scenes were included after everypetition. The producers took the time to gather everyone together and asked each group how they felt after the ranking announcement.


    Frankly, this was the cruelest part about the show: if the participants misspoke even once, they mightpletely fall out of the public¡¯s favor, and people might use them of being arrogant or not knowing their ce. It was a setup where there was a good chance of making a mistake.


    ¡°Let¡¯s first hear from OnebyOne, who came in fifth ce.¡± Host Kim Young-Jin said and pointed to OnebyOne.


    There was a bit of a scuffle as none of the members from OnebyOne wanted to hold the mike, but after a while, the leader received the mike and said, ¡°Uh, ah, yes. First of all, we expected to be in fifth ce.¡± He continued, ¡°Because other teams showed such great performances, I think we prepared ourselves to be ced fifth bit by bit while watching them.¡±


    Their team atmosphere was in shambles, but I wasn¡¯t sure if it would be beneficial for them to get a few more cuts like this. Then the team leader added, ¡°But we will reflect on our performance today and won¡¯t stop here. We will prepare for a better performance to get a high ranking in the second round ofpetition.¡± It was a standard speech. Although their performance had been a mess, they must have prepared well for theirmentaries.


    The next was Luminin. A member, who was not the leader of the group, took the mike this time. He said, ¡°It would be a lie to say that we are not disappointed that our performance ranked fourth ce, but we were roughly expecting this ranking. Although it was disappointing this time, we will show you a better performance in the second round.¡±


    As OnebyOne paved the way, everyone used the same standard lines to express their thoughts about the performance. If this pattern were repeated, the whole thing would be edited out. I hoped that Bleshu would at least say different lines but¡ª


    ¡°First of all, we are very happy with our ranking. While it would be a lie if we said we had no regrets, we¡¯ll work harder and...¡± They showed the same pattern as the other two. While expressing disappointment over the ranking, they respectfully said they would do better in the next performance. The same two phrases were packed into different words and have now been repeated three times.


    I thought this whole scene might really be edited out, but at the same time, I also thought, <i>¡®Honestly, there¡¯s nothing else to say.¡¯ </i>It was for a reason why the other groups just repeated simr words. Since they didn¡¯t even give us time to prepare in advance, it was only natural that simrmentaries wereing out.


    ¡°Then, please tell us how you feel, Only One.¡±


    Next, it was Kang Hyun-Sung, who grabbed the mike. He said, ¡°First of all, thank you for your generosity and giving us first ce.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung went differently from the beginning; this part was only natural since they won first ce, and the next line was the important part.


    ¡°I think I was able to learn a lot and gain motivation while watching today¡¯s performances.¡± However, in the end, he was going to say the same thing as the others, and honestly, I didn¡¯t me him as there was no need for him to take risks here.


    However, contrary to what I thought, he suddenly pointed us out. ¡°After seeing Siren¡¯s performance that expressed the color blue, I realized that it was possible to show colors differently than I imagined and thought we interpreted gold too one-dimensionally.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°No way.¡±


    My members gasped and craned their necks up.


    I thought he was only going to talk about us, but Kang Hyun-Sung continued, ¡°Bleshu¡¯s performance of ck was also...¡±


    It seemed he was going topliment every group. I thought it was actually better this way, but I also thought,<i> ¡®The length of his words is different.¡¯</i>


    The nuance and length of hispliments were subtly different when praising the group¡¯s stagepared to when he was praising us. After realizing this, I had a good idea of what Kang Hyun-Sung was thinking and doing.


    <i>¡®Ah.¡¯ </i>Right now, Kang Hyun-Sung was clearly uplifting and highlighting our performance. He gave a word of praise to every group for formalities¡¯ sake, but he clearly gave us more praise and sincere ones at that.


    There was no way that the producer wouldn¡¯t take notice of this. The reason why he must be praising us this much was¡ª


    <i>''He doesn¡¯t want to get insulted.¡¯</i> He probably didn¡¯t want to be criticized for being tied for first ce with us after his group made a mistake. If he praised us in this way, it would indirectly imply that they knew that their stage was not good enough to win first ce. And like this, they would be partly shielded from insults that used them of ¡®having no conscience for taking first ce with poprity alone.¡¯


    And now, Kang Hyun-Sung could garner reactions of pity like <i>¡®I think they¡¯re embarrassed that their performance won first ce.¡¯</i>


    Furthermore, this might not be the only reason why he suddenlyplimented us.<i> ¡®If I state another reason, it must be because he gave up on the royalty system.¡¯</i>


    He must have quickly given up on ying king in <i>The Showcase 2</i>. Since a group strong enough to tie for first ce appeared, he would look like a sore loser if he continued to y king. Rather, it was better to acknowledge us and position us as worthy rivals. In short, he wanted to share the pie he had been nning to eat alone with us now, but in exchange, he wanted to increase the size of the pie since it would be troublesome for him if his portion became smaller. All in all, if there was a rivalry plotline in the show, it was easier to garner more of the viewer¡¯s attention and create more tension.


    <i>¡®Am I overthinking it?¡¯</i> Of course, there was a high possibility that all this interpretation was purely my delusion. Kang Hyun-Sung might have really wanted topliment each team. However¨C


    <i>¡®What¡¯s the likelihood of that?¡¯</i>


    Kang Hyun-Sung joined <i>The Showcase 2</i> after going through all kinds of hardships and debuting as a temporary project group from<i> Select Your Idol</i>. He had gone through too many sufferings and hardships to preserve his innocence. However, I stopped further thoughts about this as there were more pressing concerns. It was now time for us toment about our performance, and Yeon-Hoon grabbed the mike.


    ¡°First of all, thank you so, so, <i>soooo </i>much for looking favorably at our performance and giving us first ce. Rather than believing that this was entirely due to our ability and being conceited, we will ept this as a push to do better next time and continue to work hard! Thank you!¡± Yeon-Hoon spoke as kindly as ever. I pped a little harder than others.


    ¡°Now, we¡¯ve heard the thoughts of all five groups. Shall we start preparing for <i>that</i> now?¡± Kim Young-Jin said andughed like an evil clown and said with a higher tone to lift the mood. ¡°It¡¯s finally time to announce the theme of the second round¨Cwhat you have all been looking forward to!¡±


    Host Nahyun also kept up the tension and eximed, ¡°Wooow!¡±


    We didn¡¯t lose to them and cheered appropriately to raise the atmosphere.


    ¡°You¡¯ve all shown a great performance expressing different colors under the theme, ¡®Color of Showcase¡¯, so what¡¯s the theme of the second round of thepetition? That is¡ª.¡± Kim Young-Jin stopped and took a deep breath.


    Then at the perfect timing, Nahyun announced, ¡°It¡¯s ¡®Your Showcase¡¯¡ªcreate a performance with another group¡¯s song!¡±


    <i>¡®What?¡¯ </i>Another group¡¯s song?<i> ¡®Your Showcase?¡¯</i>


    This was the first time I heard about it. Once again, the future had changed, but this time, I could easily guess what it was about as soon as I heard its name.


    ¡°Among the introductory performances and the first round ofpetition, you have to choose a performance from another group you want to steal right now!¡±


    It was to steal another group¡¯s previous performance. In other words, I thought,<i> ¡®It¡¯s to clearly show who can do better.¡¯</i>


    The production team was going to line up the five groups from worst to best as in as day.

 Chapter 35

    <h4>Chapter 35</h4>


    It was a mission to tantlypare each of the groups¡¯ skills and performance. I made a straight face and stared at the producers. At most, the people gathered here were on average, in their early 20s. People at that age would usually be in the military, attending university, or taking their first steps in entering the workforce. And for such people, this mission of stealing each other¡¯s performances was quite a cruel mission.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s going to be so obvious if you make mistakes.¡¯</i> People would naturally be able topare the copying group and the other group¡¯s performances side by side. We wouldn¡¯t be able to use exnations such as one¡¯s conceptual theme, song choice, orpositional direction to exin any possible fallbacks. At first nce, one could think it was a fair one-to-one battle between the original and copying group.


    <i>¡®But thetter is always at a disadvantage.¡¯ </i>The copying group would be showcasing a show that had already been seen and no matter how good they do, they would have a hard time shocking the viewers.


    <i>¡®At most, they will only be able to do as well as the original.¡¯</i> This mission was set up in a way that it was almost impossible for the copying group to do better than the original. In my past life, there was never a mission like this. <i>The Showcase 2 </i>was already a cruelpetition show before but in this life, its cruelty seemed to have gone up a level. My head felt like it was in a mess.


    <i>¡®No, this isn¡¯t the time for me to be like this.¡¯ </i>I knew we didn¡¯t have more time to waste onmenting about our situation. I looked towards my group members. Their faces all looked nk, unable to free themselves from the shock of the new mission. Thus, in their stead, I began toe up with my own ns.


    First of all, there weren¡¯t that many options to choose from. We had only performed an introductory performance and first round so far and each team only performed a total of two performances. In other words, we had only a total of eight performances to choose from: Only One¡¯s, Bleshu¡¯s, OnebyOne¡¯s, and Luminin¡¯s introductory and first-round performances.


    <i>¡®But honestly, I should take out Luminin and OnebyOne.¡¯ </i>There was no performance that they did that was worth copying. If we had to take a performance based on the show quality, we needed to take Only One¡¯s.


    <i>¡®But can we do better than them?¡¯</i> It could backfire on us if we took a show just because it looked good. It seemed all possibilities could lead to a bad situation.


    <i>¡®Even though it¡¯s good for us to continue our rivalry between Only One and us, I¡¯m sure we will get insulted if we push it too much.¡¯ </i>There was too much of a difference between them and our poprity and fame. If we brashly chose Only One¡¯s songs, we could be criticized for trying to outdo Kang Hyun-Sung.


    <i>¡®Of course, we already received our share of insults. But I think we will really not be able to turn things back around if we go further than this,¡¯</i> I thought. We were still barely in the safe zone. Thus, Only One needed to provoke us first from now on.


    ¡°Haaaa.¡± I sighed and tried to clear my head. I still didn¡¯t know which song to choose. If I had to choose one that I wanted to do...


    <i>¡®Honestly, it¡¯s Only One¡¯s.¡¯</i> That was my very personal thought. But if I had to choose a group that I could easily and safely beat...


    <i>¡®It¡¯s Luminin and OnebyOne.</i>¡¯ Truthfully, these two teams had the least skills among the groups gathered here. Even in my past life, these two could never get out of their no-name statuses. If we took their shows and took it up a whole another notch, we could gain some extra points in our reputation.


    <i>¡®But it won¡¯t be fun.¡¯</i> What fun would that give to the viewers? What was more important in a survival program than performing well was whether something was entertaining or not. And if I was considering the fun of the show, I couldn¡¯t take Luminin¡¯s or OnebyOne¡¯s performances. Knowing that there was no clear choice to make, I looked to my group members.


    ¡°Haha, hahaha.¡± Yeon-Hoonughed like a broken machine. ¡°It¡¯s not easy to choose one.¡±


    ¡°Yes, depending on our choice, things could go really wrong...¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon whispered to each other. But Dong-Jun turned to me and asked, ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon~ Do you have any ideas?¡± He asked and wrapped his arms around my neck. I nced around my surroundings with Dong-Jun hanging around me. Other groups looked like they had a lot on their minds after hearing the mission and began to discuss it amongst themselves.


    <i>¡®What?¡¯</i> It was then that I met eyes with Kang Hyun-Sung, who also nced at me while talking to his group members. Though it wasn¡¯t on purpose, it didn¡¯t feel good to meet his eyes. Dong-Jun whispered in my ear then.


    ¡°You want to do Only One¡¯s show, right?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve been staring at Only One since the mission was announced.¡±


    ¡°I was only staring at them.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but you were making it obvious.¡±


    It seemed I had been showing my intentions too clearly, and I became a bit embarrassed of my behavior.


    <i>¡®But how did Dong-Jun know that?¡¯</i> I was surprised that Dong-Jun realized that I wanted to do Only One¡¯s performance just by seeing me look at them. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to lie to him in the future.


    ¡°Could you share what you are thinking, Tae-Yoon?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked me. Woon and Do-Seung also looked towards me.


    ¡°What about you guys? Does any show appeal to you?¡±


    ¡°Hm, honestly, it won¡¯t be easy to do any group...¡±


    ¡°Not only in terms of the performance, but there are also other factors to consider...¡±


    It seemed my group members thought like me. If we wanted to go easy, it was Luminin and OnebyOne. If we wanted to spice things up and make the show fun, it was Only One. After exchanging a couple of looks, we sensed that all of us shared the same thought.


    ¡°Then, should we see what the other groups do first then?¡± I suggested. I thought that was the best course of action we could currently take.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s decide after seeing what the other groups do.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°It really is difficult. <i>Really </i>difficult.¡±


    ¡°Okay! I¡¯m going to trust that you guys all made your decisions, so let''s make our announcements now,¡± Kim Young-Jin said and scanned the studio. All the groups stared at Kim Young-Jin in shock, clearly not having made their decisions.


    <i>¡®Did they purposefully give us little time?¡¯</i> I wondered. Perhaps, this was better. A more entertaining result could form if they forced us to make a decision rashly.


    ¡°Okay then, the choices will be made ording to the ranks of your performances!¡± Kim Young-Jin announced.


    <i>¡®That must mean either Only One or we will have to go first,¡¯</i> I thought. I wanted us to avoid going first so that we could make our decision after seeing what the other groups would do. My members and I met each other¡¯s eyes and scanned the surroundings.


    ¡°Can we go first?¡± It was then that Only One¡¯s Kang Hyun-Sung raised his hand and spoke while looking toward us.


    ¡°Of course! Is there a show on your mind?¡±


    ¡°Yes, there is,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung replied.


    It appeared Only One hade to their decision fast.


    <i>¡®What?¡¯</i> The atmosphere was strangely chilly. It felt as if something had quickly struck our chests.


    ¡°We want to do Siren¡¯s <i>Walya</i>.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Our show?¡±


    My group members showed their honest reactions in genuine. They had expected Only One to choose our performance but they didn¡¯t think Only One would pinpoint us out without a moment of hesitation and so forwardly like this. I was also surprised by this rather than the fact that Only One chose our performance.


    In the first ce, I knew Only One would never do a boring stage even if they did a terrible one. It was because they had Kang Hyun-Sung, famous for attracting the press and creating things for people to talk about. Thus, it was only natural he would choose us.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s so fast as if he had been thinking of our performance from the beginning,¡¯ </i>I thought, <i>¡®Perhaps, he is trying to really set us up as rivals in this show.¡¯</i>


    Since Kang Hyun-Sung tantly took the first action, we could also rise against Only One without worrying about people¡¯s reactions. I looked at my group members. Their surprised faces were now reced by a look of satisfaction. In a way, this also meant that our performances had been recognized, and it made them feel good. I mouthed to my group members, asking if it was all right for me to choose Only One¡¯s introductory performance. My group members nodded as if they all had the same thoughts. Then, the host pointed at us.


    ¡°Did you all make your decision, Sirens?¡± The host asked. It was our turn now, and the mike was handed over to me. I wondered why they were giving me the mike instead of the others, but I epted it.


    ¡°Yes, we decided.¡±


    ¡°Which team will you choose?¡±


    After meeting my group members'' eyes, I said, ¡°We will do Only One¡¯s introductory performance.¡±


    ¡°Wow! So, the two teams chose each other,¡± the host realized the storyline we were trying to make and quickly responded. This was a good moment for the direction of the show. I then turned to Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Luminin and saw the dejected looks on their faces. It seemed they didn¡¯t like how the show was centering around Only One and us. Regardless, Kim Young-Jin continued to center hisments around us.


    ¡°Only Ones, why did you choose Siren¡¯s <i>Walya</i>?¡± It was only natural for thisment toe next.


    Kang Hyun-Sung pretended to ponder this question a bit and continued, ¡°Their show really made an impression on us, and the fact that their song was self-produced made us really want to choose their song.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung began byplimenting our performance and further exined. ¡°And because we thought it was such a good show, we wanted to challenge ourselves by trying to perform it. I¡¯m not sure if we would do as good of a job as Siren, but we will do our best.¡±


    It was the standard answer. Rather than saying outrightly that he wanted to continue the rivalry storyline between the two groups, this was more fitting for the show. Furthermore, it highlighted their artistic spirit that made them want to challenge themselves, and even if they showed a disappointing performance in the future, they could still beuded for taking the hard and challenging path by their own will.


    ¡°Then, why did the Sirens choose Only One¡¯s introductory performance?¡± Kim Young-Jin asked. It was our turn to answer now. I raised the mike and looked at my group members. My group members nodded like they were telling me to answer.


    ¡°We liked how Only One used cyberpunk concepts in their first-meeting performance. Since that¡¯s a realm we never stepped into before, we also thought it could be a good challenge for us,¡± I said. My reply was simr to what Kang Hyun-Sung said and highlighted how we were taking on an artistic challenge.


    ¡°I look forward to seeing your next performances! Now, let¡¯s see what the Bleshus have to say!¡± The mike was handed to the next team. Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Luminin took each other¡¯s shows, and the funny thing was that nobody took OnebyOne¡¯s mafia concept performance to the very end. Nobody wanted to touch that.


    ¡°With this, the second-round performances are decided. I hope everyone will work in their preparations and bring good results,¡± Na-Hyun said her closing lines and ended the official shooting. With this, the shooting equipment for <i>The Showcase 2 First Chance</i> began to be taken away.


    ¡°Good work, everyone!¡±


    ¡°Good work~¡±


    ¡°Thank you~~¡±


    Everyone greeted and thanked the producers and staff politely as expected of rookies. After Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Luminin left the studio, the producer called, ¡°Only Ones and Sirens, please remain at the studio!¡± and stopped us from leaving.


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± We looked around. Only One stood still as if they had expected this.


    ¡°From here on out, both teams will decide the order of the next performances as benefits for cing first.¡±


    ¡°Ahh!¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right.¡±


    This was the time for us to use our benefits for getting first ce. We approached Only One. There were a couple of stage props and a board to decide the groups¡¯ orders.


    ¡°Okay, then, you guys can decide the orders freely,¡± one of the producers said and pulled back the camera a bit further back. ¡°Since we will only leave the minimum of equipment for shooting, please don¡¯t hold yourself back!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    The producers and staff began to leave the studio.


    <i>¡®What, do they want us to have a fight?¡¯</i> It was as if they were setting up a stage for Only One and us to go at it against each other, and they wanted us to do this without considering them. Still, what was the point of giving us this privacy when they were going to leave a couple of cameras to film us in the end? They were truly bad guys. I raised my head and looked at Only One. Only One members also stared intently at us. Well, in the end, this was an opportunity to get even one more cut in a broadcasting show, so I didn¡¯t mind it.


    <i>¡®But this is seriously awkward.¡¯</i> Besides us being rivals and all, we weren¡¯t close with these guys at all.

 Chapter 36

    <h4>Chapter 36</h4>


    We weren¡¯t close to them, so an awkward silence filled the studio. For now, we moved towards Only One. With Park Young-Ho missing, Only One now only had four people while we had five people. We would win if there was a hand-to-handbat...


    <i>¡®What the hell am I thinking?¡¯ </i>I heard that when a person was in an awkward situation where they had to meet people they didn¡¯t want to, their minds practiced avoidance tactics. True to that testament, I began to have all sorts of random thoughts cluttering my mind. We pulled chairs out and sat together in the center of the studio. An order board made of cardboard paper was ced in the middle. We just had to ce a namete with each team¡¯s name on the board to decide the order of the groups¡¯ performances.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s quiet.¡¯ </i>No one talked hastily. The Only One members seemed to be subtly ncing at one person, and that ¡®somebody¡¯ was sitting with a monotonous expression and was staying silent.


    Then Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you all tired?¡±


    The first thing he said to break the silence was asking us if we were tired or not.


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    ¡°Tired?¡±


    His words could be interpreted in many ways. He could be asking if we were tired of this war of nerves, or if we were tired of this kind of broadcast setup.


    But he said, ¡°Ah, you must have stopped by a salon early in the morning toe to the shooting today, but it¡¯s already way past dinner time. I was asking if you guys were hanging on all right.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung gave an additional exnation without any ill intent in his voice.


    I wondered if he really meant his words as they were, but I didn¡¯t want to waste energy on pondering about his true intentions. <i>¡®I have to just ept it like that.¡¯</i>


    ¡°Ah, yes. We¡¯re all right.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re doing fine.¡±


    ¡°What about you, Senior Hyun-Sung?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine too.¡±


    We exchanged these types of conversations with Kang Hyun-Sung. I scanned the Only One members. The one sitting at the end was Lee Chul-Woon, and his position was the lead dancer. Kim Ju-Hyun was sitting next to Lee Chul-Woon, and his position was the rapper.


    Kim Si-Woo was sitting next to Kim Ju-Hyun, and his position was the main vocalist and also the member who dered war on us before the introductory performance. The person sitting closest to the order board was Kang Hyun-Sung, whose position was the main dancer.


    While seeing them directly like this, I thought,<i> ¡®It¡¯s interesting though.¡¯</i> The fact that they were the Only One I knew in my past life hit me again. Although everyone got gradually more handsometer on, their base appearance was the same.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to put senior before my name every time you say it.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said. ¡°We both came out as a pre-debut group on the same program, so we¡¯re all in the same boat. There¡¯s no such thing as a senior and junior here.¡±


    ¡°Ah, but...¡±


    When Yeon-Hoon hesitated, Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°I thought we were the same age. Was I wrong?¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯re right!¡±


    When Yeon-Hoon answered with a nod, Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°Then shall we just be friends?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± He made an unexpected suggestion, and Yeon-Hoon opened his eyes wide as if he was surprised.


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s expression was more t. When a slightly ufortable atmosphere brewed between them, Kang Hyun-Sung took a step back and said, ¡°Let¡¯s get to know each other slowly.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes...¡± Then Yeon-Hoon looked at Kang Hyun-Sung as if he was somewhat disappointed. I guess he had just been surprised by the unexpected proposal and actually wanted to be friends with Kang Hyun-Sung. Yeon-Hoon was the type of person to make friends and hang out with an enemy, even in the middle of a war.


    ¡°Shall we decide the order first?¡± Naturally, the flow of the conversation centered around Kang Hyun-Sung. This was actually the best turn of events. Since the most famous person was Kang Hyun-Sung, it was mostfortable if he led the conversation.


    ¡°When do you want to go?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked.


    I made eye contact with the members, and they looked a bit flustered as we hadn¡¯t actually decided on the order yet. I thought it was best to ask theposer and choreographer in our group as they were the ones who were going to set up the stage.


    I asked, ¡°Woon and Do-Seung, when do you think it would be best for us to go?¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Let me think.¡±


    ¡°I think it would be nice if it were thetter but...¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon nced at each other and Kang Hyun-Sung. They were both extremely passionate on stage and had apetitive spirit. Woon was usually gentle, but he went really hard on the members during practice time, and Do-Seung also directed every syble in detail when recording ¡°Walya.¡± I wondered why they were so hesitant this time...


    ¡°Can you give us the ending?¡± So I just fired away.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Ack!¡±


    ¡°Hey...!¡±


    The members made a fuss, but I was calm. I wasn¡¯t asking Kang Hyun-Sung to lend me money but just asking if we could get the ending.


    ¡°Ending? Why do you want to do the ending?¡± Kang-Hyun-Sung asked why we wanted the ending. He was fiddling with Siren¡¯s namete in his hands.


    ¡°We performed third this time.¡± I mentioned today¡¯s stage order when he asked us why and continued, ¡°So I want us to perform the ending for the next performance.¡± While saying this, there were many words that were omitted in between. The nuance that I basically gave was that since you guys gave us the third order this time, Only One should give us the ending this time.


    ¡°But didn¡¯t Siren do the ending for the introductory performance?¡±


    When Kang Hyun-Sung retorted like this, I immediately responded, ¡°We did, but we want to do it again.¡± Frankly, I gave an obvious answer; just because we did an ending performance once, it didn¡¯t mean that we should be denied the chance to do it again.


    Kang Hyun-Sung continued to fiddle with the Siren¡¯s namete without saying a word.


    I asked, ¡°Will it be hard for us to get the ending performance?¡± Honestly, since our side asked first, it would be harder for them to deny our request. This was why there was a saying that ''the person who attacks first wins''. I thought that we might just get the ending performance like this if we just dragged out the time, but¡ª


    ¡°We also want to do the ending performance, too.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung pushed forward without backing down an inch. ¡°Don¡¯t all groups want the ending?¡± He even said that wanting the ending performance was not an act of selfishness but a natural desire as an artist. I agreed with him on that.


    <i>¡®Hmm.¡¯ </i>With this, things became a little bit moreplicated. If I argued on this matter, I would be the ridiculous one.


    At that moment, Yeon-Hoon carefully gave his suggestion, ¡°Shall we decide by rock-paper-scissors...?¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung and my expression rxed at the same time at his peaceful suggestion, which was like a ray of sunshine.


    I asked, ¡°How about rock-paper-scissors?¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung replied, ¡°Yes, let¡¯s do that.¡± He easily epted the offer. Arguing further from here would only be a loss for both groups.


    ¡°Let¡¯s make the leader of each group y rock-paper-scissors.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sung yed rock-paper-scissors. Although it was a peaceful solution, I unexpectedly felt nervous.


    As a result, Yeon-Hoon revised the n and asked, ¡°Can we y <i>mukjjippa</i>[1] instead?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just y rock-paper-scissors to quickly end it.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung cut him off.


    ¡°Well, then¡ª¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sun began.


    ¡°Rock~ Paper~ Scissors!¡±


    The result was...


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Waaah!¡±


    ¡°Good job, Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    It was our victory. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s paper beat Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s rock. Yeon-Hoon ran to us and hugged us in his joy of victory. Since he flung himself towards anyone close to him, Do-Seung and I had to hold up Yeon-Hoon together.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s have Siren do the ending,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said and ced our namete at the ending slot. It was now time for Only One to decide their order.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we do the opening?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked the other members, and they nodded cheerfully.


    ¡°I think that¡¯ll be good.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s start the show with a bang instead.¡±


    ¡°Since it¡¯s the first performance, I think it would also have a significant impact. I could understand why he chose the opening. If they started with the opening and made all the stages after that look dull inparison, the audience''s evaluation of Only One would significantly rise.


    <i>¡®He must be confident in his skills.¡¯</i> Indeed, if Park Young-Ho hadn¡¯t made a mistake on today¡¯s stage, I had no idea what would have happened. After all, before the dance break, the audience <i>loved</i> Only One¡¯s performance.


    Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°Then let¡¯s decide the order of the other teams.¡±


    We decided the order of the other groups with a rtively light heart. Second was Luminin, third was OnebyOne, and fourth was Bleshu. This was how the order of all the teams was decided.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s organize it like this, submit it, and let¡¯s get off work today.¡± In this way, additional filming between the two first winners was alsopleted.


    * * *


    ¡°Ahhhh~¡±


    ¡°<i>Ugh!</i> I¡¯m so tired!¡± The shooting to decide the order was over. The members stood in front of the car while stretching their arms. Currently, we were standing in front of the car in the underground parking lot and waiting for Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna. They had left a while ago, saying they needed to coordinate our schedules with the production team.


    ¡°They said they¡¯d be here in ten minutes, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Why did the production crew call Ms. Hyuna and Seung-Yeon at such ate hour?¡±


    ¡°Well, people at broadcasting stations are famous for working day and night.¡±


    The members exchanged conversations like this to pass the time. Then¡ª


    <i>Zing.</i>


    <i>Y</i>eon-Hoon¡¯s phone vibrated.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Yeon-Hoon looked at his phone and tilted his head, and said, ¡°Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon said they''re going to be a bitte, so if it¡¯s possible, we should drive the car and return home.¡±


    It seemed as if the meeting with the production crew was going longer than expected.


    Yeon-Hoon added, ¡°The message says any one of us shoulde up and get the car keys.¡± Yeon-Hoon said and scanned us; his expression indicated that he didn¡¯t want to go up.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll drive so... would it be possible for one of you guys to go up and get it?¡± He cautiously asked us if one of us could go get the keys since he would be the one driving.


    He had a good reason; since driving was the most tiring, it was only right that the rest of us should go. However, the problem was that we were quite far from the meeting room of the production crew. The other members were also a bit hesitant, and it was times like this that the <i>maknae</i> had to step up.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll buy you a steam bun tomorrow.¡±


    The members were impressed by my sacrifice. I thought there was no need to be so impressed and asked, ¡°Did they say they were in the meeting room right now?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon replied, ¡°Yeah. If wee and text them, they¡¯ll juste out and hand over the key.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll be back.¡± I left them behind and walked towards the meeting room. I drew the shortest route to the meeting room in my head as I walked up the emergency stairs. I thought it would be faster to go up a floor and then use the stairs of the main building, so I was about to quicken my steps when¡ª


    <i>Squeak.</i>


    I heard the emergency door open and someonee down the stairs. I thought it was one of the broadcasting staff when¡ª


    ¡°Ah.¡± It was Kang Hyun-Sung.


    Kang Hyun-Sung and I awkwardly stared at each other on the stairs. I felt okay on the set just now, but seeing him outside the camera felt strangely ufortable.


    It was because of the rivalry we made for the show, but I also thought, <i>¡®I feel a bit sorry for some reason.¡¯</i>


    Regardless of everything, I felt a bit bad because Only One was a team that would have easily won first ce if we didn¡¯t exist. Currently, Kang Hyun-Sung had erased his makeup and changed it into normal clothes.


    He looked at me and said, ¡°You haven¡¯t left yet?¡± He asked with a t tone.


    ¡°Yes, some things came up,¡± I replied and tried to quickly escape.


    But Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me closely and immediately got straight to the point. ¡°Could you exin what happened with the application video?¡± He spoke without hesitation as if he had been biding his time for us to be alone. Although he didn¡¯t exactly have a friendly impression even when the camera was turned on, his expression was even more indifferent and cold outside of it. Since he gave off an atmosphere that there was no need for us to talk outside of the cameras, I never thought he would ask me so directly like this.


    ¡°What exnation?¡± I pretended ignorance at his question.


    ¡°Your group filmed the same video and uploaded it at the same time. It¡¯s strange,¡± He asked more specifically this time.


    ¡°What¡¯s strange about it?¡±


    ¡°Can that really be a coincidence?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it possible?¡±


    ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s what you think.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me in silence, and I met his eyes.


    Although I felt a prickle of guilt, I had to pretend ignorance till the very end, as I was not in a position where I could back down either.


    Kang Hyun-Sung paused and then said, ¡°Is there anyone you know in ourpany?¡± Even if he had his doubts, was this an issue that he could be this straightforward about?


    ¡°It just happened to ovep. Please don¡¯t misunderstand.¡± However, the more he pushed aggressively like this, I thought I needed to keep firm in my stance.


    Kang Hyun-Sung looked straight at me again. His expressionless, ck eyes observed me. Seeing him directly made me realize again that his eyes were more steadfast and wavered much less than other people. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was because he was emotionally calm, or if it was simply his physical trait. Whatever the reason, I didn¡¯t think it was important.


    ¡°This world is very tough. Even with just one misstep, you can fall over a cliff. You should be careful.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung uttered a very clear sentence of hostility without hesitation. He was right. The rivalry between us and Only One was dangerous. If we just took one misstep, we would get cussed out to the point of being no-name idols who dared topete with Kang Hyun-Sung and be left in the dust. Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fandom had the power to make that a reality.


    However, apart from feeling a bit sorry for him, I got a little angry that he was tantly showing his enmity like this. Thus, I replied ording to my personality, ¡°Thank you for your advice. Senior, you should be careful too, since this world is so tough.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s brows twitched. ¡°You applied with the intention of winning this show, right?¡± He spoke with a little more spitefulness. He was asking this because he knew that the other groups had applied to increase their fame rather than with the intention of actually winning the show. There was no way that Kang Hyun-Sung, of all people, didn¡¯t know that this whole ying field was centered around him and Only One. Thus, by this question, he was asking us if we seriously believed we could beat them and get first ce.


    However, I could also y hard if that¡¯s how he wanted to y the game. ¡°Yes, we¡¯re going to win.¡±


    Our gazes collided against each other in the air.


    ¡°Let¡¯s work hard together.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung patted me on the shoulder as if he was encouraging me.


    ¡°Senior, I also hope you prepare well for the next performance,¡± I said, slightly pulling my shoulder aside to avoid his hand.


    A moment of silence passed between us on the emergency stairs. It was at that moment, that Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s expression began to get noticeably cold.


    1. A variation of rock-paper-scissors where multiple rounds are involved. ?

 Chapter 37

    <h4>Chapter 37</h4>


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s expression turned noticeably cold. Though his face remained expressionless, his gaze could almost kill a person. There was a reason why I called his eyes ¡®mad for sess.¡¯ I thought I might really get punched at this rate, and my hand gradually moved towards my phone.


    ¡°Thank you for your encouragement. Let¡¯s meet again,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said and turned around. Then, as he went down the stairs, I could hear his foot stomping.


    <i>Creak. Bam.</i>


    <i>W</i>ith the sound of the door opening and closing, Kang Hyun-Sungpletely disappeared. I also returned to the waiting room. I had felt a thrill when directly confronting Kang Hyun-Sung, but now that he was gone, I felt uneasy.


    <i>¡®That wasn¡¯t a satisfying end.¡¯ </i>The person I provoked was Kang Hyun-Sung. Of course, I never said anything tantly and only returned the warning Kang Hyun-Sung gave me while cheering him on for the next show. Yet, Kang Hyun-Sung was no fool. He probably understood what I meant by those words and understood my provocation to fight, which made his expression turn sour. I wondered if I made the right choice getting on Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s nerves at this time.


    <i>¡®But in the end, we are just enemies.¡¯ </i>Considering Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s attitude just now, he probably had marked us as his enemy from the beginning, and I was probably his main target. From an outsider''s point of view, I was probably the one who made the ideas and led the stage performance.


    <i>¡®I hope I didn¡¯t put my group members in danger because of my actions,¡¯</i> I thought worriedly. But in the end, I said to myself, ¡®I should go now though,¡¯ and began moving again. There was nothing I could change by just worrying about what happened here.


    ***


    I went to the waiting room and after receiving the car keys, returned to the basement parking lot. When I came down, my group members were waiting for me like meerkats and weed me. I didn¡¯t know whether or not they were d to see me or the car keys, but it didn¡¯t matter.


    ¡°Ahhh, it¡¯s freeeezing!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s quickly go in.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s turn on the heater. Heater!¡±


    It seemed everyone was cold after standing outside for a while. I turned on the car¡¯s heater, and everyone immediately melted.


    ¡°Haaa. It¡¯s so nice.¡±


    ¡°So warm.¡±


    ¡°<i>Ahhh</i>, this feels so good.¡±


    Dong-Jun especially looked like he was going to topple over with just a slight poke.


    ¡°Why does the broadcasting studio feel especially cold?¡± Dong-Jun then asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s because all the souls who disappeared without debuting gathered in this ce,¡± I replied jokingly.


    ¡°...Don¡¯t say something so scary like that...!¡± Yeon-Hoon from the driver seat responded.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    ¡°Is Yeon-Hoon scared?¡± Woon and Dong-Jun from the back seats teased him.


    ¡°No...It¡¯s because Tae-Yoon says such scary things...¡± Yeon-Hoon exined while hunched up in the corner.


    ¡°This is toome to even be scary. Are you going to faint if you see a horror movie?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I don¡¯t see scary movies. Don¡¯t even think about forcing me to watch one,¡± Yeon-Hoon said. I made a mental note to myself that was exactly what I should do in the future.


    ¡°Then, shall we go?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go home!¡±


    ¡°Yeeees!¡± Yeon-Hoon turned the car¡¯s engine and softly stepped on the elerator. It was seriously a wonder how a guy like Yeon-Hoon managed to get a driving license. He seemed like the type to cry and whine that he couldn¡¯t drive by just grabbing on the handles. And on our way back home, we talked about today¡¯s shooting.


    ¡°The audience¡¯s response was no joke today.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it was really great.¡±


    ¡°I was surprised how loud their cheers were when we took off our <i>dopo</i>.¡±


    The audience¡¯s response to<i> Walya</i> was astonishingly good¡ªso much that we could achieve first ce alongside Only One. It had only been one month since we were wondering about when we could debut and so on; but now, our debut was not even on our minds, and we were only worrying about the results of our uing performance.


    ¡°I wish days like this will continue,¡± Yeon-Hoon said.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it will,¡± I replied. Though I was almost certain that we would have better days than today, I didn¡¯t say it out loud.


    ¡°But what are we going to do for our next performance?¡± Woon turned the topic back to our performances.


    ¡°Only One did really well in their first-meeting performance...¡± Woon said worriedly. He appeared pressured because he was in charge of the execution portion of the performance.


    ¡°The song they used is ¡®<i>Traitor¡¯ </i>from the group, Light, right?¡± Dong-Jun asked.


    ¡°Yeah, though they changed it a bit, the song¡¯s core melodies are basically the same as the original,¡± Do-Seung answered. When Only One covered the <i>Traitor </i>song, they simply made the dance break a bit longer and the general melody, instruments, and so on were all the same.


    Because they changed the format a bit, it appeared as if they had edited many parts of the original song; yet, on closer inspection, it wasn¡¯t too different from the original. But they were able to make it appear as if they made huge differences with small edits¡ªin some ways, they did a splendid job of revising the song.


    ¡°Do we also have to revise the song?¡±


    ¡°We have to.¡±


    ¡°But this song has such a strong concept to begin with. There aren¡¯t many ways to revise it.¡± Woon and Do-Seung conversed.


    Light¡¯s Traitor wasn¡¯t famous to the public but was famous as a legendary song among K-pop fans. Light was a group known for their conceptual songs, and this song was the most conceptual song among theirs. The song¡¯s fierce mechanical song and heavy drum beat set up the mood of a bleak SF scenery, and its iconic scratch noises sounded futuristic.


    Even the song¡¯s music video was set in a post-apocalyptic time in a mechanical civilization. The song¡¯s story was that of a betrayer who betrayed the whole city by leaking information. Only One didn¡¯t depart far from the performance and also disyed a cyber-punk performance.


    <i>¡®We should keep the SF feel.¡¯ </i>I was sure of this. But even in SF, there were many subgenres; cyberpunk that Only One use was one such example. If we just kept the SF concept, we could keep the general tone of Only One¡¯s performance.


    ¡°Then, maybe we could have a longer dance break here...¡±


    ¡°Should we keep these iconic sounds or drastically change them?¡±


    And while Won and Do-Seung discussed while watching the Traitor music video, I also organized the general concept of our next performance in my head. I nned to share my thoughts in tomorrow¡¯s meeting time after going through them inside my head.


    ¡°We arrived!¡± It was then we arrived. Woon and Do-Seung turned off the ¡°Traitor¡± music video and quickly stopped their discussion. I also went over ideas inside my head.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go down.¡±


    We all went down the car. Perhaps, it was because we had been sitting down for a long time, our bodies felt sore.


    ¡°Ah, my whole body feels cramped. <i>Urggggh</i>.¡± Dong-Jun clutched his shoulders and stretched. There were cars with three rows of seats that provided enough space for a good-sized group, but not all threeyer seat cars were the same. Our car was one that was probably made to carry luggage and goods, and sitting inside it for a pretty long time made our bodies feel stiff. And while we stretched and loosened up, my group members began to go up the rooftop.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go home~¡± Dong-Jun and I also walked up the stairs leading to the rooftop. No matter how small and inadequate it was, this was the ce I spent three years in and my heart felt at ease as if I hade back home. I went up and loosened the luggage and raised the boiler temperature and slumped to the ground.


    ¡°Ahhh.¡±


    ¡°How nice~¡± We eximed.


    ¡°Is this <i>K-Ondol</i>[1]?¡± Dong-Jun asked.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Woon burst outughing. I wondered if <i>K-Ondol</i> was something tough this hard about. Meanwhile, Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t say anything as soon as hey on the ground. I was wondering what was going on with him and approached him.


    ¡°...<i>Urghhh!</i> Ah, I¡¯m not sleeping!¡± It seemed he had fallen asleep in that short time frame but woke up after feeling my presence.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wash ourselves today and sleep immediately afterward. I¡¯m sure all of you are exhausted.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go to sleep right away. I don¡¯t even have the energy to eat.¡±


    While my group members went to wash, I ced the nket on the ground and got ready to sleep.


    ¡®<i>I think we should get a new nket if we can,</i>¡¯ I thought. The nkets we were using to put on the floor and over us were the same ones we had been using for three years. Though we were washing it once every two weeks and using it cleanly, they were looking quite worn out after all those years.


    ¡®<i>Maybe we have to change the nkets after getting money,</i>¡¯ I thought.


    ¡®<i>No, we should move dorms first.</i>¡¯ I realized that the nkets weren¡¯t a problem, but our dorms. It was all right for us to live on a rooftop like this still, but it became dangerous after the first episodes get released to the public. The security at this ce was too loose and our location was released too transparently. But even if we make more money now, it was impossible for us to move to a nice house any time soon.


    In order to do our schedules, we would need to get a lodging ce in Seoul, but the price of apartments with good security in Seoul far surpassed what we could currently earn. Whether it was by rent or lump-sum pay, it was out of reach. The only possible option was for us to win in The Showcase and enter the lodging ce the newpany we would make a contract with provided for us. But even that would take quite some time even if we managed to do that. The answer was...


    ¡°I just finished washing up! You can go next, Tae-Yoon!¡± Dong-Jun told me as he got out of the shower, looking clean and fresh.


    ¡®<i>I should try talking to himter,</i>¡¯ I thought while looking at Dong-Jun and went inside the bathroom.


    ***


    After all the members washed up and changed clothes, wey over the nkets. Then, after we turned off the lights and ced the nkets over us, it felt like we could immediately drop to sleep.


    ¡°Good night, everyone.¡±


    ¡°...<i>Urgh</i>. You too.¡± Yeon-Hoon said, already half-asleep. After about three secondster, he fell unconscious.


    ¡®<i>He really falls asleep fast,</i>¡¯ I thought. The speed at which Yeon-Hoon fell asleep was almost at a baby level. Yeon-Hoon usually slept a lot, and I was slightly worried about how he would be able to deal with the schedules in the future. Perhaps, he could catch some sleep in the car rides since he was the type to fall asleep easily anywhere.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m sleepy too,</i>¡¯ I thought and nned to also get to bed. The schedule was tough enough to ease even insomnia, and I felt like I could fall asleep instantly.


    ¡®<i>No, I should think about the concept and lyrics a bit more.</i>¡¯ I thought my heart would only be at ease after thinking about the concept and the lyrics of the Traitor a bit more. I put my phone¡¯s light to its lowest setting and tried to go inside my nkets when somebody tapped my head.


    ¡°Shh.¡± Dong-Jun ced a finger on his mouth and stared at me. When I looked at him with surprised eyes, Dong-Jun mouthed the words.


    ¡ªGet up.


    ¡®<i>Hm?</i>¡¯ Not just him but Do-Seung and Woon also got up. The only one who was sleeping was Yeon-Hoon. I was surprised why they were getting up, but Woon pointed towards the door.


    ¡ªLet¡¯s go.


    We all got out of the room quietly in order to not wake Yeon-Hoon up. We finally got away from the rooftop and got to the streets when Dong-Jun burst out with a wide smile on his face. ¡°Haa! I thought I was going to die from suffocation!¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t think Yeon-Hoon woke up, right?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. When I saw him, he looked like he wouldn¡¯t even know it even if someone carried him out of his bed.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung talked, and I walked between them. I asked, ¡°Why did wee out?¡±


    I came out because my group members told me to, but I didn¡¯t know why. But when I asked this question, my group members all stared at me in disbelief.


    ¡°Did I do something wrong?¡± I said a bit regretfully.


    ¡°You really don¡¯t know? Why we came out?¡±


    ¡°Wow, I¡¯m so disappointed in you, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung replied. I tilted my head in confusion.


    ¡®<i>Ah.</i>¡¯ I thought, and a date appeared in my mind.


    ¡®<i>February 29th.</i>¡¯ It was Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday.


    1. Traditional Korean architecture; underground heating system ?

 Chapter 38

    <h4>Chapter 38</h4>


    February 29th was Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday. It was rare for people to have a birthday on February 29th because February usually only had 28 days. However, an additional day was added every four years to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year; and those special years were called the leap years. Therefore, people born in leap years only had their birthdays every four years. Yet, I doubted if there was even a family that celebrated birthdays only on February 29th.


    Anyway, that unique andplicated day was Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday, and today was February 24¡ªno, since it was just past midnight, it was now February 25th. Since this year had no February 29th and ended on the 28th, there were only about three days left until Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday. Thus, the reason why we had all gathered together for a walk at night was to prepare for Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday.


    ¡°We¡¯re here to decide what to do for Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, how can you forget this?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to forget Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday.¡±


    If I recall properly, I think we did this for everyone every year. Rather than just doing a birthday celebration on a member¡¯s birthday, we always nned a surprise.


    ¡°Let¡¯s sit somewhere first and talk over there.¡±


    ¡°Will the caf¨¦ be open at this hour?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to my studio,¡± Do-Seung said and led the way.


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday- I thought about what I had done around this time before I regressed.


    <i>¡®I was probably at the hospital.¡¯ </i>


    I was probably lying in the hospital bed during this time, still healing from the injuries after the car ident. I only remembered chewing my lips in despondency when I saw the phrase, ¡®Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday¡¯e up on my phone¡¯s calendar rm. Thus, this birthday felt even more special to me than usual, as it was a birthday I thought I would never be able to celebrate again.


    <i>¡®I should prepare really well this time.¡¯ </i>I walked behind the members and swallowed a bitter smile alone.


    * * *


    The morning of the 25th arrived. Woo Yeon-Hoon, who had a nasty sleeping habit, was constantly moving his body while half-asleep. Although it was already past 9 a.m., he was still wandering in his dream. Originally, Bong Tae-Yoon would have woken him up around 6 a.m., but no one was around to wake him up today.


    ¡°...<i>Agh?</i>¡± Yeon-Hoon, who had moved his body while deep asleep, woke up when he realized that there was no one next to him. He looked around in a drowsy haze. Since Bong Tae-Yoon had been waking up early these days, it was natural for him to be gone, but Park Dong-Jun, who should be on the other side, was also missing. This was strange since Dong-Jun was also in the te-riser club'' with him.


    ¡°...What?¡± His surroundings were way too empty. He raised his upper body and stared at the open space in a daze. Then, his mind slowly began to clear up. He quickly checked the time on his phone.


    ¡°9 a.m.?¡± He had an inkling that he had overslept, but he had slept three hours more than usual. It was only then did the puzzle pieces finally matched in his head. The members must have left him behind to go to practice today. They usually woke him up even if he overslept, but he must have been too deep asleep.


    ¡°Ahhhh! What do I do!¡± He was losing face as a leader, but most of all, he felt apologetic to his members. This was an important time when things were about to go well, but instead of setting an example as a leader, he overslept and missed practice.


    He skipped washing his face and taking a shower. After brushing his teeth quickly, he put on his hat. He thought he should go and apologize and quickly start practicing. While he was thinking he should buy dessert to apologize, he opened the dressing room, and an unexpected sight unfolded in front of him.


    ¡°...What?¡± Currently, Woo Yeon-Hoon was wearing only pajamas and a hat. He was nning to go into the dressing room and change into a training suit, but in the closet¡ª


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    ¡°Damn it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I said we should hurry up...!¡±


    All four members were huddled together in a small room where they could barely even store their clothes. The members all wore cone hats and had a cream cake between them. Bong Tae-Yoon wore sunsses with the words ¡®Happy¡¯ and ¡®Birthday¡¯ on them, and Lee Woon was holding a long piece of colored paper, which was the group card they all wrote on, and Kang Do-Seung was holding the cake. Lastly, Dong-Jun held a firecracker in his hand. They were obviously preparing for a birthday celebration.


    ¡°Ah, um.¡± Woo Yeon-Hoon froze and couldn¡¯t say anything. After this awkward confrontationsted for about 10 seconds¡ª


    ¡°S-surprise!¡± Park Dong-Jun shouted ¡®<i>surprise!</i>¡¯ for the hell of it.


    <i>Pop!</i>


    Dong-Jun popped the firecrackers like a machine carrying out a setmand. Pieces of paper fluttered in the air for a moment. It was a shabby and awkward celebration, and it was the most unsurprising surprise birthday party in the world.


    * * *


    The birthday party we nned was nothing like this.


    We went to Do-Seung¡¯s studio at the crack of dawn and made ns for Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday. We wanted to do something really special for him, but we had a very tight budget. Thus, we were going to prepare the best birthday party within our budget.


    First, we had to get a cake, and there was a specific cake we needed to buy. Yeon-Hoon was a foodie and always saved restaurants and foods he liked on his phone. Among them, there was a whipped cream cake that had upied a ce in his gallery for a long time. It was a cake from a famous restaurant bakery in Hongdae, and the price was not too outrageous, so I thought we could afford it.


    The next problem was the gifts, and this was the most challenging problem. Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t have a strong desire for material goods and didn¡¯t say what he wanted often. On the contrary, he was the type to be deeply moved by gifts like letters. Thus, we finished our preparation by making a group card and getting simple gifts for him. We decided that this simple gift would be prepared individually.


    With our nspleted, we woke up early in the morning and lined up to buy the whipped cream cake from the famous bakery. When we came back to our dorm, we also created a group card on a long piece of paper to hand it to him. Then, we prepared firecrackers and made simple props to celebrate. However, an unexpected variable hindered our n.


    ¡°I think Yeon-Hoon just woke up?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°What, you said he¡¯d sleep until ten!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon had woken up earlier than expected. I didn¡¯t wake him up on purpose in the morning, so I thought he¡¯d sleep at least until 10 o¡¯clock, maybe until 12 o¡¯clock since he was a sleepyhead. However, did his circadian rhythm change because he had woken up early these days? He had woken up an hour earlier than expected.


    ¡°Do I go out now? Should I go out or not?¡± Do-Seung asked in a flustered panic.


    ¡°Ahhhh! What do we do?¡± Woon also was in a panic and couldn¡¯t easily make a decision.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just go out.¡± I calmed the members and told them to stick to the original n since it still could be a sessful surprise if we moved faster than Yeon-Hoon. However¡ª


    <i>Squeak.</i>


    The door opened, and we confronted Yeon-Hoon, who was wearing a hat and pajamas.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    ¡°Damn it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I told you to hurry up...!¡±


    ¡°S-surprise!¡±


    <i>Pop!</i>


    A small birthday firecracker popped and pieces of colorful paper fell. A surprise birthday party in the closet¡ªI thought there was no worse surprise than this. I had wanted to prepare a good surprise party for him, so I felt a bit upset. I wondered when this awkward confrontation would end when¡ª


    ¡°Ah, ahh.¡± <i>Bawwl...</i>


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    An unexpected development followed. It was a terrible birthday surprise without question, and it should have been much more organized. But even while seeing our terrible birthday surprise, Yeon-Hoon stared at us with tears in his eyes. Tears dripped down his whole face.


    ¡°Umm...¡± Then he went to the front and just hugged the closest person in front of him¨Cwhich unfortunately happened to be me.


    ¡°When did you guys prepare all this...?¡± His voice was muffled as he continued, ¡°This is the cake I wanted to eat too...¡± He must have seen the bakery mark on the cake.


    Yeon-Hoon also said, ¡°I thought you guys would never make a group card like this...¡±


    He hit the mark on this one; frankly, none of us had ever written a group card like this. Thus, we had all awkwardly written our portions, hoping that no one else would see what each of us wrote.


    ¡°...Thank you,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and rubbed his face in my arms. ¡°Let¡¯s go and eat the cake quickly. Everyone must be hungry because we didn¡¯t eat breakfast.¡±


    After crying as much as he wanted, he moved away and led us out of the room. We took out the folding table and ced the cake on top. As expected of a famous bakery, the taste was exquisite. It sure didn''t feel like a waste to have gotten up at dawn to go and buy it.


    ¡°It¡¯s delicious...!¡± Yeon-Hoon was especially impressed by the taste and eximed, wide-eyed. After that, there was a simple gift presentation time. Thanks to everyone¡¯s thorough packaging, it was hard to tell what the others prepared. It seemed as if they all managed to buy gifts and wrap them in the short time we had.


    ¡°Take this, Yeon-Hoon.¡± I gave my gift to Yeon-Hoon. The gift I had prepared for him was a tumbler. Since it was winter and his throat would probably get dry, I bought a tumbler in hopes that he would drink warm drinks with it.


    The fact that he only used disposable caf¨¦ cups because he didn¡¯t have a decent tumbler while on schedule had been bothering me. I wanted to buy something really nice, but I didn¡¯t have enough money. I nned to get him something much better than this when I got more money in the future.


    Yeon-Hoon cried once again after receiving the gifts we gave him.


    ¡°Thank you, I¡¯ll use them all really well.¡±


    After he said this, Dong-Jun said as a joke, ¡°What if there¡¯s something weird inside?¡±


    ¡°Whatever it is, I will definitely use it. Thank you all so much,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and forced his tears back in. It seemed as if he didn¡¯t want to cry again in a joyful situation like this. After we ate cake for breakfast, we all got up together.


    ¡°Shall we go practice?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    It was now time to go practice. I changed my clothes and went down to the first floor.


    While we were going down the stairs, Yeon-Hoon asked as if he had just realized this, ¡°But why did you guys celebrate my birthday today when it¡¯s on the 29th? I know there isn¡¯t the 29th this year, but don¡¯t you guys normally celebrate it on the 28th?¡±


    ¡°Ah, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have the time if not now,¡± Do-Seung answered.


    ¡°Huh? Why don¡¯t we have the time?¡±


    When Yeon-Hoon tilted his head, Do-Seung answered, ¡°Yesterday, when we were sleeping, we didn¡¯t just n your birthday party but also sketched out ideas for the next performance.¡±


    ¡°What? Without me?¡± Yeon-Hoon seemed upset that he was excluded.


    Then Woon said, ¡°We were going to finalize it after talking to you today and getting your opinion.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, really? But why did you guys say that we won¡¯t have enough time for my birthday party?¡±


    ¡°Because I think we¡¯ll have to practice like crazy nonstop for the next two weeks.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°2 weeks may be too short to implement the ideas Tae-Yoon came up with yesterday.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s expression turned pale as a ghost at Woon and Do-Seung¡¯s warning.


    ¡°Well, w-what are we doing...?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked with a very frightened voice.


    ¡°We mixed mythology into science fiction.¡± I said sinctly and continued, ¡°I¡¯m going to go with a genre that feels like a space opera.¡±


    ¡°What? Space opera?¡± Yeon-Hoon seemed not to know what space opera was.


    I said, ¡°Simply put, it¡¯s like Star Wars and Dune.¡± Space opera was a genre called the peak of imagination with a tremendous amount of CG added in. Since we didn¡¯t have that amount of money, we needed to make it up with practice, as a highly developed choreography was just as good as CG.

 Chapter 39

    <h4>Chapter 39</h4>


    Since we walked while conversing, it felt as if we had taken only a few seconds to arrive back at our dorm. Meanwhile, Yeon-Hoon looked quite out of it during the whole walk because we showed him a couple of concepts and references that we collected yesterday.


    ¡°Are we really going with that concept? And use those choreographies? Don¡¯t you think we might be reaching too far?¡± It appeared Yeon-Hoon wanted to avoid difficult moves, but this was necessary.


    ¡°But the group that we chose is Only One. If we want to outshine them, we need to really go out of our way to overachieve.¡±


    ¡°Since the difference between our fandoms is sorge, I think it would be hard to appeal to the viewers if we don¡¯t at least show this much.¡±


    ¡°I think we will also have to talk to thepany about using back-up dancers too.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung talked to convince Yeon-Hoon. Yeon-Joon still looked a bit uncertain.


    ¡°Yeah...I also think it will be cool for us to do well...I¡¯m just worried, that¡¯s all.¡± Yeon-Hoon said unconfidently.


    ¡°I will support you well, Yeon-Hoon,¡± Woon said,forting him. ¡°And you are also good at dancing. You move lightly while your lines are good. I think you will be able to liven up the dance moves,¡± Do-Seung said, poking Yeon-Hoon¡¯s sides.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to hype me up that much.¡± Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face brightened again, hearing Do-Seung¡¯s obvious ttery. And as I watched my other group members work hard to convince Yeon-Hoon, I turned around. Dong-Jun was stretching by himself in the corner, and I moved next to him and also began stretching.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you also nning to warm up?¡±


    ¡°I have to.¡± And while I also stretched next to Dong-Jun, I organized today¡¯s schedule in my head.


    ¡°Seems like today¡¯s practice will be really tough,¡± Dong-Jun said.


    ¡°It has to be if we want to use all those moves.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I guess we will have to do all-nighters for a while.¡± Dong-Jun trembled as if the thought exhausted him, but his face appeared to have a strange sense of expectations and excitement. Truthfully, Dong-Jun was the one who was most serious about being an idol among us. Perhaps, he was the type to feel a biggerpetitive spirit when we had to do difficult choreographies and songs and put ourselves in dangerous settings. While I stretched out my hamstrings, I thought over everything.


    First of all, we needed to finish our practice by this week if we could. That was why I told my group members yesterday that we couldn¡¯t have many gaps in our practice. But that wasn¡¯t only because the performance we were preparing for was so difficult; there was another reason that I didn¡¯t tell my group members.


    <i>¡®We will probably get contacted about it around today,¡¯ </i>I<i> </i>thought. An important event would happen just before the second-round performances.


    ¡°Am I really good at dancing? Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes! You are really good!¡±


    ¡°You have a way of making the dance moves look good.¡±


    I looked at Woon and Do-Seung, continuing topliment Yeon-Hoon from the back. They won¡¯t beughing about this for so long. If the producers had the tiniest bit of respect for us, they would give us a heads-up at least before this afternoon. And as I expected, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s phone soon began to vibrate.


    ¡°Hm? Oh wait, I got a call.¡±


    Dong-Jun and I stopped our stretching and looked at Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°I got a call from Hyuna.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Why?¡±


    ¡°Is there some schedule today?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon then got the phone call softly. ¡°Yes, hello~¡± Though he responded energetically as usual, his voice soon fell.


    ¡°Sorry? There¡¯s extra shooting?¡± Yeon-Hoon¡¯s expression turned serious. Woon approached Yeon-Hoon to hear what this was all about. But Yeon-Hoon gestured to Woon that he would tell everyone else what the call was aboutter and moved locations to continue the call. After an ufortable and awkward five minutester, Yeon-Hoon returned.


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s additional shooting?¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    Besides me, all my group members rushed towards Yeon-Hoon. Yeon-Hoon smiled awkwardly as he spoke. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s not such a big deal. Next week, we are going to gather at the studio and do some kind of variety game with prizes on the line. You know, survival programs do stuff like that.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°I know what you mean.¡±


    My other group members looked relieved to hear it was nothing serious except for one person.


    Woon asked worriedly, ¡°But how long did they say the shooting was? One hour? Or two hours?¡± It seemed he was worried that we would have to use a whole day for this shooting.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. They can extend the time if necessary.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°All day?¡±


    ¡°And they can extend the time on top of that?¡±


    I have never seen broadcasting shows cater to their casts, especially more so when these casts were no-name or small-time idols. For these kinds of small shootings, they could do it for a short time and edit different videos by themselves. But they had to organize an extra shooting and increase the time with all sorts of insert cuts and so on. They were only concerned about making content for the show and wouldn¡¯t stop until there were some interesting scenes.


    ¡°The theme of the extra shooting is ¡®y Hard, Work Hard!¡¯¡±


    ¡°Haa.¡±


    ¡°Fuuuu.¡±


    ¡°Damn it.¡±


    My group members sighed deeply at the baffling theme of the shooting. The producers were forcing us to y and have fun when we didn¡¯t have much time right now. We were socking in time that we would have to decrease our sleeping time and even then, we might not be able to finish everything. Yet, the broadcasting crew was stealing time we could¡¯ve used for practice to make us do such an ironically silly-themed show.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just give up on sleeping from today on.¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t die even if you sleep three hours a day.¡±


    ¡°Haaaa. Why don¡¯t we try that?¡±


    My group members determined themselves with dying voices. I could already predict a whole load of caffeine drinks rolling on the practice room¡¯s floor.


    ***


    WD Entertainment¡¯s Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna arrived at theirpanies early in the morning and went outside.


    ¡°Haaaa~¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so tired.¡±


    The head manager, Yoon Tae-Hyung had left all businesses rted to Siren to them. It appeared that since no troubles arose so far, he thought he could leave everything in their hands. It was shocking that Yoon Tae-Hyung made absolutely zero effort and astonishing how someone couldck so much professionalism.


    Yet, Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyunaforted each other that this could be a good thing. After all, since they had the authority to make their own choices, they were now able to use thepany funds to a certain limit.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t know if this is really right.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    The two wondered if this would have been a good thing happening in any other normalpany. But nothing would change no matter how long theymented about this. They needed to support Siren with all they had. The two were aware that they werecking in many ways but also knew that there was no one who could care for the Sirens except them.


    Thus, whether they liked it or not, they had to do this. The only thing they could hope for was Siren to win <i>The Showcase</i> and make a joint contract with a newpany. Only then, the Sirens would be able to receive proper care and progress exponentially. And when that happened, the two could give their resignation letters and quit thepany with a light heart and relocate to somewhere else.


    ¡°The guys are probably still asleep, right?¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you wake them up and make them eat? I will get some <i>kimbap</i> nearby.¡±


    Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna discussed ns as they drove to the Sirens¡¯ dormitory. Yet, right before they arrived in front of their dorms and stopped at the alley where the practice room was located, they saw that light was emitting out of the practice room¡¯s windows.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Their practice room¡¯s lights are still on.¡±


    Since this ce was in a semi-basement, all that the practice room had was a small window. Yet, its light was still noticeable because the small window was the only bright thing in this dark ce.


    ¡°No way.¡±


    ¡°Okay, why don¡¯t we park our car first?¡± Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna parked the car beside the practice room and went down to the semi-basement.


    <i>Knock, knock.</i>


    They knocked on the door and heard no response.


    <i>¡®Music sounds?¡¯</i> A soft melody wasing out of the room.


    <i>Bam, bam.</i>


    They knocked on the door a bit harder this time.


    ¡ªHuh?¡±


    ¡ªIt sounds like somebody is at the door.


    The music got cut off and voices flowed out of the door. Since it was quiet during sunset time, they could hear even small whispers like this; furthermore, the fact that the practice room¡¯s soundproof system was poor didn¡¯t help either.


    ¡ªWho is it?


    ¡ªWhat if it¡¯s a ghost?


    ¡ªAhhhh! Don¡¯t say that Dong-Jun!


    ¡ªGhoooost.


    ¡ª<i>Ahhhh.</i>


    ¡ªI will go get the door.


    After a shortedic exchange, the door opened. Bong Tae-Yoon opened the door and stared at Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna. The two also nced at the inside of the practice room. The room was still feeling warm and hot, as if they had been practicing a moment ago.


    Bong Tae-Yoon asked, ¡°What¡¯s the reason for your visit?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t we tell you all that there will be<i> The Showcase</i>¡¯s extra shooting today?¡±


    ¡°We said we would pick you all up at 5 a.m....¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s usually expressionless face faltered a bit. And what he said next surprised the two. ¡°It¡¯s already the next day? I¡¯m sorry. I forgot what date it was.¡±


    This seemed to mean one thing: they had been practicing so hard that they lost their sense of time.


    ¡°Oh my...¡±


    ¡°My goodness.¡± Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna became speechless for a bit.


    ***


    I only realized what date it was when Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came to pick us up. Staying in this damn semi-basement practice room made one lose track of time easily, not knowing whether the sun rose or set. I turned around and told my group members.


    ¡°We have to go shooting now.¡±


    My group members, who were slumping on the ground, got up one by one. Their eyes looked hollow and there was hardly any fat on their face. It wasn¡¯t like they went on a diet. Instead, we ate more than we usually did in thest week.


    Yet, we lost more weight than the period we exercised rigorously. There was a saying that when someone wanted to lose weight, 30% of the focus should be on exercising, and 70% should be on food. Yet, because we made that 30% to 300%, no amount of food seemed to ovee that and we experienced the miracle of losing weight despite eating everything we wanted.


    ¡°We will quickly wash ourselves ande out. Please wait for us here.¡±


    ¡°Ahhh~ Let¡¯s quickly take a shower! I¡¯m soaked.¡±


    ¡°How long has it been since we came out?¡±


    ¡°The air is so nice in the morning.¡±


    We all got out of the practice room. Hyuna and Seung-Yeon stared at us in shock, but I paid no heed to their reactions and followed my group members outside. I felt a bit of my fatigue go away after feeling the outside air.


    ¡°Let¡¯s quickly finish our shoot and practice again.¡±


    ¡°I thought the movements were wrapping up nicely. It¡¯s a bit regrettable that our flow was suddenly cut off.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I feel like it could beplete with just a bit more time.¡± <i>Sigh.</i>


    My group members only talked about the performance even while going to wash themselves. This was a good sign. Since the past week, we have only been focusing on practicing while getting barely any sleep. And that wasn¡¯t only because we were already struggling with time. Though the shooting today sucked up a lot of our precious time, it could also be a great opportunity for us.


    <i>¡®I wonder if we will be able to do a good job,</i>¡¯ I wondered. The prizes on the line for today¡¯s shooting were much greater than one would expect. Though there was no guarantee that they could be the same ones as in my past life, but if it were, it would be...


    <i>¡®Amercial shoot.</i>¡¯ That was the prize of this shoot; amercial with a short one-month contract. Considering the industry¡¯s standard, the conditions of thismercial were very unfortunate, but it could be something monumental for us.


    <i>¡®This is an opportunity for us to be known and change the flow of the show. We need to grab this chance at all costs.¡¯ </i>We had poured everything we had for this day so that we could forget our worries about practicing and only focus on the shooting. I was determined and tried to make today¡¯s ns when a phenomenon that hadn¡¯t been happening for a while appeared.


    [A surprise mission.]


    The mechanical voice that had regressed me to this timeline returned. But the most shocking thing was what it told me to do next.


    [Stop Park Young-Ho from leaving Only One.]


    [Upon sess, you will gain partial control of ¡®Insight.¡¯]


    [Upon failure, there will be a boycott against ¡®<i>The Showcase 2- First Chance</i>¡¯.]


    The mechanical voice suddenly came out and told me to stop Only One¡¯s youngest member, Young-Ho, from dropping out of his group if I didn¡¯t want to see this show fail.

 Chapter 40

    <h4>Chapter 40</h4>


    <i>¡®What the hell is this?¡¯ </i>I recalled the voice that rang in my ears. It just told me to stop Park Young-Ho from leaving Only One, and I tried to check again to make sure. However, it was impossible to reconfirm because this damn voice only rang out once.


    If this supernatural being went through the trouble of regressing me, I thought they should have given me something like a status window. Instead, the ability they gifted me was a weird ability called Insight that rang in my ear only once and ended. When I wanted toin about their unfairness, the voice rang out again.


    [A surprise mission]


    [Stop Park Young-Ho from leaving Only One.]


    [Upon sess, you will gain partial control of ¡®Insight¡¯.]


    [Upon failure, there will be a boycott against ¡®<i>The Showcase 2- First Chance</i>¡¯.]


    <i>¡®What the?¡¯ </i>Did they hear myint and allow a second hearing? It was even more annoying because they only listened to me in certain situations and not most of the time. But first of all, I had to ept that this unexpected dilemma was indeed real. Then, two questions popped into my head.


    First, Park Young-Ho¡¯s departure had some kind of connection with<i> The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s boycott because otherwise, his departure wouldn''t necessarily cause the boycott of<i> </i>a whole show. This meant that Park-Young had to leave the group due to some controversy, or he might leave the group after disclosing ssified information. However, I decided not to specte further because I needed more information. The second question was about the reward for sess.


    <i>¡®What does it mean by ''receiving partial control over Insight''?¡¯ </i>Was my ability upgrading because I was a regressor? If that was the case, they should give me a status window instead and allow me to invest points in Insight. It was an ufortable and inefficient system for the users any way I looked at it. My head became muddled with all kinds of thoughts, but I had to ept the mission.


    <i>¡®I have to stop him.¡¯ </i>If the show went down, so did we. It was almost impossible to achieve 100,000 album sales in the first week without <i>The Showcase 2</i>. And if we failed, we could lose one of our members.


    <i>¡®Do-Seung...¡¯ </i>I couldn¡¯t let that happen. I cleared my head and moved back with the members.


    * * *


    Only One¡¯s dorm. After waking up at dawn, the Only One members were sitting on the sofa and waiting for their manager. The person who always finished getting up and taking a shower first was Kang Hyun-Sung. He always woke up twenty minutes earlier than the other members and finished his shower.


    Starting with Kang Hyun-Sung, the other members finished getting ready and sat on the sofa. The members did individual activities such as watching videos or listening to music with earphones. Then, the members¡¯ eyes gathered in one ce. <i>Maknae</i> Park Young-Ho had finished his shower and exited the bathroom.


    Kim Si-Woon looked at Park Young-Ho with concern and asked, ¡°Young-Ho, are you okay?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not overdoing it, right?¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s too difficult, you don¡¯t have to do today¡¯s shooting.¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t heal properly from an injury, it¡¯ll keep bothering you in the future.¡±


    Although Only One¡¯s dorm was more on the quiet and awkward side, the members were not cold enough to remain callous about their injured <i>maknae</i>.


    Kang Hyun-Sung also looked at Park Young-Ho and said, ¡°You should rest today.¡±


    Since the members knew Kang Hyun-Sung was not the type to easily say words like that, they looked at him with concern.


    Kang Hyun-Sung paid no heed to their reactions and said, ¡°If you carelessly move and your injury worsens, the gap in our choreography would only get bigger.¡±


    The members turned their heads and thought ¡®as expected¡¯ at his following words.


    ¡°I¡¯m really fine. It wasn¡¯t broken in the first ce, and the tendon only just got a bit stretched. It doesn¡¯t have any effect on walking.¡± Park Young-Ho said and walked in one ce. His posture itself was not very strange.


    ¡°Maybe because he¡¯s young, he recovers really fast.¡±


    ¡°Are you wolverine, Young-Ho?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re really like Polo[1].¡±


    The Only One members seemed to think Park Young-Ho really hadpletely healed. On the other hand, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s gaze was somewhat different from the members. He stared at the top of Park Young-Ho¡¯s foot as Park Young-Ho pretended to walk normally. Because he took off the cast that he had been wearing until this morning for today¡¯s schedule, there was a clear cast mark on top of his foot. Although there was no problem with his walking, the cast mark was still clearly visible.


    Kang Hyun-Sung asked, ¡°Where¡¯d you put the cast?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s in my room but...¡± Park Young-Ho hesitated and replied.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to put it on?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m really fine.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung stared at Park Young-Ho and turned his gaze away. Just in time¡ª


    <i>Beep Beep.</i>


    They heard the door unlock.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said, and the members began to get up one by one. Park Young-Ho moved along with the members and rxed his ankle as a test and a sharp pain shot back up.


    <i>¡®Endure it,¡¯</i> Park Young-Ho thought and followed his members without showing it on the outside.


    * * *


    We went back to our dorm and after taking a shower, we all got in the car. Then Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna drove us to the salon in Gangbuk. Now that we¡¯ve been here a few times, we were used to it and after settling down, we greeted the makeup and hair stylist. Since we met them whenever we had a shooting schedule, the members had gotten quite close to the stylists.


    ¡°Oh my, why are you guys all so handsome today?¡± The friendly salon owner came out and praised our appearance. Since she always smiled and said nice things, I didn¡¯t pay much attention to it, but the other stylists alsoplimented our appearance a lot today.


    Dong-Jun¡¯s stylist said, ¡°Everyone looks really handsome today.¡±


    Dong-Jun replied, ¡°Ah~ so we used to be ugly?¡±


    ¡°No, no, that¡¯s not what I¡¯m saying! You guys are all good-looking usually, but you¡¯re all even better-looking than usual.¡±


    Starting from Dong-Jun¡¯s stylist, everyone started praising our appearance. Praises about appearance could be rude depending on the context and situation, but in this situation, it was a greatpliment as the reason why we went to the salon was to improve our appearance.


    ¡°Wow, look at that jawline. It looks like I¡¯ll get a cut from it,¡± Yeon-Hoon¡¯s stylist said.


    Yeon-Hoon asked, ¡°Really? Is my jawline that sharp?¡±


    ¡°Look here. Look at how sharp it is.¡±


    A huge grin appeared on Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face.


    Woon¡¯s stylist also said, ¡°I thought our Woon was slightly the innocent type, but you also have a manly side.¡±


    Woon asked, ¡°Me?¡±


    Woon heard that he looked manly, and the same was true for Do-Seung.


    Do-Seung¡¯s stylist said, ¡°Did you always look this sharp?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    The members¡¯ moods seemed to rise as the salon stylists bombarded them withpliments about their appearances.


    <i>¡®I guess being haggard has its benefits sometimes.¡¯</i> Since we had slept for three hours a day for the past week and continued to practice high-level choreography, we all lost a lot of weight. Our eyelids also looked hollow and fatigued.


    Others might look at us and think we looked worn-out or sick, but it was different on TV as makeup could cover our faults. We could be more handsome than usual if the parts that made us look tired were erased and makeup was used to liven up our facial features and shape. I thought my stylist wouldpliment my appearance too. It seemed as if she was trying to say something.


    ¡°Uh, Mr. Tae-Yoon, um...¡± Then, when our eyes met in the mirror, she asked, ¡°...Did you eat breakfast?¡± She suddenly asked about my eating habits.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    I haven¡¯t been able to get close to my stylist. Maybe it was because I was not the chatty type, and I also hadn¡¯t talked to her more than three times. The other members seemed to chat with their stylists a bit and then soon fell asleep.


    Since we were practicing every day with little to no sleep, they dozed off whenever they had time to sleep. I pushed away the drowsiness and organized my thoughts as I had basically received a solo mission from the system today. If that was not resolved, the problem would inevitably grow bigger and affect us. Therefore, even though I felt like I was going to fall asleep at any moment, I had no choice but to clear my mind again.


    <i>¡®What does it mean to prevent Park Young-Ho from leaving?¡¯</i> While riding in the car, I organized information about Park Young-Ho. He was one year older than me, being twenty years old. He was Only One¡¯s <i>maknae</i>, and his position was the lead vocalist.


    This was information that everyone knew, so I began organizing information about his personal history. Since Only One¡¯s fame was at a different level than ours, it was not difficult to find personal information about each of the members, and thanks to my previous life, I also roughly knew personal information about them.


    Ipared the information in my memory with the information leaked on the inte. As a result, I could rule out one possibility¡ªthe possibility of Park Young-Ho dropping out due to a controversy. Usually, when idols dropped out of a show due to a scandal, it was rted to verbal abuse, school violence, drugs, or criminal history.


    Park Young-Ho didn¡¯t fit into any of these categories. In the first ce, he was only 20 years old and hadn¡¯t been in the entertainment world for too long, so there wasn¡¯t enough time for him to do drugs ormit a crime. Above all, school records and alumni testimony were most important.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s the very definition of a model student.¡¯</i> I remembered that he was always selected as the model student type in broadcast programs that gave information about idols. From what I knew, he served as a leader of a student club or a church¡¯s student council. In fact, he had never been involved in a controversy before I regressed. How could a person like that have such a serious controversy now?


    If he got older after a long time, his childhood innocence could disappear and he might get a controversy then, but this couldn¡¯t be true at a time when he was only 20 years old. Above all, Park Young-Ho was famous for his good and gentle character before my regression. He was also famous as the first celebrity to sponsor donations whenever there was a disaster in the nation or the world.


    In other words, Park Young-Ho was a person who maintained his original character to some extent until he turned 25. The remaining possibility was that Park Young-Ho exposed some scandal or ssified information but¡ª


    <i>¡®That¡¯s not it either.¡¯</i> I¡¯m sure he could have umtedints about the team,pany, or show¡¯s production team. However, too little time had passed forints to umte enough to expose the show, as we¡¯ve only just finished the first round. Then, it was probably a third possibility that I hadn¡¯t thought of.


    <i>¡®I really hope this isn¡¯t the case.¡¯</i> But the third possibility was¡ªan ident. An ident in which Park Young-Ho was seriously injured. The ident would cause Park Young-Ho to drop out, and people would find out and start a boycott. Since he had already injured his ankle once, he was most likely to be involved in an ident during today¡¯s shooting. If a piece of equipment suddenly fell or the set copsed, he might not be able to respond quickly due to his ankle pain.


    <i>¡®If then, should I just stare at Park Young-Ho all day?</i>¡¯ I had to keep my eyes fixed on Park Young-Ho at all times because I didn¡¯t know when and where the ident would happen. Even though I had to focus on my shooting, I now needed to take care of a member from another group. I was already feeling drained.


    ¡°It¡¯s over.¡± My makeup and hair were finally done. When I opened my eyes and looked in the mirror, I looked a little brighter than usual. After removing the dark circles and highlighting the shades of my face, I definitely looked more like a celebrity than before.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go~¡±


    ¡°Ugh~¡±


    The members also woke up one by one and got up from the salon chair.


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your hard work!¡± We greeted the salon stylists and got back in the car.


    ¡°Let¡¯s crush the shooting again today!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s raise our energy and do well!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun pumped up the group¡¯s energy.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just not get hurt.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t overdo it either.¡±


    While Woon and Do-Seung were taking care of our condition, I worried about Park Young-Ho.


    <i>¡®What shall I do with him?¡¯</i> While we all had different thoughts like this, we moved toward the studio where the shooting was going to take ce.


    1. A character with a regeneration ability from an anime called <i>Dragon Ball</i>. ?

 Chapter 41

    <h4>Chapter 41</h4>


    We arrived at<i> The Showcase </i>shooting studio in Gyeonggi-do province. This was our third time visiting this studio, including the first-meeting and first-round performances, so we felt much more at home.


    ¡°Hello!¡±


    ¡°Hello~¡±


    We greeted the cameramen waiting for us outside the car and went outside. In the beginning, we overreacted because we were excited to see so many cameras, but now, we quickly became used to the idol life.


    ¡°What games do you think you will y today?¡± The camera director asked Yeon-Hoon. Yeon-Hoon met the cameraman¡¯s eyes and pondered this question for a bit.


    ¡°Maybe eating lemons?¡± Yeon-Hoon said a game out of the blue.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Dong-Jun, who walked next to him, burst out intoughter.


    ¡°What! Why are youughing!¡± Yeon-Hoon said angrily.


    ¡°But that¡¯s so random~¡± Dong-Jun exined.


    ¡°W-What do you mean it¡¯s random? It¡¯s possible!¡± Yeon-Hoon said shyly. And as I watched from the back, I sighed inside my mind.


    <i>¡®Damn it.</i>¡¯ I forgot to tell my group members, but the way the games were chosen for the mini-games was from the first question the cameraman asked us. I was too focused on Park Young-Ho that I forgot about what was really important now.


    Of course, it would¡¯ve been quite silly if I had warned them beforehand; they would have definitely raised questions if I had told them not to brashly answer the cameraman¡¯s question and only respond after thinking about it for some time. They would ask why they had to do that, and I would have to exin myself in many ways.


    But perhaps, I could¡¯ve dropped hints or intercepted between the cameraman and Yeon-Hoon and answered for him. There were many possible ways, but I missed my chance.


    <i>¡®Damn it. I didn¡¯t even eat breakfast.¡¯</i> I feared that I would have to eat lemon for my first meal. I prayed that the other teams said something like an eating contest or something because I really wanted to avoid eating lemon on an empty stomach.


    ¡°Huh?¡± It was then we saw familiar faces at the end of the corridors.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t they Bleshu?¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    Bleshu walked toward us from the opposite side.


    ¡°Hello!¡±


    ¡°Oh! Hello~¡±


    We greeted the Bleshu members cheerfully. In the set, the only one who treated us friendly was Bleshu. I also felt happy to see them and smiled, and seeing my smile, one of the Bleshu members averted his gaze. Nevertheless, it was a weing response. Above all, Bleshu¡¯s leader appeared truly surprised to see us.


    ¡°Did all of you fast or something...?¡± Bleshu¡¯s leader appeared genuinely surprised to see our faces. Other members alsomented.


    ¡°Everyone is looking so sharp.¡±


    ¡°Did your makeup change?¡±


    ¡°You guys seriously look like celebrities all of a sudden. Haha.¡±


    My group members smirked, hearingpliments about their appearance for the second time today. They would probably burst into franticughter if someone poked them on their side. Though they were pretending to be humble, it was clear they were probably cheering inside their minds.


    ¡°You guys also look really, really good today too!¡± Yeon-Hoon responded as he was paying back theirpliments.


    ¡°Haha, thank you.¡± But the depth of apliment that came truly from the heart was different from a repayment one.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s see each other at the studioter!¡±


    ¡°Yes, see youter~¡±


    After exchanging greetings with the Bleshu, we walked the corridors again. My group members seemed to have forgotten their fatigue, and their moods seemed to have boosted up after hearingpliments since this morning. It was good that our team¡¯s morale was high, especially today when we were going to have a variety-like shooting. A high-spirited team gave good reactions and got more screen time.


    ¡®<i>Perhaps, we could gather more fans if today¡¯s shooting gets broadcasted,¡¯</i> I thought. Today¡¯s shooting could be an important opportunity for us to quickly gain more fans and increase the size of our fandom.


    ¡°It¡¯s the waiting room~¡± Yeon-Hoon hummed and opened the waiting room¡¯s door.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Wait a bit.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon was about to open the door and stopped. It was because next to our name, there was another group¡¯s name.


    ¡ªOnly One/Siren¡¯s waiting room


    ¡°It¡¯s a shared space?¡±


    My group members froze. Not only were they not close to Only One¡¯s members but they also felt strangely ufortable around them.


    <i>¡®Damn it.¡¯</i> I wanted to almost punch myself. If I had known that I would have to share rooms with Only One, I wouldn¡¯t have provoked Kang Hyun-Sungst time. This would be a terribly ufortable waiting time. I hoped that they would at least have a divider between the two teams, but I highly doubted it. Sensing by the general set-up, it appeared that the broadcasting crew purposefully organized this to ce us together in the same room.


    There was no way this studio wascking in waiting rooms. It didn¡¯t make sense that after giving us separate waiting rooms in all the previous shoots, they would suddenly not have enough. Another reason why they separated us in the previous shootings could be to prevent us from spoiling each others¡¯ performances.


    <i>¡®Then, does that mean that there¡¯s nothing to spoil today?¡¯</i> I wondered. Perhaps, they thought sharing the same waiting room would be more helpful in ignitingpetition among us.


    ¡°Ahhh! What are we going to do?¡± Yeon-Hoon rolled his feet uneasily.


    <i>Creak.</i>


    The door opened then, and Only One¡¯s member, Kim Si-Woon popped out.


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°That surprised me!¡±


    Kim Si-Woon took a couple of steps backward in shock, seeing us. It was understandable. I would¡¯ve also been surprised to see full-grown men standing outside the room as soon as I opened the door¡ªthough, of course, I wouldn¡¯t have been nearly as shocked as Si-Woon and would¡¯ve probably moved a couple of steps back.


    Then, after calming himself down, Si-Woon said, ¡°d to see you. It seems like we have to share the waiting room today.¡±


    ¡°Ah, haha! Yeah!¡±


    ¡°Seems like it!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    My group members forcefully tried to sound energetic. Yet, the excitement on their faces was clearly lower than before.


    ¡°Come inside! You don¡¯t have to stay outside.¡± Si-Woon moved to the side and gestured for us toe inside.


    ¡°Then.¡±


    ¡°Please excuse me~¡±


    My group members slowly went in, but they clearly looked like people who were going inside someone else¡¯s room. The mood was so awkward that we might have to go greet the Only One members and introduce ourselves too at this rate, saying,<i> ¡®Say Yes! Hello, we are Sirens!¡¯</i>


    When we went inside, there was no divider, as I expected. Furthermore, the sofa was set up so that the two groups would have to face each other. It appeared the broadcasting crew thought really hard to showcase the rivalry story between us and Only One.


    We put down our baggage on one side of the sofa and saw five clothes we hadn¡¯t seen before lying on top of the sofa. They were bright-colored training suits that idols wore in sports festival programs. The sizes of the clothes ranged from M to XL, and the Only One members had already all changed themselves into these training suits.


    ¡°We are supposed to change into those and wait,¡± one of the Only One members told us.


    ¡°Ah, thank you!¡±


    ¡°Ohh.¡±


    I took our clothes and went outside the room. I looked around and saw that the only ce suitable to change clothes was the bathroom. After making sure that no one was there, we went inside the bathroom. Then, I checked the sizes and saw that there were two Ms, one L, and two XLs. Anyone could tell the medium size was for Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun,rge for Woon, and extrarge for Do-Seung and me.


    ¡°W-Why is only Dong-Jun and mine medium...¡± It appeared Yeon-Hoon felt a bit upset by the size he got. Dong-Jun took his size without anyints, but Yeon-Hoon seemed to be envious of the members who gotrger sizes. After sloppily throwing the clothes over me, I approached Yeon-Hoon¡¯s side.


    Then, I snatched the training suit from Yeon-Hoon¡¯s hands.


    ¡°Huh? What?¡± Yeon-Hoon stared at me in shock. But I disregarded his response and fumbled with the top of the training suit. It was a thick, sweatshirt type of fabric and seemed toe out slightly looser than the standard size. I stretched the opening of the shirt and pulled it over Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°Wait.¡±


    <i>Slip.</i>


    ¡°Hey!¡±


    The shirt went over him smoothly without a single blockage.


    ¡°It perfectly fits.¡±


    ¡°You want to kill me twice?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s good that they gave you the clothes perfectly in your size.¡±


    ¡°I-I¡¯m not that small!¡±


    ¡°I never said you were.¡±


    Medium size was normal since 174cm was the average height of a Korean male.


    ¡°How humiliating...your height was simr to mine when we first met...¡± Yeon-Hoon said angrily.


    ¡°I was growing during that time, but you were all grown then.¡±


    ¡°Y-You know, they say you grow even in the military.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t most people already finish their military service by your age?¡± I asked.


    ¡°...¡±


    Yeon-Hoon inflicted more damage as we continued to talk about heights. In the end, Yeon-Hoon decided to close his mouth and ced his arms inside the shirt¡¯s holes. I thought this was the smartest decision he made in a while. Iughed inside my mind seeing Yeon-Hoon ept his shirt size.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we are also wearing this training suit.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I always saw idols wearing it on television.¡±


    My group members discussed this after changing their outfits. This was the type of outfit that an idol would have to wear at least once in their career. We had wondered whether there ever would be a time when we would also get a chance to wear these, and it felt strange now that the time had finally arrived.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do a good job on today¡¯s shooting,¡± I said.


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    ¡°We can do it, Siren!¡±


    My group members shouted our cheer and determined their hearts. When we returned to the waiting room, Only One was waiting for us. No, I supposed I couldn¡¯t say they were waiting. They simply nced at us when we came inside.


    After we smiled at Only One, we returned to our sofa and got out our phones. We read through thements under <i>The Showcase</i>¡¯s preview and searched ording to our own interests on the inte. We would¡¯ve probably chatted and talked a bit more if Only One weren¡¯t here, but we became a bit quiet because of their presence.


    I pretended to be on my phone and stared at Only One and Park Young-Ho. Young-Ho still looked like he wasn¡¯t thinking much. He was simply staring into space with a nk look in his eyes. I wondered if he was always like this. His face didn¡¯t look ditzy, but his expression looked considerably spacey right now.


    <i>¡®Oh, and I just noticed. He¡¯s not wearing a cast?</i>¡¯ I thought he was definitely injured significantly to the point of needing onest time, but he wasn¡¯t wearing anything right now.


    <i>''Was the injury lighter than I thought?¡¯</i> Perhaps, his body condition was better than I expected. Then, what was the reason for Young-Ho¡¯s leave? I didn¡¯t know what to think.


    <i>Knock.</i>


    It was then someone knocked on the door.


    ¡°The shooting will start now. Please be on standby¡ª¡± The person gestured for us to go on top of the studio.


    ¡°Ahhh~¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± We all got up from the sofa and stretched our arms. Only One did the same as us, and we walked to the studio set together. And while walking, I nced at Young-Ho¡¯s leg.


    <i>¡®There doesn¡¯t seem to be a big problem with his walking,¡¯</i> I thought. He walked too normally for someone who injured his leg. I thought he might have fully healed when there was a small staircase before getting up on the studio set.


    <i>¡®What?¡¯ </i>When trying to go up the stairs and raising his foot, Young-Ho wobbled. Then, his expression noticeably looked pained. He managed to regain bnce by clutching to the structure next to him, but his expression still remained dark. It was then that I realized Young-Ho¡¯s state more clearly. I saw the cold sweat on the back of his neck and the stiff movements in his walking.


    ¡®<i>Is he enduring it?¡¯</i> it seemed this guy was just bearing the pain. <i>¡®How could he do something so foolish.¡¯</i>


    I didn¡¯t understand when he was pretending to be fine when everyone could tell he got injuredst time. Was he worried that he could bring down the team? But that was such a useless worry. And normally, I would¡¯ve passed over the matter and not minded it.


    <i>¡®But sigh. This is crazy.¡¯</i> There would be a program boycott if Young-Ho got injured today. Thus, I needed to do something about this before we went up to the stage set.


    <i>Tap.</i>


    I grabbed Young-Ho¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    This broke the unwritten code of silence between us.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± Only One and our team members turned to Young-Ho and me.


    And feeling their gazes on us, I clearly enunciated each word. ¡°Mr. Young-Ho, it seems like you are suffering from severe ankle pain. Is it okay for you to shoot today?¡± I officially announced to everyone that this guy was hiding his ankle pain.

 Chapter 42

    <h4>Chapter 42</h4>


    I put a lot of emphasis on the word ¡®ankle pain.¡¯ As my words clearly rang out, everyone around me turned their heads toward Park Young-Ho and me. Park Young-Ho scowled, chewed his lower lip, and red at me. It was a look ofplete embarrassment, and it surprised me that it was possible for people¡¯s emotions to look so transparent on their faces.


    While I was thinking this, the rest of my members approached me.


    ¡°What do you mean by that, Tae-Yoon?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked.


    ¡°From what I saw, Mr. Young-Ho¡¯s ankle seems to be shaking. It seems he¡¯s in a lot of pain every time he moves because he¡¯s breaking out in cold sweats behind his neck,¡± I said, slightly exaggerating the symptoms I saw.


    Park Young-Ho was not the type to stay still and counterattacked. ¡°I don¡¯t feel any pain. What are you talking about?¡± He said in a slightly hostile tone.


    From Park Young-Ho¡¯s perspective, I might be just picking a fight with him, but before I could reply, Yeon-Hoon interrupted our conversation and asked, ¡°Mr. Young-Ho, are you sure you¡¯re okay?¡±


    ¡°After listening to Tae-Yoon, I think the reason why you stumbled on the stairs earlier was because of the pain.¡±


    ¡°Would today¡¯s shooting be okay?¡±


    From behind, Do-Seung and Woon also came to support me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get hurt~ Our bodies are our greatest assets~¡±


    After Dong-Jun also joined, Park Young-Ho closed his mouth. Since five members of another group were suddenly worrying about him, it became difficult for him to pretend that he was not in pain. The situation became quite funny. Five Siren members were worried about Park Young-Ho, and four Only One members were nkly staring at us. People passing by might think that Park Young-ho was one of our members.


    Usually, when other members from another team started to worry like this, wasn¡¯t it normal for the members involved to step up and intervene? However, when I stared at the Only One members¡¯ faces, everyone except Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s, was bright red as if they were going to explode.


    <i>¡®Judging by their reaction, it didn¡¯t seem like they knew.¡¯</i> They really seemed as if they hadn¡¯t known that Park Young-Ho was in pain. How uninterested and uncaring were they about each other that they didn¡¯t notice he was in pain? I could tell just by looking at him, walking with a bit of interest. He was pretending to walk naturally, but there was bound to be a difference in an injured person¡¯s stridepared to a healthy person.


    ¡°I¡¯m really fine. There¡¯s just a little bit of pain left, but it¡¯s not at a level where I can¡¯t shoot.¡± Park Young-Ho suddenly started making excuses to the Only One members.


    <i>¡®No, just rest if you¡¯re in pain.¡¯ </i>I looked at Park Young-Ho with a baffled expression, but I soon wiped this expression off my face and said, ¡°Mr. Young-Ho, can I touch your ankle for a second?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Please excuse me.¡± I grabbed Park Young-Ho¡¯s ankle and turned it to the side. If it were a person with no problem with their ankle, they wouldn¡¯t show much of a reaction. However...


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Park Young-Ho lost his bnce and stumbled and grabbed the steel structure next to him in a hurry.


    I said, ¡°Your symptoms seem quite severe.¡±


    I was amazed at this point. I wondered what made Park Young-Ho so anxious and fervent like this. If it hurt this much, he could have taken the day off, but he forced himself toe out to shoot even while enduring pain. At this point, no one was forcing him to shoot, but he was doing this of his own volition. I could roughly predict the atmosphere of the team.


    <i>¡®It must be really suffocating.¡¯</i> I stared at Only One. They all had their mouths sealed shut and said nothing.


    As soon as I was about to say something more, Kang Hyun-Sung asked, ¡°Does it hurt a lot?¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡± Park Young-Ho acted surprised, as if he didn¡¯t expect Kang Hyun-Sung to ask this question.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us?¡± He spoke with a low voice. Although his expression seemed gentle, it felt strangely cold. All the Only One members stiffened, and I now realized why the atmosphere of their group was so bad.


    <i>¡®They must feel ufortable around Kang Hyun-Sung.¡¯</i> Usually, a strong-spirited member was needed to lead the group, match the choreography, and unite everyone well during a group¡¯s promotion period. However, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s presence was so strong that it overwhelmed the other members. In a way, it was natural that the power bnce was skewed toward one person; Kang Hyun-Sung was the overwhelmingly popr member, and they were all riding on his coattails.


    <i>¡®But even then, he should lighten up the mood. It¡¯s too much.¡¯</i> Even if the power bnce in his group was skewed, he could have stepped forward and created a more rxing atmosphere, as this was a little too much.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us?¡±


    Park Young-Ho¡¯s face was turning pale as a ghost. He was incredibly nervous even when getting asked a simple question; this was a scene that showed what type of position Kang Hyun-Sung held in his group.


    Kang Hyun-Sung asked, ¡°If you overdo it and get injured, it will interfere with the shooting. You know that.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes, but...¡±


    ¡°But what?¡±


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re not performing today...it¡¯s a game...so I wanted to help the team...¡± Park Young-Ho couldn¡¯t finish his sentence and kept making pauses.


    I thought, <i>¡®Kang Hyun-Sung probably hates this way of speaking.¡¯</i>


    ¡°Say it properly.¡± As expected, Kang Hyun-Sung spoke with a slightly annoyed voice. His expression was the same as usual, but the atmosphere he gave was clearly different. Since another group member found out that one of his members was hurt, this whole situation must have been embarrassing for him. But I wondered why he was taking it out on the <i>maknae </i>when he was the root of the problem, and this situation stemmed from Kang Hyun-Sung ruining the group¡¯s dynamics.


    At that moment, a staff member approached us. ¡°Is there a problem here? Why aren¡¯t you guysing up?¡±


    Since we didn¡¯t go up to the studio and were standing in the middle while having a long argument, I thought it was understandable that we got told off by the production crew.


    Our eyes all moved to the staff. This was now my chance, so I said, ¡°Mr. Young-Ho just said his ankle hurt a lot, so I¡¯m afraid it¡¯ll interfere with today¡¯s shooting.¡± I thought Park Young-Ho needed to be excluded from today¡¯s shooting.


    ¡°Yes, I think our group¡¯s <i>maknae </i>hasn¡¯t recovered from his ankle injury yet,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said.


    It felt like we were fighting a battle of nerves just a second before, but we were now on the same page. The production staff looked at Park Young-Ho with surprise and said, ¡°You should have said so if you were in pain, why...I think it¡¯d be better for you to take a break from today¡¯s shoot because there might be an ident.¡±


    The staff also told Park Young-Ho to take a break from today¡¯s shooting. As expected, the production crew also didn¡¯t want to get caught up in idents as well. I thought this might be the end of this case, but...


    ¡°I-I¡¯m really fine. I can do it!¡± Park Young-Ho revealed his strong will to keep on going.


    <i>¡®Damn it.¡¯</i> I was about to intervene when¡ª


    ¡°Then, if the pain gets worse, you have to immediately leave the set. Got it?¡± The production staff took a conservative action and stepped down. Since they couldn¡¯t make an independent decision to pull one of the casts out, this was probably the best thing a low-level staff could do. Thus, I understood their response, but it was also true that I was disappointed.


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    Kang Hyun-Sung also twitched his brows while looking at Park Young-Ho as he also found this situation ridiculous. Park Young-Ho clenched his fist, avoiding Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s gaze. I couldn¡¯t understand why he was trying so hard to be part of this shooting to this extent. He seemed to be unable to objectively grasp the situation and seemed to think that it would be unconditionally beneficial for his group if he participated in the shooting, even though his injury could lead to an ident.


    Of course, people lost their judgment when they were emotionally driven to a corner. I could understand Park Young-Ho¡¯s stubbornness in a rational manner, but I couldn¡¯t help being angry. I wanted to run back to the production crew and tell them that Park Young-Ho needed to be removed from today¡¯s shooting, but if I did so, they would stare at me like a madman.


    <i>¡®That¡¯s stepping way over my boundaries.¡¯ </i>Park Young-Ho wasn¡¯t even in my group. I was acting like this because I knew he was going to have an ident, but to outsiders, they might just think of him as a hardworking kid who was trying to work hard despite his injury.


    In the end, the best thing that I could do was say, ¡°...Mr. Young-Ho, please be careful in today¡¯s shooting.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right, Mr. Young-Ho, don¡¯t get hurt.¡± Yeon-Hoon supported my words.


    ¡°Our bodies are an asset.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t overdo it.¡±


    The other members also pitched in and went up to the studio. My first n to get Park Young-Ho out of today¡¯s shooting failed. However, there was a small harvest.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s basically definite that he¡¯ll drop out due to injury.¡¯</i> I was able to narrow down to one out of many possibilities. Park Young-Ho would get hurt during today¡¯s shooting. Since I knew what the future would hold, I could prepare for it.


    ¡°Uhm, I¡¯m looking forward to today¡¯s shooting.¡±


    ¡°What game do you think we¡¯ll y?¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Like Silent Scream*?¡± [1]


    ¡°I wonder what the prize is.¡±


    ¡°It would be great if they give us an 1800 sq ft apartment house in Gangnam.¡±


    ¡°What~ Aren¡¯t you expecting too much~.¡±


    The members were lowering their anxiety by exchanging casual conversations with each other. I didn¡¯t join the conversation and looked around. Today¡¯s studio was decorated like a gym, and there was a long table in the middle. Bleshu, Luminin, and OnebyOne were on the left, and us and Only One were on the right. I thought this was the opening set. I subtly moved one step closer toward Only One. It was to keep Park Young-Ho within my range of vision. Then, I quickly scanned the surroundings.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s definite that Park Young-Ho is injured, but how will that lead all the way to a boycott?¡¯</i> This was the scenario that a god or the system or a strange being threw at me. Icked the clues to fit the puzzle pieces.


    To reach all the way to a boycott, Park Young-Ho¡¯s injury needed to be entirely med on the production team, or there needed to be rumors about the production team abusing their authority with articles like ¡®The Cruel Reality of the Idol Industry¡¯ in bold headlines stering the front news. In other words, there might be an internal staff who could twist the news of what happened today to make it as sensational as possible.


    <i>¡®But I don¡¯t think the set is such a mess that it¡¯ll cause a controversy...?¡¯</i> Of course, the work environment was far from perfect, but this was not a result of abuse of authority but from a few ipetent people.


    After gathering all my thoughts together, I thought there was a high possibility that rather than an article about abuse of authority told from a whistleblower''s point-of-view, a sensational article with a lot of grudges involved could be released. Because of one person¡¯s action, countless people¡¯s efforts and the hard work of the idols gathered here might all go up in smoke.


    First, I excluded the producers and writers from the candidates as there was no way they could be involved in a career-ending incident. Except for those in high positions, I began checking out others one by one. A part-timer was more likely than a full-time worker to write a nderous article.


    Among them, there was one person who caught my eye.<i> ¡®What¡¯s up with that yellow-haired man?¡¯</i>


    There was a man who dyed his hair bright yellow. He appeared to be in his early thirties. <i>¡®His hair color really stands out.¡¯</i> But above all, ¡®<i>Why does he keep touching his phone like that?¡¯</i>


    He kept taking out his phone and looking around. Then, he took a picture of a steel structure or the lower part of the stage. After taking all the pictures, he quickly put the phone back in his pocket. He looked way too suspicious.


    ¡°Mr. Kyung-Jun! How many times do I have to tell you to raise the tripod here!¡±


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry!¡± That man didn¡¯t seem to be a full-time employee here. Based on the work he was assigned, which was moving tripods and other equipment, he was probably working time as a filming assistant. Since the evidence was so tant like this, that man immediately became my prime suspect.


    <i>¡®There¡¯s a high probability that he¡¯s the one who¡¯s going to upload that nderous article.¡¯ </i>Although it was just an assumption, in terms of probability, he was my prime suspect. Besides Park Young-Ho, I decided to keep an eye on that man today as well. Park Young-Ho, who injured his ankle, and a man in his thirties with yellow hair; my head hurt from thinking that I now had to constantly keep my eye on two people.


    ¡°We¡¯ll begin shooting!¡± It was now time to shoot. The cameras lit up.


    ¡°Hello, everyone!¡± Host Kim Young-Jin and Nahyun, the hosts of <i>The Showcase 2</i>, came in from behind the studio.


    We started the shooting by bowing to the hosts at 90 degrees. The hosts began to raise their energy by looking at the camera and began to make their opening remarks.


    ¡°The reason why we have the cast of <i>The Showcase 2</i> here today is...¡±


    ¡°The <i>Work Hard, y Hard</i> theme is to...¡±


    ¡°ying games is crucial to strengthen unity, etc...¡±


    Comments that the writers obviously wrote came out of the host''s mouths. I appropriately pped or nodded in response to their words while trying not to move my gaze away from Park Young-Ho and the yellow-haired man.


    ¡°Finally, what everyone is waiting for! I¡¯ll announce the big prize that goes to the team that wins first ce overall in today¡¯s games! Oh, I think everyone will be surprised by the huge prize!¡± Then Kim Young-Jin raised his voice a little more than usual and raised the excitement.


    I kept an eye on Park Young-Ho and the yellow-haired man and turned to Kim Young-Jin.


    He announced, ¡°A chance to appear in PepC¡¯smercial!¡±


    It was just as expected. In contrast, the whole studiopletely flipped.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Commercial?¡±


    ¡°For real?¡±


    ¡°What, is this for real? Wow!¡±


    ¡°<i>The Showcase¡¯s</i> ss is on another level...¡±


    ¡°As expected of a bigpany...¡±


    Shooting amercial was an area only allowed by big-name stars and was also an opportunity to increase one¡¯s awareness to the public. But in reality, this prize was just a month-long, ultra-short-term contract with minimalbor payment. I reacted with a moderate expression of surprise. The problem was that this huge prize could only be won if we won first ce overall.


    What type of game we would be ying was the most important factor. First of all, I was sure that eating lemons would be one of the games. While I was extremely curious about what other games different groups suggested, the host, Nahyun raised the energy of the set by saying her next lines.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s start with the first game! Are you ready!¡±


    ¡°Yesss!¡± I waited for the game to quickly be announced. While I raised my fighting power with the determination to destroy everything¡ª


    ¡°The first game is...eating lemons quickly!¡±


    My increased fighting power turned straight into gastric acid and refluxed back to my stomach. Why was eating lemons the first game? I was hoping that it woulde out for the third game or after, but it was finalized that I was going to have an upset stomach first thing in the morning. Nothing really was working out today.


    1. Basically a game where everyone puts on earplugs or noise-canceling headsets while ying charades. ?

 Chapter 43

    <h4>Chapter 43</h4>


    Kim Gyoung-Jun was the name of the yellow-haired man who kept strolling around <i>The Showcase</i>¡¯s shooting set while constantly ying with his phone. He turned thirty this year and though the first digit of his age turned to three this year, he was a jobless bloke who had never held a proper job.


    Aftering out of the military, he wasted thest five years preparing for the civil exam; he was twenty-seven years without achieving anything and began his listless days in the name of preparing for a job. Three more years passed after that until he was now thirty, and he came to this studio set for a part-time job.


    <i>¡®Time is passing so slowly. Should I just make a run for it?¡¯ </i>he wondered. He applied for this job because he heard that it was a high-paying part-time job that took ce indoors; yet he didn¡¯t expect to be a simple handyman around the set. Just moving filming equipment, such as the tripod, was a tiring task and even though he was working indoors, the ce wasn¡¯t that warm either. Furthermore, because of how tense the general atmosphere was, he felt himself growing more tired easily. Yet, there was a reason why he was sticking to this job longer than the others.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s so tiring work for a broadcasting show. Shit.


    After writing posts that proved that he worked at a broadcasting station, he felt a small joy from seeing the replyments. When he used to write just any random posts, he would only get trolls or noments, but now that he posted some evidence along with his ims, he was getting more responses. It appeared that even if he was just doing a part-time job, he could attract attention by working at a broadcast station.


    ¡ªNobody forced you to take this job. Hahaha


    ¡ªThis is the job you chose to do. Grit it out.


    ¡ªDid you see any celebrities?


    He already got threements on a post that he just made recently. Since it was obvious that he wouldn¡¯t be able to continue working for a broadcasting show if he wrote about all the celebrities he saw, he couldn¡¯t boast about every little thing but his fingers itched to do just that.


    <i>¡®I bet people would flock to this post if I said Yours¡¯ Kang Hyun-Sung is here,¡¯ </i>Gyong-Jun thought.


    Then, he supposed that if he wrote a post called, <i>¡®My thoughts after seeing Yours¡¯ Kang Hyun-Sung in real life</i>¡¯ or <i>¡®Saw Kang Hyun-Sung after he became a small-time idol haha¡¯,</i> he would get quite the views. But he couldn¡¯t give up this whole part-time job for just that one thrill. He needed money for living expenses, and there was nothing more attention-grabbing than working at a broadcasting show.


    ¡°Mr. Gyong-Jun! I told you to bring the tripod!¡± It was then someone called him. It was probably the producing director. Gyong-Jun moved toward the producing director while holding the tripod. He set up the tripod for shooting and handed the director basicmodities. He felt it from his time working in this set, but working in a broadcasting show was just like any physical job. He needed to lift heavy objects, assist others, and needed to be careful on-site while surveilling his surroundings.


    The only ones who made a lot of money were people with skills, like the producing director and the lights director, who were sitting in their seats right now. This ce was not much different from working at a construction site. Yet, in a broadcasting station, there was a glitter and beauty that couldn¡¯t be seen in other ces. Gyong-Jun turned his gaze to the main studio set.


    <i>¡®They really are fucking good-looking</i>,¡¯ Gyong-Jun thought. There was a cluster of good-looking guys on top of the studio set. Because the difference between them and him was so great, he didn¡¯t even feel jealous or envious of them. He just thought they were annoying and couldn¡¯t help but stare at them nkly.


    Of course, there were some among this group who just looked like well-kept ordinary men too, but most of them were good-looking. Siren and Only One especially had members that even he had to admit were ridiculously handsome.


    <i>¡®Kang Hyun-Sung is the real deal,¡¯ </i>he thought. The person that drew his most attention was, of course, Kang Hyun-Sung. In <i>Select Your Idol</i>, he had wondered why people liked someone who looked so girly like him, but he could understand it now. Perhaps, this was what others meant when they said someone oozed charisma and sensuality; there was a hint of masculinity in him, too, but regardless, it was an appearance that attracted people¡¯s gazes.


    <i>¡®And is that Siren¡¯s Woo Yeon-Hoon?¡¯</i> Gyong-Jun¡¯s gaze turned to another person. Woo Yeon-Hoon was a member of a no-name idol group called Siren. If he had to decide who was the best looking among all the idols here, truthfully, it would be this guy. Yet, though Kang Hyun-Sung and Woo Yeon-Hoon were both good-looking, they didn¡¯t feel very masculine. They simply looked like beautiful humans. The person who he thought was truly handsome in a masculine way was another person.


    <i>¡®I think his name was Bong something.¡¯</i> It was another guy in Siren. He couldn¡¯t remember the name well, but he remembered his first name because of how unique he was.


    <i>¡®Never seen another Bong except that director,¡¯ </i>Gyong-Jun thought. From an outsider¡¯s perspective, the only groups who appeared like they would seed at first nce were Siren and Only One¡ªmaybe Bleshu if he was being generous. The other two groups were...hmm...perhaps, they should think about new career paths since they were still young.


    ¡°Mr. Gyong-Jun, I told you to match the center when you set up the tripod with the leveler.¡±


    ¡°Ah, um, well, sorry. I will fix it,¡± he said.


    ¡°<i>Haaa</i>, it¡¯s fine. I will just do it myself,¡± the producing director sighed and leveled the tripod. Gyong-Jun swore at the director inside his mind.


    <i>¡®Fucking bastard. Why yell at me when you are going to do it?¡¯ </i>Then, he turned around. By this time, the hosts came out and were saying their lines.


    ¡°There¡¯s a reason why we specially gathered <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s cast here today...¡±


    ¡°Today¡¯s theme is ¡®Work Hard, y Hard!¡¯....¡±


    ¡°They are going to show us how unified they are while ying games...¡±


    The hosts filled up airtime with uncreative, cliche lines. Gyong-Jun looked at the two hosts. Comedian Kim Young-Jin looked just like he did on television, and the solo singer who used to be in a girl group, Na-Hyun looked a hundred times prettier in real life.


    <i>¡®Wow, she¡¯s seriously pretty.¡¯</i> She had proportions only expected of celebrities. And though she was almost too thin, she looked beautiful despite that.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s unbelievable. Can¡¯t I take a picture of her? Holy shit,¡¯ </i>Gyong-Jun thought and fumbled with his phone habitually. <i>¡®No, I will be screwed if someone notices me. I should hold myself back.¡¯</i>


    Gyong-Jun stopped himself. He thought he would get a crazy amount of views if he just took a picture of a well-known celebrity and posted it, but he probably would never be able to do a part-time job at a broadcasting show again.


    <i>¡®But if there¡¯s something that could really cause a big issue, it will be fun to post it,¡¯ </i>he thought. Though his greed and logic were still maintaining a bnce of order, even he couldn¡¯t guarantee what would happen if that order broke. Gyong-Jun caressed the phone in his pockets again.


    ***


    While the producer assistant, Gyong-Jun fumbled with his phone, <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s mini-game special shooting officially began.


    ¡°The first game is...eating lemons quickly!¡±


    The producers on site who heard the mission shook their heads after hearing the game. They had heard that the idol groups would be doing some strange games, but it was surprising that the first game was a lemon-eating contest. It was obvious everyone¡¯s stomach was empty right now, so they wondered which evil mastermind came up with the idea.


    ¡°Okay! Who will go first? Ah, will the Sirens want to go?¡±


    ¡°Yes, since it was our leader who suggested the game, we want to take responsibility for it.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°<i>Haaa.</i>¡±


    ¡°Lemons, seriously?¡±


    Siren members raised their hands first and quickly ate the lemons. The producers thought the Sirens were not only good-looking but also hardworking. Yet, they didn¡¯t expect much.


    ¡°Five of you need toe out and eat a total of five lemons. Each person can eat one, or one person can eat as many as they can. Pleasee out one by one and eat them!¡±


    Though it was a difficult mission where they had to eat five raw lemons, Tae-Yoon stepped forward and announced. ¡°I will go first and eat all five of them.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s with you?¡±


    But regardless of how others reacted, Tae-Yoon began to quickly finish the lemons in the blink of an eye and ate the lemons like he was eating tangerines instead, making everyone exim in shock.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, are you good at eating sour food?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°But your face is too calm.¡±


    ¡°These are very sour though.¡±


    ¡°No, but it doesn¡¯t seem sour to you at all!¡±


    ¡°They are really sour though.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that while grabbing another one!¡±


    The slight twitching around the edges of his eyes and lips muscles showed that the lemons were truly sour.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon stop eating them!¡±


    When Tae-Yoon ate two and a half lemons, Yeon-Hoon dragged Tae-Yoon away. Tae-Yoon made a short <i>¡®Ah</i>¡¯ gasp and was pushed to the back.


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Mr. Yeon-Hoon! Are you all right?¡±


    ¡°Aghhhh!¡± Yeon-Hoon began trembling after eating one slice of a lemon. He got up, rolled his feet, and tried to forcefully swallow the food down. Then, with teary eyes, he backed away after eating just one slice. The rest of the slices were handed to Do-Seung.


    ¡°What! This is! Umph!¡± Do-Seung also eximed and shoved a whole lemon in his mouth and swallowed it. It was up to Woon and Dong-Jun to eat the remaining one and a half.


    ¡°What. Ah, <i>Shhhh</i>. This is really sour. <i>Hm</i>.¡± It was funny how Woon sounded like he was calm and struggling at the same time.


    ¡°What! This is seriously sour! Where did you get this!¡± On the other hand, it was funny that Dong-Jun didn¡¯t look like he was having any difficulties but only sounded like he was. In the end, the time it took all five members to eat the five lemons was:


    ¡°2 minutes and 10 seconds! Wow, that¡¯s quite fast.¡± It was a good record that was hard to beat. After that, other teams also challenged the lemon-eating game.


    ¡°Only One¡ª2 minutes and 30 seconds! Ah, so close~¡±


    ¡°Bleshu- 10 minutes! What took you guys so long!¡±


    ¡°One by One¡ª 3 minutes; it¡¯s a bit long.¡±


    ¡°Luminin 5 minutes! How regretful.¡±


    No group managed to beat Siren¡¯s record of 2 minutes and 10 seconds. It was Siren¡¯s win in the first game. The second game was a ssic in variety game shows: guessing the song by the melody. After listening to a very short excerpt of a song, they needed to guess what it was.


    ¡°Correct! Bong Tae-Yoon! Aro¡¯s <i>The One in the Sad Picture</i>!¡±


    ¡°Correct! Bong Tae-Yoon! Kim Nam-Kyoug¡¯s <i>The Guy From the Pier</i>!¡±


    ¡°Correct! Bong Tae-Yoon! Hyung-Jung¡¯s <i>Strange Time</i>!¡±


    Siren¡¯s Bong Tae-Yoon dominated this game like a firecracker. These were all songs from the seventies and eighties but he managed to get them all. It appeared that there was someone that even the demon-like producing director couldn¡¯t outwit, and the funny thing was how Tae-Yoon got the answers. He stood frozen in his spot when the game began and crazily spit out answers while not moving an inch.


    That made him seem more like an answer-making robot and made the othersugh. After the game ended, Tae-Yoon seemed to have gotten a spell of dizziness and staggered, making people burst intoughter again.


    ¡°Sirens take the win again~!¡±


    The third game was a food-eating contest, where each of the groups had topete on who ate the most. In this one, a representative from each team came out to y.


    ¡°Bleshu, what happened? You eat like you haven¡¯t eaten for days!¡±


    Bleshu¡¯s leader came out and seemed to film a whole <i>mukbang</i> video himself.


    ¡°I was a swimmer from middle school to high school, that¡¯s why. Haha,¡± he answered. Swimmers were one of the athletes who were known to consume a great amount of food, so it wasn¡¯t surprising that he was able to eat so much.


    The team who did worst was Siren¡¯s Woo Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°Mr. Yeon-Hoon! You can¡¯t rub your stomach after eating so little!¡±


    ¡°Huh? Ah, but this is really delicious!¡±


    ¡°No, you have to eat a lot rather than tasting the food!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha....¡±


    Yeon-Hoon ate the food most deliciously but ate the least. It made people wonder why he came out for this game out of all the other members.


    ¡°Seems like they are just giving their leader a treat to eat.¡±


    ¡°Well, they only ate lemons on an empty stomach.¡±


    Some people guessed from the Siren members¡¯ expressions that they had just handed this game to the other groups to win.


    ¡°Bleshu takes the victory title in the third game! Now, let¡¯s get onto the fourth game. After eating, it¡¯s time to move a bit. Jumping over vaults!¡±


    The fourth game was one that involved physicality. Since the first three games progressed without any problems, everyone expected that to be the case for the fourth game.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    ¡°Grab it!¡±


    ¡°Noooo!¡±


    But a game that should¡¯ve felt like an all-boys physical education ss flowed in apletely different direction.

 Chapter 44

    <h4>Chapter 44</h4>


    I did my best to y the games prepared by the production crew of <i>The Showcase</i>. Being PepC¡¯s advertising model had enough ripple effect to reverse thetter flow of T<i>he Showcase 2</i>. Therefore, if we won this advertisement deal, we might not only pose a serious rival to Only One but be the main characters of <i>The Showcase 2</i>. At least within the program, we would be able to gain enough poprity to equallypete with Only One. Thus, we needed to win this deal no matter what.


    So I pretended to be crazy and ate a lemon while using my brain 200% to listen and guess songs by their introduction. While I was ying the second game, the Insight ability luckily came out, and I was able to lead the game by almost monopolizing the points.


    If It was a melody that I had heard once in my life, the Insight ability checked every nerve in my brain and found the title and singer. It was a very sessful game, except that the production crew and the other cast looked at me like a monster. I told the other members that for the third game, Food Fight, we should use it as our rest time.


    ¡°Since we won both games, why don¡¯t we catch our breaths during Food Fight?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s enjoy a meal instead of ying games for that round.¡±


    ¡°Who has the most upset stomach among us? I think everyone¡¯s stomachs are ruined by eating lemons earlier.¡±


    ¡°Can I eat? Since a while back, I feel like my gastric juice is about toe back up.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, go ahead, Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    After discussing with the members, Yeon-Hoon went up as the Food Fightpetitor and enjoyed his meal beforeing back down. The menu was an American hot dog, which could be called a ssic in food fightingpetitions, and Yeon-Hoon came down after eating just one hot dog.


    ¡°That was so delicious!¡±


    ¡°So lucky.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m definitely going to eat hot dogs after today¡¯s shooting.¡±


    While exchanging light conversations with the members, I continued to look around the studio with my eyes. It was to check Park Young-Ho¡¯s condition and to observe the yellow-haired man¡¯s movements. For now, there was no big problem.


    Although it was annoying that he kept secretly taking pictures of the studio without the production crew knowing, that was not something that posed an immediate problem. However, I couldn¡¯t lower my guard because the system gave me a surprise mission.


    <i>¡®I wonder what¡¯s going to pop out.¡¯</i> I had once taken the mission lightly, and Yeon-Hoon almost got hit by a flowerpot. The first could be a mistake, but not the second time. There was definitely going to be an ident today. I took a deep breath and calmed my anxiety. Then I concentrated on the shooting again.


    While I was waiting for the ident to appear, the host announced, ¡°Bleshu takes the third game! Then let¡¯s now start the fourth game. Since we just ate, let¡¯s move a little. We¡¯ll be vaulting!¡±


    As expected, I set an ident g just by thinking about it. A physical game immediately came up, and it was even a game called vaulting, which was perfect for idents. I looked at Park Young-Ho and the yellow-haired man. Both of their expressions didn¡¯t change much. Park Young-Ho seemed a little worried, but he didn¡¯t seem to think too much about it.


    ¡°Let me exin the rules of the game. This is a game in which five yers from each teame out and take turns jumping over the vault.¡± The rules were as follows¡ªfive yers from each group were sent out. Frankly, except for the six-member group Luminin, everyone was a five-member group, so virtually, everyone had toe out.


    Anyway, five people had to take turns jumping over the vault. If I jumped over 9 levels, another member had to jump over 10 levels, and someone else had to jump over 11 levels. If a member failed to jump over, their respective group was eliminated, and the surviving groups continued the game by adding more levels. In the end, this game was meaningless for one person to do well, since even if a member could jump over 9 levels, the game ended when the next member couldn¡¯t jump over 10 levels.


    <i>¡®But Park Young-Ho¡¯s order could be pushed back as much as possible.¡¯</i> To minimize the burden on Park Young-Ho, Only One would probably dy his order as much as possible by cing him in the furthest back or front.


    ¡°Then please raise the vault!¡± In line with Kim Young-Jin¡¯s signal, the production team installed a wooden vault and soft mat.


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°This kind of feels like high school.¡±


    ¡°I think I jumped over a vault when I was doing physical education, but I don¡¯t know if my body remembers.¡±


    Watching the vault being installed, the members exchanged conversations like this.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you good at vaulting?¡± Yeon-Hoon looked up at me and asked.


    ¡°No.¡± Honestly, I was not good at sports. I just did gym workouts or bare-handed exercises. I was terrible at exercises that involved using the whole body, like vaulting.


    <i>¡®But will it be possible for this body?¡¯</i> Since I was back in my 19-years-old body, it felt like I could strangely do well this time. The feeling of going from 24 years old to 19 years old was exhrating. I was surprised every day by how strong and good this body was.


    Of course, 24 years old was not old at all, but I had locked myself in my room for five years, only writing my novel, and had zero social life, so my body used to be at the bottom 1 percent of my age group. I woke up groaning every morning, wrote one episode, and didn¡¯t do anything else the rest of the day. After living with such a poor body, I had nothing to be afraid of after returning to my 19-year-old body.


    ¡°Which group will go first?¡± When the vault instation was over, Kim Young-Jin looked around us and asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll go first.¡± The first person to raise their hand was Bleshu. ¡°We¡¯ll go second.¡± Second ce was OnebyOne.


    ¡°We¡¯ll go third.¡± Luminin was going third.


    ¡°We¡¯ll go forth.¡± After discussing it with my members, I raised my hand for the fourth position. I purposely aimed for this order as I thought going in front or behind Only One would be the best to watch over Park Young-Ho¡¯s condition.


    ¡°Then Only One will naturally be thest. Then let¡¯s y the vault game in this order.¡±


    The vault game progressed at a strangely calm pace.


    The first round was set to 10 levels.


    ¡°Bleshu, sess!¡±


    ¡°OnebyOne, sess!¡±


    ¡°Luminin, sess!¡±


    ¡°Siren, sess!¡±


    ¡°Only One, sess!¡±


    Everyone seeded easily with no troubles. In the first ce, we were all idols who exercised every day. In other words, our body was specialized in physical activities. Since we were also all young, everyone seeded in jumping over 11 levels and 12 levels after that. However, I thought it felt a bit high from the 13th level and soon enough¡ª


    ¡°Ohhhh! Ah! Bleshu! Narrowly passes!¡±


    ¡°OnebyOne, sess!¡±


    ¡°Ah! Luminin, unfortunately, failed.¡±


    ¡°Siren, sess!¡±


    ¡°Only One, sess!¡±


    The number of people who reached their limits slowly began toe out.


    But more importantly, I thought,<i> ¡®Park Young-Ho looks a bit stressed.¡¯</i> His turn was just around the corner. Only One knew that Park Young-Ho¡¯s ankle was hurt and had pushed his order to the furthest back as they probably didn¡¯t think the game would go all the way to the fifth member.


    But unexpectedly, everyone jumped well over the vault. I stared at Park Young-Ho and the yellow-haired man alternately. It felt like I was holding a ticking time bomb in my arms that I didn¡¯t know when it was going to explode. If it was going to explode, I hoped it would explode quickly. I had a headache, thinking that the game might continue to progress like this. At that moment, Kang Hyun-Sung entered my field of vision.


    <i>¡®What is he doing?¡¯ </i>Kang Hyun-Sung approached Park Young-Ho and whispered something in his ear, but Park Young-Ho shook his head and jumped from his seat. Judging by their movements, it seemed as if Kang Hyun-Sung had asked if his ankle was all right, and Park Young-Ho must have replied that he was fine.


    <i>¡®Hmm. Why did he have to say he was all right...¡¯</i> He should just rest if he were hurt. Then Kang Hyun-Sung turned his eyes away from Park Young-Ho and looked at me. The two of us exchanged nces and turned our heads at the same time. Just in time, another level was added to the vault for a total of 14 levels. Now, not only did it feel very high, but there was overwhelming pressure, wondering if it was even possible to jump over it.


    ¡°<i>Ugh</i>, can you do it?¡± Yeon-Hoon hugged my arms and asked.


    Dong-Jun seemed to have found that humorous and also hugged my arms and said the same thing, ¡°Tae-Yoon, do you think you can do it~¡±


    It felt like I was a tree with two cicadas clinging on me. I shook my body to get rid of the cicadas.


    ¡°Wow, but 14 levels is really high.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t be easy.¡±


    It was a height that even Do-Seung and Woon, who had the best physical abilities, were quite nervous about, and the other groups were also in the same boat.


    ¡°Ahhh! Unfortunately, Bleshu is out!¡±


    Bleshu was eliminated.


    ¡°OnebyOne~ahhh! OnebyOne is also out.¡±


    OnebyOne was also eliminated. Since Luminin dropped out at 13 levels, it was my turn now. Our team decided the order by age, so it was now my turn to jump.


    ¡°Can you do it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll jump over it ande back.¡± I warmed up lightly and stood in front of the vault. Then I began to draw a mental image that I could jump over this vault. I didn¡¯t know why, but I thought I could do this. With a light heart, I flew my body.


    ¡°Siren! Sess for 14 levels! The <i>maknae</i> has great athletic ability.¡±


    As expected, a 19-year-old¡¯s body was amazing, and that was how we became the first group to seed 14 levels. After jumping the vault, I returned to my seat and waited for Only One¡¯s turn.


    <i>¡®What?¡¯ </i>Then I saw that yellow-haired man sneak out his phone, making an unpleasant smile. Looking at the location of the camera, he was filming Park Young-Ho of Only One.


    <i>¡®What the hell is that bastard doing?¡¯ </i>The yellow-haired man must have noticed Park Young-Ho hurt his ankle. I didn¡¯t know how he noticed, but this was ominous. When I was wondering if I should tell the production crew about Park Young-Ho¡¯s condition again¡ª


    ¡°Wait!¡± One of the production crew¡¯s writers, who seemed to be quite experienced, entered the studio. It was Kim Min-Young, who came to film a video of our dorm before.


    ¡°Mr. Young-Ho, is your ankle okay?¡± Kim Min-Young asked about Park Young-Ho¡¯s condition and eased my frustration. I hoped that she would take Park Young-Ho out of the shooting.


    All Park Young-Ho needed to say was one word¡ªno.


    However, he said, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s fine.¡± <i>That guy was seriously not helping.</i>


    Kim Min-Young asked one more time out of politeness, and Park Young-Ho replied cheerfully, ¡°I really am fine!¡±


    ¡°...All right, but please don¡¯t overdo it. First, please put another mat here!¡±


    The other members of Only One shook their heads in disapproval, but they couldn¡¯t stop him because of how cheerful and bright Young-Ho was. Frankly, I only thought of this as a very dangerous situation because I knew there was going to be an ident for sure. If it weren¡¯t for that, I would have just thought he was working hard despite his injury and wouldn¡¯t think too much of it. In the end, contrary to my wishes¡ª


    Park Young-Ho stood in front of the vault. I fell into a dilemma. Should I catch the hidden cameraman after telling the writer? Or save Park Young-Ho first? However, I didn¡¯t even have time to ponder about it as he began running. 14 levels was not something that could be attempted with an ankle injury. Was it because he overextended himself while not fully realizing his physical condition?


    The moment Park Young-Ho rose in the air, his body did not rise in a straight line but slightly tilted. It was then I knew for sure that there was going to be an ident, and it was going to be a big ident. It was not going to end with the vaulting tform copsing as the production staff was holding the vault from the bottom.


    However, even if the levels didn¡¯t copse, the height was too high. Even if the floor was covered with mats, the height at which he was falling was high enough for him to get hurt. In particr, it was clear that Park Young-Ho would receive a major injury from falling with an ankle injury.


    ¡°Uhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Kyahhh!¡±


    Some of the crew began to scream as they sensed the iing danger of the ident. I ran forward without realizing it. Was it because my body was already ready? I was able to jump out faster than expected. I wished Insight would be activated at this moment, but it didn¡¯te out at such a critical time.


    <i>¡®Damn it!¡¯</i> If I went now, I might get hurt too. However, I couldn¡¯t stand still. If this really became a big ident and spread on the inte and Park Young-Ho really dropped out¡ª<i>The Showcase 2</i> would be doomed.


    <i>¡®Do-Seung...!¡¯ </i>And this would mean that we wouldn¡¯t reach 100,000 album sales in the first week. I couldn¡¯t lose Do-Seung twice. This was not a matter of whether I could do this or not; I needed to do this at all costs. Before Park Young-Ho fell, I managed to reach him. Were the heavens helping me?


    ¡°Uaghhhhh!¡±


    ¡°I got...you!¡±


    I managed to catch him while he was falling and screaming his head off. Since I was holding an adult man falling from the air, it definitely put a strain on my body. Therefore, I didn¡¯t force myself to hold him up with my strength but kneeled on the mat and supported Park Young-Ho¡¯s weight instead.


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    As a result, Park Young-Ho and I were able to end this matter without serious injuries.


    ¡°Ahhhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Young-Ho!¡±


    After I saved Park Young-Ho, people began calling our names from all sides. I didn¡¯t pay any attention to them and looked down at Park Young-Ho in my arms. Park Young-Ho seemed to be very shocked as surprise, fear, and relief passed through his big eyes. At the same time, a familiar voice rang out in my ears.


    [Mission aplished.]


    [You¡¯ve stopped Park Young Ho from leaving Only One.]


    [As a reward, you will gain some control of Insight.]


    I seeded. I was going to take it easy now when¡ª


    <i>Swooosh!</i>


    ¡°Hmph!¡± A strange and foreign feeling spread throughout my body.


    [Sixth sense has been formed.]


    [Beware as there could be temporary pain.]

 Chapter 45

    <h4>Chapter 45</h4>


    [Sixth Sense has been formed.]


    [Beware as there could be temporary pain.]


    Mysterious sentences rang inside my head.


    <i>Shaaaa!</i>


    Then, I felt a pain so intense that I thought my head was bingpletely nk. I couldn¡¯t believe that the system just told me that there could be temporary pain. It should¡¯ve warned me that severely intense pain was going to assault me and numb my head. If I had to make aparison, it felt as if my body was getting pricked by thin needles from head to toe without any gaps in between. My whole body seemed to convulse.


    Yet, the strange thing was that though the pain was mind-numbing, it was endurable. It wasn¡¯t to the point that I had to scream and roll on the floor. It was as if the system gave me a level of pain it knew didn¡¯t surpass my limits, and I could endure it by clenching my arms tightly.


    Still, it seemed others could also clearly tell that I was in pain. The people who came to assess the situation didn¡¯t look at Young-Ho but me. My group members looked especially worried. It seemed they thought I got a serious injury after trying to catch Young-Ho.


    ¡°Are you okay, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon? Hey!¡±


    ¡°What should we do!¡±


    ¡°Call 911!¡±


    I thought the situation was going to be bigger than necessary when suddenly¡ª<i>shaaa</i>¡ªthe painpletely disappeared. The pain I felt becamepletely reced with a refreshing and cool sensation.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°A-Are you all right?¡±


    They seemed to be astonished that someone who had appeared to be in excruciating pain suddenly looked peaceful.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon! Are you all right? Do you have any problems?¡± Before I knew it, all the producers and writers were rushing toward me. Even though it was Young-Ho who had almost gotten hurt, I was getting more attention than him. I thought my priority should be to calm all of them down.


    ¡°...I¡¯m fine,¡± I said in the calmest voice I could manage. Yet, it wasn¡¯t easy to erase so many people¡¯s worries.


    ¡°Are you really fine?¡±


    ¡°Are you sure you aren¡¯t injured...?¡±


    ¡°I think we should take you to the hospital.¡±


    Even Young-Ho, who was lying on the mattress, got up and said cautiously, ¡°Um, Mr. Tae-Yoon, I think you should really go to the hospital. If you were injured while trying to help me...I will reimburse you somehow...¡± Young-Ho sounded very apologetic, like he thought he was the cause of everything, and I knew his mental state would be worse if he kept ming himself.


    Thus, I told him firmly, ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t be so sorry. It was just an ident.¡± I thought I should get up and stretch a bit to show everyone I was okay. I lightly got to my feet and repeatedly jumped up and down.


    ¡°I¡¯m really fine, but since Mr. Young-Ho appears quite shocked by what happened, I think it will be a good idea to pause the shooting for a bit.¡±


    My group members and the broadcasting crew looked at me bewilderedly, like they were looking at some kind of alien. The director especially looked at me with half worry and half surprise. I probably would¡¯ve responded like them if I also saw a guy writhing in pain suddenly get up the next moment and jump up and down. I was about to tell everyone firmly that I was fine when Yeon-Hoon asked me in an uncharacteristically serious voice.


    ¡°Are you really okay? You can be honest.¡±


    My other group members also looked serious as they told me, ¡°Yeah. It could be dangerouster if you keep it hidden right now.¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon, tell us honestly.¡±


    All my group members looked very serious. I could understand their concern. If I was in the same position as them and one of my group members went through the same situation as me, I would¡¯ve also responded simrly.


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m sorry for making you guys worried, but I guess I can¡¯t be sure. I will keep checking over my body¡¯s condition while resting and tell you guys if it gets bad,¡± I told them and looked to the main producing director. I was clearly expressing my desire to have a break before continuing shooting. One would have to bepletely bonkers to resume shooting in this situation, and the director nodded.


    Then, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s have a lunch break and gather at this ce again at 3 p.m. For those who need to go to the hospital, please tell us before going.¡±


    Since it was 12 p.m. right now, we were given 3 hours of break. It was an unusually long break time for a broadcasting site that was known for its rigorously packed schedule.


    ¡°Let¡¯s continue after break~¡±


    ¡°We will continue after break~¡±


    The broadcasting crew members passed on the message to each other and took back their equipment. Several writers came to us and took away the mics attached to our backs. I only felt like we were on a break after the mics were taken off us, and my group members also seemed to rx a bit then.


    ¡°<i>Haaa.</i>¡±


    ¡°That really surprised me.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, no matter how urgent the situation is, don¡¯t do that again. I thought my heart dropped.¡±


    My group members told me while lying on top of the mattress.


    Then, I heard an unfamiliar voice from the opposite side.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± I turned my head and saw Only One. Including Kang Hyun-Sung, four members of Only One were looking at me.


    ¡°Young-Ho would¡¯ve been severely injured without you, Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much.¡±


    ¡°We will pay you back for this.¡±


    ¡°Please contact us if your body doesn¡¯t feel goodter.¡±


    The Only One members also appeared very shocked by what happened.


    ¡°Yes, thank you.¡± Since these guys did nothing wrong, I just epted their thanks and passed over the matter. The Only One members supported Young-Ho, whoy on the mattress and left the studio. I supposed they were nning to go to the hospital first. And after Only One disappeared, the other cast also began to move to the waiting room one by one. We also got up from our spots and left the studio, and on our way, we met Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon.


    ¡°Do you really not need to go to the hospital?¡±


    ¡°Just in case, why don''t you go get a simple checkup?¡±


    The two tried to get me to go to a hospital somehow, but after repeating many times that I was fine, they dropped the matter. Then, after that smallmotion, my group members and I moved to the waiting room.


    But right before we opened the door and went inside the room, I said, ¡°Wait.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Ah, I just realized I left something. Please go in first,¡± I told my group members and walked toward the studio. Then, I approached the writer, Ms. Min-Young.


    ¡°Sorry? Are you hurt somewhere, Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it,¡± I said and told her of the guy who was keeping secret cameras on the site.


    ¡°...What, that¡¯s crazy...¡± Hearing this, Ms. Min-Young¡¯s face turned dark. And seeing this, I thought I finished everything I needed to do, and the broadcasting crew would handle the rest.


    ***


    Kim Gyong-Jun,<i> The Showcase 2</i> part-time, producing assistant, was grinning excitedly while sitting on a toilet seat inside the bathroom. He reyed the video he had just taken and realized it was better than he expected.


    <i>¡°This is crazy. Isn¡¯t this something that could make people cancel this program?</i>¡¯ Originally, Gyong-Jun didn¡¯t n to reveal which program he was working part-time for unless a big event happened. This was because he knew that once he specified which show he was working for in his inte forums, he would not only be unable to work in broadcasting stations in the future but could also be sued.


    But this case was special. If he just uploaded this video, he could cause a stir in society; it was something that could make the press write articles about the harsh reality of the idol business and the broadcasting site.


    Of course, it wouldn¡¯t go that far if he just uploaded the video just as it was since he also got some footage of the producers taking safety measurements and checking the site and so on too. However, if he edited all those cuts out, he would have a video that clearly portrayed the brutal and inhumane working conditions of an idol. The video itself looked very shocking in some parts and clearly showed how corrupt and inhumane the industry was.


    <i>¡®Unfortunately, nobody really got hurt. If someone did, it could¡¯ve gathered quite the attention. How unfortunate.¡¯ </i>Well, he thought this much was enough to cause an issue and assured himself.


    Though it was a serious situation, he couldn¡¯t stop smiling. He kept thinking about how many views he would get by uploading the video and how much attention he would gather from something he made. The thought of it just made his heart thump. He was about to go to his inte forum to upload the video when someone opened the bathroom door looking for him.


    ¡°Mr. Gyong-Jun! Mr. Gyong-Jun, are you here!¡±


    Though he was sitting on the toilet seat, he got up and stood on top of the seat without knowing quite why. Then, he blocked his mouth with his hands and kept quiet.


    ¡°What? This one is locked. Mr. Gyong-Jun! You are in here, right?¡± The person outside began to bang on the door outside of his toiletpartment. In the end, he couldn¡¯t ignore the continuing pressure and opened the door himself.


    ¡°Yes, well, I...¡± As soon as he cautiously went outside the toiletpartment, the person in front of him snatched the phone away from his hands. It was so sudden that Gyong-Jun couldn¡¯t react, and because he didn¡¯t lock his phone, the screen he was looking at was exposed just like that. The producer in front of him skimmed through his phone and found the video Gyong-Jun had filmed.


    ¡°Ha, seriously. You really took it,¡± the producer said. ¡°Didn¡¯t you sign a confidentiality agreement when starting this job? It should¡¯ve clearly said that upon breach of contract, you would need to repay for the possible damage that the program would have to suffer.¡±


    Gyong-Jun¡¯s face turned pale.


    ¡°Ha. It could¡¯ve been really serious if writer Kim didn¡¯t warn me.¡±


    All sorts of thoughts passed through Gyong-Jun''s head then. He wondered if he should grab back his phone and make a run for it. Or should he just pretend to be innocent? What would happen if he was really sued?


    ¡°Follow me,¡± the producer said.


    But as these thoughts continued to whirl inside his head, one thing seemed clear: he had definitelymitted a crime.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m fucked,¡¯</i> he thought.


    ***


    After eating lunch, I sat in the waiting room with my group members. Only One who used the same room as us hadn¡¯t returned yet.


    ¡°Everyone is probably still at the hospital, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, probably.¡±


    ¡°I hope Mr. Young-Ho¡¯s injuries aren¡¯t that serious,¡± my group members said and stared at Only One¡¯s spot. Only One didn¡¯te even during the time when it was almost time for the shooting to resume again. They only came five minutes before the shooting directly to the studio instead of the waiting room.


    I thought they would send Young-Ho back to the dorm, but they brought him with them, and he still didn¡¯t have a cast on his ankles. I wondered what if another ident happened, but then I realized that it was an inevitable choice that they had to make for the show.


    <i>¡®It would create more fuss if he gets out right now,¡¯</i> I thought. If Young-Ho disappeared with no warning in the middle, there would be all sorts of posts asking about him. Then, I scanned our surroundings and saw that the yellow-haired man I had seen before noon was nowhere at sight. Perhaps, the broadcasting crew thoroughly took care of that matter.


    ¡°Okay then! Let¡¯s start our noon shooting!¡± the producing director announced.


    ¡°Did everyone enjoy their lunch?¡± Kim Young-Jin climbed up to the stage again and naturally said his lines. ¡°Then, let¡¯s continue to keep fighting and y the next round of games!¡± It seemed he was trying to raise the mood again. ¡°Since the Sirens took the win for the fourth game, it¡¯s guaranteed the Sirens would be the winners. But though ranks are meaningless now, let¡¯s continue to do our best for the fifth game.¡±


    Since we won the fourth game, jumping over vaults, we won most of the games prepared for today and were the final winners. Thus, I was sure that we would be the models for the PepCmercial. Yet, the program continued the fifth game because there were additional prizes involved in this one.


    ¡°The fifth game is a treasure hunt!¡±


    From what I recall, there were several prizes avable in this treasure hunt. Though there were many subpar prizes, there were some neat ones mixed in, too. I remembered the best one being tickets to Jeju.


    ¡°Since there will be additional giveaways given to those who find the most treasures, please give it your all to find as many treasures as you can.¡±


    ¡°Giveaways?¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°They are giving away a lot of gifts today.¡±


    My group members¡¯ spirits lifted after hearing about the giveaway.


    ¡°Okay, then! There are treasures hidden outside this studio, so please go outside and find them! Your time limit is one hour!¡± Then, at Kim Young-Jin¡¯s signal, all the cast pumped themselves up and dashed outside of the studio.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°Ohhh!¡±


    My group members also appeared to desire the prizes and ran outside the studio.


    ¡°Let¡¯s try to get something!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    I followed my group members from behind at a more leisurely pace when a familiar voice pulled me back.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Could we talk for a bit? If the time is all right.¡±


    I turned around and saw Kang Hyun-Sung looking at me. His face appeared calmer than usual.

 Chapter 46

    <h4>Chapter 46</h4>


    ¡°Time?¡± I repeated Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s question. What did he mean by that? He must also be well aware that we were in the middle of filming right now.


    I said, ¡°We have to go treasure hunting. They said they¡¯re prizes involved.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go find that a littleter.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a broadcast. Shouldn¡¯t we do as we¡¯re told?¡±


    ¡°Sir.¡± Instead of answering my question, Kang Hyun-Sung went to producer Park Soo-Chul. He seemed like he said something to Park Soo-Chul, and after their conversation was over, he approached me again and took off the microphone on his waist.


    He said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You should take off your microphone too if you don¡¯t want our private conversations to be broadcasted on TV.¡±


    It was the first time I had ever seen him act like this. I didn¡¯t know why he was going so far to have just a little conversation after giving me such a stern warningst week on top of the stairs. Was he nning to take me to a corner and beat me up? I don¡¯t think I would lose in my current state but...


    <i>¡®What the hell am I thinking about again?¡¯</i> I cut off these meaningless thoughts and took off my microphone. It seemed meaningless for me to keep resisting more from here.


    When I went to the producer and handed him the microphone pack, Park Soo-Chul said, ¡°I¡¯m just giving you 10 minutes. Please have a quick conversation about Mr. Young-Ho ande back.¡±


    I now understood how this private time was created. <i>¡®He sold off his hurt maknae.¡¯</i>


    Since he didn¡¯t do anything seriously bad, it felt out of line for me to say anything. Furthermore, a request like this only worked because Kang Hyun-Sung asked. If it were another group leader, they would definitely have been like, ¡®What? You should just keep shooting.¡¯


    ¡°We¡¯lle back in 10 minutes.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said and moved to the waiting room.


    * * *


    Kang Hyun-Sung and I sat face-to-face in the waiting room. It was even more awkward because we were alone in an enclosed space. Kang Hyun-Sung called me all the way here but just stared at me without saying a word. I wondered why he was staring at me so intently, but I felt like I would be losing if I moved my gaze away, so I red back. Silence continued like this for a while, and then Kang Hyun-Sung spoke first.


    ¡°Thank you for helping Young-Ho.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°The doctor told us that if it weren¡¯t for you, his leg would have been broken.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡± Even from my perspective, I thought that would be the case, so that¡¯s why I had gritted my teeth and caught him.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Like this, his awkward and dull gesture of gratitude ended. He must not have called me out separately just to tell me this. I wondered what else he wanted to tell me.


    Kang Hyun-Sung asked, ¡°How are you preparing for the next performance?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± He suddenly asked me about the preparation for the next stage. It was strange that he started the conversation by saying thank you and was now trying to dig up information.


    When I stared nkly at him, Kang Hyun-Sung continued, ¡°For us, we¡¯re taking the whole song apart and revising it extensively.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. Go ahead.¡± I wondered what reaction he wanted from me. It was a mission to steal another group¡¯s performance, so it was natural to rearrange it.


    ¡°We took out all the Korean instruments and changed the song from ¡®Walya¡¯ to ¡®Moon Night.¡¯¡± Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s exnation began to get more and more detailed. At this rate, he was going to spoil everything about their next performance.


    He continued, ¡°We also considerably changed the interpretation of the song. The lyrics you wrote were about a love that cannot be ful...¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡± I cut him off before he could go any further and asked, ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡± I had never asked how Only One was preparing for their performance.


    Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me again and said, ¡°Be prepared.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of performance you prepared, but I¡¯m telling you to listen to what we are preparing so that your group can prepare something that will be good enough to rival us.¡±


    What the hell was up with this bastard? He was outrightly telling me now that since we¡¯re rivals, we should make good use of that for the show and maximize our benefits.


    ¡°We¡¯ll take care of our performance by ourselves.¡± However, he was going a little over the line. Was he trying to teach me a lesson or something? It didn¡¯t feel very pleasant because it felt like he was belittling us.


    ¡°Yes, well. I got it.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung nodded without further words. I wondered if this was something he should say to a person he was thankful to, but I just decided to think of it as his own version of expressing gratitude. Overall, he did share information about their next performance and told us that we should lead the show together.


    ¡°Then, you have nothing more to say, right?¡± However, this kind of situation was only unpleasant, and I didn¡¯t want to stay here any longer. I tried to get out of my seat, but Kang Hyun-Sung wasn¡¯t finished.


    ¡°No, I have one more thing to say.¡± He looked in a specific direction and said, ¡°You¡¯ll probably shoot the PepCmercial with us. Don¡¯t be too disappointed.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± He brought up unexpected information. What kind of nonsense was he saying about shooting themercial together? Of course, Only One won the PepCmercial in my past life, but that was the past. Since we¡¯ve won the most games, we needed to be the models, but why was he suddenly saying that we needed to co-model with them? I red at Kang Hyun-Sung because I thought there was a hidden alliance between the production crew and him.


    He seemed to have read the hostility in my gaze as he replied, ¡°In the first ce, that model proposal came to me personally, but I talked to the production team and made it into a game for the sake of the show. Whatever the oue of the game, it was supposed to be with us. I didn¡¯tmit an immoral injustice but did everyone a favor instead.¡±


    When I continued to look at him with suspicion, he stared at me with a little annoyance and got up. ¡°I told you in advance so you won¡¯t be disappointed that you have to co-model with us.¡±


    He must have thought he was doing me a favor, and I put aside my distrust and thought rationally. No matter how sessful <i>The Showcase 2 </i>was, it was not popr enough to gain an advertising model deal for a single game. Advertising was a huge investment. Therefore, it was actually reasonable for Only One, which included Kang Hyun-Sung, to be the advertising model.


    <i>¡®As he said, he may have done us a favor by giving us a chance.¡¯ </i>This meant that Kang Hyun-Sung shared the modeling deal with us even though he could have done it alone.


    ¡°No, I believe it. After thinking about it, that seems more usible.¡± I withdrew my suspicions about him and said, ¡°You have nothing more to say, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s head out.¡±


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s do that.¡±


    The two of us came out of the waiting room side by side. While I was heading out, I wondered why this guy called me out all the way here. Since he called me out separately, I thought he might tell me something really important, but it was nothing much.


    He just told me the behind-the-scenes story about the PepC modeling contract, and all he did was give a warning that sounded like an order to prepare a simr level of performance as theirs. It seemed as if this was how Kang Hyun-Sung was repaying the favor, but they were all TMIs that I didn¡¯t need to know.


    He must have thought he was sharing some kind of critical information, but it didn¡¯t matter to me if I knew about his performance or not. I was a little curious about their performance, but just because their stage concept was good, it didn¡¯t mean their skills would suddenly soar, so their performance was probably within my expectations anyway.


    For the PepC modeling case, it was not something I could do anything about, so it just worsened my mood. Kang Hyun-Sung and I didn¡¯t say a single word to each other while moving back to the studio.


    When we returned, Park Soo-Chul made a fuss and told us, ¡°The other group members are already all looking for treasures. You two should hurry up and go look for the treasure too!¡±


    After wearing a microphone pack back on, Kang Hyun-Sung and I went to the open space outside the studio and joined the treasure hunt.


    When I approached the other members, they asked, ¡°Tae-Yoon, where have you been?¡±


    ¡°I was in the bathroom,¡± I simply replied. It was a bit hard to say that I was with Kang Hyun-Sung as I didn¡¯t reap any benefits from that. Then, I quickly switched the subject of the conversation to finding the treasure. ¡°Did anyone find the treasure?¡±


    ¡°No...¡± Yeon-Hoon replied with a sullen expression.


    ¡°I think the other teams found at least one, but we couldn¡¯t find a single one.¡±


    ¡°Is this rigged?¡±


    ¡°Who rigs a treasure hunt?¡±


    Strangely, it seemed as if we were the only group who couldn¡¯t find a treasure. Other groups were all holding something that looked like a monster ball. I thought that was probably that treasure with the prize inside.


    I started searching the open spaces with the members. Since we got the PepC advertising deal, finding the treasure was not that important, but it was good to have it. I also thought the members would like it if we got one or two. However¡ª


    ¡°The treasure hunt is over!¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we couldn¡¯t find a single one.¡±


    ¡°We seriously have no skills.¡±


    We couldn¡¯t find a treasure until the time limit was up.


    ¡°Please return to the studio!¡±


    We returned to the studio per the direction of the production crew.


    * * *


    After returning to the studio, we took time to organize the results of the treasure hunt, and I was able to immediately confirm that what Kang Hyun-Sung said was true.


    ¡°Oh! We got this!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°Chance to appear as a PepC model.¡±


    Inside the treasure that Only One found, a note with the phrase ¡®PepC Advertising Model Deal¡¯ came out.


    ¡°Only One found the treasure hunt¡¯s highlight!¡± Host Kim Young-Jin said and uplifted Only One, and the other groups looked at Only One with envious eyes.


    ¡°Teams that do well keep doing well.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m jealous~.¡±


    Other groups seemed to just ept it as Only One being lucky. However for me, who knew the whole story, just let out a hollowugh.


    <i>¡®Wouldn¡¯t there be a controversy about the show being rigged if this is aired?¡¯</i> I even worried about this, but¡ª


    ¡°Ah? Ours is a trip to Jeju Ind and a chance to film a traveling video?¡± Bleshu got the jackpot of going on a trip to Jeju Ind and a chance to film a traveling journey video.


    ¡°Ours is filming a stay-in trip at Shi hotel!¡± Luminin got the chance to upload a video of them staying in an expensive hotel.


    ¡°Ours is a pool vi in Gapyeong! And a chance to film a vacation trip!¡± OnebyOne got the chance to film a vacation video at a pool vi in Gapyeong.


    <i>¡®Geez.¡¯ </i>The production crew was throwing money in the air to erase sentiments and ill-feelings of the show being rigged. The unexpected turn of events made meugh.


    <i>¡®At this rate, isn¡¯t it a loss for us to be a model for amercial?¡¯</i> The others could increase their fame by ying and uploading a Utube video, but we were just going to work.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m so jealous.¡¯ </i>Of course, the behind-the-scenes of ourmercial shoot would also be uploaded separately, but I felt annoyed that we might be getting the worse end of the deal.


    ¡°I also want us to go to a hotel...¡±


    ¡°A trip to Jeju Ind, so lucky.....¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Woon sat side by side and envied the other teams.


    ¡°We can go by ourselvester~¡± Dong-Junforted Yeon-Hoon and Woon while saying words he could easily say.


    ¡°We¡¯reing out in amercial. That¡¯s enough,¡± Do-Seung said and soothed Yeon-Hoon and Woon. However, the two must be sad that they couldn¡¯t find a treasure.


    ¡°It would have been so nice to go and rest with you guys.¡±


    ¡°Jeju¡¯s grilled hairtail is really good.¡±


    Woon must have really wanted all the members to go on a trip together and rest well, and Yeon-Hoon must have wanted to go on a healing trip.


    Just in time, the production crew came out and began setting up again. ¡°Please stand in ending formation again!¡±


    It must now be time for the closing lines. We stood in the same formation as the opening and Kim Young-Jin came out in the middle. ¡°Like this, we finished all five games, including the treasure hunt? Did everyone have fun?¡±


    ¡°Yesss!¡± Expected closing remarks rang out in the studio.


    ¡°Hopefully, this was time for all five groups to rx and have fun! We¡¯ll see you all on stage next week!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡±


    ¡°Good job!¡±


    After shooting the ending, a lot of the equipment that was filming us began to fall back at once.


    ¡°Please take off the microphones and bring it here~¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll be moving the cameras out!¡±


    We stood in the middle of the busy scene where the production crew was cleaning up and bowed to them to give the closing greeting, which all rookies needed to do.


    ¡°Thank you! Thank you for your hard work today!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    After greeting each and every one of the staff so that we could look as polite as possible, I was about to leave the studio when¡ª


    <i>Tap.</i>


    Someone grabbed my wrist.


    ¡°What the.¡± When I looked back, Park Young-Ho looked at me with a frightened expression.


    ¡°Um, Mr. Tae-Yoon...¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    I thought Only One¡¯s leader and <i>maknae </i>were both seriously bothering me today when Park Young-Ho asked, ¡°Well, can you tell me your phone number? I¡¯d like to thank you somehow.¡±


    I was strangely very popr among Only One members today. However, I hoped that bothersome events like this would stop happening to me.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We¡¯re not allowed to contact people privately.¡± I just made a half-ass excuse to get him to leave me alone.


    ¡°Ah! That¡ª.¡±


    ¡°See you next time,¡± I answered curtly and ran quickly to the members who were moving ahead of me. I thought I could hear the sound of Park Young-Ho¡¯s mentality crumbling, but it was none of my concern.

 Chapter 47

    <h4>Chapter 47</h4>


    I ignored Young-Ho¡¯s attempt to get my phone number and went outside the studio with my group members.


    ¡°Ahhhh! We can finally go home!¡± Dong-Jun shouted as we walked towards the basement parking lot.


    ¡°Yay, going home~ Sweet home~¡± Yeon-Hoon appeared cheerful to finally finish shooting and danced a funky shoulder dance.


    ¡°Woon, what are we going to eat for dinner?¡±


    ¡°Hm. Is there anything you guys want to eat?¡± Do-Seung and Woon pondered about the dinner menu as soon as they went inside the car. The mood was definitely lighter now than before.


    ¡°I want<i> jaeyuk</i>[1]!¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    ¡°Then pork belly!¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    ¡°Then, sd?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the answer.¡±


    ¡°How could there be a correct answer for even a dinner menu!¡±


    Dong-Jun and Do-Seung bickered and joked like usual.


    ¡°Ahhhh. I¡¯m exhausted.¡±


    ¡°You sure did a lot today.¡±


    ¡°Hm, no. Woon, you did a lot more.¡±


    Woon and Yeon-Hoon exchangedpliments with one another as if they were trying topete to see who was kinder. I watched them all from the back seat with a satisfied smile on my face. This was the everyday, normal dinner scene that I had so desperately dreamed about.


    The shooting time ended one hour earlier than we expected. We also won amercial opportunity, and I stopped Only One¡¯s Young-Ho from dropping out of his group. Though there were some ups and downs in the middle, today was a pretty satisfactory day.


    ¡°Then, should we get sd takeout from the ce near the practice room and go practicing right away?¡±


    ¡°Yeah~¡±


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do that~¡±


    My group members quickly decided on the rest of the ns for the day. We nned to eat dinner and practice right after that, but considering how difficult the performance we were nning to do was, we couldn¡¯t rest even for a day.


    ¡°Then, why doesn''t everyone get some sleep before we arrive at our dorms?¡±


    ¡°Ms. Hyuna! Please wake us up when we arrive~


    ¡°Yes~ Don¡¯t worry!¡±


    Everyone probably felt burdened by this intense schedule. We had only been sleeping three hours a day in the past week and even did some shooting today. Yet, we were going to go right into practice after this.


    On the other hand, having a worn-out body was preferablepared to the listless days I spent with no end in sight and out of the spotlight. I nned to sumb to this nice feeling of lethargy and close my eyes when I remembered something again and opened my eyes.


    <i>¡®Ah.¡¯ </i>I had forgotten about a crucial fact because I had been too busy with the shooting.<i> ¡®But don¡¯t I have control over my Insight now? There was something about the sixth sense too?¡¯</i>


    It was the changes that took ce after I saved Park Young-Ho. It seemed evident that the system had given me some control over my Insight, but I wasn¡¯t sure how I could go about it since I wasn¡¯t too familiar with the ability in the first ce.


    ¡®<i>And moreover, what is this sixth sense?¡¯ </i>I didn¡¯t know what this was talking about. What was this supposed to mean? It was the kind of wording that made me think the system was kind of over the top. Anyway, I sat quietly and thought over the sixth sense and Insight.


    <i>¡®I think the sixth sense is supposed to help me use Insight,¡¯</i> I thought. Since Insight was a superhuman ability, I would probably need a new sense to control it.


    <i>¡®Then, what in the world is this ¡®sixth sense¡¯ exactly?¡¯ </i>The system told me that I gained this sixth sense, but I noticed no changes in my body. Nothing special happened, and my mind and body appeared to be the same as before. I pondered about this while looking out the window.


    <i>¡®Since it¡¯s supposed to control Insight, maybe I should try to recall the sensations I feel whenever it gets activated...¡¯</i> I tried a simple and easy approach first. Since I had control over it, I thought I might now be able to activate it whenever I wanted.


    <i>¡®But what sensation did I feel whenever the Insight ability got activated?¡¯</i> I was already stuck on the first point. I always felt urgent whenever I was in a situation where I needed the ability. Thus, I couldn¡¯t easily remember the sensations I felt then since I was too busy solving the problem in front of me during those times. And while I was feeling frustrated, not knowing what to do, the car entered a tunnel.


    <i>Whoooosh¡ª</i>


    The car entered a tunnel and the view outside the window instantly changed. It felt as if I entered another world in just a second and there was even something different about the sound I heard around me.


    <i>¡®Ah.¡¯</i> Perhaps, I should think about this ability like entering a tunnel. The moment I used Insight, the world I lived in took a clearly different form than before. My mind quickly sucked in information around me, and its ability to sense its surroundings quickened so much that I almost thought the world was slowing down.


    It felt as if I was stepping into another unknown world. Using this Insight ability was simr to entering a tunnel, and I was nning to focus on this feeling when using the Insight ability.


    <i>Whoooosh!</i>


    I entered Insight mode, and the constantly changing scenery outside my car window fixed to a halt and all the changes that urred inside the car clearly entered my ears and eyes. Everything that was within this confined space¡ªthe inside of the car¡ªcame within my range of vision. This rush of information could be the first step to taking control of everything. The word, ¡®omnipotence¡¯ came to my mind when the Insight ability suddenly ended by itself.


    <i>Psh.</i>


    <i>Gasp! </i>Perhaps, because I had tried to activate the Insight ability on my own for the first time, the side effects were severe, and I felt a head-splitting headache. If I had been standing instead of sitting down, I would¡¯ve probably copsed to the ground. Simultaneously, the system¡¯s voice rang inside my ears again.


    [You used your maximum limit of Insight for today.]


    [You will be able to use it again after a specific time frame.]


    <i>¡®What? Is there some cooling time or something?¡¯</i> I wondered. Why wouldn¡¯t the system just give me everything when it was giving me something? I scowled, feeling the head-splitting pain and expressed my annoyance to the system.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Are you all right?¡± Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeong asked worriedly, seeing my condition through the back mirror. Though the pain didn¡¯tpletely subside, I answered in the calmest way I could possibly make.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m just tired.¡± Then I pretended to be asleep. If I made any more fuss than this, I think I would wake my group members even though this was a precious nap time they rarely had. I needed to let them save their stamina as much as possible.


    ***


    We arrived at the street where the practice room was.


    ¡°You can just drop us here!¡±


    ¡°We can drive you to where the sd ce is.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s already right in front anyway. It¡¯s the same thing,¡± Yeon-Hoon told Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, and they parked the car in the streets.


    ¡°Be careful!¡±


    ¡°Thank you for today!¡±


    ¡°Good work~¡±


    We each thanked Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon while getting out of the car.


    ¡°Okay~ Let¡¯s go buy sd~¡± Like that, we went inside the sd store and ordered the menu we always did. Then, we returned to our practice room, ate, and rested for 30 minutes to digest our food; and then resumed our practice. Though we just came back from a shooting, I was surprised by how they practiced like nothing special happened. I was almost reaching my physical limit, but everyone dived into our training without showing any signs of fatigue.


    ¡°We are going to practice with dancers tomorrow right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. We decided to go to their practice room because it¡¯s much better than ours.¡±


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    ¡°This damn WD Entertainment.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but they did get dancers for us this time.¡±


    The only conversation we shared was still just about practice or Woon¡¯s teachings.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, move your leg!¡±


    ¡°Dong-Jun, extend your arm!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, put more pressure on your body!¡±


    We continued to move like that until it was past midnight. We needed to wake up at 6 a.m. again tomorrow, so I worried that we might have to basically pull an all-nighter again.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s stop our practice for today,¡± Woon said and announced the end of today¡¯s practice.


    ¡°Haaaa!¡±


    ¡°Ugggh!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    My group members screamed while lying on the floor.


    ¡°Really good work, everyone,¡± I told my group members and also slumped to the ground beside them.


    Then, after exactly ten minutes of collecting our breaths and resting on the ground, one of us said, ¡°Let¡¯s go home now.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go.¡±


    And we all walked to our dorm.


    ***


    As soon as we returned to our dorm, everyone did their own individual tasks. Yeon-Hoon, who alwaysined that he didn¡¯t want to wash himself, quickly went inside the bathroom and finished his shower. I also took out the nkets and ced them on the floor as soon as I returned to the room. Woon and Do-Seung cleaned up the house a bit, went inside the bathroom, and washed up when it was their turn.


    All these events took ce without us exchanging a single word with one another. Because they were suffering from the highest level of fatigue, it appeared that they didn¡¯t even think about talking. They simply thought of finishing everything they needed to do before going to sleep as soon as possible. And after cleaning the house, making the bed, and washing ourselves, we could finally get to bed.


    Weid the nket in the living room and turned off the lights. Aforting darkness befell the living space.


    ¡°It was a really, really long day.¡±


    ¡°Good night, everyone.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s survive through the next day and see each other again.¡±


    ¡°You guys worked really hard today.¡±


    My group members said to one another and quickly went to sleep. I also prepared to go to sleep following my members. It was a very exhausting day, and drowsiness overcame me as soon as I closed my eyes. Like that, I didn¡¯t know when I fell asleep. I thought I could fall deep asleep without thinking of anything else today.


    Yet, sometimeter, I found myself unable to fall into a deep sleep and wandered between a state of consciousness and unconsciousness. Iy awake feeling drowsy and hazy when I sensed a movement from the space next to me.


    <i>Slid.</i>


    ¡°....Hm?¡± Because I couldn¡¯t fall asleep properly for a while, I was sensitive to the tiniest movement. I raised my torso halfway and looked around me.


    ¡°...Yeon-Hoon?¡± The person who should¡¯ve been murmuring in his deep slumber wasn¡¯t there. I wondered if he was in the bathroom, but the bathroom lights weren¡¯t turned on either. I wondered if something happened and tried to search where he was.


    ¡°Ah.¡± Yeon-Hoon was standing in the darkest area of the kitchen.


    ¡°What are you doing there Yeon-Hoon? Go to sleep,¡± I told him and nned to bring him back.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon.¡±


    Inside the darkness, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s voice felt different from usual. It clearly sounded like him but the tone and the energy he gave off didn¡¯t belong to the person I knew. Simultaneously, a memory came to my mind.


    <i>¡®No way.¡¯</i>


    Before I regressed, I got a phone call from Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°...Yeon-Hoon?¡± I asked in a trembling voice but Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t answer. Because of how dark the kitchen space was, I couldn¡¯t see his face clearly. I was about to take one more step when Yeon-Hoon pushed me and stopped me from approaching closer. But if I couldn¡¯t approach him, I thought I could pull him towards me. I was about to grab his hand when I realized Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t budge like he was some kind of boulder.


    ¡°Umph!¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t let this moment go. I thought the truth behind everything that started my regression was unraveling before my eyes and I was about to retrieve information about Yeon-Hoon using my Insight ability when the system¡¯s mechanical voice rang again.


    [You do not have the authority to approach further.]


    <i>Psh!</i>


    My Insight ability became blocked by some outside power. Yeon-Hoon stayed in the darkness and I was still unable to reach him.


    <i>Thump.</i> ¡°I¡¯m sorry Tae-Yoon,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and copsed towards my side.


    1. Spicy marinated pork ?

 Chapter 48

    <h4>Chapter 48</h4>


    I caught Yeon-Hoon, who was falling in my direction. I couldn¡¯t grasp what was happening, but I couldn¡¯t just let him fall so I safely caught him in my arms.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m sorry, Tae-Yoon.¡¯ </i>What was he sorry about? And was that person just now Yeon-Hoon from this world or another world? My head hurt thinking about it. I hugged him and checked his face. It was a face I was familiar with, and looking at his expression, he seemed to be back asleep. There was no way a person could stand upright in the kitchen and fall asleep like this¡ªunless he had an illness.


    <i>¡®It seemed like he got possessed.¡¯ </i>I wasn¡¯t sure if he was possessed or something inside him had awakened. What was clear was that Yeon-Hoon just now didn¡¯t seem like the Yeon-Hoon in this world. It was the first time my Insight had been so forcibly deactivated like that. I tried to pull it out, but it didn¡¯t budge like a rock.


    The system had obviously intervened. Otherwise, this situation didn¡¯t make sense. I firstid Yeon-Hoon on the nket. He seemed to be deep asleep as he didn¡¯t wake up in the middle, and I organized my thoughts whileying him down. What was this world, and why did Ie here? And who in the world was Yeon-Hoon just now? I couldn¡¯t get an answer no matter how much I thought about it. Everything was too surreal for a mere human like me to understand it, and I alsocked information.


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    I sighed deeply and closed my eyes. It was hard to sleep, but I forced myself to close my eyes. Whether I liked it or not, tomorrow woulde, so I needed to save a little bit of strength for that. Like this, a long night began.


    * * *


    In the midst of this long night, the inte, including various media tforms and onlinemunities, were actively talking about <i>The Showcase 2</i>. It first started when a famous SNS ount posted their excitement for the program.


    ¡ªLet¡¯s watch The Showcase 2 first episode with me and find new <i>oppas</i>.


    It was a simple phrase that wasn¡¯t particrly long. While Siren and other idol groups were holding mini-gamepetitions, <i>The Showcase 2</i> was making headlines and being talked about among various people. The influencer¡¯s ount¡¯s words were just one of those examples. However, soon after, a random post was uploaded on an intemunity forum. It was amunity that mainly talked about games and sports rather than idols and the article title was¡ª


    ¡ªShit I seriously fucked up while working part-time at a broadcasting station


    ¡ªI tried to film something while working at a broadcasting station but got caught and they kicked me out. I think I might get sued. I¡¯m seriously fucked. shitshitshittttt


    The content was like this. The user gave no further details. He had also posted on themunity forum just toment his troubles, but thements below excitedly picked on him like hyenas.


    Reply: Why are you so confidently posting this after you got fired for illegally filming?


    Reply: hahaha, karma


    Reply: Isn¡¯t this the punk who¡¯s been making a huge show about working part-time at a broadcastingpany a few days ago?


    People jumped at the chance to throw stones at another person¡¯s fall. In the end, this article was ridiculed and deleted from the forum. The author also seemed to have thought that if this spread any further, he might really get sued and deleted the post. However, this post quickly spread like wildfire.


    ¡ªI heard this is about The Showcase 2? (Communitytextcapture.jpg)


    It spread tomunity forums that talked about idols.


    Reply: Why would you film when you were told not to lol


    Reply: But what did he secretly film?


    Reply: Did someone get harassed?


    Reply: Did the idols fight each other? lolol


    This would have been buried quickly if it was just a photo, but the post spread to various ces and began to get more and more rumors added in. Eventually, it turned into apletely different post from the original. Rumors about the production crew abusing their authority, someone getting a huge injury, the members cussing at each other and fighting, and various other baseless rumors spread. Of course, since there were so many parts that couldn¡¯t be confirmed such as what kind of ident it was, whether it was power abuse or verbal abuse or a fight, so it didn¡¯t grow to a full-blown controversy. However, it was enough for news about <i>The Showcase 2</i> to spread.


    ¡ªEverytime  does something, there¡¯s always such a fuss


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t it intentional at this rate?


    ¡ªLOL How can there be so much gossip every time they do a survival show??


    ¡ªDidn¡¯t someone get hurt in The Showcase 1?


    ¡ªYep, there was a rumor that someone broke their knees while performing. Of course, it was all fake in the end. haha


    Even those who were not very interested rushed to talk about the rumors surrounding it and didn¡¯t hesitate to rip the show apart. However, there weren¡¯t only negative feedback.


    ¡ªThere¡¯s no evidence and nothing is confirmed, but who said it¡¯s about The Showcase 2? WTF, did someone get a divine message?


    ¡ªDon¡¯t spread rumors without proof please


    ¡ªI¡¯m not shielding ; I¡¯m just saying stop making false assumptions with no evidence


    ¡ªIf you have time to look at baseless rumors, look at Hyun-Sung¡¯s picture one more time instead


    It was because there were people who didn¡¯t pay attention to these rumors and focused on selling the show and members. People who became more interested in the show after reading rumors naturally came across these sales pitches. During this process, rumors about idents naturally lost their power fromck of evidence, and instead, awareness of the cast members of the show increased.


    ¡ªWait a minute...Hmm...? Who is this guy...?


    Reply: Siren¡¯s Woo Yeon-Hoo! Team leader and main vocalist! ¡ªWow, why did I watch the preview only now? The survival show¡¯s theme is right up my ally


    ¡ªSo everyone agrees Siren¡¯s Woo Yeon-Hoon is insanely handsome, right?


    ¡ªWow, are they really doomed idols?


    Among them, Siren benefited the most. Siren already had the most recognition besides Only One, so as awareness about the show increased, their fame increased at the same time. In particr, thanks to Woo Yeon-Hoon always standing at the center, Siren was able to get the image that they were a visual group.


    ¡ªWoo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face is amazing fr


    ¡ªWhy are these handsome babies doomed idols??


    Fundamentally, there was the most response from the trailer, and then the application video posted by Siren had the second most response.


    ¡ªHe is serving looks all day


    People didn¡¯t consume Siren¡¯s application video as aical video but only watched it to see their faces like a video shoot.


    ¡ªLooking at him close-up...Woo Yeon-Hoo...is even more handsome...?


    ¡ªSeeing them like this, aren¡¯t all of them good looking?


    ¡ªWho¡¯s the guy at the end?


    Reply: The big cutie at the very end is Bong Tae-Yoon, the youngest of Siren, who hase to challenge the whole k-pop industry! March 4th is when the first episode of The Showcase 2 will air! Please show a lot of support.


    Reply: Maknae? Not the oldest?


    Reply: The oldest is Woo Yeon-Hoo


    Reply: WTF make it make sense;;


    ¡ªI think Siren members¡¯ animal face type is:


    Wolf-type: Tae-Yoon, Do-Seung


    Rabbit-type: Yeon-Hoon, Woon


    Puppy-type: Dong-Jun


    Reply: no, Yeon-Hoon is angel type


    Reply: Isn¡¯t Dong-Jun more like <i>gaejuk</i>[1] style than a puppy? (<i>gaejuk</i>.jpg)


    Reply: lol it looks exactly the same as him


    Siren once again raised their poprity before the show aired.


    ¡ªI think Only One and Siren¡¯s rival story would be chef¡¯s kiss


    ¡ªjust thinking about how they would be posed as rivals is already giving me goosebumps


    ¡ªa survival show with handsome boys...let¡¯s all just debut together


    ¡ªwon¡¯t be a bad idea to get a ten-member group with both Siren and Only One


    The night before the show aired passed like this. Thanks to a post written by a man in an online forum, the <i>Showcase 2</i> was able to get a huge boost in garnering attention before the show even aired.


    * * *


    The morning dawned. As soon as I woke up, I looked at Yeon-Hoon next to me first to make sure he didn¡¯t change likest night.


    ¡°Hmm...¡± However, Yeon-Hoon was in a deep sleep without any change.


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    Looking at Yeon-Hoon¡¯s peaceful face, I felt strangely calmer. Last night¡¯s events seemed to blur as if they had happened a long time ago. I checked my watch while sitting down. I usually woke up at 6 a.m., but it was almost 7 a.m. now. I overslept; I thought I wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep because I had a lot on my mind, but it seemed like I had fallen asleep again without realizing. As a result, I overslept in a while.


    When I just sat there nkly, Do-Seung came out of the bathroom and asked, ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon, are you up?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like you to oversleep.¡±


    ¡°I guess I was a bit tired yesterday.¡±


    ¡°Go in and wash up. I¡¯ll make breakfast today,¡± Do-Seung said and threw me a new towel. I caught it and went to the bathroom. I became wide awake after sshing water on my head. However, the clearer my mind became, the clearer my memory ofst night became. Yeon-Hoon, at that moment was clearly a different person.


    <i>¡®...Who could it be?¡¯ </i>I thought it might be the person who called me right before I regressed, but it was hard to confirm my conjecture. I shook my head and decided to stop thinking about this as there was no point. I needed to focus on the present.


    When I quickly came out after a shower, Do-Seung had already finished preparing breakfast.


    He said, ¡°Can you pass the rice out for everyone?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Give half portions to Dong-Jun. He ate too many snacks during yesterday¡¯s shooting.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡± I replied and filled a little more than half for Dong-Jun¡¯s bowl. After setting the table, the members began to get up one by one.


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°Breakfast is done?¡±


    ¡°...It smells delicious.¡± Dong-Jun woke up right away withoutining. Usually, he always whined that he won¡¯t eat breakfast and just sleep more, which usually resulted in Do-Seung forcing him to get out of bed, but he must have been hungry that morning. The members gathered at the table.


    ¡°Hurry up and eat, wash up, and let¡¯s go practice,¡± Do-Seung said and started eating first. Other members also busily moved their spoons and ate. Everyone still looked half-asleep, but after a bit of food got in their system, they quickly woke up. In particr, Yeon-Hoon couldn¡¯t even open his eyes at first, but after taking a spoonful of soybean paste stew, his eyes shed wide open.


    He cried out, ¡°It¡¯s so good, Do-Seung!¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°I only want to eat the soybean stew you made for the rest of my life!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a bit much.¡±


    I smirked while seeing Yeon-Hoon. Yeah, this was the Yeon-Hoon I knew. I decided to forget the version of him I sawst night for the time being, and like this, a peaceful mealtime continued. However, a change urred near the end of the meal.


    ¡°What?¡± Woon, who kept touching his phone while eating, suddenly stopped.


    ¡°Why did you stop eating?¡± I looked at Woon¡¯s spoon that stopped in the air and asked.


    ¡°Woon?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±


    The other members also asked as they saw Woon suddenly stop as if he was experiencing ag in his system. Then he turned the phone screen to us without saying anything. Woon¡¯s SNS feeds were full of stories about Siren.


    ¡°...I¡¯m subscribed to this, but I¡¯ve never seen so much feed about us...¡±


    There was a moment of silence at what Woon said. Most of the stories on the feed werepliments like we were handsome or cute. Of course, there were a few hatements mixed in but most were positive. I hurriedly took out my phone and entered <i>The Showcase 2 </i>homepage. Then I clicked the tab where the application video was posted.


    ¡ªWD Entertainment debut group Siren¡¯s application video


    ¡ªNumber of views: 351,648


    Our views, which were around 100,000, had tripled. Today was the day <i>The</i> <i>Showcase 2</i> first episode aired. I thought it would be okay for us to slowly garner attention as the show increased in poprity, but¡ª


    <i>¡®It feels like something might blow up.¡¯</i> I thought something big could happen today.


    1. A famous dog character of a dog hanging in a bamboo. ?

 Chapter 49

    <h4>Chapter 49</h4>


    There were almost 350,000 views. The application video we uploaded in the beginning, had jumped in views almost three times overnight. People were paying more attention to us after the first episode was released, and we were also getting manyments and posts about us on social media pages.


    ¡°If you search our name right now, so many searches pop out!¡± Woon said excitedly.


    ¡°Wow! Wow! Woooow!¡± Yeon-Hoon¡¯s energy seemed to rise gradually as he jumped up from his seat.


    ¡°Wow, this is insane...¡± Do-Seung pulled out his phone and searched through the social media pages in a daze.


    ¡°Wow~ I think we might really be something!¡± On one hand, Dong-Jun cheered and seemed to enjoy the situation.


    I surfed through social media sites and the inte and tried to assess the situation. While we were winning the Pepcmercial through mini-games, there were some talks about <i>The Showcase 2 </i>circting around the inte. As some events shed and people gained interest in our video and Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face also spread across the inte, it brought more attention to our group. This all drew in more curiosity towards the general show and increased the show¡¯s general visibility to the public.


    Thus, it wasn¡¯t just our video that increased in views significantly. Only One, Bleshu, Luminin, and One by One all increased in fame. In Only One¡¯s case, their video view count increased to more than 400,000 while Bleshu¡¯s video view count rose to 150,000. OnebyOne and Luminin also recorded 100,000 and 130,000 views each. All the videos¡¯ views had gone up dramatically.


    <i>¡®But our views increased the greatest amount.¡¯ </i>I was sure of this. The flow of inte searches favored us the most. In Only One¡¯s case, their video count had only increased to 400,000 from 300,000. Thus, they only gained 100,000 views from news searches while we earned 250,000 views and decreased the gap between us and them.


    <i>¡®I can clearly see the gap between us dwindling now.¡¯</i> Only One, who had seemed far away, seemed reachable now, and today was the day when <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s first episode would be aired.


    I didn¡¯t want to get my members¡¯ hopes up in case they could be disappointed, but I thought, <i>¡®If today¡¯s episode also goes well, I think we can really have a good chance of rivaling against Only One.¡¯</i>


    Now that we havee this far, I began to see a path for us and the possibility for us to overturn this whole show.


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it..¡±


    ¡°Ahh, I¡¯m nervous.¡±


    ¡°Today¡¯s show is going to be important.¡±


    My group members and I became silent for a moment while sitting in front of the dining table. They were all preparing themselves for the uing future. Perhaps, some were envisioning a bright hopeful future while others were worrying about the worst sort of oue they could imagine.


    But I simply prayed inside my mind,<i> ¡®Please let them show us in at least above-average light¡ªnot as viins or just annoying characters in the show.¡¯</i>


    The flow of all the recent events was good for us. We just needed to wait for now.


    ***


    Only One¡¯s dorm stirred up as many conversations took ce. After bringing the breakfast that their trainers had prepped for them to the table, they chatted. They were all energetic and excited because <i>The Showcase 2</i> was supposed to air at 8 pm today.


    ¡°Our video view count increased to 400k.¡±


    ¡°Wow! What happened yesterday that our views jumped by 100k suddenly?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m dying to see the episode today.¡±


    The Only One members didn¡¯t think too much about the fact that their video view count rose the least amount of times and passed over the matter like it was a good thing. They were all still excitedly talking about the show that was going to air soon when Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s low voice interrupted them.


    ¡°Siren¡¯s video has passed 350k now.¡±


    The members¡¯ voices gradually quieted then.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah.¡±


    ¡°Their views increased by almost three times.¡±


    It was then the Only One members also began to check the other group¡¯s videos.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t just us, but all the other groups¡¯ videos increased in view count too.¡±


    ¡°Maybe people are watching the videos the day before the show gets aired.¡±


    The members suggested possible reasons and tried to assess the situation. Yet, they didn¡¯t seem to dwell on it too much and passed over to the next topic. Only Kang Hyun-Sung among them searched through the web and checked thements.


    And after he finished his research, he concluded, ¡°This might get dangerous.¡± He meant that there was a possibility that they could fail to defend their first-ce titles at this rate.


    ¡°Sorry?¡± All the group members turned and stared at Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s sudden remark.


    Kang Hyun-Sung opened his mouth again and said, ¡°The ranks couldpletely overturn depending on today¡¯s episode.¡±


    The mood at the dining table instantly turned cold as Kang Hyun-Sung said these lines. Kang Hyun-Sung saw how tense his members were and opened his mouth again. He was aware that each and every word he said could sway the mood and knew that from the beginning, his rtionship with his group members could never be equal.


    Kang Hyun-Sung smiled bitterly and spoke again, ¡°Let¡¯s go practice after finishing our breakfast. I don¡¯t think this is the time for us tough and just chat.¡±


    Since he was still addressing a pre-debuted group, Kang Hyung-Sung thought he needed to take the reins and raise this group to a higher level.


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we have to practice hard,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said while throwing away half of his food.


    ***


    The day quickly passed before <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s airtime. Today was the day when we needed to go to the practice room of the dance team we were going to coborate with for the second-round performance. I thought everyone wouldn¡¯t be able to focus on the practice because today was the day when the show was going to be aired, but fortunately, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case.


    Instead, the thought of the show airing today seemed to push my group members harder and they all practiced with all their might. We harmonized with the dance team well and were able to finish difficult moves in one go. Moreover, since we practiced without rest until dinner time, we were able to finish our practice before the show¡¯s air time.


    ¡°Thank you so much!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s meet again in the studio¡¯s next rehearsal.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Like that, we returned to our dorm rooms, ced aptop on top of the dining table, and huddled around it. This was the time we had been waiting for all day long.


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m so nervous.¡±


    ¡°Urgggh.¡±


    ¡°Please, please, let us be shown in a good light.¡±


    ¡°They won¡¯t edit us badly or anything like that, right?¡±


    The <i>Showcase 2</i>¡¯s first episode was going to be aired soon. My group members talked to each other to lower their nerves, but they still couldn¡¯t shake off all their worries. Yeon-Hoon clenched his eyes shut and began praying, Do-Seung quietly inhaled and exhaled, Woon kept thumping his chest like he was feeling suffocated, and even Dong-Jun looked as if his hands were shaking.


    ¡°Then, I will turn it on,¡± I said while clicking around theptop¡¯s mouse.


    ¡°Ah, yeah.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Turn it on.¡±


    <i>Sighh..</i>


    Using the OTT tform, where we could stream the show at the same time as the broadcast time, I went inside ¡¯s channel.


    ¡ªFresh and sweet taste! Pepc Lime!


    It was stillmercial time so the official show wasn¡¯t aired yet. Instead, I saw the program¡¯s mark written in small font at the corner of the screen. There was a small countdown next to the mark. There were only ten seconds left.


    ¡ª10


    ¡ª9


    ¡ª8


    ....


    ¡°Ahhh! Shh! The countdown is starting!¡±


    ¡°Ughhhh!¡±


    <i>Sighhhh.</i>


    My group members each gave huge reactions as their hearts tightened. Soon, the count number on the screen became 0, and <i>The Showcase 2 First Chance</i>¡¯s first episode began. The show¡¯s introductory video passed, which was aption video of the past season. Scenes of idols crying, smiling, cheering, and hugging each other quickly passed; and an interview of thest season¡¯s winning girl group came out.


    ¡ªThere¡¯s a huge difference in our lives before and after <i>The Showcase.</i>


    ¡ªWe aren¡¯t just talking about our records and chart numbers. When interacting with our audience, we can clearly feel the change.


    ¡ªWhat difference do you mean?


    ¡ªCan we even say this?


    ¡ªWell, ah, it feels like we can continue to perform on stage without worries.


    This was the idol group that dramatically increased their fandom size from thest season. In their first appearance, they were the group with the smallest fandom among all the other casts. Yet, when the audience saw them progress by every show, they amassed more fans and they began to surpass other groups. In the end, the group even reached first ce and the album they released recently sold 350k copies in its first week.


    ¡ªSo, this is what I want to tell the cast of <i>The Showcase 2 </i>this time.


    ¡ªDo your best in this show and give it your all, thinking that it''s yourst chance!


    ¡ªBecause there could be a chance that something magical could happen.


    I was barely listening to what these girl group members were saying. What they said was heart-warming and even moving.


    <i>¡®But though they are from a small agency, the agency¡¯s prominence is basically like a big agency.¡± </i>This girl group came from a small agency in name only and the investment they got wasparable to big agencies. Furthermore, the owner of the agency was a self-made veteran who rose from the ranks of manager to CEO. Frankly, they were a group that would¡¯ve risen to stardom even without<i> The Showcase</i>. Thus, their words didn¡¯t feel very genuine to me. Yet, it seemed I was the only one who thought this way.


    ¡°Wow, they are so cool.¡±


    ¡°Giving it your all...¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s also seed like them.¡±


    My group members looked touched by these idols¡¯ words. It was as if peasants were getting encouraged by royals pretending to be peasants.


    <i>¡®Well, the video¡¯s purpose is to do just that,</i>¡¯ I thought and quickly passed over the matter. Then, after the interview video, there was another video summarizing how they gathered <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s participants.


    There was a page where countless idol groups uploaded their videos and the top five groups that recorded the most views were chosen to be on the show. These were scenes that exined the most basic information about the show. After that, the show continued with a scene of the idols introducing their dorms.


    ¡ªOnly One¡¯s dorm


    The first group toe out was Only One.


    ¡ªBe your ONLY ONE! Hello, we are Only One!


    They said their group¡¯s catchphrase energetically like newbie idols. Then the video yed moments that clearly looked scripted such as the members yfully making jokes at each other in the morning and then stretching as soon as they woke up. If anyone pictured the ideal idols¡¯ dorm life, this was the image they would have thought of. And after Only One left to go to practice, their scene came to an end. The next one toe up was Bleshu. Bleshu¡¯s scenes weren¡¯t much different from Only One.


    They said their group¡¯s catchphrase in front of the dorm and showed themselves getting ready to go to practice. The only difference from thest video could be that they showed their natural selves more than Only One. On the other hand, OnebyOne and Luminin¡¯s dorm videos were quite disappointing. Not only was their screen time very short, but it was clear that most of their content was faked. Perhaps, they moved locations for the shooting, but there were even a couple of awkward scenes like this.


    ¡ªAh, um, where did we put the trash can?


    ¡ªThe utility room.


    ¡ªUm, where was the utility room again?


    Furthermore, all the members¡¯ pajamas were check-patterned ones like the kinds newly-wed couples might wear, and they all looked brand new as if they had just been taken out of their wrappers. It seemed the two teams¡¯ screen time significantly decreased because of these awkward setups.


    ¡°Ah, is it our turn now?¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh.¡±


    ¡°Haaa.¡±


    We were the only group whose dorm wasn¡¯t revealed yet.


    ¡°Why are we thest ones toe out?¡¯ I expected our videos would be ced first or shoved around the middle, so it was surprising that our group would appearst. I naturally thought the videos would be edited to center around Only One but they came out first.


    This was surprising since in programs like this, it was most likely that the team that the show introduced thest was the one the show was backing the most. In other words, this could mean the show was backing us up more than Only One in this episode. Perhaps, I was right because even the beginning of our dorm video was different from the other groups¡¯ videos.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°W-What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡ªWow, there¡¯s no elevator...?


    ¡ªBe careful so you don¡¯t step over the camera lines!¡±


    ¡ªHaa...Haa....Huff, puff...


    The entryway to our form was filmed like a documentary where the camera angles were directed towards the floor before infiltrating a ce, and the background audio was the producers gasping for air while moving their filming equipment. That seemed to have happened because our dorm room was on the rooftop.


    ¡°Um, this is <i>The Showcase</i>, right?¡±


    ¡°Why did it suddenly turn into a documentary on our part...?¡±


    My group members asked astonishedly.


    <i>¡®This is it....!¡¯</i> I shouted inside my mind. The show then revealed the inside of our door. It was a tiny, old vi rooftop room. And soon, someone opened the worn-out iron door and appeared.


    ¡ªGasp! You are already here.


    It was Yeon-Hoon who looked bright and handsome enough to swipe away the dreary and shabby background instantly behind him. Seeing this, I became certain.


    <i>¡®We are the main characters.¡¯ </i>Only One wasn¡¯t the main character of episode 1. It was us.

 Chapter 50

    <h4>Chapter 50</h4>


    We were the stars of the first episode. I was sure of it as soon as I saw the heavily edited scenes of our dorm¡ªalthough my members seemed to dislike it.


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    ¡°Was our dorm always this small...?¡±


    ¡°Why does it look worse on the screen...?¡±


    The members seemed to be shocked by our poor living environment shown on the screen and began to self-console themselves by saying it wasn¡¯t as bad as it looked on TV. However, everyone implicitly knew that it was just as shown on TV so the atmosphere became gloomy.


    ¡°Hey~ We can just do well and move~ It¡¯ll be impactful and nice!¡± Dong-Jun said something to turn the mood around, and the members felt a bit better after hearing him. Meanwhile, the show was continuing.


    ¡ªWe don¡¯t have a team greeting yet, so can we just do a basic greeting?


    The scene where we greeted the viewers for the first time appeared on screen.


    ¡ªHello! This is Siren! Nice to meet you!


    Compared to how narrow and rundown the dorm was, we were edited as being bright and hopeful. The next scene that immediately followed was of us eating.


    ¡ªOkay! Get the table out! Ahe on, set up the table!


    ¡ªYeahhh!


    Do-Seung brought out a steaming hot soybean paste stew while shouting at us to get the table out. When that part came out, Do-Seung almost spat out the water he was drinking.


    ¡°...Hmph! Ah, no! Why was that on the show?¡± Do-Seung seemed embarrassed as it was the first time that an idol got annoyed so far in the first episode. Of course, from an outsider¡¯s perspective, his annoyance didn¡¯t seem like he was genuinely angry but more like a natural annoyance to his family members. However, that wasn¡¯t the only problem.


    ¡°We¡¯re the only group who boiled stew in a pot with heaping portions of rice...?¡±


    Our breakfast menu was also too contrasting to the others.


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re legendary in many ways...¡±


    Frankly, we didn¡¯t eat like that every day. In fact, we might eat the least among the groups participating in <i>The Showcase</i>, but that day just happened to be the day we ate a lot. Since we wereing out on TV, we tried to take out high-quality ingredients, and the only ingredients we found in our dorm were food like spam and eggs.


    Thus, that¡¯s why we had cooked spam and rolled omelets in addition to our normal meal. As for the soybean paste stew, we ate that every single day. As a result, our breakfast table coincidentally became full of salty side dishes, and Dong-Jun couldn¡¯t stand all the salty food and piled up a lot of rice in his bowl tobat the salty taste. And because of all this, our breakfast table appeared as if we all had massive portions.


    <i>¡®We became a group with the highest Engel¡¯s coefficient.¡¯</i>


    None of the scenes after this were exactly normal as well.


    ¡ªPark Dong-Jun, I told you that you can¡¯t eat double portions of rice.


    ¡ªCome on! You said I can eat a lot for breakfast!


    ¡ªThere¡¯s still a limit.


    ¡ªBut if there¡¯s spam and egg rolls, you need to eat a lot of rice.


    ¡ª No, you should eat moderately.


    Do-Seung and Dong-Jun fought early in the morning on screen.


    ¡ªDo-Seung, don¡¯t be too hard on Dong-Jun.


    Meanwhile, Woon was elegant all by himself.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s good~ So good~ I¡¯m starting to hum because of how good it is~


    And Yeon-Hoon suddenly began singing while eating. Our breakfast scene was a chaotic mess, and I was shown as a man sitting in the corner and picking at my food. In other words, I didn¡¯t get much footage, but it was hard to get airtime in this kind of situation as the other members were a natural at hogging all the camera¡¯s attention.


    Afterward, there was a scene where we ate and cleaned up the table. From up to here, there was nothing particrly strange as the other groups also showed scenes of eating and cleaning the dorm together.


    The only difference was that we looked a lot more natural. Other groups seemed aware of the cameras and showed a stiff appearance, but our group didn¡¯t have anything like that. It seemed as if my repeated emphasis to my members from the day before the shooting to show their natural selves had been effective.


    However, maybe it was too natural, as theundry drying rack was clearly exposed on screen. Usually, when a broadcasting crew came, it was normal to clean up things like that, and to make it worse, all theundry on the drying rack was dry.


    ¡ªAren¡¯t you going to take out the clothes?


    ¡ªAh, it¡¯s a drying rack that we also use as a hanger...


    ¡ªYou don¡¯t use a hanger?


    ¡ªIt¡¯s because we put ourundry in there right now


    ¡ªWhat? You hang clothes on the drying rack and dry theundry on the hanger?


    ¡ªWell, that¡¯s how things turned out.


    This was a scene that I hadn¡¯t expected to air. Writer Kim Min-Young kept asking me various questions about this and that, so I just roughly gave her answers. And this scene must have been created in the process. I didn¡¯t think too much on the day of the shooting but¡ª


    <i>¡®Now, I came out as a weird guy.¡¯</i> I came out as a person who used a hanger to dry clothes and aundry dryer as a hanger.


    ¡°All furniture is hybrid these days~¡±


    ¡°When did you do that kind of interview?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon¡¯s expression looks so serious.¡±


    After cleaning the dorm, it immediately led to the scene of us going to the practice room. Other groups going to their practice rooms were edited out, but ours wasn¡¯t cut and appeared all on air.


    ¡°I think we got a lot of screen time, right?¡±


    ¡°Wait a minute, huh? Yeah?¡±


    Currently, our group received a lot more screen timepared to the others. The dorm scene was 1.5 times longer than Only One and almost twice as long as OnebyOne and Luminin. Since the scene where we moved to our practice room was not edited out, our screen time got even longer.


    Even when we went to the practice room, the direction of our storyline didn¡¯t change much¨Cwe were shown as having bright and energetic attitudes despite our poor living conditions. By this point, we could clearly see what type of character the production crew wanted to portray us as: idols who were poor with no support but bright and hopeful.


    <i>¡®This is also the core identity of The Showcase 2¡¯s theme.¡¯ </i>I think we were the perfect idols they had in mind when they were imagining and nning this program. The scenes of us warming up and practicing in the practice room were quickly edited and yed on screen. Among them, the highlight was Yeon-Hoon¡¯s singing. A person, who always ran around with a smile, showed a 180-degree different side of him when he started singing.


    ¡ªIn the dead of night, I am too restless to sleep


    ¡ªYou are a ray of light, warm and soft


    ¡ª who embraced and awakened me.


    This scene must have been quite shocking to the production crew. They even used a shaky cut that a camera director took because he was so shocked by Yeon-Hoon¡¯s singing. Normally, they didn¡¯t use cuts like that.


    <i>¡®But they must have used it on purpose.¡¯</i>


    I thought this cut was intentionally added to show the shock value of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s singing.


    ¡ªEven if I run away, it chases after me


    ¡ªThis emotion called love


    ¡ªis a flower that has bloomed btedly


    ¡ªbut will never wither and that...ack!


    However, before the atmosphere could got too serious, it turned light-hearted once again.


    ¡ªA bug entered my mouth! Eeeeeckkkk!


    The song stopped because a bug entered Yeon-Hoon¡¯s mouth, and the next scene was where we allughed out loud. In the subtitles, the phrase ¡®the entertainment god has descended on Siren¡¯ came out on screen, and then the scene where I sang came out briefly. Then Woon, Do-Seung, and Dong-Jun¡¯s singing came out. Although Yeon-Hoon had actually sung thest, they must have changed the order to increase the entertainment value of the show.


    After that, the cut changed again and the final scene came out. It was a scene where we turned the wheel to select a target to make our deration of war. I don¡¯t think they put as much effort into this scene. However, they seemed to want to emphasize our friendship as they aired us having a meeting in front of the spinning wheel for a long time.


    ¡ªCan I spin the wheel?


    ¡ªIt could be risky for you.


    ¡ªWill you be all right?


    ¡ªThen we can all spin the wheel together and provoke the other group together!


    When I tried to spin it alone, the members tried to stop me.


    ¡ªNo, the mission is for only one of you guys to spin the spinning wheel and dere war on the chosen group!


    And the production team tried to stop us from using any tricks. It was an editing typical of entertainment shows. After that, the spinning wheel turned and excitement began to build up for who woulde out. However, the cut was over without telling the group we made our deration of war, and then the scene shifted to another group.


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°I waspletely immersed!¡±


    ¡°I knew all the content, but it kept my attention because of how it¡¯s edited.¡±


    ¡°Amazing.¡±


    The members were immersed in the broadcast and let out their various impressions of the episode. I also thought they did a good job in making the show fun. However, this wasn¡¯t the important part.


    ¡°We got a lot of screen time, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I think we came out too much.¡±


    We took up too much screen timepared to the others. Of course, this was a good thing, but I didn¡¯t think it would be to this extent. There was a saying that more was just as bad as less. Of course, I would have to see how things actually turn out to make a clear assessment. The screen showed other groups going to the practice room and practicing. The group that came out right after us was Only One.


    Only One¡¯s practice room lookedfortable and spacious, iparable to ours. Based on other normalpanies, it was actually not that spacious, but because it came out after us, it looked extra nice. After that, Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Luminin¡¯s practice videos followed. When I roughly calcted the amount of screen time, it seemed that we all generally received around the same amount.


    <i>¡®But the impact is different for showing everything at once without cutting it in the middle.¡¯ </i>There was no way the production crew didn¡¯t know this. Perhaps, the production crew might have only given everyone an equal amount of time to avoid getting insulted. Then the next scene changed to the studio. All the groups came up to the studio and greeted each other; even here, we stepped out of the norm. While other groups exchanged greetings that ended with hello, nice to meet you, we were the only ones who shouted our team slogan.


    ¡ªOne, two, say yes! Hello! We¡¯re Siren! We look forward to meeting you all!¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Damn.¡±


    <i>Sigh</i>. ¡°...I¡¯m so embarrassed.¡±


    We didn¡¯t know how to give our greeting at the time so we just went with our team greeting, but I didn¡¯t know the other groups just said hello and nice to meet you. I had no idea it would be like this. Since we were thest toe up to the studio, we had no idea what kind of greeting came by and went. Like this, we became a group that overreacted, and a reaction cut of other groups blinking at us and reacting awkwardly was added.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Me? Oh, no problem! I¡¯m fine!¡±


    I asked Yeon-Hoon if he was all right because his face had turned so red that it looked like it was about to explode. Since then, misceneous scenes from the studio were aired. Scenes where different groups chatted amongst each other and nervously nced at each other. The scene where we greeted the hosts and watched the deration of war videos. In our part, the content was edited to focus mostly on our pitiful circumstances. It seemed as if the production crew had taken a liking to our sad story. Then the scene changed to our performance.


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°The energy is different on the show.¡±


    The production crew didn¡¯t mess around when editing the stage video, since everyone got the same amount of screen time and cuts. They only added reaction cuts in the middle and camera movements tailored to the stage movement. If they messed around with even the stage performance, they would be criticized these days.


    Therefore, it seemed that they had given a fair amount of screen time for the different performances. However, just because they provided the same amount of editing and screen time, it didn¡¯t mean that the performances were all of the same quality. Rather, thanks to their limited editing, the difference in abilities between the teams were more starkly revealed. Frankly, Luminin, OnebyOne, and Bleshu, I couldn¡¯t even remember what the difference between them was.


    <i>¡®I can¡¯t tell between them.¡¯</i> However, when Only One came out¡ª


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°Awesome...¡±


    ¡°Senior Hyun-Sung is really good with facial expressions...¡±


    Their performance was so good that we eximed despite having seen it once before. I thought they had done well in the actual performance, but it was even more noticeable when I saw it on the screen. After Only One¡¯s performance ended, our performance began.


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°Pwehh.¡±


    The members all seemed nervous as they closed their mouths and focused only on the screen.


    ¡°Oh...?¡±


    ¡°Ohhh...¡±


    ¡°Wow...!¡±


    However, as the performance progressed, the members¡¯ faces began to change.


    ¡°Wow, we were this good?¡± The reason was simple¨Cwe clearly did well.


    Honestly, I thought we were better than Only One. Our performance looked better than Only One, which seemed to be the best among them all. However, the members¡¯ expressions were not just bright. Since we cedst for this performance, they had mixed emotions about it. Complex emotions began to appear on their faces. After that performance ended, the stage performance ended and the ranking announcement started.


    The broadcast showed Only One ranking first and us rankingst. The camera zoomed to the members¡¯ expressions slightly falling when we were rankedst and with this¡ª


    <i>Da-dum!</i>


    ¡°Wow, they ended it here.¡±


    ¡°Haha...¡±


    Episode 1 of <i>The Showcase 2</i> was over. In the preview of the second episode, which followed immediately, an interview ording to the ranking announcement briefly appeared. Fierce reactions to the next mission, and the group¡¯s determination to do really well came out in the preview, and with this, Episode 1 of <i>The Showcase</i>pletely ended. Now, there was a TVmercial on the screen. The members stared nkly at theptop screen without saying a word. The atmosphere was ambiguous. Although we performed well on stage, the show ended with us cingst.


    ¡°Well, um, I guess this is good for us...?¡± Besides our mixed feelings about beingst, we all shared simr sentiments.


    ¡°...Probably?¡±


    ¡°...We got a lot of screen time.¡±


    The first episode was centered around us. No, the show itself tantly edited around us.


    ¡°We did it, right?¡±


    ¡°I think we won.¡±


    ¡°To be honest, I couldn¡¯t even see the other teams.¡±


    Aside from finishingst, we reaped all the benefits of being on a show.


    ¡°...We did it!¡±


    ¡°...We made it!¡±


    ¡°Aghhhh!¡±


    ¡°We did it! We did it!¡±


    The members kept shouting we did it and jumped up from their seats and cheered.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, we did it! We really did it!¡±


    I wasn¡¯t exactly sure what we did so far, but their reactions were enough for me. At the same time, I worried about the inte¡¯s reaction. We became the main characters of episode 1.


    ¡®<i>Then that means the fans of the original main characters won¡¯t stay still.¡¯ </i>This also meant that we would earn the resentment of those who got their positions stolen from us.

 Chapter 51

    <h4>Chapter 51</h4>


    While the Siren members were rejoicing about their unexpectedly high screen time, themunity forums and SNS sites were buzzing with content about <i>The Showcase 2</i>.


    ¡ªSiren¡¯s dorm is seriously crummy


    ¡ªCan you even call that a dorm?


    ¡ªHow could theirpany make them sleep in a ce like that? Are they out of their minds?


    The first responses were all about Siren¡¯s dorm since the condition of Siren¡¯s dorm could be considered the first highlight of <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s first episode.


    ¡ªNo. Isn¡¯t this abuse?


    ¡ªLook at the state of this ce. It¡¯s seriously in shambles.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s hrious that they are trying to grow idols with their capital lol


    As expected, people empathized with Siren and insulted WD Entertainment.


    ¡ªWow, but Woo Yeon-Hoon is seriously good looking


    Reply: It¡¯s straight-up insane.


    Then, after a wave of insults about Siren¡¯s dorm conditions, the responses shifted to talking about the members¡¯ visuals. Normally, these would¡¯ve been the first responses to pop out, but the conditions of Siren¡¯s dorm had been too memorable.


    ¡ªIn terms of visuals, Siren is the best in <i>The Showcase 2</i>


    Reply: ?? You are crazy. Kang Hyun-Sung is the best


    Reply: You are just a delulu fan


    ¡ªLee Woon is so handsome


    Reply: No, he is so pretty


    ¡ªWho is the cute guy sitting in the corner...?


    Reply: It¡¯s Siren¡¯s cutie-pie, Park Dong-Jun!!


    ¡ªWhy is Bong Tae-Yoon so quiet?


    Reply: That¡¯s probably his personality


    Reply: The only introvert among peak extroverts hahaha


    ¡ªAh, fuck! Am I the only one who finds Tae-Yoon eating solemnly by himself so cute??


    Reply: You sound so angry haha


    Reply: I can¡¯t help it!


    ¡ªKang Do-Seung totally looks like a mean gangster but can make soybean paste stew. It¡¯s such a nice contrast


    Reply: Do-Seung...It¡¯s your grandma...Myst dying wish is to eat the soybean paste stew that you made...please give me the address to your dorm...


    Reply: Doesn¡¯t seem like your goal is to just eat stew...?


    Though most of the responses in the beginning were about Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s appearance, as time passed, attention also divided among the other members. It seemed after everyone came for Yeon-Hoon, they were dispersing ording to their individual tastes and interests.


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t Woon Yeon-Hoon the visual?? Why is he so good at singing?


    Reply: I know right? I¡¯m shocked.


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s singing?


    ¡ªFirst time I¡¯m shocked at someone¡¯s singing abilities.


    Then, the next line of conversation naturally flowed to discussing the members¡¯ skills.


    ¡ªLee Woon¡¯s dancing skills are no joke.


    ¡ªHis dance moves are sick


    ¡ªDid you all hear Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s singing voice?


    Reply: Even Park Dong-Jun is pretty good at singing


    Reply: Kang Do-Seung¡¯s voice is seriously my style


    Since Siren had one of the most noticeable visuals among the cast members and had outstanding talents, it was only expected that a lot of attention would pour over them.


    ¡ªAt this point, I¡¯m curious who the people working inside WD Entertainment are.


    Reply: Yeah, where did they find guys like them?


    Reply: Were these guys originally in a pre-debut group for a bigpany?


    People were curious how a smallpany like WD Entertainment managed to find such outstanding talents. There were cases when individuals with eye-catching visuals and good skills failed to debut inpanies and dropped out, so they wondered if the same happened in this case.


    ¡ªYou know, these guys¡¯ practice rooms are in an even worse state


    Reply: Yeah, it¡¯s too much. What kind of sane person thinks this is okay?


    ¡ªLook at the difference between Only One¡¯s and Siren¡¯s practice rooms (Only One and Siren¡¯s practice rooms.jpg)


    Reply: Wow, Only One¡¯s practice room looks really nice inparison


    Reply: I¡¯m not lying but their practice room looks smaller than my house¡¯s living room


    Posts about Siren seemed to form and rise on top searches nonstop on par with Only One, who was predicted to be the main character of this show. Perhaps, Siren even had a slight lead. Yet, the majority of the posts about Only One were positive while arge part of Siren¡¯sments were made in shock or mockingly about Siren¡¯s poor amodations.


    But apart from Siren¡¯s poor amodations, they were also amassing interests and fans because of their individual talents and visuals. Comments reviewing <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s first-round performance piggybacked on these interests and elerated Siren¡¯s poprity.


    ¡ªI got a ticket to go to the show¡¯s first-round performance and went there. Though my purpose was to find a new group to stand, honestly, I went there with low expectations. But I can summarize my whole review of the first-round performance with just these four words:<i> ¡®Siren is the bomb.¡¯ </i>I will write my review of each of the groups below, but Sirens are truly the guys to look out for. I¡¯m seriously shocked by how amazing their performance is and don¡¯t understand why they have to suffer under a shitty agency like WD.


    So, this is my review of each of the groups...


    Reply: I was also chosen to go. (I¡¯m adding pictures in case people don¡¯t believe me.) And I also felt the same as you. Siren really surprised me. Honestly, except for them, everyone else felt like amateurs or didn¡¯t really have the wow factor that could draw people¡¯s attention. Only Siren truly felt like idols.


    After <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s first episode was released, reviews about the first-round performances rushed in. But of course, there were also plenty of people objecting to this too.


    ¡ªPeople are hyping up Siren too much


    ¡ªIt¡¯s so obvious that they fabricated the whole thing


    ¡ªWhy did the show focus so much on Siren?


    Reply: It¡¯s because they are the most interesting. When other groups came out, it made me yawn


    Reply: So true. This is the screen time Siren achieved by doing things like eating a bug


    There were even conspiracy theories that suggested the broadcasting show was coborating with Siren behind the scenes.


    ¡ªDoesn¡¯t <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s winning group make a joint contract with the Jaeilpany?


    ¡ªWhat if they already chose the winning team and are now using all the other groups as extras?


    Reply: But do you think they will seriously use Kang Hyun-Sung as an extra?


    Reply: Siren has a lot of screen time, but it isn¡¯t to that level


    Reply: No way the show will be able to withstand all those angry Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fans if they do that


    ¡ªJaeil Group has always been going on about making an idol group


    Reply: You are going too far just because they got a bit more screen time


    Reply: Ah, seeing how there are already getting conspiracy theories, it seems like they will be big~ hahaha


    Reply: This is why I left the idolmunity...


    Reply: Why did youe back?


    Reply: How could you abandon your home...?


    Since Siren members had all the traits that were difficult to find in a doomed idol group that came from the worstpany, some people questioned whether or not everything was fabricated. Some proposed that WD Entertainment could be a small agency created by the Jaeil Group and so on.


    ¡ªWhy the heck will the Jaeil Group disguise itself as a smallpany? Do you think they are cosying as the poor?


    Reply: It¡¯s so that they can gain empathy for how dire their conditions are and gain fans.


    Reply: ?? It will be much more beneficial for them to just release this group on their own channel


    Reply: Stop spreading your nonsense as fact~~


    But because these were simply rumors with no basis behind them, these suspicions were met with a lot of scorn and ridicule and fell under the surface. And the true highlightments were responses about the first-round performances.


    ¡ªIt almost makes me mad seeing how good they are


    Reply: Saame


    ¡ªI can¡¯t believe they are in a show about doomed idols


    ¡ªWoo Yeon-Hoon is so good at singing


    ¡ªThey are so good :0


    ¡ªAh damn it! Woo Yeon-Hoon is too darn cute!!!


    ¡ªWho will dislike this? Their cute looks perfectly match the sailor uniforms


    Reply: I agree 100%


    The most noticeable performance among the first-meeting performances was Siren, so posts about Siren continued to rush out.


    ¡ªWho¡¯s the guy at the center singing? It¡¯s super urgent


    Reply: Woo Yeon-Hoon! Siren¡¯s leader and main vocalist!


    ¡ªWow, look at the size of Bong Tae-Yoon and Kang Do-Seung¡¯s arms (Picture of them lifting Woo Yeon-Hoon.jpg)


    Reply: I can understand why only those two are wearing navy sailor uniforms while the rest are wearing white


    Reply: It makes my heart thump seeing how different their styles are


    ¡ªWow, Lee Woon is so good at dancing


    Reply: For real. When he stood in the center, I could only pay attention to him.


    Reply: Yeah, he moves really lightly but not in a weak, energy-less way. He knows when to put more force at the right times.


    <i>The Showcase 2, </i>which everyone had believed would be Only One¡¯s backstage, was rolling around with Siren at the center. But of course, it wasn¡¯t like Only One was just losing either.


    ¡ªI¡¯m dying from Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s gaze


    ¡ªHe¡¯s killing me with those eyes


    ¡ªWhen he res at the camera afternding on the ground, it¡¯s seriously spectacr


    ¡ªAh, my heart is thumping so fast


    When there were many posts about Sirens, posts about Only One also quickly rushed in. Since Only One also showed an outstanding performanceparable to Siren, Only One¡¯s fans also had a lot to focus on and discuss. Yet, the problem was that the vast majority of their responses were concentrated on Kang Hyun-Sung. At rare times, posts about other members were made but the count of that wasn¡¯t even one out of ten posts.


    All in all, Siren¡¯s fandom and Only One¡¯s fandom didn¡¯t sh much yet. There were some trolls, who fought people in thements, but it wasn¡¯t to the point that it could cause an all-out fan war. Yet, there was a point where things seemed to be heading towards that direction.


    ¡ªDid Siren seriously getst ce?


    ¡ªWhat? Am I imagining this??


    It was then Siren¡¯s rank was revealed, and they were ced inst ce. Then the fact that the rank had been decided by each of the groups¡¯ voting was also revealed. In other words, everyone knew that Siren had cedst because other groups had been wary of them, while Only One ced first thanks to the other groups¡¯ support. Knowing that this rank wasn¡¯t based on performance or skills, Siren fans and those who had felt positive feelings towards the group expressed their anger.


    ¡ªThere¡¯s no way Siren should best ce with their skills


    Reply: How the hell did they getst ce?


    ¡ªIn terms of skills alone, they were simr to Only One


    ¡ªHonestly, I thought they were better than Only One


    They all wondered why Siren gotst ce when they didparatively simr or better than Only One, who ced first. Of course, Only One¡¯s fans couldn¡¯t just sit back and watch either.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s so ridiculous that they willpare these no-name idols with our boys. It blows my mind.


    ¡ªThe ridiculous thing is that Only One would have gotten zero attention without Hyun-Sung.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s so annoying how Siren fans keep dragging Only One down


    ¡ªWhatever you say, Sirens are just no-name idols~ And it doesn¡¯t change the fact that Hyun-Sung is a first-tier idol


    Perhaps, because some Only One fans took things too far, the public was more sympathetic towards the calmer Siren side.


    ¡ªHow long are you going to go on with the first-tier stuff? It wasn¡¯t even an official group but a temporary one


    Reply: Whatever you say, these guys will never even get first ce on a music show even temporarily


    Reply: Isn¡¯t that just what you are wishing for?


    ¡ªIt¡¯s funny how Only One fans are going on about doomed idols when Only One is also from a smallpany


    ¡ªHonestly, Siren¡¯s visuals are generally better than Only One


    ¡ªIn the first ce, Siren did a good enough job to be ced as rivals with Only One. You are literally going on about things that don¡¯t even make sense


    Reply: That¡¯s what I¡¯ve been saying. Siren doesn¡¯t lose against Only One


    The rivalry between the two groups became stronger, and as it became more established, the more people who became invested in the situation increased. Harsher words were said while a sense of unity among different groups solidified.


    And then, there was one person quietly scanning through the flow of responses after the show was over¨C Siren¡¯s <i>maknae, </i>Bong Tae-Yoon.


    He turned off his phone and thought deeply, <i>¡®This is huge.</i>¡¯


    The show had been edited in their favor and their rivalry against Only One was established much sooner than he had expected. Furthermore, he was also astonished by how quickly the conversations were heating up on the inte.


    Thus, after the show waspletely over and he prepared their bedding to go to sleep, he said, ¡°Guys.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    All the Siren members turned their heads and looked at Tae-Yoon. Then Tae-Yoon said, ¡°I think we need to move now.¡±


    This was the most pressing problem they had to solve right now.

 Chapter 52

    <h4>Chapter 52</h4>


    ¡°Moving?¡±


    ¡°You want us to move?¡±


    ¡°All of a sudden?¡±


    The members looked at me as if a bombshell had dropped on them out of the blue. Their reaction was expected as we had never talked about moving so far. In fact, I hadn¡¯t expected to bring up this topic so soon. I thought I¡¯d bring it up after the first performance of the show. However, based on the reactions I saw online, I found our security situation rming.


    The show was too focused on us, and more importantly, a rivalry between us and Only One had been strongly emphasized. This meant that there would be many people invested in this rivalry and overreact. Our fandom wasn¡¯t that big right now, but it was a different ball game for Only One.


    <i>¡®Only One¡¯s fandom is quite big.¡¯</i> The opponent who posed as our rival was way bigger than us, so I had no idea what might happen. Of course, I might be worrying needlessly as even if people got too invested in the story, there were very few people who would actuallymit crimes like property damage, theft, or trespassing. There were probably 1 out of every 10,000 people¡ªno, not even 1 out of every 100,000 people who might go out of their way tomit one of these crimes.


    <i>¡®On the other hand, this also means that there is a very small chance that people could act out and harm us.¡¯</i> In problems like this, even one person out of a possible 1 out of 100,000 people could cause serious problems. In the end, there was a serious concern that a stalker fan may or may not follow us.


    ¡°I think we should move to a safer ce than here.¡± I thought we needed to leave as soon as possible.


    ¡°Is it because we revealed our dorm?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it got revealed too much.¡±


    ¡°I agree. Honestly, I think everyone in our neighborhood would recognize it.¡±


    ¡°But to be blunt, it¡¯s too difficult for us to move right now.¡±


    All the members pinched in their thoughts about the topic I brought up. And the result was¡ª


    ¡°We would have to move someday, but let¡¯s just think about it a bit more for now. We don¡¯t know if our agency will listen to us or not yet.¡±


    They gave an ambiguous answer like this. Although it wasn¡¯t the answer I wanted, I thought,<i> ¡®it can¡¯t be helped.¡¯</i>


    That answer was the most realistic answer for our current situation.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get up tomorrow and make a suggestion to thepany first, but let¡¯s go to bed for now guys.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Good night.¡±


    ¡°See you tomorrow~¡±


    In the end, our midnight meeting ended with just one n. I soon followed the members andy down and just hoped that nothing much would happen and that 1 out of 100,000 people woulde to find our dorm aste as possible.


    At the same time, I also thought, <i>¡®If it¡¯s Dong-Jun¡¯s wealth...it will probably be possible to move.¡¯</i>


    I thought that if it was Dong-Jun, he could solve our housing issue. However, this thought quickly disappeared as soon as it came up in my mind. Just waiting for Dong-Jun¡¯s support didn¡¯t suit my personality, and it wasn¡¯t polite or right for me to expect him to solve our housing situation. I thought of an easy way out but quickly shook my head at the thought. For now, I thought we should make a request to the agency or try to find a new dorm bypromising as much as possible. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, praying that tonight would pass quickly.


    * * *


    Praying for safe passage yesterday night might have set some kind of g as around 3 am, an incident that instantly woke all the members up urred.


    ¡°Aghhhhhhhh!¡± Yeon-Hoon suddenly started screaming.


    ¡°W-what happened?¡±


    ¡°Aghh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°...Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s loud and strong voice was enough to wake everyone up. ¡°The front door¡¯s handle...it moved by itself...!¡± Yeon-Hoon said in a terrified voice.


    ¡°What?¡± And the first person to react was Do-Seung.


    ¡°Who the hell...!¡± Do-Seung immediately ran out of his seat as if he were about to burst the front door open.


    ¡°Do-Seung, wait!¡± However, I stopped him before he could open the front door. ¡°Why are you opening the door without knowing who¡¯s behind it!¡± This was not a problem that should be approached in an emotional way. If it was a crazy person who wanted to terrorize us, there could be serious consequences.


    ¡°No! If someone is trying to open the door at this time, they have to be a thief! We need to catch them and immediately go to the police station!¡±


    Do-Seung angrily responded, but I strongly stopped him, ¡°No, we can¡¯t!¡±


    Was it because we made a loud noise?


    <i>Tap, tap, tap.</i>


    We heard a sound outside the front door. It was the sound of someone quickly going down the stairs. When I heard their footsteps¡ª


    ¡°...It¡¯s not just one person?¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh....¡±


    ¡°Crazy...I¡¯m getting goosebumps...¡±


    There were at least two people outside, maybe more than three people who were standing behind the front door. After the disturbance passed, we stood still with nk expressions and organized our thoughts. The person with the worst expression was Do-Seung, who had tried to open the front door.


    ¡°First of all, I apologize for almost opening the door so hastily. I think I almost put everyone in danger because of me.¡± Do-Seung seemed to realize how dangerous the situation had been after thinking about it.


    ¡°...No, Do-Seung. This isn¡¯t a problem to apologize about. It¡¯s okay.¡± Yeon-Hoonforted Do-Seung and patted him on the shoulder. Then silence passed between them again. It seemed all the members were deep in thought.


    ¡°I think the moving issue that Tae-Yoon brought up earlier was a really important issue,¡± Yeon-Hoon opened his mouth again and led the conversation.


    ¡°I never imagined something like this would happen today. For real,¡± Woon said in a dazed voice as if he was shell-shocked.


    ¡°They say people are scarier than ghosts. Haa.¡± Do-Seung also murmured with a despondent voice, and among us, only Dong-Jun was keeping his silence. Since earlier, he had been staring at the floor with a thoughtful expression.


    ¡°First of all, it¡¯s too dangerous for us to sleep here today. I¡¯m sorry, but let¡¯s call Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna and find another dorm. I think we should go to a nearby hotel first.¡± Yeon-Hoon took out his phone and tried to contact Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll look for some hotels with good security nearby.¡±


    At this rate, we might all have to sleep at a hotel tonight. It was the right choice as we couldn¡¯t sleep in a dorm that got almost broken in. The only ce with good security that we could go right away was a hotel. The problem with that was¡ª


    <i>¡®I don¡¯t think we have the money to pay for a hotel.¡¯</i> If we looked for a hotel right now, we couldn¡¯t get anything close to a discount. Although it was pitiful to worry about money in a dire situation like this, it couldn¡¯t be helped as this was our reality.


    ¡°Or shall we go to my house first? I¡¯ll tell my parents.¡± Yeon-Hoon came up with an alternative solution other than hotels.


    However, I didn¡¯t support this idea and said, ¡°What if your family''s house gets broken into then?¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    There was a high possibility that the people who tried to break in earlier were still waiting nearby. If we moved somewhere else, they would try to break into an empty house or follow us. If Yeon-Hoon¡¯s home address was exposed during this process, the scope of damage increased. In the end, I thought going to a hotel would be the safest.


    But just as when I was about to speak up, Dong-Jun finally said after contemting for a long time, ¡°Let¡¯s go to my house.¡±


    All the members looked at Dong-Jun.


    ¡°Dong-Jun, it could get dangerous for your parents. As Tae-Yoon said earlier...¡±


    When Yeon-Hoon tried to stop him, Dong-Jun corrected him. ¡°No, not my parents¡¯ house, but <i>my</i> house.¡±


    A short silence followed as it seemed everyone didn¡¯t understand the meaning behind his words. They all just stared at Dong-Jun nkly. I could empathize with their reactions as I had only found out about how wealthy he was after meeting his parents in my past life.


    ¡°One of my apartments is empty because a contract just expired, so we can just use that one.¡±


    Dong-Jun¡¯s family was rich, and this was the reason why Dong-Jun enjoyed the whole process of being an idol regardless of whether the group did well or not. Being an idol really was just a hobby for him.


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°<i>Your</i> house?¡±


    ¡°Dong-Jun?¡±


    The members all stiffened at his words, but Dong-Jun was calm. He said, ¡°Let¡¯s pack up first.¡±


    * * *


    We immediately packed all the necessary luggage and called a taxi to move to an apartment owned by Dong-Jun. As expected, the people who tried to break through our front door were waiting nearby when we got a taxi, and another taxi quickly followed ours. However, we were also prepared for them.


    ¡°Sir, please follow the mostplicated route as possible so that we can lose them.¡± We told the taxi driver to drive on aplicated route, knowing these stalkers would follow us closely from behind. At first, they managed to stay close by, but we were able to lose them by a narrow margin thanks to a signal change. Moreover, we made sure to lock the dorm we just came out of with double and triple locks so that we wouldn¡¯t get robbed.


    Later, when we entered Dong-Jun¡¯s apartment, Do-Seung was truly impressed. ¡°...Crazy.¡±


    Dong-Jun¡¯s house was a premium brand new apartment in Gangnam, and we got off inside the darkest area of the apartment. Then the taxi left, and we were the only ones left in the luxury apartment.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go up,¡± Dong-Jun said and led the way, guiding us up to his apartment. We took the elevator connected to the underground parking lot and quickly moved up to the 23rd floor. It was an apartment with only two households per floor.


    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± When we stood in front of the door that said room 2301, Dong-Jun took the door lock key out of his pocket, opened the front door, and said, ¡°I¡¯m d I kept one spare key.¡±


    When we were inside, a spacious living room with a huge window weed us.


    ¡°It¡¯s quite empty because the person living here recently moved out. Let¡¯s just use it for now, since we can add furnitureter on,¡± Dong-Jun said and turned on the lights. The interior of the apartment, which was exposed to the light, shone brighter. It had an elegant hotel-like lighting on marble floors, and the living room was already four times bigger than our practice room. The other members still looked dazed. Honestly, I would be the same if I found out that the person who I used to eat and sleep with in a shabby dorm was born with a diamond spoon in his mouth. They were so shell-shocked that they were left speechless.


    The person who finally managed to speak up was Yeon-Hoon. ¡°Dong-Jun, I¡¯m more surprised by this than the stalker fans...¡± He showed a pure expression of surprise.


    ¡°Why did you live with us on the rooftop...?¡±


    ¡°Did you want to get themoner experience...?¡±


    ¡°Why did you be an idol...?¡±


    The members all asked questions in turn, and Dong-Jun smiled at them and said in his usual carefree voice, ¡°The rooftop was actually cozy and nice, so I wanted to continue living there. Don¡¯t look so betrayed. I was nning to reveal it someday~¡±


    Then Dong-Jun moved to the corner of the living room. ¡°I¡¯ll exin more tomorrow~ Let¡¯s sleep for today.¡± Dong-Jun used a touchpad in the corner to turn on the boiler in the apartment, and the floor quickly heated up. Weid the nket we brought from our dorm on top of it. The house was nearly 5 times bigger than our practice room, but it was ironic that we were still lying down together on one nket.


    ¡°Um, guys, let¡¯s sleep for now and talk again tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Good...night.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s sleep first. Pweh.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s sleep and talk again~¡±


    Like this, we spent the first night in a very unusual ce.

 Chapter 53

    <h4>Chapter 53</h4>


    The following day, my group members and I woke upter than our usual time at 9 a.m.


    ¡°Hm...?¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh~¡±


    ¡°Urgggh!¡±


    ¡°Wow...! I slept so well...¡±


    Simultaneously, we felt that we weren¡¯t as tired as before, and our bodies didn¡¯t feel as stiff or heavy as usual. After all the fuss we made in the morning and arriving at the ce at 5 a.m., I was surprised that four hours of sleep made us feel so refreshed. And we were able to find out the secret behind this change very quickly.


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because there¡¯s a big air filter running.¡±


    ¡°And we didn¡¯t wake up because it was too hot or anything.¡±


    ¡°Light-blocking curtains...really make a difference.¡±


    This was the result of thebined change in air quality, a well-functioning temperature system, and a light-blocking curtain that didn¡¯t allow even the smallest ray of light to pass through.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, you look really out of it.¡±


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    ¡°It feels like a long time since I saw you wake up sote.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon,e here for a bit.¡±


    <i>Snap.</i>


    Woon suddenly pushed his phone towards me and took a picture. I didn¡¯t even have the time to feel embarrassed because I was half awake. I shook my head side-to-side and shook away my remaining drowsiness.


    I didn¡¯t even think it was possible for me to sleep so well, and it felt like I hadn¡¯t had such good sleep in years. I had been feeling very tense ever since I regressed in worry that someone could suddenly trespass into our shabby lodging ce and had been wanting to move to a better ce quickly. All these worries kept me awake at night, but I think I was able to sleep peacefully this time because all these worries were settled instantly yesterday.


    ¡°Give me a moment.¡± Dong-Jun then got up and searched the corner of the room and took out a remote controller. Then, when he pressed the remote, the curtain automatically moved.


    ¡°Ohhhh!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°What in the world?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that...?¡±


    Seeing the automatic curtains, we all reacted like an audience on a shooting site. Dong-Jun seemed to have thought our reactions were funny and burst outughing. Yet, we were too shocked about what we saw next even to notice what he was doing. Through therge windows, we saw a city view that overwhelmed its viewers just by its extravagant appearance.


    ¡°This is...amazing...¡±


    Honestly, there wasn¡¯t anything that special about the view. It was the sort of view that one could easily see by looking down from a high-rise apartment.


    ¡°But each and every one of the buildings that I¡¯m seeing right now costs a couple of hundred million wons...¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t wrap my head around it...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s like we were sleeping on top of a mountain of gold...¡±


    This ce was not even in the outskirts of Gangnam but in the dead center of it. As we looked too shocked about what we were seeing, Dong-Jun quickly closed the curtains again.


    ¡°Um...let¡¯s see the view next time~¡± He looked a bit taken aback, and like that, silence continued on for a bit. And before the atmosphere became really weird, Yeon-Hoon spoke.


    ¡°Let¡¯s first wash ourselves up.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Following Yeon-Hoon¡¯s suggestion, we decided on our orders for washing up.


    ¡°There are three bathrooms. You guys wash up first, and Tae-Yoon and I can goter,¡± Dong-Jun said and told us the number of bathrooms in the house.


    ¡°What, seriously...?¡± And everyone was impressed again.


    ***


    After taking our showers, we all gathered inside the living room. Since there were three bathrooms inside the house, our preparation time was much shorter than usual. Then, the first thing we discussed was what could be called Dong-Jun¡¯s secret.


    ¡°Dong-Jun, um, well...so how did you get a house like this...? Did your parents give it to you?¡±


    Dong-Jun averted his eyes like he was embarrassed. Then, after hesitating for a while, he opened his mouth.


    ¡°I know it could sound really annoying, but my parents do have a lot of money...¡±


    ¡°Do they do some kind of business?¡±


    ¡°Rather than a business, they inherited some things from my grandparents...¡±


    ¡°Like...what things?¡±


    ¡°Like a couple of buildings...¡±


    ¡°Then is this apartment also...?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, my grandpa gave it to me for my high school graduation present...¡±


    For some reason, this conversation sounded almost like a court hearing. It was always an ufortable topic to hear about someone else¡¯s family situation, but all in all, my conclusion of Dong-Jun¡¯s wealth was this:


    <i>¡®He''s the real deal.¡¯ </i>In my past life, I also got the impression that Dong-Jun¡¯s parents were rich when I met them. They even supported my living expenses before I debuted as a web novelist and paid Yeon-Hoon¡¯s hospital fees. But I didn¡¯t expect that wealth toe down from their grandparents.


    <i>¡®They have generational wealth.¡¯ </i>They were different from just being rich.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a billionaire or anything. Our family just does some investments. Is that enough to answer your questions?¡±


    ¡°Ah, um, sorry. I know this is a bit of a sensitive topic...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s understandable you are curious. I said I would answer all your questions yesterday too,¡± Dong-Jun said and averted his gaze. It seemed he was ufortable about the situation.


    <i>¡®I wonder what¡¯s wrong?¡¯</i> It seemed Dong-Jun had a strange sense of difort about being rich, but this was something that I could find outter so I quickly passed over the issue.


    ¡°Then, does that mean you manage this apartment?¡± Woon asked like he was genuinely curious. This question was different from the ones that simply asked about his wealth; it was asked because Woon wanted more information about a living space that we could possibly be using for some time.


    Dong-Jun seemed to have caught the intention behind Woon¡¯s question and answered, ¡°Yes, this apartment is in my name and I personally manage it. My parents and grandparents don¡¯t meddle in it either. They said they don¡¯t care what I do with it¨Cwhether I leave it out for rent or even sell it for cash.¡±


    Dong-Jun clearly told us the property was wholly his. Thus, Yeon-Hoon asked cautiously, ¡°T-Then would it be all right for us to use this ce for a bit before we find a new dorm? It¡¯s of course, okay even if you refuse!¡±


    It was a hard question to ask. Even if Dong-Jun was a co-member, this was his property that we were talking about. It was all up to him to decide. Even if we were in the same group, it wasn¡¯t right for us to beg or demand to use what he owned.


    Dong-Jun answered with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s fine~ I was nning to live here anyways~ You can move out after finding a new ce or just keep hanging out here~¡±


    Everyone¡¯s faces brightened hearing his answer. But we all knew that we were all relying on Dong-Jun¡¯s goodwill and soon said determinedly. ¡°Thank you Dong-Jun, We will quickly get some money and find a ce to stay.¡±


    My members all expressed their gratitude and apologies to Dong-Jun and imed their intention to seed. But Dong-Jun simply smiled at them, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that and use this ce as you wish~ I have plenty of apartments besides this one~¡± Dong-Jun said, probably in consideration of us but the members focused on another point.


    ¡°You have more besides this...?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s crazy...¡±


    Nevertheless, whether we were staying short-term or long-term, this ce was going to be our lodging ce now. Thus, we began to check around the spaces in the apartment. There were two big rooms, one small room, a veranda, a closet that looked more like a dressing room, and three bathrooms. Whenever we turned our heads, there seemed to be a new space so it was hard to check everything at once.


    ¡°Is it necessary for a person to even need such arge space?¡±


    ¡°It will be a hassle to even fill up this space with furniture and goods.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you...just need a TV and dining table...what kind of furniture do people in Gangnam use?¡±


    Dong-Jun burst intoughter again at my group members¡¯ genuinements. After we looked through the house, there came the boring stuff. First, we needed to call Ms. Seung-Yeon and Hyuna and inform them of the current situation. We thought the call would get too long if Yeon-Hoon did this task, so I did it.


    ¡°Yesterday night, crazy fans or terrorists¡ªI don''t know who they are, but criminals tried to trespass into our ce,¡± I told them.


    ¡ªSorry? C-Crazy fans? Criminals?


    ¡°Yes. So, we observed the situation until 4 a.m. and packed up our basic living essentials and moved to an apartment in Seoul that Dong-Jun owns.¡±


    ¡ªDong-Jun has an apartment?


    ¡ªSince Dong-Jun allowed us to use his ce as our new dorm, we are nning to stay here in the meantime.


    ¡ªHuh? Sorry?


    ¡°We are nning to go back to our dorm to take the rest of our belongings. But since the people we saw yesterday could still be there, could I ask you to go to the dorm before us and check the ce out for secret cameras and the like?¡±


    ¡ªAh, um, yes!


    ¡°Okay then, I will send you a message from our new address.¡±


    ¡ª....Okay!


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna¡¯s heads were probably in a mess right now since I just dropped a bunch of huge news over their heads and ended the call. Yet, there was no more information I wanted to share, and I thought this was enough for them to take care of the rest.


    ¡°Then, should we go practice?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    We got our stuff and got up from our spots. We also didn¡¯t n to use the same practice room as before.


    ¡°I made a reservation from 11 to 11¡ªaplete 12-hour reservation~,¡± Dong-Jun said.


    We nned to use the facility inside the apartmentplex. This ce had subsidiary facilities that only residents could use and had everything from a gym to a pool. Among these facilities, there was a room that had mirror walls on all sides and was just perfect to use as a dance practice room...


    ¡°Is that ce really free?¡± The members asked in astonishment.


    ¡°You can¡¯t say it¡¯s free. I mean, the management fee is a lot,¡± Dong-Jun exined.


    ¡°Wow...it¡¯s really nice.¡±


    ¡°This is what you call a practice room.¡±


    ¡°Why do I feel kind of overwhelmed?¡±


    But rather than paying attention to Dong-Jun¡¯s words, my group members appeared overwhelmed by the sight before them. Then, they quickly connected their tablet to the speaker. Seeing how there was a speaker avable to use, it seemed the space was really built to be a practice room.


    ¡°Okay then! Let¡¯s stretch and match our choreographies~¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    We officially began our practice.


    ***


    Time quickly passed after Siren members moved to Dong-Jun¡¯s ce. The rivalry between Siren and Only One¡¯s fans continued as fiercely as ever on the inte, and each of the casts of <i>The Showcase 2 </i>practiced day and night for their uing second-round performances.


    Some practiced to keep their number one title and others worked to turn over the ranks. Nevertheless, each of the groups poured all their effort and desperation into their practice. And when advertisements called for audiences in <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s second-round performances, more people gathered than before.


    The people who hadughed saying that there was a show about doomed idols were now invested in thepetition between Siren and Only One and began to keep up with <i>The Showcase 2</i> more passionately than anyone else. And as the rivalry between each fandom reached its peak, the D-Day for the second-round performances came.


    My group members sat and stared nkly at the morning sun. It was 5 a.m. right now, and we were inside the apartment¡¯s practice room, which was avable only to residents. Since this practice room was above the surface instead of the basement, we could see the sun rising. We had only slept three hours and went over our dance moves not so long ago. And now, my group members and I were simply staring out the window nkly.


    ¡°I think...this is good enough,¡± Woon said, looking as if he had exhausted everything he had. ¡°Doing anything more than this...is just impossible anyway.¡±


    ¡°Haaaa.¡±


    ¡°We couldn¡¯t have done more.¡±


    Thest two weeks, all sorts of things happened; and because of that, we had worked more desperately and intensely than ever. It was because we didn¡¯t want to give a performance we would regret because we didn¡¯t practice enough.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Perhaps, that was why, instead of feeling nervous or scared of the second-round performances, we looked forward to it. We had done all we could possibly do.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get first ce again!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°First ce!¡±


    ¡°We can do it, Siren!¡±


    We shouted our cheer and got up. It was time for us to stand on the stage again.

 Chapter 54

    <h4>Chapter 54</h4>


    The members and I went straight to the dorm after ourst cheer in the practice room. After taking a quick shower at the new dorm we were now getting a bit used to, we went down to the underground parking lot. As expected, Ms. Seung-Young and Ms. Hyuna were waiting for us. It was their first timeing to our new dorm today, and they were looking around the parking lot with a dazed expression.


    Then one of them said, ¡°The cars parked here right now are more expensive than our house...¡±


    ¡°If we scratch the car next to us by mistake, I don¡¯t think we can pay for the repair even if we sell this car.¡±


    They said this was quite a terrifying neighborhood.


    ¡°Hahaha.¡±


    ¡°We weren¡¯t used to it at first either.¡±


    ¡°Even now, in fact...¡±


    We sympathized with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna¡¯s words and got into the car. They seemed like they had a lot of questions for Dong-Jun, such as how on earth he had a house like that and why a person like that was trying so hard to be an idol.


    Although they looked at Dong-Jun with curiosity, he pretended ignorance till the very end. ¡°Let¡¯s go~¡± It seemed like he didn¡¯t want to tell anyone besides us about his family.


    Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon also didn''t question Dong-Jun further, and like that, the car moved smoothly toward the salon in Gangbuk.


    * * *


    Even after arriving at the shop, the same scenery continued as usual.


    ¡°Long time no see, everyone~¡± The warm-hearted boss weed us.


    ¡°Boss!!¡± Yeon-Hoon approached the boss and acted cute.


    ¡°Hahaha! It¡¯s so great to always see you, Mr. Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    ¡°Ma¡¯am, I also feel the same way!¡±


    ¡°Oh my! You talk as pretty as your face~¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and the boss¡¯ conversation fluidly continued as their energy was equally matched. They both loved chattering away. While Yeon-Hoon and the boss caught up on how they were doing, we both sat in our respective seats. The stylist in charge came and styled our hair and makeup.


    ¡°What did you say today¡¯s concept was?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s space opera~¡±


    ¡°Space opera? What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°You just have to think of it as something like Star Wars or Dune.¡±


    Dong-Jun and the stylist exchanged small talk about the stage.


    ¡°Oh my. But why are you doing your hair and makeup the same as usual?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It would be nice to add something more eye-catching.¡±


    At Dong-Jun¡¯s stylist¡¯s words, we turned our heads in unison.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Um, if you turn your head so suddenly¡ª¡±


    ¡°Ack!¡±


    As a result, each stylist was flustered.


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°Hahaa.¡±


    ¡°Sorry about that.¡±


    We turned our heads back to our normal conversation and then began conversing on the subject earlier.


    ¡°Would it perhaps be possible to do our makeup differently than usual?¡±


    ¡°Is your outfit a bit strong?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s quite intense.¡±


    ¡°Then it would be better to make the makeup a little stronger too. Hmm. It might be good to add decorations like this around the eyes too...¡±


    We listened to the makeup style rmended by each stylist. Considering the stage and outfit, it would be better to make the makeup equally as intense so that not one overpowers the other. However, colorful makeup and decorations were only suitable for those who fit them.


    ¡°Mr. Yeon-Hoon, I think it would look better if we add a bit more redness and cubic crystals around your eyes.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go all out while we¡¯re at it.¡±


    In Yeon-Hoon¡¯s case, the fancy makeup and decorations shone and entuated his face. But for me¡ª


    ¡°Uh, Mr. Tae-Yoon. Um.¡±


    ¡°Please just make my makeup stronger.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    I also knew that bright and glittering decorations didn¡¯t fit me at all.


    ¡°Do you want to try at least putting on earrings?¡±


    ¡°Well, yes.¡±


    In the end, I finished adorning my face with earrings that were not very eye-catching. After we finished our hair and makeup, our outfits arrived.


    ¡°The outfits are here!¡±


    Our costumes had arrivedte.


    ¡°Geez.¡±


    ¡°It camete.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry...thepany delivered itte...¡±


    Usually, one wore the outfits first and got their hair and makeup done as the makeup and hair might get ruined while we were changing. However, in today¡¯s case, we started our hair and makeup first because I thought we might bete for the whole show if we waited for the outfits toe.


    I said, ¡°After we finish the stage, let¡¯s gently take off our clothes to get a refund.¡±


    We changed our clothes with care to not ruin our makeup and hair. Our outfit today was tech wear. Our whole outfit was ck as the bright-colored outfit did not fit the song <Traitor>.


    Only One wore techwear in their performance, but since we thought it would be difficult to make an impact if we wore the same outfit, we added a few more items. We chose a cane instead of a lightsaber, and instead of just normal techwear, we also added a short medieval cape. Although it seemed like an unbnced item match, that was the charm of a space opera where technology was overdeveloped, yet the culture was reminiscent of an ancient kingdom.


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    ¡°Hmm...?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung, who came out after changing, stood awkwardly and looked at us, and we also looked at them with somewhat nk eyes. A short and tense silence passed in the salon. In that short moment, all kinds of emotions swarmed between us, and the reason for that was simple.


    ¡°What¡¯s up with...the clothes?¡±


    The clothes¡¯ quality was abysmal, and they didn¡¯t feel like stage outfits but cosy costumes that students used their pocket money to participate in at Comic-Con. Even from the fabric material to the details of small points, there was a whole cheap feel to it. However, there was a saying that even if an outfit was cheap, it looked good depending on the model. In fact, even these outfits looked decent when Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung were wearing them. But even then¡ª


    ¡°Ah...


    ¡°We¡¯re in trouble.¡±


    The quality of the outfits still looked extremely cheap.


    ¡°If the audience watches the stage and sees our outfits, their immersion is going to break.¡±


    It wouldn¡¯t have mattered much usually, but our concept was space opera. A story that chronicled a vast mythical space. Every small prop needed to be detailed and well-executed for the audience to be immersed in our stage. However, our outfit qualitypletely missed the mark.


    * * *


    Since this was the outfit we received, we finished changing first and left the salon. The owner of the salon and the stylists were worried about us till the very end and didn¡¯t forget to say words of constion in between.


    ¡°Your outfits might look nice under the lights!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s surprisingly hard to see fine details on camera so don¡¯t worry!¡±


    However, these words didn¡¯t really reach our hearts, as small details came out remarkably well on cameras these days, and we also knew very well that there was no way the lighting could make the quality of our outfits good. The atmosphere was dead while we headed towards the studio. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna also seemed furious. Ms. Hyuna suppressed her anger to drive, but that was not the case for Ms. Seung-Yeon. She called thepany that produced the outfits and started cussing them out.


    ¡°What kind ofpany does such a poor job! The details are all messed up, and the fabric ispletely different from what you told us before! This is definitely thepany¡¯s fault, so you have topensate us! This is a scam!¡±


    However, there was nothing we could do. Even if we gotpensated, the situation did not change. The members¡¯ expressions didn¡¯t look good either. I had expected that we would have a problem with the outfits for our performance at least once.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s a miracle that the quality of the outfits hasn¡¯t been bad so far.¡¯ </i>We were a group that had to set up a stage with a very tight budget, and our budget was much smaller than otherpanies. We were able to endure so far by self-producing our own lyrics, songs, and even choreography. We also practiced by ourselves and saved on lessons. Moreover, thanks to Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna¡¯s hard work, we were able to garner a little extra budget.


    Thanks to all these efforts, we could procure a sufficient budget to obtain a decent outfit if we used up all the money we saved. However, for this stage, we couldn¡¯t allocate all our money to purchasing outfits.


    Since the stage was sorge andplex, we had to hire dancers, and the sets to be put on the stage had to be outsourced separately. As a result, even though we had more than our usual budget, we could only use the lowest possible amount for our outfits. Among the ones with the lowest prices, we chose apany with the most passable quality and ordered our outfits.


    <i>¡®But their pictures were a scam.¡¯ </i>I didn¡¯t know if the outfitpany photoshopped their products or used good fabric only for promotional pictures. An outfit that lookedpletely different from the picture arrived. Although it was partly our fault that we expected good quality for the price we offered, it didn¡¯t change that thepany tricked us.


    <i>¡®They lied to us, so it¡¯s a sticky situation.¡¯ </i>This wasn¡¯t something that we could easily overlook, as for people like us, a single stage could make or break our team, especially at a critical time like this. However, it already happened, and we couldn¡¯t order new outfits anymore. In other words, we had to go up on stage with this terrible outfit. Perhaps Ms. Seung-Yeon also knew this as she soon ended the call and sighed deeply.


    ¡°I¡¯m very, very sorry everyone. I should have known this would happen.¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon apologized to us.


    ¡°No, how would you have known? It¡¯s thepany that scammed us...¡± Yeon-Hoon talked to Ms. Seung-Yeon to console her. However, the atmosphere didn¡¯t improve, and everyone sighed.


    When we arrived at the studio, the camera directors were waiting for us.


    ¡°Let¡¯s raise our energy and go in!¡± Yeon-Hoon forcibly raised our low mood and opened the car door.


    ¡°Hello~!¡±


    ¡°Hello, sir.¡±


    ¡°How are you doing, sir~¡±


    We did as Yeon-Hoon said and opened the door while energetically greeting the directors and production crew. We headed towards the waiting room, and while we were walking down the hallway of the studio, we met Bleshu.


    ¡°Uh! Hello, Sir...en?¡±


    We couldn¡¯t help but freeze at their transparent response; even Bleshu members flinched and were surprised by the quality of our outfits. It must be very obvious that our outfit quality was very poor, even to outsiders.


    The members clenched their teeth and greeted the Bleshu members.


    ¡°Hello~¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s been a while~¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun stepped forward first and eased the ufortable atmosphere. However, as we got closer to Bleshu, Do-Seung and Woon¡¯s expressions worsen.


    <i>¡®Bleshu¡¯s outfits are really good.¡¯ </i>Their team seemed to have put their lives at stake for this stage as their outfit quality looked great even from a nce. It was an all-white uniform with silver decorations, which gave off a luxurious impression. It felt like I was getting physically smaller the closer I got to them.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ll see you on stageter!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun pretended not to be, but they also seemed quite upset. Normally, they would have chatted for a long time but quickly ended the conversation and moved to the waiting room. We all quickly walked and as soon as we got to the waiting room and opened the door¡ª


    <i>Sighhh.</i>


    ¡°Pweh..¡±


    Sighs burst out everywhere.


    ¡°Our outfits...what shall we do?¡± Yeon-Hoon said as if he was genuinely worried. Team morale was falling to the basement floor all because of our outfits. We had worked so hard, practicing non-stop for two weeks with barely any sleep, so we were angry and felt like it was unfair that a mere factor like outfit was holding us back.


    <i>Pop, pop</i>.


    As if we were going to see the pinnacle of bad luck today, an ominous sound came from my outfit. All I had done was m the door a bit in a hurry earlier, but the back of the outfit top had snapped.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...your outfit ripped...¡±


    I wondered how cheap the fabric had to be for this to happen.


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± I stood in the front of the mirror, repressing my irritation. I tried to cover it roughly with a cape, but this mess had already exceeded that level of recovery. I carefully took off my costume and put it on the table so that my makeup and hair wouldn¡¯t get ruined.


    ¡°That¡¯s serious.¡±


    ¡°What should we do now?¡±


    <i>Sighhh.</i>


    ¡°I feel so upset.¡±


    The members all sighed in unison. I looked at my ripped outfit and thought, <i>¡® It might be better to just take it off and go up.¡¯</i>


    ¡°Ah.¡± As soon as I thought of this, an idea quickly formed in my mind.


    <i>¡®Insight.¡¯</i> I looked at the outfits in front of me and activated Insight.


    Numerous measures to take advantage of this messy costume began to form in my mind.

 Chapter 55

    <h4>Chapter 55</h4>


    I didn¡¯t know the Insight ability was applicable in situations like this too, but if I thought about it, there was no reason why it wouldn¡¯t. This was an ability that allowed me to gain a deep intuitive understanding of the world. Besides the limit that I could only use it once a day, this was a truly cheat-like ability. The activation period didn¡¯tst for long and after all sorts of ideas popped into my head, it ended.


    <i>Ding.</i>


    The speed of the world returned to normal, and I was inflicted with a spell of dizziness. Yet, there was a pressing topic that needed my immediate attention.


    ¡°Hey guys.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Do we still have the <i>hanbok</i> outfit we worest time?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yeah?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s probably inside the car trunk.¡±


    ¡°You want us to wear <i>hanbok</i> again?¡±


    ¡°No, not for wearing. But if it¡¯s possible, could you bring them all out?¡±


    ¡°Right now?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    The first person to move under my request was Yeon-Hoon. It seemed he caught onto what I was nning to do first. Even though he was usually slow, he acted unusually fast today.


    ¡°Do you need anything else?¡±


    ¡°Um, could you also get scissors, tape with a strong adhesive, and a pin? I don¡¯t think I have time to do sewing right now.¡±


    ¡°Ah...Okay!¡± Yeon-Hoon shouted and moved outside the waiting room.


    ¡°Sewing? What are you talking about?¡± Do-Seung appeared like he had no idea what was going on, and Woon also appeared doubtful about my suggestions.


    ¡°Are you trying to change our outfits right now?¡±


    ¡°Like seriously repair them right now?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m going to mend the clothes.¡±


    ¡°Are you crazy?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, even so, this is a bit too much...it¡¯s not like we are professionals.¡±


    They seemed uncertain whether I would do a good job repairing the clothes. I also couldn¡¯t bepletely certain of my abilities either, but I knew this was the only way.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like we can go outside wearing ripped clothes,¡± I said. It wasn¡¯t as if we had a choice, and I added, ¡°If it¡¯s not good, we can just go out nude.¡±


    ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°You are crazy. Just crazy.¡±


    ¡°Haaa...I don¡¯t know...¡±


    My group members were at a loss as to what to do.


    ¡°I will try to make the clothes simr somehow. Truthfully, it can¡¯t get any worse than this.¡±


    My group members stood still, unable to say anything. It was because they knew I was right. If we went up the stage with what we were wearing right now, we would be ridiculed and mocked. Pictures of us would spread across the inte, and we would be brought up whenever the topic of doomed idols was mentioned. Thus, we needed to try something to fix our outfits before our performance.


    ¡°And rather than going up on the stage with ripped clothes, we will make more impact by ripping our clothes and showing some bare skin anyway,¡± I said. I genuinely thought our situation couldn¡¯t get much worse than now so it didn¡¯t matter what changes I made on the clothes.


    ¡°Ha...¡±


    ¡°This is so sad...¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon sighed and backed away.


    ¡°What if I just use some personal funds right now and get us some new outfits...?¡± Dong-Jun suggested.


    ¡°It¡¯s toote now.¡±


    There wasn¡¯t time for us to get new outfits matching our sizes.


    ¡°I brought it, Tae-Yoon!¡± Yeon-Hoon then brought the past outfits from the car. They were the <i>hanbok </i>that we wore at thest performance. ¡°Here it is. The producers also let us borrow their scissors and tape.¡±


    ¡°Those will be enough.¡±


    I used the clothes and scissors that Yeon-Hoon handed me and ripped the clothes.


    ¡°Ahhh....¡±


    ¡°This is making me so nervous.¡±


    Truthfully, I was also nervous because I didn¡¯t know whether this would really work or not, but I thought I should give it a try. I nned to crop the<i> hanbok</i> outercoat a bit so that it was a bit longer than a cape.


    ¡°Why are you ripping clothes that arepletely fine?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s better this way.¡± I slightly ripped the tech-wear pants we were wearing and made more slice marks on the outfit where its back was ripped. I was moving quickly with no hesitation in my movements. While my Insight ability was activated, it seemed I also gained clothes-mending abilities; since there was hardly anyone who didn¡¯t know how to use scissors, it appeared that I gained a buff in cutting and basic craftsmanship. And after finishing my work, I wore the clothes I made.


    ¡°You...made this?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°You are insane...¡±


    My group members looked at me in astonishment. I saw the outfit reflected in the mirror and said, ¡°Let¡¯s change our concept a bit.¡± We needed to do this since our outfits also changed.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go with an Asian cyberpunk space opera.¡± It was unfortunate that we were using the same Asian theme as before, but I thought all the details fit together with the outfit. And since there was a slight connection with the previous performance, there could be some people who felt like this performance was part of some multi-verse. My group members nodded and began to cast their outfits aside one by one. I took their clothes and immediately got to work.


    ¡°Mend them, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°I think you¡¯re right.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not even surprised anymore.¡±


    ¡°I thought you were going overboard, but I was the one who was wrong~¡±


    It appeared my group members were satisfied with the final results. And that was how my work began. And while working on the clothes, I wondered if I should¡¯ve just been a clothesmaker instead of an idol.


    ***


    Luminin, Bleshu, and OnebyOne finished their rehearsals. <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s main producer, Park Soo-Chul looked down the stage and red towards the studio. The reason for it was simple.


    ¡°Only One isingte?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. One of their members is sick.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°Kang Hyun-sung.¡±


    ¡°What, why is he sick?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that, but he is going toe back after an IV treatment from a nearby hospital.¡±


    Though it was originally Only One¡¯s turn in the rehearsal, they didn¡¯te yet. They should¡¯ve finished their turn by now since they were supposed to have the opening performance. But they didn¡¯t appear even when it was their turn.


    Furthermore, they only told the staff that they were going toeter and that other groups should go before them after everything was set up. If the person getting the IV treatment were anyone else except Kang Hyun-Sung, they probably would¡¯ve made a fuss, but it couldn¡¯t be helped now. They just needed Only One toe before the official shooting.


    ¡°Then, tell the Sirens toe next,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and rubbed his face.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    Because he had been busy with editing thest couple of days, his condition was still poor even though quite some time had passed since the first episode was released.


    ¡°But Mr. Park, they say there¡¯s an issue with Siren.¡±


    ¡°...What is it?¡± He wondered what kind of annoying thing was going to bother him now.


    ¡°They say the quality of their outfits is really...bad.¡±


    This wasn¡¯t what he expected. ¡°Is it that bad?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Weren¡¯t their outfits okay before?¡± Park Soo-Chul had been highlighting Siren over the other groups; why were they slipping like this at such a crucial moment?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened either. It makes me wonder if theirpany purposefully cut off their funding. I mean, if they get first ce, they will have to enter a new contract.¡±


    ¡°Hm. But for that to be the case, it seems like they used quite a lot of money getting dancers and making the set...¡± Park Soo-Chul¡¯s head hurt. These were the guys he made into the main characters in episode 1, but they were making a mistake in a decisive moment like this. With the amount of effort they poured into them, the broadcasting show should give them the money for their outfits at this point. But most of all, he didn¡¯t understand why everything seemed to be going awry like this.


    ¡°This is the scene we shot when they were entering their rooms. You can see their general image...¡±


    ¡°...This is serious.¡± The image of the Siren members was so shocking that it made him forget the fact that Only One wasingte due to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s IV shot.


    ¡°This is so unfortunate, really unfortunate.¡± This was a group where each member had star potential and the ones the show wanted to support. Yet, they suddenly came to the set wearing cheap-looking clothes that looked as if they bought them online for 30,000 won altogether.


    ¡®<i>If they are doing this to keep their image of struggling idols, they are going too far</i>.¡¯ They had already drawn enough attention with that image, and if they stretched it any further, it would make the viewers cringe. No matter how they edited this, this part couldn¡¯t be fixed. Furthermore, the audienceing today would also notice their outfits.


    ¡°Well, I guess this is their fate. <i>Sigh.</i> Just tell them toe out on stage.¡± But it wasn¡¯t as if they could cancel the show. The rehearsal had to go on and there was already trouble with Only One right now. If they continued to use up more time for things like this, it would affect the shooting. Thus, the Sirens were called up to the stage.


    ¡°What?¡± Park Soo-Chul said. Contrary to his expectations, the Siren members were wearing outfits different from what he saw.


    Right before they began their official rehearsal, he said, ¡°Wait.¡± He was the type to usually make someone else intervene, so it was rare for him to act personally.


    ¡ªLet¡¯s stop for a bit.


    He said while holding the megaphone. The melody was about to flow out and stopped at his words.


    ¡ªIt looks like you had an outfit change. What happened?


    Though he tried to hide it, there was a strange sense of expectation in his voice. His eyes naturally turned towards the Siren¡¯s <i>maknae</i>, Bong Tae-Yoon.


    ¡°I mended it myself,¡± Tae-Yoon said. This was the answer he had been wanting.


    ¡°Ha, seriously,¡± heughed humorlessly.


    <i>¡®This is it!¡¯</i> he shouted inside his mind and apologized.


    ¡ªSorry for cutting you guys off. Let¡¯s continue.


    He ced his megaphone down and backed away. He had a good feeling about today¡¯s show too.


    ***


    The rehearsal was over.


    ¡°Good work.¡±


    ¡°Good job everyone!¡±


    There were many harsh dance moves mixed with a difficult formation. It was certainly not an easy performance, and the difficulty rose since it was our first time coborating with the dancers.


    ¡°That was splendid!¡±


    ¡°You guys were so cool~¡±


    Yet, we were able to finish our rehearsal without a single mistake. We all went down while high-fiving the dancers, and while going down, I heard some morements about our outfits.


    ¡°The outfits look different from the pictures we saw before. Did you mend them on the spot?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we did it on our own.¡±


    ¡°The design is so good. You have talent in this area too.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not much.¡±


    ¡°I told you our <i>maknae</i> is a genius.¡±


    ¡°Ah, stop it Dong-Jun...¡±


    ¡°Our Tae-Yoon is really a genius!¡±


    ¡°But this outfit really surprised me.¡±


    ¡°When did you learn a skill like this, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    It appeared everyone thought well of our outfits, and whenever someoneplimented me, my group members boasted about me. Since the rehearsal was getting filmed, these scenes would probably air on TV. Thus, I carefully minded my expression so that I wouldn¡¯t appear too arrogant.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s see each other a bitter when we are doing the performance.¡±


    ¡°All right!¡±


    ¡°See you guyster!¡±


    After separating from the dancers in the hallways, we moved to the waiting room. Perhaps, because our outfit problem was solved and the rehearsal ended with no problems, our mood improved. Optimistic energy poured out of us after solving a crisis.


    ¡°<i>Haaa.</i>¡±


    ¡°I have a really good feeling about today,¡± my group members said.


    My mood was also pretty good.


    ¡°Let¡¯s rx for a bit and roughly match our movements one more time before going on stage!¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    And in that good mood, we tried to enjoy ourst break before the official shooting.


    <i>¡®There¡¯s three hours remaining.¡¯</i> There was still a lot of time left. It would probably be over in the blink of an eye if we ate and did a couple of other things, but there was no need for us to rush things. I was about to monitor thements while watching episode 1 and assess the situation when suddenly, I heard a voice.


    [A surprise mission]


    <i>¡®What...?¡¯</i> Out of the blue, a damn mission fell on me. What in the world?


    [Find Only One¡¯s member, Kang Hyun-Sung.]


    [Upon sess, you will gain Precognitive Vision.]


    [Upon failure, Only One will drop out of the program.]


    This was unbelievable.


    <i>¡®Damn it.¡¯ </i>It appeared that this system was never going to give me a break.

 Chapter 56

    <h4>Chapter 56</h4>


    Upon failure, Only One drops out of the show? I swiftly made calctions inside my head to decide whether it would be beneficial or not to carry out this mission. If Only One dropped out¡ª


    <i>¡®Isn¡¯t that great for us?¡¯</i> I thought this for a moment and wondered whether this was a mission I should fail in.


    <i>¡®But The Showcase 2...without Only One.¡¯ </i>Frankly, the reason why <i>The Showcase 2</i> was popr was because of Only One. The show used Kang Hyun-Sung, their golden boy, to garner attention and poprity from the very beginning and hit the jackpot. If anyone asked if the rest of us could fill the gap left behind the huge missing hole of Only One, I could easily answer, ''no''.


    No one had as many fans or fame as Only One. In short, they were a group we couldn¡¯t throw away. Furthermore, the fact that they would drop out aftering out in episode 1 meant that this was no small problem.


    <i>¡®The problem must be serious.¡¯</i> Perhaps it may be a serious problem that led to a boycott of the program likest time.


    <i>¡®...Did he go missing or something?¡¯</i> Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s disappearance was a huge incident by itself.


    <i>¡®I guess I have no choice but to...move directly again.¡¯</i> I couldn¡¯t help but stick my head into another group¡¯s problem once again.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m going to the bathroom.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Just go.¡±


    ¡°Why do you even ask?¡±


    The members didn¡¯t seem interested in me.


    I added, ¡°I probably won¡¯t be able toe back for a long time.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What the heck are you telling us that now?¡±


    I replied, ¡°My stomach really, really hurts, so just pretend like you don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s something I didn¡¯t really want to know, but thanks for telling us.¡±


    I went outside with the excuse that my stomach hurt. I even changed my clothes because I thought I would get too much attention if I went out wearing my outfit. When the members asked why I was going to the bathroom after changing my clothes, I just replied that my stomach really, really hurt again. I just said anything on my mind, but the members nodded in deep understanding. I didn¡¯t know what they understood, but I glossed over this matter because they epted my excuse.


    I wore a mask that I always carried around since the first episode aired. Since my makeup could be ruined, I tried not to wear a mask as much as possible, but I couldn¡¯t do that this time. If I went around with this face, I would stick out like a sore thumb and would basically be screaming at everyone to look at me.


    I went out of the studio and tried to assess the situation. First, I knew that Only One hadn¡¯t arrived at the studio yet as when we went down for the rehearsal, I heard the staff members saying, ¡®Is Only One not here yet?¡¯ At that time, I thought they overslept or something and didn¡¯t think too much of it, but I supposed it wasn¡¯t something that could be easily overlooked.


    I went outside while avoiding the staff and quickly used my phone. Bluebird app was the fastest way to get news about celebrities. If Kang Hyun-Sung had disappeared, there would definitely be messages about it.


    The moment I turned on Bluebird to do a search, I realized¡ª<i>¡®I don¡¯t even need to do a search.¡¯ </i>A familiar name appeared on top of Bluebird¡¯s real-time ranking.


    ¡ªKang Hyun-Sung hospitalized


    I clicked on that keyword, and it already had hundreds of retweets.


    ¡ªFuck Kang Hyun-Sung hospitalized from exhaustion


    It was a post with clear content and photo and showed a figure who appeared to be Kang Hyun-Sung lying on the emergency room bed while receiving an IV.


    Reply: He¡¯s Kang Hyun-Sung?


    Reply: Fuck that¡¯s crazy


    Reply: Is he wearing a stage outfit?


    Reply: I think that¡¯s right. Today¡¯s the 2nd round of <i>The Showcase 2</i>


    People were saying all sorts of things while retweeting the photo of Kang Hyun-Sung receiving an IV. There were often cases in which celebrities got fluids because they were having a hard time with their schedules. However, it was notmon to go around the inte with pictures taken like this. There were heaps of insults towards TH Entertainment agency, which Kang Hyun-Sung was part of, and there were also a lot of insults towards <i>The Showcase 2</i> that they might have set an unreasonable schedule. Well, they were both right to some extent but¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s not to the extent of being hospitalized.¡¯ </i>I thought Only One¡¯s schedule wouldn¡¯t be packed enough to be hospitalized for exhaustion yet as they were probably going all-in on <i>The Showcase 2</i> too. They probably had something else going on behind the scenes. I looked for the hospital shown in the picture. Judging by how he was wearing his outfit, he must have gone to the hospital after visiting the salon.


    This meant that there was a high chance that it was a hospital near the studio, and geography-wise, there was only one hospital near us that also had an emergency room. Furthermore, the interior of the emergency room ovepped with the interior of the emergency room where Kang Hyun-Sung was lying in the picture. Since it was only about a 10-minute walk, there was nothing stopping me from going.


    I didn¡¯t think Kang Hyun-Sung would be calmly lying down in the emergency room. If Kang Hyun-Sung had been in the emergency room, the system wouldn¡¯t have even given me a mission to go find Kang Hyun-Sung.


    Although I had no idea what was going on yet, I thought,<i> ¡®I guess I¡¯ll see when I get there.¡¯</i>


    After all, It wasn¡¯t like I could find out anything by just standing here.


    * * *


    I arrived at the hospital where I predicted Kang Hyun-Sung was. It was the main gate of the hospital just across the crosswalk, but I decided not to go there as I saw some suspicious-looking people wandering around the main gate. Seeing that they had a camera on their shoulders, I thought they might be a stalker fan. I didn¡¯t want my picture taken while walking to the main gate and have it spread around online.


    Instead, I went through the underground parking lot to go inside. Although I had to walk a bit more, I sessfully entered the hospital. When I entered the emergency room, the space was quieter than I thought. In dramas, the emergency rooms were always so busy.


    As soon as I said, ¡°It¡¯s very peaceful.¡±


    ¡°Patient iing!¡± The doctors rushed out quickly.


    ...Maybe I raised another g again. I looked around the bed and looked at where Kang Hyun-Sung might be. However, I couldn¡¯t see Kang Hyun-Sung but another member from Only One.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡± It was Only One¡¯s <i>maknae</i>, Park Young-Ho.


    ¡°Ah, yes. Hello.¡± I awkwardly greeted Park Young-Ho, and he stared at me in disbelief.


    ¡°Um, why are you here...¡± It seemed as if he couldn¡¯t understand why I was here. His reaction was understandable as there was no reason for a member from another group toe all the way to the emergency room to see their member.


    It would be a pain to exin so instead of answering, I asked a question, ¡°Where did Mr. Kang Hyun-Sung go?¡±


    ¡°Ah, he said he was going to the bathroom and went somewhere. I was just about to go look for him because he¡¯s been gone for a while.¡±


    ¡°All right, I got it.¡±


    ¡°But Mr. Tae-Yoon, why are you¡ª.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s see each other in the studioter.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    I left the emergency room, leaving behind Park Young-Ho in a baffled state.


    While walking around the hospital lobby, I thought,<i> ¡®First, it¡¯s true that Kang Hyun-Sung has disappeared.¡¯</i>


    And it seems as if the other members hadn¡¯t realized that yet and thought he was just in the bathroom for a little longer than usual.


    <i>¡®I wonder where he went.¡¯</i> I stood in the lobby and pondered. He was probably still inside the hospital; since stalker fans were walking around, he couldn¡¯t carelessly move around. He probably went somewhere to organize his thoughts, using the bathroom as an excuse.


    <i>¡®Hmm.¡¯ </i>A ssic get-away ce was the rooftop as people often organized their thoughts on rooftops in dramas. However, I wondered if Kang Hyun-Sung would do that. He probably looked for ces where people didn¡¯t often go to, so I first crossed off ces like the rooftop and break rooms. After eliminating my choices one by one, thest remaining space I had was...


    <i>¡®The prayer room.¡¯ </i>There was a prayer room inside the hospital. The prayer room and Kang Hyun-Sung¡ªthese words didn¡¯t go along together very well, but it was the most likely option at this point.


    <i>¡®Let¡¯s try going.¡¯</i>


    * * *


    Kang Hyun-Sung sat in the corner of the prayer room and quietly recollected his breathing. The orange halogen light cast a dark shadow on top of his face. The IV fluids dripped one drop at a time and entered his body. He began to regain some of his vitality in an artificial manner, and a gentle hymn flowed out of the prayer room.


    It was a space for hospital patients and their guardians, but Kang Hyun-Sung was currently using it alone. Although he was not religious, he liked spaces like the prayer room. It was a space where it felt like he could say anything and be allowed to let out his emotionspletely. It was a magical space where everything felt like it could be healed just by entering its space.


    Of course, Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t say anything; he wouldn¡¯t burst into sobs and let out his emotions, or have the delusion that everything would be healed and restored in an instant.


    However, he quite liked the space that created an atmosphere like that as he finally felt like he could breathe. There was about 30 minutes left until all the fluids would be injected into him. After 30 minutes passed, Kang Hyun-Sung had to head back to the stage. Kang Hyun-Sung firmly believed that the stage was his dream and life. He hadn¡¯t doubted this for even a moment in the past few years but¡ª


    <i>Sighhhh.</i>


    There were times when life and dreams could sometimes be overwhelming. Kang Hyun-Sung took deep breaths. The hymns that had been constantly flowing for the past few minutes stopped for a minute; there was probably a short dy during the repeated yback of the music. While a short moment of silence flowed into the prayer room¡ª


    <i>Squeak¡ª</i>


    The door opened and a figure entered his vision. He thought it might be Park Young-Ho or another Only One member. He was impressed that they found him so quickly but¡ª


    ¡°You were here, senior.¡± A disgustingly big guy, way too big to be his group¡¯s <i>maknae</i>, was in front of him. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°...That should be my line...?¡±


    Siren¡¯s <i>maknae,</i> Bong Tae-Yoon stood in front of him.


    * * *


    My prediction was right. Kang Hyun-Sung was in the prayer room, and when I opened the prayer room¡¯s door, I saw him sitting in the corner, taking deep breaths. Perhaps thanks to half of the fluids entering his body, theplexion on his face looked all right.


    However, his current state looked so frail and contrary to his usual persona that I asked unintentionally, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±


    I knew that this wasn¡¯t the appropriate question to ask a person who had gone into the prayer from a mental breakdown, but it came out intuitively.


    ¡°...That should be my line...?¡± Then Kang Hyun-Sung asked me the same question.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°What do you want?¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± I looked for Kang Hyun-Sung because the system told me to, but once I found him, I realized that my behavior had beenpletely out of the norm. I thought I needed to make some kind of excuse and ended up saying, ¡°Um, because I was worried?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    I thought it was a ridiculous answer, even from my perspective. We had provoked each other and exchanged sharp words just on the stairs a few weeks ago. There was no way he was going to believe me.


    ¡°Do you seriously expect me to believe that?¡± As expected, I knew he would say this. I stared at him without saying anything, and Kang Hyun-Sung also looked up at me.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to answer? Why are you here?¡±


    At Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s following question, I just decided to be brazen. ¡°...There¡¯s no reason why I should tell you.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me with an even more incredulous expression, and I acted even more shameless. If I retreated from here, the atmosphere would be extremely strange, so it should remain a mystery why I came here till the very end. I couldn¡¯t tell him that I came here because the system told me a terrible catastrophe would happen if I didn¡¯te here to find him.


    Kang Hyun-Sung continued to re at me so that I would answer, but I confidently met his gaze while keeping my mouth firmly closed. A tedious staring conteststed for a few minutes.


    ...This whole mission really was draining the life out of me.

 Chapter 57

    <h4>Chapter 57</h4>


    A boring, staring contest between us continued for a couple of minutes. The first person to pull his eyes away was Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡°...Well, it doesn¡¯t matter,¡± he said, sensing that I really had no intention to tell the truth. ¡°Why don¡¯t you leave instead of bothering me now?¡± He also looked like he didn¡¯t want to talk to me any longer.


    But I knew I couldn¡¯t leave like this as I thought, <i>¡®Why isn¡¯t the system giving me a notification?¡¯</i>


    I found Kang Hyun-Sung as it told me to, but I didn¡¯t get an rm saying that I had sessfullypleted the mission.


    <i>¡®Does that mean there¡¯s something else I must do?¡¯</i> I had to do more than just find him. Perhaps, part of the mission was for me to drag him out of this ce.


    <i>¡®Haa.¡¯</i> I sighed to myself. I could tell from a nce that Kang Hyun-Sung wasn¡¯t going to leave here easily. Truthfully, I had sensed it since I opened the door. Kang Hyun-Sung was clearly burned out from everything. There was no energy in his pupils, his body slumped limply to the chair, and there was no eagerness on his face. I was surprised that even a guy like Kang Hyun-Sung could experience burnout, especially before a performance.


    In my past life, I heard many people sharing their interactions with Kang Hyun-Sung on the inte and was always impressed by the grit and passion he seemed to disy in his work. I had thought it was guys like him that seeded. Thus, it was shocking that he would be struggling before a show like this. It was so unexpected.


    I was sure it was tough for him, as people posted memes about him dropping from a first-tier idol to a doomed idol status. Because his position changed in an instant, he probably found it difficult to ept his changed circumstances. Furthermore, he was facing struggles in the program. He thought he could easily win first ce before our appearance.


    Seeing how the bet he made with his life on the line was crumbling bit by bit, he was probably under tremendous stress right now; and since he had to practice for the uing performance on top of that, perhaps, it was understandable that he was experiencing a burn-out.


    ¡°...Aren¡¯t you going to leave?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me with hollow eyes.


    I sat in the corner of the prayer room and stared at Kang Hyun-Sung. Perhaps, it was because he was receiving the room¡¯s lights directly over him, he looked like the main character of a movie. While crouching in my spot, I met his eyes again. Kang Hyun-Sung also lowered his gaze so it was to my level.


    ¡°Are you having a hard time?¡± I asked. I had neverforted anyone before, so I just got straight to the point. I briefly recalled how, in these cases, people usually made empathetic responses first and got to the main issue afterward. Yet, I skipped the whole process to get to the core of the main topic right away. Kang Hyun-Sung looked a bit conflicted by my question.


    I was surprised by how shocked he looked and how transparent his expression was. Kang Hyun-Sung parted his lips slightly and then spat out, ¡°...You are quite nosy.¡±


    At this response, I immediately had to throw away my ns to drag Kang Hyun-Sung out of this ce with words offort and encouragement. I didn¡¯t think those kinds of things would work on him anyway. No way he would listen just because I said some nice words. Instead, he would think I was overstepping my boundaries and mocking him, especially after the time I kept provoking himst time. Thus, I needed to find another method.


    ¡°Well, you sure do have a lot of free time.¡± It was a gamble, but I thought I could try provoking him again. There was no need for me to make a good impression on Kang Hyun-Sung and my mission was to just get him out of this ce anyway. And without him, the show could go to ruins, so it wasn¡¯t like I had much of an option anyway.


    Kang Hyun-Sung snorted and stared at me. ¡°Are you trying to pick a fight with me?¡±


    ¡°No, I was just wondering if you have nothing to do, seeing how you are just ying around here.¡±


    ¡°I was nning to stay here only until I finished this IV drip.¡±


    ¡°Why are you getting it here instead of outside? The bed is much morefortable.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t say anything and turned his head. It seemed he had nothing more to say.


    ¡°Are you tired?¡± I asked.


    Kang Hyun-Sung flicked his head back towards me. He looked like someone who was greatly insulted. It was then, I saw that Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s burn-out was different from the normal kind. He wasn¡¯t the type to want just to rest when he got a burnout. It was something moreplicated than that.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s the type not to acknowledge it even when he is experiencing a burnout.¡¯</i> Perhaps, he was hiding here because he didn¡¯t want to admit that he was tired.


    <i>¡®Hm.¡¯</i> If I thought about his actions in my past life, it was a bit more understandable. Kang Hyun-Sung never made a mistake and never took a moment of rest. Perhaps, he was too much of a perfectionist to admit that he was fatigued and was sitting here with no energy because of that. His strong will to seed and his desire for some rest were shing head-to-head.


    <i>¡®For myself, I need to support his will to seed more.¡¯ </i>I didn¡¯t know whether or not that would help his mental health more, but that was what I was going to do. Only One wasn¡¯t a group that could fall now. Though it was unfortunate that Kang Hyun-Sung was tired, I couldn¡¯t let my group members die.


    ¡°Mr. Park Young-Ho is creating a fuss looking for you. Is it all right for you to be just sitting around like this?¡± I brought up his group members first. Though he didn¡¯t show it, Kang Hyun-Sung cared for his members more than he let on. I was sure that he had some attachment to his members even though it might take some time for him to open up his heartpletely. Kang Hyun-Sung frowned.


    ¡°Do you think Only One will be able to do a proper show without you? When the center, leader, <i>and</i> the main dancer?¡± My second attack was to provoke Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s sense of responsibility. Despite everything, Kang Hyun-Sung was the leader of his group and the oldest. There was no way he wasn''t responsible for those positions.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s better for us if you are not there. We can easily take first ce then,¡± I said my next line of attack, which was to provoke Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯spetitive spirit.


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s conflicted gaze turned calm and he red at me. ¡°Don¡¯t cross the line, Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    I could sense that his voice turned cold. If I backed down now because I was scared of him, then all the provocations I made until now would turn useless. I need to make a final blow that would make this guy get up from his spot this instance and go practice.


    <i>¡®Ah.¡¯</i> I remembered Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s weakness. ¡°Or maybe, you really want to finish as second ce for <i>The Showcase</i> too.¡± I touched on Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s sore spot of failing to reach first ce andnding second ce at the end of hisst idol survival show.


    Even I felt my heart squeeze after saying those lines. It was such a tantly rudement to say, but I thought it would be difficult for me to finish this mission otherwise. Even if I became the prick in this situation, I needed to say it.


    ¡°If you won¡¯t get out, I will.¡± Perhaps, it worked because Kang Hyun-Sung red at him like he was going to kill me before rushing out of his seat. He dragged his IV drip stroller out of the prayer room and banged the door open. It seemed my provocation really worked on him.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see each other at the studio,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s voice was chilling, and he sounded truly angry. Though I had to admit that it scared me a bit, I was relieved that I reached my goal.


    Then, before leaving the room, Kang Hyun-Sung turned around and said, ¡°Keep it a secret that you saw me here. I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be good for you too if this story got out.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± I nodded to his suggestion of keeping this meeting a secret. Kang Hyun-Sung red at me once before stepping outside, and when he was fully out of the prayer room, I heard the rm ring.


    [Mission sessful]


    After acting as an annoying prick, I finallypleted my mission. This was truly a dreadful system.


    [You seeded in finding Kang Hyun-Sung. Only One¡¯s withdrawal from the show has been canceled.]


    [You gained partial control of Precognitive Vision.]


    [Beware of iing pain.]


    As in all the previous cases, there would be some pain with the new ability. I prepared myself since I didn¡¯t want to suffer likest time. Yet, even after knowing what wasing, this was a pain that I couldn¡¯t endure.


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    I felt an intense pain in my right eye. It felt as if someone was trying to enter my eyeball. I clenched my teeth, trying to stop myself from screaming. If I let any sound out, doctors coulde rushing in. I crouched on the floor and held my breath. It was good that I was in the prayer room. If I had to bear this pain outside, there would be a great fuss.


    [Seeded in gaining partial control of Precognitive Vision.]


    After this rm rang in my ears, the pain subsided. I leaned my back on the wall and stared into space.


    ¡°Haa...¡± Perhaps, it was because the excruciating pain disappeared in an instant,ughter kepting out of my lips.


    ¡°Seriously.¡± I never wanted something like Precognitive Vision. It was good to gain new skills but if I had to experience such intense pain like that, I didn¡¯t really want it.


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    Well, since I got it, I thought I should make good use of it. If it was the definition I knew, it was probably an ability that would allow me to see the future. It was basically another cheat-like skill. It wasmon for characters who could read the future to be one of the strongest characters in stories.


    ¡°Hm?¡± I didn¡¯t have any inkling on how I could activate this ability. With the Insight ability, I knew the sensation of when it was activated because, although not out of my own will, I was able to use it a couple of times before.


    <i>¡®But I have no idea where to start with this one.¡¯</i> I wondered if I needed to say something out loud or something.


    ¡°Precognitive Vision!¡± I tried shouting the words out.


    ¡°...¡± But all I felt was shamefulness. After cooling my reddened face, I left the prayer room. I thought even if I couldn¡¯t use the ability right now, there would be a time to use it. Then, I headed to the studio where my group members were.


    ***


    When I went back to the studio, I found out that my group members had absolutely no interest in where I had been. I recalled Only One¡¯s Park Young-Ho looking for Kang Hyun-Sung when he went missing, but my group members appeared calm and carefree.


    ¡°You were in the bathroom for a long time.¡±


    ¡°Did your stomach hurt?¡±


    ¡°Did we eat something wrong?¡±


    And it appeared they all simply thought I hade back from the bathroom. But what kind of person spent one hour in the bathroom?


    ¡°I bought some anti-diarrhea medicine for you to take,¡± Do-Seung handed me a medicine bag that he probably got from a pharmacy. Seeing this, it seemed like they weren¡¯tpletely unconcerned about me and just firmly believed I had stomach problems.


    ¡°...Yes, thank you.¡± I took the medicine from Do-Seung and ced it inside my bag, thinking I could use it someday.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon! So, is your stomach okay?¡± Dong-Jun asked while approaching me.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine.¡±


    ¡°Really? Tell us if you aren¡¯t okay. We can go to the hospital,¡± Yeon-Hoon said, looking genuinely concerned.


    But I didn¡¯t want to go to the hospital when I just came back from it.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I answered for now.


    ¡°Okay, then, let¡¯s eat something light for lunch.¡± Then, my group members gathered to decide on our lunch menu. We would probably choose something between sd or a diet lunchbox. But since I thought I needed to eat something, I also went to pick a menu.


    <i>Zing.</i>


    <i>¡®Hm?¡¯</i> A strange fracture suddenly began to spread as if a haze was blooming. Eventually, the fractures widened, and a wave of vibrations rushed forward as if it were going to swallow up my surroundings. Time seemed to stop in that moment then and while only my mind waspletely awake, my Precognitive Vision began.


    ¡ªToday¡¯s first ce is...


    I was baffled that my ability would activate like this, but I decided to focus on it for now. The future scene that I saw was the hosts announcing the results of the second-round performances.


    <i>¡®Who will it be?</i>¡¯ I wondered.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s Only One!


    The first ce wasn¡¯t us but Only One.

 Chapter 58

    <h4>Chapter 58</h4>


    Precognitive Vision showed me a scene where Only One won first ce in the second round of thepetition.


    ¡ªThank you so much. I think this first ce is very meaningful to us, and it¡¯s all thanks to our fans. We¡¯ll work harder on stage.


    Kang Hyun-Sung was making a face overwhelmed with emotions as he gave his thoughts about winning first ce. I couldn¡¯t believe that this was an expression that a guy, who was struggling with burnout just a few moments ago, could make. However, this was not the important part. Why did Only One win first ce¡ªthat was the important part. Since this was something I hadn¡¯t thought about, my head hurt.


    Of course, Only One could win first ce as they must have practiced hard. The fact that Kang Hyun-Sung practiced enough to experience burnout meant that the amount of practice his team did must have far exceeded the norm. Moreover, since the other members saw their leader so exhausted to the point of receiving IV fluids at a hospital, it must have been a strong motivating force for them. But...


    <i>¡®We¡¯re not in first ce?¡¯ </i>I had firmly believed that we would be first ce. The amount of practice that we did was also not within the realm of normal humans, and our morale also would never love to another group. In my opinion, we were superior to Only One in terms of individual abilities. Moreover, although small, we had garnered enough fans from the first episode to be called a fandom, and above all, the public opinion was favorable towards us.


    With all these factorsbined, I thought we had a good chance to win first ce. But if Only One won first ce again, this meant that they must have done so well without any imperfections in their skills. In other words, they did a performance that everyone couldn¡¯t help but acknowledge their performance as first ce. I didn¡¯t know why the Precognitive Vision showed me the results of the performance and not the actual performance; I would only be able to urately assess the situation after seeing their performance.


    <i>¡®But if they showed me only the performance, I would haveined about not knowing the results.¡¯</i>


    If I could only choose one to see, I did think seeing the results was better. I carefully inspected the scenes Precognitive Vision showed me one by one. All the Only One members lookedpletely moved and immersed in their emotions. Judging by their proud expressions, it meant that everyone was confident in their performance. The more I watched their reactions, the more curious I got about their performance. Then, the next moment¡ª


    <i>Ziiiing.</i>


    The haze that upied the space quickly disappeared and then¡ª


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    The Precognitive Vision turned off, and the world returned to its original speed.


    ¡°What do you want to eat?¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t we just going to eat sd again?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat a lunch box set today.¡±


    ¡°Bet it¡¯s going to be just chicken breast lunch box.¡±


    I stared at the members huddled together, trying to decide the menu. Maybe it was because I just came back to the present after watching future scenes shown by Precognitive Vision but everything felt strangely foreign.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡± Yeon-Hoon looked up at me and blinked.


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°Why are you just standing there and staring into space?¡±


    ¡°Ah, just. I guess I¡¯m nervous.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s first choose the menu. We need to eat first to have energy.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I went to the sofa and sat down after choosing the diet lunch box that we often ate. Honestly, it was not time for us to eat.


    <i>¡®Only One will win first ce.¡¯ </i>It was much more important to figure out how to change the future I saw. If Only One won first ce in the second round ofpetition, the following development of the show looked rather bleak. If Only One, who managed to barely save face by winning first ce in the introductory performance and the first round in a slightly questionable way, also won a clean victory in the second round, this could mean the beginning of Only One¡¯s full-on domination for the show.


    <i>¡®It could be the starting signal of Only One¡¯s monopoly.¡¯</i> The rival plot line that we worked so hard to establish with Only One might backfire, and a new plotline centered on Only One could be created. If Only One managed to win solely on their skills, their fans would have the basis to strongly argue that while the broadcasting show was pushing for Siren and holding back Only One, Only One still managed to flip the ying field and obtain victory by their pure skills.


    <i>¡®Perhaps, we might lose the third and fourth rounds like this.¡¯</i> We might not be able to aplish the goal of winning first ce for the entire show. If Only One won first ce today and won first ce in the third round, their spot for the final first-ce winner would be finalized. Even though the fourth round was thest round with a 50% weight grade, it was not enough to overturn the points umted by winning the first, second, and third rounds.


    <i>¡®We came up too fast.¡¯</i> Honestly, my original n was to give the first and second round to Only One and start flipping the game around from the third round. However, this plotline was shattered because the aftermath of the first episode was stronger than expected. Instead of the story where the underdogs, Siren, challenged the strong enemy, Only One, it became a story where the dark horse challenged Only One.


    This was not good in many ways. I pressed my forehead and tried to organize my thoughts while looking at the ceiling. I tried to think of possible scenarios if we didn¡¯t win first ce. If we didn¡¯t reach 100,000 in our album sales in the first week, Do-Seung would die. I couldn¡¯t ever let the future get to that point. I needed to do something. But¡ª


    <i>¡®There¡¯s nothing I can do right now.¡¯</i> The future looked even more gloomy because I had my hands and feet tied, and we were on the verge of performing. Why did I only gain this ability now? I wished that I could have gotten it earlier, and then I could have made some kind of n.


    ¡°The lunch box is here~¡±


    The members took out the lunch boxes and ced them on top of the table.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Eat!¡± Dong-Jun put a lunch box and chopsticks in front of me, and I could barely focus on the food.


    I tried to think positively for now. <i>¡®There¡¯s no guarantee that the Precognitive Vision would be urate.¡¯</i>


    The future was the future because it hadn¡¯te yet. We could change it somehow. But¡ª


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    There was nothing so helpless and ufortable as leaving our future to uncertain odds. I finished my lunch box without even knowing how I ate everything. Then I lightly practiced the choreography with the members, fixed the outfit again, and tried to spend the remaining time until the performance as efficiently as possible. However, my head was still full of thoughts about Only One winning first ce.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you sick?¡±


    ¡°Does your stomach still hurt?¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Wouldn¡¯t it be better to take the anti-diarrhea medicine now?¡±


    My expression was so bad that even my members were worried about me. I replied, ¡°It¡¯s all right. My stomach is really fine, so you don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡± After reassuring the members, I made my expression calm. I was making the members too ufortable right now.


    Then I resolved to myself, <i>¡®Yeah, Since nothing is certain yet, there¡¯s no need to worry in advance.¡¯</i>


    I calmed myself down like this. Just in time, a voice rang out.


    ¡ªOnly One on standby!


    The shooting was about to begin.


    ¡°Ahhhh. It¡¯s about to start.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s turn on the TV!¡±


    ¡°Only One did a remake of our ¡®Walya¡¯, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±


    The members then turned on the TV to watch the show; the light shed and Only One appeared on screen.


    * * *


    Park Soo-Chul, the main producer of <i>The Showcase 2</i>, looked at Only Oneing up to the stage with disapproving eyes. Only One waste today. Although they said it was because Kang Hyun-Sung was sick, they were sote that by the time they arrived, they didn¡¯t even have the time to do a proper rehearsal.


    Of course, they conducted a brief rehearsal to match the camera¡¯s movement since if they didn¡¯t even do that, they couldn¡¯t film the show. However, they skipped the main rehearsal, which Only One had to perform as if they were doing the actual shooting. It was due to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s poor condition; he refused to do the rehearsal, saying he needed to rx as much as possible before the main stage.


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    <i>¡®This is why kids who are half famous are the most problematic.¡¯</i>


    The show business was where power abuse was rampant. Production teams would treat the cast members poorly, and the vice versa happened as well. This round-and-round circle of power abuse made people sick of show business. But what could he do about it? He had no choice but to believe that they prepared well on their own. Currently, the set was filled with 150 spectators. Then, the hosts of <i>The Showcase 2</i> finally came out on stage.


    ¡ªHello to all the viewers and audience who came to see the stage once again. I¡¯median Kim Young-Jin, the host of<i> The Showcase 2</i>.


    ¡ªAnd I¡¯m singer Nahyun.


    ¡ªA lot of people came here to see the performances again today. I¡¯m predicting that all five groups in the waiting room are eagerly waiting to perform on stage today.


    The hosts ryed their lines as written on the cue sheets and filled up the content. As the main producer, Park Soo-Chul knew that not all of theirments would be used on the show, but they didn¡¯t know what they would specifically end up using so they made the hosts say all the lines. Like this, meaningless remarks continued.


    ¡ªPlease exin the ranking system, Mr. Young-Jin.


    ¡ªYes, the second round is the same as the previous first round, where each group is rated A, B, and C...


    The hosts described the ranking system again.


    ¡ªThe group who ced first would produce a top-budget debut album...


    They exined the first-ce benefits and rewards.


    ¡ªDo you know what the concept of the second round is?


    ¡ªIt¡¯s ¡®Your Showcase,¡¯ a concept about showing ¡®your¡¯ song. Each of the five groups will show another group¡¯s performance...


    Lastly, an exnation of the second round ofpetition followed. Thements continued smoothly without any stops or pauses.


    ¡ªThen we can¡¯t make everyone wait anymore, right?


    ¡ªYes, we¡¯ll start the performance right away. The first performance is¡ª


    When the audience¡¯s interest was reaching its peak, the hosts made a short pause and revealed the first group toe up on stage.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s a team that remade Siren¡¯s <Walya> to <Moon Night>.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s Only One¡¯s stage!


    The hosts revealed that the first performer was Only One.


    ¡°Kyahhhhhh!¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°Crazy!¡±


    Strong exmations burst throughout the studio. It seemed as if no one thought Only One would do the opening stage. Moreover, since most of the audience members were Only One fans, they must have been ted to see their idols so quickly on stage. Soon, the stage darkened, and the anticipation before the performance filled the studio.


    <i>¡®I wonder how it will be.¡¯ </i>Although Park Soo-Chul had roughly heard the arrangement¡¯s structure, it was his first time seeing the actual performance as well. He was curious about this stage as a viewer before being a producer. He stared at the stage with his arms crossed. Before the stage brightened and while the stage was still dark, he heard the first notes ring out.


    <i>Ding¡ª</i>


    <i>¡®Sampling?¡¯ </i>It was apletely differentposition from Siren¡¯s ¡°Walya.¡±


    <i>¡®Is it Chopin¡¯s Nocturne?¡¯ </i>It was a melody familiar to the public. It seemed as if Only One had arranged the melody a little slower and more mncholy and put it in the intro. The blue and cold lights gently filled the stage, and the stage set was revealed.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s a mansion¡¯s veranda.¡¯</i> The set resembled the veranda of a two-story mansion. To show the floor height, the veranda was installed quite far above. Kang Hyun-Sung slowly walked out to the veranda in line with the slow ssical sampling intro. He walked with leisurely and somewhat seductive steps, and he wore a frilled shirt with ck cks. People gaped at his medieval aristocratic outfit as it was an elegant and luxurious outfit that matched his fair skin and tinum blonde hair. Kang Hyun-Sung swept the veranda with his fingers.


    <i>¡®The apaniment changed?¡¯</i> After the ssic sampling ended, the music began ying.


    <i>Dan-ddan-dan.</i>


    However, while ¡°Walya¡± actively utilized Korean traditional instruments in its arrangement, Only One¡¯s performance used Western orchestral instruments with the sound of piano as its base. The music only used ¡°Walya¡¯s¡± melody, and the overall sound waspletely different.


    ¡ªIn a deep dark night, Iy wide awake


    Standing on the veranda, Kang Hyun-Sung sang the introduction of ¡°Walya¡±, which was arranged in a ssical style in a low voice. However, the real shock began after that.


    ¡ªThe boundless azure sky, bluish moonlight


    ¡ªSoftly envelops me and drives me to the streets once again


    When Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s clear voice spread gently onto the stage.


    <i>Bang!</i>


    With a sudden explosion¡ª


    ¡°Ahhhhhhh!¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung fell off the veranda.


    <i>Flick.</i>


    At that moment, the lights started to light up, and four members rose one by one over the ce where Kang Hyun-Sung fell¡ªno, the members who were originally lying there woke up one by one from Kang Hyung¡¯s fall. The movement they showed while getting up looked like a flower blooming, so it made the viewers awed by how beautiful this scene was.


    ¨CThe warmth of that day that¡¯ll nevere back


    ¨CI thought our distance couldn¡¯t get any further


    The choreography of Only One¡¯s members began in earnest. Each member paired up and showed a choreography that stroked each other¡¯s faces as if they were looking at a mirror. While people were still shocked that Kang Hyun-Sung fell off the veranda, they were sucked deeply into the stage.


    And even Park Soo-Chul, who was watching the whole show thought, <i>¡®Crazy punks.¡¯ </i>Even while staring at the stage in astonishment, he was cheering in his heart.


    While Siren¡¯s ¡°Walya¡± was about a love that couldn¡¯te true, Only One¡¯s ¡°Walya¡±¡ªno, ¡°<i>Moon Night¡±</i> was about narcissism.

 Chapter 59

    <h4>Chapter 59</h4>


    I watched Only One¡¯s stage while holding my breath. And it wasn¡¯t just me, as all my group members focused all their attention on the stage. The waiting room felt more serious than ever.


    <i>¡®This is insane...¡¯</i> Only One¡¯s performance exceeded our expectations. They just changed our song, ¡°Walya¡± to ¡°Moon Night,¡± but everything was shocking besides the melody. As orchestra instrumentsbined with the piano, it brought chills to the listeners. Among the numerous possibilities of musical arrangement, I heard with my Insight ability, I hadn¡¯t heard of this one.


    <i>¡®I guess the Insight ability isn¡¯t invincible.¡¯</i> Others could make something more outstanding than one that I could make with the Insight ability.


    ¡°...They are really good.¡±


    ¡°...So true.¡±


    ¡°Wow...the dance moves are really pretty.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, and Woon said their heartfelt feelings. Their faces looked so genuine that I thought their scenes would be used for reaction cuts. Even Dong-Jun, who always appeared carefree, watched Only One¡¯s performance seriously.


    ¡°I see. You can interpret the song like that too,¡± he said.


    Only One¡¯s ¡°Moon Night¡± performance showed apletely different interpretation from our original song. Our original song had a sentimental background of schrs who walked the night in longing for their lovers.


    <i>¡®Yet, I didn¡¯t expect them to make the song about narcissism instead.¡¯</i>


    They reinterpreted the song so that it told a tale of men who fell in a tragic love with themselves. Their dance moves showed them looking at their reflection on the mirror and stroking their faces. The most striking part was Kang Hyun-Sung and Park Young-Ho¡¯s pair dance, which came at the highlight of the song.


    ¨CI endure this night again and again


    ¨CAnd for my precious self


    Kang Hyun-Sung appeared with Park Young-Ho at the center. Then, he covered Young-Ho¡¯s eyes and lips and acted as if he was slicing off Young-Ho¡¯s neck. At that perfect timing, Young-Ho pretended to copse and moved backward. Thereafter, Kang Hyun-Sung stood in the center and red at the audience.


    <i>¡®...Who is this guy exactly?¡¯</i>


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s eyes clearly looked like someone suffering from deep narcissism; they were haughty and arrogant as if he thought of anyone besides him as a mere bug. It was fundamentally different from a face that a person would make while looking in satisfaction at the mirror. Others would find such behavior cringy, but Kang Hyun-Sung made the viewers understand. He didn¡¯t simply wear a fa?ade of narcissism but deeply lived it.


    <i>¡®Maybe he really is a bit in love with himself,¡¯ </i>I thought and wondered if Kang Hyun-Sung was truly a narcissist. The song quickly progressed until the outro.


    ¨CMoon, dear moon


    ¨CShining blue


    ¨CMy heart that I couldn¡¯t tell you in the end


    ¨CI¡¯ll bury my heart in this night and take my leave


    When we sang the song, it sounded like the grumblings of a sorrowful schr, but when Only One sang it, it sounded like a person reconciling himself while suffering from a curse. While all five members of Only One sang the outro, they stood in a circle.


    Then, they took out ck sashes from their pouches and covered their eyes with them and dropped to the floor right when the melody ended. In the end, it appeared that the narcissists had chosen to cover their own eyes to end the curse; and because they lost their will to live any longer, they fell limply to the floor. It felt intuitive and dreamy at the same time.


    ¡ªKyaaaaaah!


    ¡ªHyun-Sung!


    ¡ªWaaaaah!


    The audience hollered in feverish excitement. We all felt the enormous energy pouring out of the stage and became speechless.


    ¡°....<i>Ha</i>.¡±


    ¡°...That was amazing.¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    My group members shortly eximed and then finally moved their torsos back. They had been too focused on the performance that they didn¡¯t realize that they had leaned towards the monitor. I also eximed while leaning my back onto the sofa¡¯s cushion.


    <i>¡®No wonder they won first ce,¡¯ </i>I thought. That was how impressive their performance was. Not only did they utilize their space well, but the formation of the dance was also impressive, and their interpretation of the song was off the charts. And this time, each of the members did their keep and lived up to the concept. It wasn¡¯t just Kang Hyun-Sung carrying his team again.


    <i>¡®Each member did more than one person¡¯s share.¡¯</i> I saw a glimpse of the days of Only One at the peak of their career in my past life. But this wasn¡¯t the time to just dwell in my astonishment of Only One¡¯s performance. It was time to worry about ours.


    ¡°...What are we going to do?¡±


    Truthfully, I didn¡¯t think our performancecked much inparison to Only One¡¯s. The quality of our performances was simr, and it was just a matter of personal taste on which one was more appealing.


    We were also assessing Only One¡¯s performance even higher than it should have because it was better than our expectations, but objectively, our performance wasn¡¯tgging. Yet, this could change because of the impact Only One¡¯s performance made on us. Because of how well they did, we all felt fearful, and our morale was lower than before.


    <i>¡®No, this can¡¯t be.¡¯</i> I felt suffocated. I clenched my fists so tightly that my palms turned white. I massaged my wrists to circte the blood and said, ¡°Um, well, should we practice a bit more right now?¡±


    I felt too anxious to stay still, doing nothing. I looked at Do-Seung. If we didn¡¯t get first ce in this show, failed to make a new contract, and debuted under WD Entertainment, we would never be able to sell 100,000 copies in the first week. Since WD Entertainment would nevere up with their own marketing strategy to promote, we wouldn¡¯t be able to reach that number of sales no matter how hard we tried.


    The reality was that even if we debuted from a sizablepany, it was difficult to hit that number of sales. The best possibility was for us to win <i>The Showcase 2</i>, form a new contract with a bigpany, and release an album with their support.


    <i>¡®If that¡¯s impossible, Do-Seung will...¡¯</i> I didn¡¯t even want to imagine it. It was already enough that I experienced it once.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s try matching our moves again.¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s a good idea to recheck the difficult parts again.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s try it.¡±


    My group members and I got up from our spots and looked over the important parts of our performance. Yet, the more we practiced, my heart felt even more uneasy. If we did just as we practiced, our performance would beparable to Only One¡¯s, but in our current state, it seemed like that would be unlikely.


    <i>¡®I should get it together.¡¯</i> I reaffirmed my resolve again.


    ***


    After Only One¡¯s performance ended, Park Soo-Chul stared at the stage for a while. His surroundings were busy with cleaning and prepping the set for the next performance. Because of that, he could see the audience¡¯s responses more clearly than before.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t that just straight-up crazy?¡±


    ¡°Wow, Kang Hyun-Sung, seriously...¡±


    ¡°When he did that duo dance with Park Young-Ho...¡±


    The audience buzzed with talks about Only One¡¯s performance. Most of them had a positive reception to it¡ªno, it wasn¡¯t just positive. They were wild about it. Only One¡¯s performance today was one of the best that Park Soo-Chul had ever seen. Until now, all the performances that Only One had shown disappointed him. Of course, they weren¡¯t a mess because Kang Hyun-Sung was in the group, and its quality was above other groups¡¯. Yet, they had never been overwhelmingly better.


    <i>¡®Kang Hyun-Sung is living up to his name.¡¯</i> This was more than enough to make the audience forget all about the disappointing performances in the past.


    <i>¡®But it¡¯s concerning that this great performance is the opening.¡¯</i> There were four more performances left, and the possibility of anyone upstaging them was very slim.


    <i>¡®Is it even possible?¡¯</i> Siren had the highest possibility, but it was basically zero. Furthermore, the audience would think even less about the other groups¡¯ performances after seeing Only One. A boring performance would be twice the more boring, and the audience¡¯s response would be even more lukewarm. This was something even good editing couldn¡¯t change, and viewers would be able to tell through the TV screens.


    As the producing director, he couldn¡¯t help but want the audience to respond to each of the performances well. It was easier to edit that way and showcased how well the program was doing.


    <i>¡®This is bad,¡¯</i> he thought. He had to hope that audiences wouldn¡¯t yawn while seeing the uing performances.


    <i>¡®It can be anything. Someone, grab the audience¡¯s attention back again,¡¯</i> he thought while pressing on his temples.


    In his heart, he half-wanted the audience¡¯s response to change and half-wanted the audience to remain cold to other groups. If thetter happened, he thought he could edit and make the storyline in that direction. Then, the show could tantly push Only One into the spotlight as they originally nned. Thus, Park Soo-Chul decided to continue watching to see how things yed out and turned his eyes back to the stage.


    ***


    While looking at the monitor, I barely held back from eximing out loud. After Only One, other groups¡¯ performances continued.


    <i>¡®What¡¯s going to happen now?¡¯</i> Because Only One had the opening performance, all the groups that came after them felt nd andcking. This was expected since this was Only One¡¯s n all along. Luminin seemed to have be too nervous and even went off-key, and OnebyOne also made mistakes in their choreography and ruined their formation.


    Though Bleshu didn¡¯t make any big mistakes, they clearly looked tense, so they gave off an ufortable feeling. It appeared Only One¡¯s n was very effective, as they seeded in overshadowing all the performances that came after them.


    ¡ªSiren on standby!


    ¡°Haaa.¡±


    It was finally our turn.


    ¡°We can do it, Siren!¡±


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    My group members shouted our cheer and lightly warmed up their bodies. While wearing the outfits I mended for them, they were rechecking their moves. There was nothing to fear. We solved the issue with our outfits, memorized the dance moves, and matched well with our backup dancers, and the set was cool.


    <i>¡®Yet, it¡¯s frustrating.¡¯</i> It was hard to breathe, and I thumped my heart. I couldn¡¯t feel much strength in my legs either. This was bad for the performance. There was no need for us to feel disheartened. I knew that our performance could be even better in my head, but my body didn¡¯t listen to me.


    <i>¡®Why am I acting like this? This is so annoying.¡¯</i> It seemed my mind and body were in separate territories. I didn¡¯t think I was scared of Only One. It was something else that I was scared of.


    I was scared of losing Do-Sung again.


    Then, just in time, Do-Seung approached me and asked, ¡°Are you okay, Tae-Yoon? You look pale.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine.¡± I smiled awkwardly. I couldn¡¯t tell my group members my fears. In the first ce, they wouldn¡¯t even believe me. After all, who would believe me if I said that I regressed, and a strange system kept giving me orders and threatened to kill Do-Seung if I failed? I organized my thoughts and was about to leave the waiting room when Yeon-Hoon called us from outside.


    ¡°Come out guys!¡±


    And while we headed in his direction, Do-Seung grabbed my wrist.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you really okay?¡± He asked me seriously. Because someone with an already scary face was making such a fierce expression, it was quite intimidating.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± This was the only answer I could say.


    ¡°What do you mean you¡¯re fine?¡± Do-Seung seemed intent on not backing down more than usual. ¡°I saw you thumping your chest and massaging your wrist some time ago.¡±


    I stared intently at Do-Seung.


    ¡°Are you in pain?¡± Do-Seung asked.


    Maybe it was because I felt too emotionally cornered and stressed but I was unable to think rationally. There was nothing that could be done even if I said something right now, but the truth came out of me before I could think.


    ¡°...Yeah, I feel a bit sick,¡± I said.

 Chapter 60

    <h4>Chapter 60</h4>


    ¡°You¡¯re sick?¡± Do-Seung¡¯s eyes became big as saucers after I told him I was sick.


    <i>¡®What should I do?¡¯ </i>While I did feel moved that I was getting babied somewhat as a <i>maknae</i>, I also felt anxious that I might have caused an unnecessarymotion.


    ¡°I¡¯m not saying that I¡¯m physically sick. I¡¯m just saying I¡¯m tired psychologically because there are a lot of things on my mind,¡± I quickly added as Do-Seung¡¯s reaction just now seemed like he was ready to lift me up and rush me to the hospital.


    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not sick?¡± Do-Seung moved one step closer and asked again. He sounded so concerned that I felt pressured to say yes even if I was not actually sick.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±


    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡±


    The members who had left the waiting room came back. I tried to mediate the situation quickly, but Do-Seung was faster. ¡°I think Tae-Yoon is sick. What should we do?¡±


    It was then I knew I was in deep trouble. Immediately after Do-Seung told them I was sick¡ª


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, you¡¯re sick?¡±


    ¡°Hey! You should have told us earlier! Seriously, where are you sick? Are you okay?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun were all shocked and bombarded me with questions.


    ¡°I¡¯m not physically sick, and I¡¯m just feeling a bit of psychological pressure,¡± I repeated what I said to Do-Seung earlier, but even then, the members kept trying to check if I was not sick or hurt anywhere. Yeon-Hoon kept pressing various parts of my body and asking if it hurt there and if I was okay. Woon asked if the intestines in my stomach felt like they were twisting or if there was a piercing pain like a needle poking my stomach. It was only after I firmly denied that I was sick that the members finally calmed down.


    ¡°Siren! Please be on standby! We don¡¯t have time!¡±


    Thanks to the production team, who came out right on time, the members no longer asked me more questions.


    ¡°It¡¯s because you''re worried about the performance, right? If you¡¯re hurt, don¡¯t just endure it, okay?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I nodded calmly and followed them out of the waiting room.


    Then we moved backstage and waited for our stage to be set up.


    <i>Sighhh.</i> I took a deep breath and pulled myself together. There was nothing to be nervous about; I just needed to do as I practiced.


    At that moment, Do-Seung whispered right into my ear, ¡°Are you really worried?¡±


    I didn¡¯t answer. If I replied here, I was worried that the same fiasco as before might arise again.


    Contrary to my wishes, Do-Seung seemed to have epted my silence as an affirmation. However, fortunately, he seemed to have realized I didn¡¯t want to stir up a whole fuss like before and whispered an encouragement, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We prepared well for the performance. We can win.¡±


    Do-Seung was not the type to say nice words of encouragement like this. When I turned around in surprise, Do-Seung was talking with a deep scowl as if his stomach hurt to say these words. It seemed as if saying nice words like this was upsetting his stomach, and seeing this made meugh. Then it made me reflect on myself because I thought this might be how I look to others when I try to say nice words. Was this what people called ¡®mirror treatment¡¯?


    Anyway, back to the main problem at hand. Frankly, the nice words of encouragement that Do-Seung said did not ease my anxiety as they were merely titudes only spoken to help me feel better. Do-Seung also seemed to know that his words didn¡¯t sound very convincing. Since we both didn¡¯t know how tofort anyone, both the receiver and giver felt awkward.


    Then, Do-Seung broke the silence after a while and continued whispering, ¡°If you can¡¯t trust yourself, trust us.¡±


    I wondered what he meant, but it seemed like he was telling me this after a lot of thought, so I thought it was worth listening to him more.


    ¡°We all worked hard to prepare for this performance, the dancers worked hard, and the stage set looks great.¡± He was telling me that if I was not confident in myself, I should be confident in everything else.


    ¡°So, don¡¯t trust yourself on stage, but trust us and try to enjoy the stage, even if it¡¯s a little bit.¡± After saying that, Do-Seung moved away from me.


    Hmm. The fact that Do-Seung said such emotionally sensitive words meant that he thought a lot about what to say to me, and even now, his face was so red that it looked like it might explode. He was trying to hide it, but I could clearly see that he was embarrassed. I reflected on what he said a little more.


    <i>¡®Enjoying the stage.¡¯ </i>To be honest, I had never enjoyed performing on stage even once. It was the same before I regressed. Although I felt a sense of pride in aplishing my assigned part, I had never felt anything on stage.


    <i>¡®What does it mean to enjoy the stage?¡¯</i> I never thought I was suitable for being an idol in the first ce, and that was why I had announced I was going to quit being an idol in the beginning. I fell into thought. Although I was trying to debut to save Do-Seung, was I really suitable to be an idol?


    ¡°It¡¯s almost over,¡± Yeon-Hoon said while watching the stage being set up. As he said, the set was almost finished. I took a deep breath and tried to rx my mind.


    <i>¡®Enjoy.¡¯ </i>I was going to focus a little more on what Do-Seung said.


    * * *


    In the studio where the second round of <i>The Showcase 2</i> was taking ce, the audience was sitting there and yawning, unable to repress the boredom they were feeling. After Only One¡¯s performance, only mediocre and uninteresting performances continued.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s about time for Siren toe up, right?¡¯ </i>There was only one performance the girl had high hopes for¡ªit was Siren. In fact, the reason why she hade here as an audience was to see Siren. A few months ago, dating rumors about her ultimate bias had broken out. If it was just like any other dating rumor, she would have just endured it and tried to gloss over it, but he had gone too far. He constantly showed off pictures of his non-celebrity girlfriend on social media and deceived his fans as often as breathing. Furthermore, he even showed a positive response to deceiving his fans and acted mean and distant to his fans.


    Eventually, she got tired of his deceit and attitude and finally decided to move on; and since the celebrity had created all kinds of scandals, she was able to exit his fandom easily. However, she felt an empty feeling as if there was a hole in her life. To ease this hollow feeling, she kept snooping around in various ces like a ghost, but it was all in vain. Then, a Bluebird post caught her eye one day.


    ¡ªI want to marry Bong.


    Reply: The movie director?


    Reply: Are you crazy?


    It was a humorous post retweeted by her SNS friend. Since the atmosphere of this SNS tform was light-hearted and humorous, she thought nothing much about this post. However, it was her fault for clicking on that funny post. The click immediately led to the next click. She learned that Bong referred to Bong Tae-Yoon and watched all the few Siren videos that were avable. As a result¡ª


    ¡ªMr. Bong is a heinous criminal. He made me want to get married for real but hasn¡¯t even debuted yet.


    She reached the point of writing these posts herself. Naturally, she applied to be the audience for the second round of <i>The Showcase 2 </i>when it was uploaded. She tried not to expect much because she might not be chosen, but she received a call that she was chosen. When she received that call, she was so excited that she could feel her heart rate rising rapidly. It seemed like just yesterday when she was burning in feverish excitement, but she was now staring at the stage with dead eyes.


    <i>¡®When will it end?¡¯</i> Since the Siren members wereing out soon, she knew she had to raise her enthusiasm, but she had no energy. Since the previous three stages were so uninteresting, they had sapped all of her energy. She might have fared better if there were at least a few parts to raise the energy, but rather than a K-pop fan who won an audience seat, she felt like a part-timer who came to work.


    The moment she thought in her mind a hundred times, <i>¡®When will Siren appear?¡¯¡ª</i>


    ¡°Wow, what¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°The stage set is intense.¡±


    A huge sculpture came onto the stage. She stared at the set and raised her dying expectations again.


    <i>¡®Is it an altar?¡¯</i> Arge altar that could be used as an altar for an ancient god came up on stage. However, there were some overly technological elements mixed in various ces, such as a blue neon lighting from the altar, and the altar¡¯s material was made out of metal, not stone. Expectations about what performance they prepared and what concept they chose began to creep up.


    <i>¡®Did Tae-Yoone up with the idea again?¡¯ </i>In the first episode of<i> The Showcase 2</i>, it felt like Bong Tae-Yoon was the main idea maker of the group, so she was looking forward to seeing if this performance also came from his head.


    ¡°But I heard Bong Tae-Yoon can¡¯t perform on stage?¡±


    ¡°If you see the reviews, people say his physicality is good, but he strangely has no stage presence.¡±


    While she was thinkingpliments like, ¡®As expected, our<i> maknae</i> is a genius,¡¯ she heard conversations like this in the front.


    Although she wanted to retort, if she considered their statements objectively, she thought,<i> ¡®Well, I think so too.¡¯</i>


    Even in Siren¡¯s introductory performance, ¡°Sailing,¡± Bong Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t stand out. In a way, it was a talent to not stand out with a face and size like that. Although he got better from the introductory performance, the general consensus was that it was not enough to throw off the image that hecked stage presence.


    But what if hecked stage presence? Where else could they find a <i>maknae</i> this good-looking with a good figure like this? Moreover, his calm personality made him more likable, and he helped his group with good ideas. All these factors more than covered for hisck of stage presence in her perspective. Just in time, the hosts came up on stage.


    ¡°Uh?¡±


    ¡°It must be starting.¡±


    The two hosts expressed their feelings about the previous stage and exined the next stage.


    ¨CThe next performance is a group that took Only One¡¯s introductory performance.


    ¨CWe will now begin Siren¡¯s second-round performance!


    The girl sucked in her breath. She admitted that Only One¡¯s performance was amazing, but she didn¡¯t think Siren would lose to them. Of course, this was just her wish without any evidence, but she had a good feeling about them. At that moment¡ª


    <i>Tap.</i>


    Then the light turned on and¡ª


    ¡°Wow.¡± Lee Woon was standing on the altar, held by two people.


    There was no melody yet. Setting the atmosphere only by acting without music at the beginning of the stage was amonly used directing method these days. But the outfits were¡ª


    <i>¡®Wow, the quality is crazy.¡¯</i> The outfit was abination of cyberpunk, traditional Korean style. The long <i>dopo</i> was cropped and the pants gave a techwear feel. She wondered how they managed to integrate these two contrasting parts so well, but the overall silhouette was well integrated.


    If two unbnced elements were sessfullybined, it naturally gave off an image of luxury. A strong smell came from the stage¡ªthe smell of money. Two dancers dressed up as cyborgs knelt, holding Lee Woon¡¯s shoulders. Lee Woon seemed to resist but eventually had no choice but to climb up to the altar and kneel.


    On closer observation, that tform was not a normal altar¡ªor more urately, it was not a modern altar. The girl recalled that in ancient empires, altars also yed a role in executing people. In other words, Lee Woon hadmitted a crime and was being sacrificed at an altar. At that moment¡ª


    <i>Scrhhh¡ª</i>


    <i>Wiiiing¡ª</i>


    Scratching sounds poured out all over the studio. Everyone flinched at the sound of sirens that followed next. At the same time¡ª


    <i>Tap¡ª</i>


    Lee Woon, who was being detained, turned his shoulders to suppress the two officers and escaped from the altar. His movement was so smooth that it looked like a dance. Soon after, sirens and scratching sounds stopped, and when the stage was quiet for a while, therge altar suddenly began to fall slowly.


    ¡°Whaaat?¡± When the girl thought it might be a broadcasting ident, a pre-recorded explosion rang out at the exact moment the altar fell.


    <i>Crash!</i>


    ¡ªGUESS WHO!


    Leaving the copsing altar behind, the Siren members slowly appeared on stage. Since then, a heavy and energetic bass sound resonated in the studio. People knew instinctively that this song was the masterpiece that had once swept a whole generation in the past.


    <i>¡®Light¡¯s ¡®Traitor¡¯?¡¯ </i>The girl had wondered what song Only One used in their introductory performance and was pleasantly surprised.


    <i>¡®This is crazy!¡¯ </i>It was a better song than she expected, but the most shocking part was¡ª


    <i>¡®Tae-Yoon is the center?¡¯</i> Tae-Yoon was the center from the beginning.


    <i>¡®What?¡¯ </i>As the stage continued in earnest, the girl couldn¡¯t hide her surprise. She wondered if the Bong Tae-Yoon in front of her was the same person as before whocked stage presence. There was something clearly different about today¡¯s stage.

 Chapter 61

    <h4>Chapter 61</h4>


    The girl doubted her eyes. Was this really Bong Tae-Yoon with no stage presence or charisma whatsoever? The altar crumbled, and five Siren members appeared above the stage. Everyone walked out slowly and Tae-Yoon stood at the center. The way he looked at the audience and walked clearly showed that they were preparing for something monumental.


    Though they were just walking, it felt like part of the choreography, but what really captured the audience¡¯s attention was the look in Tae-Yoon¡¯s eyes. Perhaps, there was some great revolution or war going on. Whatever it was, it was evident that a critical event was happening in the world they were showing.


    <i>¡®This is crazy! Just absolutely crazy!¡¯ </i>The girl screamed inside her mind. From the altar that opened in the beginning to the background, dancers dressed as humanoids and Tae-Yoon¡¯s expression¡ªeverything blew her mind. She could easily draw up an image of a futuristic city in her mind as a heavy bass sound dropped and a smooth piano melody ovepped with it. Two sounds that sounded like they wouldn¡¯t fit together began to strangely harmonize with one another. Over this shaky bnce of contrasting sounds, Tae-Yoon¡¯s voice lightly shot above.


    ¡ªYou approached me innocently


    ¡ªThe one who took everything and ran away


    As soon as he sang, the girl screamed, unable to contain herself. She was aware that Tae-Yoon wasn¡¯t bad at singing, but she didn¡¯t know that his voice was <i>this </i>good.


    ¡ªMoments that can¡¯t be overturned


    ¡ªAre blooming nonstop in the meantime


    The audience was entranced by Tae-Yoon¡¯s eyes and voice as they looked towards the stage. Then, suddenly, humanoids rushed towards Tae-Yoon. Tae-Yoon shed against them and was pushed to the back of the stage. The movements in this part looked more like a dance than acting as he disappeared along with the dancers, and Yeon-Hoon passed between them and reced him as the center.


    ¡ªWHO IS THE TRAITOR?


    ¡ªThe only thing we can do is...


    ¡ªHUNT DOWN THE TRAITOR.


    ¡ªFollow the traces left behind


    Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung showed a duo dance. When Yeon-Hoon extended out his arm, Do-Seung grabbed it, and when he extended his feet, Do-Seung blocked that leg with his other leg. After this duo dance ended, Yeon-Hoon appeared to be caught by Do-Seung. Dong-Jun appeared in front of them and stood at the center.


    ¡ªSecretly trespass deeper


    ¡ªInto the farthest and most secretive ce


    ¡ªYou bring me down in the end


    Dong-Jun clenched his fist tightly as if he were clutching something in the air. Yet, when he unclenched his palms, he realized there was nothing in his grasp. Humanoids swarmed around Dong-Jun and dragged him away.


    ¡ªWe will TAKE OVER! HOOK!


    ¡ªMatch the beat of my footsteps!


    Traitor¡¯s signature lines burst out, and then Do-Seung stood in the center. Behind him, humanoids moved to match his movements and separated into neat lines.


    ¡ªTAKE DOWN! HOOK!


    ¡ªWe will take you down in the end. LAST ONE!


    While the humanoids were surrounding the Siren members, Do-Seung stood behind and controlled them. This was the moment that the ¡®traitor¡¯ that the song kept talking about was revealed¨Cit was Do-Seung.


    ¡ªYES, I¡¯M THE TRAITOR


    ¡ªI stand at the top


    ¡ªYES, I¡¯M THE KING


    ¡ªI confidently proim to you all


    Do-Seung¡¯s rap ended, finishing the first part of the song. The members sumbed under the robots and with the rise of Do-Seung¡¯s hands, the altar was stationed upright again. Do-Seung climbed on top of this altar, and the altar changed into a throne shape. The girl covered her mouth while seeing this. Siren came from a smallpany¡ªnot even a mid-sized one.


    <i>¡®But how could their performance look so high-quality? Or did they achieve this quality with just a sheer crazy amount of practice?¡¯</i> It was a level and scale of performance that couldn¡¯t be seen from mid to small-sizedpanies.


    <i>¡®This is just mad!¡¯</i> All sorts of praise burst out of her mind without even trying.


    ***


    Only One¡¯s waiting room was quiet. They were at a loss for words seeing Siren¡¯s stage on the monitor screen. Eventually, somebody eximed.


    ¡°What in the world?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s amazing!¡±


    ¡°They set up the altar again.¡±


    ¡°The level of their choreography is just...¡±


    There were so many surprising moments just in the first part. This wasn¡¯t a level of quality a group could achieve just by practicing hard for one or two days. It looked as if they had practiced for months for this day¡¯s performance. And soon, the song continued to the second part.


    ¡ªInside the deep darkness


    ¡ªI fly in search of light


    Tae-Yoon, who disappeared after fighting the humanoids, appeared again.


    ¡ªEven if I burn into ashes


    ¡ªIf I can just get a gleam of light


    Yeon-Hoon, who had been captured by Do-Seung, moved to the center again. Afterward, humanoids surrounded Yeon-Hoon, and a bright-red spotlight scattered everywhere to signal the crisis of the situation.


    <i>Bang!</i>


    With a shooting noise, the melody stopped temporarily.


    <i>Shaaaa.</i>


    Yeon-Hoon, who stood at the center, fell backward. The numerous humanoids caught Yeon-Hoon and lifted him into the air. As his arms and legs swung in the air, Yeon-Hoon was raised to the top of the altar.


    The melody started again, then¨C


    ¡ªWe will TAKE OVER! HOOK!


    ¡ªMatch the beat of my footsteps.


    The backdrop of the second part started with a dance break. Tae-Yoon drew out the sword he was wearing on his waist, and the robots weakly copsed to the ground with his sword. Then, Tae-Yoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun climbed up to the top of the altar. It appeared that this was the peak highlight of the performance as a battle represented in the form of a dance yed out over the structure. Soon afterward, Tae-Yoon stuck his sword at the center of the altar.


    ¡ªIn the end, I¡¯m thest one


    Then, Tae-Yoon pushed Do-Seung down the altar. The altar fell along with Do-Seung, and all the members lost consciousness. The robots simultaneously seemed to have stopped working and fell to the floor. In the end, it was a tragic tale where no one survived.


    <i>Shaaa.</i> All the lights went off. Rather than a simple show, it was as if they saw a theater or a musical.


    ¡°That was just...wow.¡±


    ¡°What in the world...?¡±


    ¡°How much did they practice for this...?¡±


    ¡°I got goosebumps when the altar was put together again.¡±


    People continued talking heatedly even after the performance was over. In this show, there existed something beyond just good dancing and singing. Though the story could¡¯ve easily been cringy, the level of quality of the choreography and direction of the show maximized the immersive experience.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s so cool that they mismatched their hanbok outfit.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, because of that, it didn¡¯t give them amon cyberpunk feeling and was more unique.¡±


    The Only One members genuinely eximed in awe about Siren as fellow entertainers. Yet, there was one person not smiling among them. Not only was he in poor health, but Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s heart wasn¡¯t big enough to wholeheartedly admire apeting group¡¯s ster performance.


    He had expected his group to be in first ce in this round after changing Siren¡¯s ¡°Walya¡± to<i> ¡°</i>Moon Night.¡± He had practiced hard enough to pass out and drastically decreased his food intake so that his jaws were much more chiseled than two weeks ago. He had basically poured everything he had for this round.


    Of course, he might have gone too far this time to the point itpromised his health, but he had shown the best he could after a visit to the hospital. Thus, he was shocked that a performance like this would appear at the end.


    ¡°Sirens must have worked really hard.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung couldn¡¯t help but worry. He sighed and swiped back his hair. All the members looked at Kang Hyun-Sung warily. The Only One members were well aware that Kang Hyun-Sung had worked hard enough to pass out in this performance. And seeing him do that, they began to think differently about him. More than just an ufortable group leader, Kang Hyun-Sung was a leader whom they could truly admire.


    ¡°Still, I think we will ce first ce.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think it¡¯s possible.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s try to think positively. Positive!¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯tg behind them. Seriously.¡±


    The Only One members cheered each other, not just to improve Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s mood but to improve their morale. This was a performance that they had worked very hard for, especially Kang Hyun-Sung. Thus, even if Siren¡¯s performance was impressive, they were also confident in what they did. They now knew how much of a burden they had been cing only on Kang Hyun-Sung.


    Kang Hyun-Sung scanned his members once and said, ¡°Cameras are still going on. Mind your words.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°I understand!¡±


    ¡°Yep!¡±


    The Only One members jokingly responded to Kang Hyun-Sung and lightened up the mood. Yet, Kang Hyun-Sung still wanted first ce. At the same time, a part of him thought there was something he could gain besides winning first ce, and his heavy heart lightened a little.


    ***


    The show was over. After the altar copsed, we all fell below the structure. Since it was dangerous for us to fall on the bare ground, we had a mattress on the floor to fall on. I looked at the ceiling while lying on top of the mattress. The lights went off, and our surroundings were soaked in darkness.


    ¡°Kyaaaaah!¡±


    ¡°Whaaaaaa!¡±


    The audience¡¯s roar poured over us.


    ¡°Haa...¡± While listening to their cries, I reflected on what happened. Today''s performance was created together as a group effort from the world storyline to the smallest details. We discussed the distribution of our lines, where the final battle would take ce, and so on over and over again. And because the formation of the dance wasplicated, there was a lot of room for errors to happen and ruin the show.


    Thus, after the show was over, I thought I would feel greatly relieved and proud of myself for aplishing something so difficult. Yet, the feeling I was feeling right now was different from that. My heart swelled and thumped. I felt more emotions than I expected.


    As I stood in the center and ended the performance, I met eyes with one of the audience members. It was a fan who sped her mouth as soon as I appeared. At that moment, something inside my heart stirred. When Do-Seung advised me to enjoy the performance, I didn¡¯t know what he meant then. Yet, I realized it when I met that person¡¯s eyes.


    <i>¡®It was a bit fun,¡¯ </i>I thought.


    A stage wasn¡¯t simply a ce where one worked and returned home. I thought I had simply wanted to be an idol because I wanted to y house with my members.


    <i>¡®But that wasn¡¯t it.¡¯ </i>In my childhood, there was something about the upation of an idol that attracted me to it. The lights hadn''t turned on yet, and my surroundings were still dark. Sweat trickled down my whole body. The floor mattress wasn¡¯t that soft, but my body felt extremely light. The audience¡¯s cheer still circted around my ears, and my whole body seemed to vibrate with their voices.


    ¡°Yes~ It was really fun.¡±


    ¡°I have no regrets about today¡¯s performance.¡±


    ¡°Everyone, you all did really, really well.¡±


    Then, I heard my group members from the side. Their voices stirred up a strong emotion in my heart. I hadn¡¯t experienced this feeling for so long, but I thought I knew what it was now.


    ¡°Ah...I¡¯m happy.¡±


    I was happy right now.

 Chapter 62

    Chapter 62


    Overly sentimental thoughts filled my head. I calmed my excitement as much as possible because I didn¡¯t want to be overly emotional.


    There was only one thought I needed to imprint in my mind¡ª<em>¡®the stage can be a fun ce.¡¯ </em>Today¡¯s performance was a sess by the sheer fact that I realized performing on stage could be enjoyable.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon~, how was today? Wasn¡¯t our performance great?¡± Just in time, Dong-Jun rolled over to me. Since we were on a mat, he looked reallyfortable, as if he was on a hotel bed and not on stage. Well, I thought it didn¡¯t matter. Since we had the ending performance and the stage was still dark, no one would know if we rolled around on the mat. Moreover, the distance between the stage and the audience was quite far, so the sound of our words could not be transmitted to the audience.


    ¡°Today¡¯s performance was great.¡±


    ¡°Wow, what¡¯s up with you? I didn¡¯t expect that from you.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°After every performance, you always just said good work today.¡±


    ¡°¡­Really, I did that?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you did.¡±


    I replied with silence. I guess that was how much I didn¡¯t like performing on stage before. I hadn¡¯t realized that I¡¯d been talking like an office worker that finished a day¡¯s assignment so far instead of saying typical aftershow lines like ¡®It was great¡¯ and ¡®I liked today¡¯s performance.¡¯


    ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± Then Yeon-Hoon rolled towards us. ¡°Today¡¯s performance was great, right?¡± Yeon-Hoon must have also really liked today¡¯s performance, as his voice was already brimming with excitement.


    ¡°Yes, it was great.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re saying it was great, that means it must have been really great.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, our Tae-Yoon has gone soft.¡±


    ¡°What, why are you guys going so far¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t leave us out of the loop.¡±


    ¡°What are you all talking about?¡±


    Before I knew it, Woon and Do-Seung also rolled over to where we were. All five of us huddled together and talked as if we were at our dorm. Since we always slept in this formation every night, they must have confused the stage with the dorm. Otherwise, there was no way they would be lying down and talking for this long.


    ¡°When I first fell from the altar, I looked under my feet, and it was terrifying.¡±


    ¡°When I pushed you under the altar?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I almost screamed for real.¡±


    ¡°It would have been funny if Do-Seung screamed for real.¡±


    ¡°What are you saying¡ªthat would have been a real ident then.¡±


    While we were busily talking about when Do-Seung fell from the altar, the production crew, who thought we must have gone down the stage by now, turned on the lights. As a result, the sight of us huddled on the mat and talking was fully exposed to the audience. The audience couldn¡¯t understand the situation and froze for about three seconds, and in contrast, we, who fully understood the situation, also froze for about three seconds.


    ¡°¡­Wow, this really is a broadcasting ident.¡± With Dong-Jun¡¯s muttering¡ª


    ¡°Kyahhh!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    Cheers andughter burst out from the audience at the same time. ¡°Siren! Quicklye out!¡± From the side of the stage, the production crew beckoned us toe down quickly.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°Ahhh.¡±


    We got up from the mat in a hurry, but we didn¡¯t forget to greet the audience as we went down.


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Please give us A rank!¡±


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    The members and I bowed to the audience and went down the stage. Even after going down, we apologized to the production crew and quietly went into the waiting room.


    * * *


    The audience burst intoughter when they saw Siren lying down on the stage and talking. Then theymented the fact that they couldn¡¯t capture this moment with their cameras because the sight of all five of them lying down with their outfit was so cute. If they could take a picture, they would have wanted to take hundreds of photos.


    <em>¡®Ahhhh! Why is using a camera banned here!¡¯</em> Of course, she fully understood that since this was content that hadn¡¯t been aired yet, cameras needed to be prohibited. However, she wanted to keep venting her anger out in frustration.


    ¡°They¡¯re so cute.¡±


    ¡°They were so good on stage too.¡±


    ¡°Why do people say Bong Tae-Yoon has no stage presence? He¡¯s he good.¡±


    There were many positive responses about them around her as well. The audience cheered in their hearts and stared at the stage, and Siren greeted the audience and quickly went down the stage. The girl moved the remote control in her hand and pressed the A-rank button.


    Then she prayed in her heart, <em>¡®Please let them win first ce.¡¯</em> She prayed fervently and quickly scanned Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s back with her eyes.


    ¡°So cute¡­¡± The girl now reached the point where just seeing Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s back automatically made her say the word cute.


    * * *


    After the performance was over, we got a one-hour break. During this break, the audience at the studio left, and the stage was reassembled for the ranking announcement ceremony. Was it because we finished an extremely tiring and difficult performance? The members were spread out and sprawled all over the sofa. I also sat in the corner of the sofa and looked at the wall in a daze. Then Woon stared at me andughed.


    I asked, ¡°Why are youughing?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? I justughed because you were cute?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I had never heard I was cute in my life, so my brain froze.


    ¡°Why is your face so expressive?¡±


    ¡°Me?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you liked today¡¯s performance?¡± Woon asked with a sneaky smile on his face. He already knew the answer but wanted to hear my answer.


    I deliberately avoided answering, and that made Woonugh even harder. He was right. I kept reying the performance in my mind while pretending to look at the wall. I was not reflecting on whether I made any mistakes on the stage.


    <em>¡®What¡¯s wrong with me?¡¯ </em>I was just reying it in my mind to feel the heat of the moment again. My heart was thumping to the point where I wondered if there was something wrong with me. I thought I was hiding my expression well so it wouldn¡¯t show, but it must have been obvious from Woon¡¯s perspective.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon has be a real idol~¡± Dong-Jun must have overheard our conversation as he made fun of me in an old man¡¯s voice.


    I smiled softly as I heard my members teasing me. However, their teasing didn¡¯t make me feel bad. Still, I couldn¡¯t stop myself from thinking, <em>¡®We did a performance of this level, but would we still not be able to get first ce?¡¯</em>


    I looked at the members excitedly talking about the performance.


    ¡°I almost missed the beat because I was so excited that our pair choreography with the dancers perfectly matched.¡±


    ¡°Dancers really are built differently.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I agree. Even the same movements look different when they do it.¡±


    Today¡¯s performance was so great that we were brimming with excitement, and I was alsopletely assured of our performance.


    However, if I thought about Only One¡¯s performance again, I thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s hard.¡¯</em>


    Honestly, I couldn¡¯t just think optimistically that we would win first ce. Based on today''s performance level, both of our groups were on par, and Only One¡¯s performance had a simr quality to ours. Thus, the audience¡¯s judgment was based on personal preference in the end. However, the problem was that if the quality of our performance was simr to Only One and the results would be dependent on personal preference¡ª


    <em>¡®We¡¯ll lose.¡¯ </em>We couldn¡¯t beat Only One then. There was only one reason why we tied for first ce with Only One in thest round. It was because Only One unexpectedly ruined their performance, and we performed better than expected; only then could we stand on equal grounds. However, if our performance level was simr, there was a high possibility that we would lose.


    <em>¡®This can¡¯t be.¡¯ </em>My heart ached, thinking this far. Of course, there was still a possibility that we could win. We had at least a small fandom now, and the public opinion looked favorably on us. Furthermore, the evaluation method required the audience to rank all the teams, and our performance was the ending performance. Many areas could influence the oue.


    Even then, I thought, <em>¡®it probably won¡¯t happen.¡¯</em> It was difficult to think we would win first ce. The most decisive reason was what I saw through Precognitive Vision. In the future that the system showed, Only One won first ce.


    Of course, I didn¡¯t know whether the future vision that the Precognitive Vision showed me was a definite future, but I couldn¡¯t deny that various indicators were pointing Only One as first ce. I thought about what to do next if we didn¡¯t get first ce in the second round. I was so excited about the performance just now, but my mind quickly became muddled.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    I sighed quietly so that the members couldn¡¯t hear me. One positive part was that although I had panicked just before the stage about losing to Only One, my emotions were no longer as shaken as before. Frankly, there was no significant change in the situation, but I think the performance just now changed something about my inner self in some way.


    <em>¡®Is there a difference between before and after the performance?¡¯</em> Perhaps, after directlymunicating with the audience who cheered us on, the burden on my mind had been eased. Before I could think more about this, the production crew called out.


    ¡ªSiren, please be on standby~


    It was now time for the ranking announcement.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do this~¡±


    ¡°We got this!¡±


    We got up from the sofa and went up to the stage.


    * * *


    Five groups stood on the stage while maintaining a moderate distance between each group. Two hosts came up and began saying their script.


    ¡°All the performances of the second round of <em>The Showcase 2</em> have beenpleted. Please give a round of apuse to everyone who worked hard.¡± We listened to theirments spoken for formalities sake and did as we were told.


    ¡°All five groups performed homage to each other¡¯s performances while showing their individual charm and talent, and I¡¯ve just received news that the audience¡¯s evaluation of these performances has just beenpleted.¡±


    ¡°Pweh.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m shaking.¡±


    ¡°Ughhh.¡±


    The members looked nervous while listening to the host¡¯sments. I didn¡¯t know if they were really nervous or if they were acting nervous for the cameras.


    ¡°We will be announcing the team with the lowest score today as well.¡± The hosts scanned us while holding up the card with rankings in their hands.


    ¡°Then, unfortunately, I will announce the group with the lowest score!¡±


    I listened to what the host said with one ear and thought about something else. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t very curious about who the lowest-ranking team was. No, rather than curious, I could easily guess who it was. It was probably¡ª


    ¡°It¡¯s Luminin.¡±


    Yeah, I thought it would be Luminin. Excluding us and Only One, it was easy to see what rankings each group would get based on the performances today. I thought 4th ce was probably OnebyOne, and 3rd would be Bleshu again. My prediction was right on the mark as the hosts announced the third and fourth ranks.


    ¡°Fourth is OnebyOne.¡±


    ¡°And third is Bleshu. Congrattions.¡±


    ¡°Then, now, we have the long-awaited first and second ce. The team I will be calling out will be first ce, and the team that¡¯s not called will be in second ce.¡±


    This was the highlight of today¡¯s ranking announcement. The other groups also looked at us and Only One with a look of keen interest. The fact that Only One and us werepeting for the top spot was firmly embedded as one of the main story plots of <em>The Showcase 2</em>. I nced at Only One. ording to the Precognitive Vision I¡¯ve seen, they were the ones who won first ce.


    However, if the future I saw was not absolute, we might win first ce. If the future was this ambiguous, I wondered if it was even meaningful to see the future in the first ce. Still, I was curious if the future shown by Precognitive Vision was absolute, or if it could be changed depending on our effort. I watched what name woulde out of the hosts¡¯ mouths. Soon after, a group popped out of the host¡¯s mouth.


    ¡°Ah, this team won first ce.¡±


    And that name was¡ª


    ¡°It¡¯s Only One! Congrattions!¡±


    It was Only One. Ah. Perhaps the Precognitive Vision showed an absolute future. The moment I settled my heart and was about to p¡­


    ¡°What?¡± I was able to get conclusive evidence that proved Precognitive Vision was not absolute.

 Chapter 63

    Chapter 63


    I soon realized that Precognitive Vision didn¡¯t show an absolute future because of what happened next.


    ¡°Hmph, um¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Young-Ho?¡±


    Only One¡¯s Young-Ho burst into tears as soon as the announcement was made. In the vision I saw, Young-Ho hadn¡¯t cried but simply stood in surprise.


    <em>¡®The future changed.¡¯</em> Though the central part of Only One winning first ce didn¡¯t change, the extraneous details changed. This was proof that the future that Precognitive Vision showed wasn¡¯t absolute. I didn¡¯t know what the reason for that change was.


    <em>¡®Well, there must be something I don¡¯t know.¡¯</em> An event that I wasn¡¯t aware of probably urred and changed the future¡¯s details.


    ¡°Young-Ho?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    Only One members appeared a bit stunned by Young-Ho¡¯s response. Even the usuallyposed Kang Hyun-Sung seemed a bit surprised. They circled around Young-Ho and hugged each other until he stopped crying.


    ¡°Hahaha, Mr. Young-Ho must be really happy.¡±


    ¡°What a heartwarming sight.¡±


    The show¡¯s hosts seemed to have also been quite taken aback and threw in anymentaries that they could say. I watched the scene without much thought when I heard some whimpering next to me.


    ¡°Urghhhh¡­¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    I turned and saw Yeon-Hoon looking at Only One with teary eyes.


    ¡°They must be really happy¡­¡± Yeon-Hoon said. I wondered how high his empathy could reach. But it wasn¡¯t only him. Do-Seung, Woon, and even Dong-Jun stared at Only One with emotional expressions on their faces.


    ¡°How nice.¡±


    ¡°I think they practiced a lot.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s so touching.¡±


    I wondered why these guys would be so emotionally invested in Only One. It was as if they had forgotten that we ced second even after doing a great job in our performance. I thought they should have a greaterpetitive spirit rather than have so much empathy, but I kept my thoughts to myself.


    Then Kang Hyun-Sung continued with his speech. ¡°Thank you. This was a valuable opportunity, and I¡¯m grateful that I was able to share the stage that I worked hard with my group members with the audience. We will continue to work hard to show you better performances from now on.¡±


    His speech was also different from the one I heard in the future that the Precognitive Vision showed. The original speech was this:


    ¡ªThank you so much. I think this first ce is very meaningful to us, and it¡¯s all thanks to our fans. We¡¯ll work harder on stage.


    His original speech was nd and pretty standard. Yet, the speech he gave just now was a bit more emotionalpared to it. It wasn¡¯t like him, especially how he emphasized teamwork in this performance. At this point in time, there should¡¯ve been no ¡®teamwork¡¯ in his vocabry. He had been part of temporary teams made to do missions in <em>Select Your Idol</em> and part of a one-year, short-term project group. These were the sort of teams he was used to. There was no real team among them but just individuals who helped him gain a higher rank.


    <em>¡®Something must have really happened.¡¯</em> Seeing how words like that came out of his lips, it seemed something changed inside Only One that made them more united. From an outsider¡¯s point of view, it was a congrattory event, but from a personal standpoint, it wasn¡¯t a good urrence.


    <em>¡®This isn¡¯t easy.¡¯</em> I wondered if, perhaps, I had pushed Only One¡¯s career peak sooner than it would¡¯ve been. Without me, I didn¡¯t think Only One would¡¯ve been able to reach this level of solidarity at this point. I sighed while organizing my thoughts.


    ¡°Okay then! I will put up the total scores on the screen,¡± the host, Kim Young-Jin said, and numbers appeared.


    Only One¡ª 14,200 points; Average: 94.6


    After rounding to the nearest whole number, their total score was 95.


    Our total point was 13,750, and our average score was 91.6. Thus, our rounded score was 92, second ce. We missed first ce with just a difference of 450 points. In apetition like this that worked with such big numbers, 450 points was a small difference. My group members seemed to feel more regretful after seeing the scores.


    ¡°The Sirens ced second in today¡¯s round. Congrattions,¡± the host, Nahyun said and congratted us. The mike was handed naturally to Yeon-Hoon so that he could give his speech.


    ¡°Second ce also means so much to us. But we won¡¯t just be satisfied by our rank and work harder to show our fans a better performance!¡± Yeon-Hoon said lines close to a standard ending line and smiled brightly. It was an energetic smile that made viewers smile just by seeing it.


    Soon afterward, the mike was handed to Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Luminin. Naturally, these three groups, including Bleshu, didn¡¯t look too bright. Truthfully, these guys were just bing side decorations for us in this show, and it appeared that they also realized the position they were being ced into. Thus, they naturally couldn¡¯t feel happy about their predicament. No matter how carefree or happy a person was, they probably wouldn¡¯t feel good to be pushed back to the sidelines.


    <em>¡®It can¡¯t be helped.¡¯</em> Rather than feel sorry or guilty for them, I nned to not break away from this formation. This was the only way Do-Seung would live. It couldn¡¯t be helped if our rtionship with each of the teams worsened since we weren¡¯t here to make friends.


    ¡°Okay! Now that we heard each of the groups¡¯ thoughts, let¡¯s go to the next step. It might be a time that you all might have been waiting most for,¡± Kim Young-Jin said and exchanged signals with the producers.


    ¡°I will now announce the mission for the third performance!¡±


    While looking at the host, I thought about the third-round performance¡¯s mission, which I recalled from my past life. If it was what I remembered, it was the perfect mission for us, which was topete with an original song. We had to get a song from somewhere else or create one, but the premise was to perform a song that had never been heard before.


    <em>¡®But things have rarely gone ording to my predictions so far,¡¯ </em>I thought. I also learned from past experiences and didn¡¯t expect this mission could be different from the past one.


    ¡°The third round¡¯s mission is<em> ¡®Our Showcase, Our Stage¡¯</em>!¡±


    ¡°What?¡± It was the same mission as I remembered.


    ¡°Our stage?¡±


    ¡°Are they telling us toe up with our own song?¡±


    ¡°Ohh.¡±


    All sorts of responses poured out about the next round¡¯s mission, and I was the only one who stood baffled. I knew I had to control my expression since I was on air, but it felt as if I had been yed by the system.


    <em>¡®Why the heck is it the same now?¡¯</em> I thought.


    ¡°What do you think this could mean, Tae-Yoon?¡± It was then Yeon-Hoon asked me with a voice full of anticipation.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it just telling us to perform with an original song?¡±


    ¡°But that¡¯s what we have been doing all along.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I think we should prepare as we have always done,¡± I answered and waited to hear the rest of the mission¡¯s contents.


    ¡°This mission will be done in a different format than before.¡± Yet, came the very unexpected and surprising part: ¡°It will be a team alliance mission, and all of you will be reshuffled Into a total of three groups to do your performance!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°A team alliance?¡±


    ¡°Wow, this is crazy.¡±


    <em>Gasp.</em>


    I doubted my ears. Because the missions¡¯ titles were the same, I thought the content would also be the same.


    <em>¡®Yet, they crushed my hope just like that.¡¯</em> As I thought¡ªnothing went ording to my expectations. I couldn¡¯t believe I was tricked again after everything I went through. It was at this moment that I began to have doubts about my intelligence and pressed tightly against my temples. My group members appeared surprised and stood with their eyes wide open and their mouths gaping.


    ¡°Does this mean¡­we will be separated?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked. He looked as if we were going to cry in this instance.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t imagine having a team alliance at all.¡±


    ¡°If we have a team alliance right now in this tension, it will be really intense.¡±


    ¡°How will they even score us with this format?¡±


    My group members also appeared worried about this mission, but the one who was most worried was me. We needed to get first ce in the third round, no matter what. If Only One got first ce in the third one too, that would mean that they would be the definite winners of the show. Yet, if they just separated the teams like this, there were too many unexpected variables to consider. I calmed my heart for now and listened to the rest of what the host said.


    ¡°In this mission, three leaders will be chosen to make three groups and do a performance with them.¡±


    I still waited to hear the most important part about how each of the groups would be scored. The hosts continued to drag time by talking about other points of the mission¡¯s format. After a while, they finally revealed the assessment method, ¡°And now we will reveal what you all must be interested in the most! In this mission, you will be scored individually.¡±


    I listened carefully to the hosts¡¯ words. The assessment method was rather simple. The members of the current five groups would be reshuffled and divided into three teams. Thus, there would be three performances, but the audience wouldn¡¯t vote on each of the performances but each of the members for three performances. Thus, the audience wouldn¡¯t give an A, B, or C score to the performances but to each person on the team.


    <em>¡®The rules are the same as Select Your Idol,¡¯</em> I thought. In other words, this was basically an individualpetition in the guise of a teampetition. Then, these individual scores would bebined with their original groups¡¯ scores to decide the ranks of each of the groups.


    <em>¡®This format makes it impossible for one person to carry the group.</em>¡¯ When audiences scored ording to the performances, it was possible for them to score the performance highly based on one person. But this time, all members of a group had to get high individual scores for their group to get first ce.


    <em>¡®But won¡¯t this be more advantageous for us?¡¯</em> I thought. For Only One, it was simply Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s poprity that was overwhelming, and there weren¡¯t core fandoms for his other group members. In other words, if Only One separated, they could not score as well in total. Yet, it was different for us.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s true that Yeon-Hoon is the most popr but the rest of us don¡¯t seem too far behind.¡¯ </em>Compared to Only One, we had a much more bnced level of poprity across each of the members. My group members seemed to have thought the same and I saw a faint smile on their faces as they continued to listen. Perhaps, they were already imagining them winning first ce in the third round.


    ¡°Now, it¡¯s time for us to choose the leaders of these alliance teams. Is there anyone who would like to apply for the leader position? A leader will gain the authority to choose their own teammates!¡±


    People began to murmur, hearing the hosts¡¯ words. I had no intention to be the leader. Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, or Woon were better options.


    ¡°Haa¡­¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t easy¡­¡±


    But it appeared they weren¡¯t too keen about the position either. It was understandable since the position of leader just got insulted if they did a bad job and got littlepliments if they did well. Who would want to do it?


    It was then that one person came forth.


    ¡°I will volunteer.¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Who?¡±


    Everyone¡¯s eyes turned towards the volunteer and saw Only One¡¯s leader, Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°No wonder¡­¡±


    As expected, there was no one more fitting than him for the position.


    ¡°Oh! We got our first volunteer! Then, I will exin your privilege as a leader. You will personally choose eight or nine people as members of your group! The people chosen by you won¡¯t have the option to refuse~¡±


    The privilege of a leader was greater than I expected. They could gather the members they wanted and the people they chose couldn¡¯t refuse. It was quite an appealing power. Thus, I thought about applying for the leader position too and gathering all my group members when Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly said, ¡°I choose Siren¡¯s Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung picked me out of the blue.

 Chapter 64

    Chapter 64


    ¡°He¡¯s trying to take our Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°No, he can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Wow~ You¡¯re so popr, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    When Kang Hyun-Sung called me out, each of the members showed different reactions. In contrast, I was so startled that I blurted out, ¡°Me?¡±


    I had never imagined that Kang Hyun-Sung would call out my name. On the other hand, Kang Hyun-Sung, who was responsible for this whole affair, was calm. However, there was one problem.


    ¡°Um, Mr. Hyun-Sung! Please call out the name of the person you want when all the leaders have been confirmed! I was just exining the perks of being a leader just now! Haha!¡±


    This was not the right time to call out a name.


    ¡°Ah, I see. I was in too much of a hurry.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung smiled awkwardly and lowered the mike. Then he met my eyes again. Was I mistaken if I sensed a murderous gaze from his eyes? I couldn¡¯t believe that getting on his nerves before wasing back to bite me on the butt like this.


    <em>¡®This is crazy.¡¯ </em>I felt chills run down my back. Furthermore, it felt like Kang Hyun-Sung knew he would get rejected, and he had called out my name with the mindset to make sure others knew that he had his eyes set on me. It seemed as if he wanted to make a clear announcement that I was going to be on his team even before the other leaders were confirmed. Since Kang Hyung-Sung had the most experience and was most popr among us, people didn¡¯t even fault him for this.


    I said to the other members, ¡°Guys.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I have to be the leader. I¡¯ll gather everyone in our group.¡± Thus, I had to take drastic measures. I didn¡¯t want to be a leader, and I thought among everyone here, the position of leader didn¡¯t fit me the most. However, I sucked it up and volunteered. I had wanted to gather all the members together in one team for the third round, but of course, this had only been in the back of my mind¡­Anyway, I tried to console myself by thinking of the advantages of being a leader.


    I said, ¡°Siren Bong Tae-Yoon, I¡¯ll volunteer to be the second leader.¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°Siren¡¯s Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon will be the second leader! Pleasee up on stage!¡±


    I trudged to the center of the stage and got closer to Kang Hyun-Sung. He was staring directly at me, and the words,<em> ¡®What the hell do you want?¡¯ </em>came right up to my throat, but I forced them back in. If that punk hadn¡¯t called me out, I wouldn¡¯t even be standing here on this stage right now; feelings of resentment came rushing into my heart, but I endured it for now.


    ¡°Then we should get the third leader now. Oh, we have a volunteer! Mr. Choi Soo-Hyuk from Luminin! Pleasee forward!¡±


    The third leader also came forward. Choi Soo-Hyuk was Luminin¡¯s leader, and like this, everyone besides me was the leader of the group. I was the only <em>maknae</em> among the leaders, and unintentionally, it felt like I was a <em>maknae</em> rebelling against my superiors. Even though I was supposed to be a bright-eyed, naive 19-year-old, I now felt like a young kid who matured too fast after shouldering all the burdens of the world.


    <em>¡®Does anyone even think I¡¯m 19?¡¯ </em>Upon careful reflection, I didn¡¯t think anyone thought I was actually 19, and I thought I should just shut up and pretend to be older.


    ¡°Then, from now on, all three leaders can start calling the members you want in the order you volunteered. All you have to do is get eight or nine people in your team. I¡¯ll say this again, but those who are called cannot reject the leader¡¯s decision!¡±


    All we needed to do was create a team of eight or nine.


    ¡°From now on, the leaders¡¯ call is absolute, so please follow what they say. The only rule in this team-selecting game is that you can¡¯t reject the leader¡¯s call.¡±


    Host Kim Young-Jin said and scanned the stage. He kept emphasizing that we couldn¡¯t reject the leader¡¯s call like it was a catchphrase. Well, I didn¡¯t think it mattered because this rule was beneficial for me anyway.


    ¡°Then! Let¡¯s start the team selection!¡± Like this, the team selection for the third round began.


    * * *


    The team selection went on smoothly. Perhaps because everyone had affection for their own group, they called their team members first. Even Kang Hyun-Sung gave up on me after I became the leader and immediately called Only One members of his team.


    ¡°I¡¯ll choose Park Young-Ho from Only One as a team member.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll choose Kim Si-Woon from Only One as a team member.¡±


    ¡°Kim Ju-Hyun¡­¡±


    ¡°Lee Chul-Woon¡­¡±


    Like this, Kang Hyun-Sung prioritized picking his members first. It was the same for me.


    ¡°I¡¯ll choose Woo Yeon-Hoon of Siren as a team member.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll choose Lee Woon¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll choose Kang Do-Seung¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll choose Park Dong-Jun¡­¡±


    I put the members of my team first. The people who were called got up from their seats and gathered behind the leader. All my members were now gathered behind me.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this just the Siren 2.0 version?¡±


    ¡°Is this okay?¡¯


    The members seemed concerned that I gathered all of them together for a coalition mission, but it couldn¡¯t be helped. There was no need for me to be a gambler when I had a winningbination in my hand. Even Luminin gathered their team members first.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, how many people are we going to have on our team?¡± When all the members were gathered, Yeon-Hoon asked.


    Yeon-Hoon posed an important question, and I actually had to think a lot about this as well. I answered, ¡°I¡¯m thinking of a 9-member group for now.¡±


    ¡°Ah, why?¡±


    ¡°If there are a lot of people, we have more options for our performance.¡± Having one more person yed a critical role in a performance. Since we were going to have arge group anyway, I thought it would be better to increase the number as much as possible and create a more dynamic performance.


    But most of all, I thought, <em>¡®We might get a higher production cost.¡¯</em>


    If it was possible, I wanted to gather people from several groups so that severalpanies would be involved in our stage performance. Since most of the other group¡¯s goal wasn¡¯t to actually win and transfer their contract but to increase their poprity, they probably received a lot of support from theirpany. Thus, I might be able to utilize those funds and n a stage with a slightly higher quality than before.


    Therefore, I called out Bleshu¡¯s leader. ¡°I will choose Han Do-Young from Bleshu as a team member.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Me?¡± Bleshu¡¯s leader rose from his seat, wondering why his name was called. Then he said goodbye to the Bleshu members as if he was sad to leave them and walked towards us.


    ¡°Hello.¡±


    ¡°Hello!¡±


    If we had to choose the group we were closest to, I would answer Bleshu first. True to my words, my members weed Bleshu¡¯s leader, Han Do-Young, and didn¡¯t seem ufortable around him. The Luminin¡¯s leader, Choi Soo-Hyuk, called out a name and Kang Hyun-Sung went next.


    When it was my turn again, I said, ¡°I¡¯ll choose Yoo Ji-Hyuk from Bleshu as a team member.¡± Since I had room for more people anyway, I called out one more member from Bleshu. Now, we had seven members in total. I just needed to gather two more people, so I turned to OnebyOne.


    ¡°I¡¯ll choose Kim Joon-Hyuk from OnebyOne as a team member.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll choose Lee Young-Joon from OnebyOne as a team member.¡±


    After I sessfully chose 2 OnebyOne members in my group like this, the selection process was over.


    ¡°And that¡¯s the end of the team selection! Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team has 8 members, Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s team has 9 members, and Choi Soo-Hyuk¡¯s team has 9 members!¡±


    I looked behind me. I thought we had a pretty good team¡ªthere were my members and members with decent skills from different groups.


    <em>¡®I¡¯ll win the 3rd round. I¡¯ll definitely win first ce.¡¯ </em>After this, I thought each team would now be given a chance to exchange phone numbers and discuss where to practice and chat. The actual broadcasting format seemed to follow that prediction as host Kim Young Jin said, ¡°Now, each newly created team will¡ª.¡±


    <em>Swoosh.</em>


    Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly raised his hand.


    ¡°Ah, yes? What is it, Mr. Hyun-Sung?¡± The host asked with his head tilted.


    ¡°We haven¡¯t finished our team selection yet.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    The studio buzzed at his unexpected words; it was not only us but the production crew also murmured amongst themselves.


    However, Kang Hyun-Sung calmly continued, ¡°The only rule of this team selection process is that no one is allowed to reject the leader¡¯s selection, right?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes, that¡¯s right. The only rule of this team selection is that everyone needs to ept the leader¡¯s decision, but hasn¡¯t everyone been called now?¡±


    ¡°No, there are still people who have not been called yet.¡± Then Kang Hyun-Sung made a chilling smile and dropped a bomb without blinking an eye, ¡°I¡¯ll choose Bong Tae-Yoon, the leader of Bong Tae-Yoon team, as my team member.¡±


    The studio¡¯s atmosphere instantly froze at his words, and everyone was tilting their heads, wondering if they had heard him right. But the most surprised person was...me.


    <em>¡®What the hell is he saying?¡¯</em> I even volunteered as leader so I didn¡¯t have to be on the same team as him, but why on earth did I have to go through such a terrible ordeal? I desperately hoped that the host would reject his call-out and help me out. Regardless of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fame, rules were rules.


    But contrary to my expectations, the host seemed to ponder about it. ¡°Well, the only rule <em>is</em> that the leader¡¯s words are absolute.¡±


    No, why was he even thinking about this? Why was he pretending to hesitate after hearing such nonsense? I red at the host because of how ridiculous the whole situation was. Although I needed to control my expression because I was on broadcast, this was going way too far.


    ¡°And certainly, the leaders are also members that haven¡¯t been called yet¡­¡± The host wasn¡¯t concerned about whether to give Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s preferential treatment or not, but he was concerned about following the rules. Perhaps he might be acting like this because it would be humorous for the show if there was a ''Tae-Yoon Team'' without Tae-Yoon. The team I worked hard to make might be shattered because of the host¡¯s desire to make the show more entertaining.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon¡­!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon grabbed my wrist.


    ¡°Wow¡­¡±


    ¡°What should we do¡­¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect this.¡±


    While the members and I fell into a panic, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s annoying voice rang out again, ¡°We¡¯re still an eight-member group, so it wouldn¡¯t matter if we take one more from another group to make a nine-member group, right?¡±


    I needed to shut that damn mouth. I red at Kang Hyun-Sung, but Kang Hyun-Sung easily passed over my gaze and stared at the host and production crew. The people he needed to convince were not me but the hosts and production crew. If this was his ploy, then¡ªI thought I could just use the same method as him.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll choose myself for my team.¡± Since I haven¡¯t been called out yet, I could call out my own name.


    ¡°Ah! Now, it has be even moreplicated.¡±


    ¡°What an interesting turn of events.¡±


    What the hell were they talking aboutplicated and interesting? It was all just stressing me out, but now that I looked around, I saw a sparkling glint in the production crew and host¡¯s eyes. Judging by their faces, it seemed as if they wanted to create a Tae-Yoon team without Tae-Yeon as <em>The Showcase 2</em> was a variety show before it was apetition show.


    I also knew that the third round evaluation was an individually rankedpetition like <em>Select Your Idol</em>, so it didn¡¯t even matter which team I went to as long as I did my part well. However, even then, I wanted to do a performance with people I wanted to perform with.


    The production crew and the hosts held an emergency meeting, and their final verdict was¡ª


    ¡°Since the rule is that the leader¡¯s decision is absolute¡­¡±


    The beginning lines sounded very ominous to me. I prayed and prayed that what I feared the most would note true.


    ¡°I think we have to acknowledge that rule to some extent.¡±


    However, it was heading in the direction I did not want. At this rate, it wasn¡¯t just an ominous sign but a definite ending.


    ¡°However, we fully understand Mr. Tae-Yoon¡¯s concerns as well, so we would like to suggest a simple game topromise.¡±


    ¡°A simple game?¡± A seed of hope began to sprout in my heart.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon and Mr. Hyun-Sung will y rock-paper-scissors, and we will go with what the winner wants. If Mr. Tae-Yoon wins, the current teams will remain the same, but if Mr. Hyun-Sung wins, the Tae-Yoon team will end up without Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡±


    It was an extremely sloppy and simple game. How could they choose rock-paper-scissors for such a critical decision? Weren¡¯t they just telling me to leave my fate to luck? Moreover, it wasn¡¯t just my fate but my team members¡¯ fates as well. While I was second guessing if this was really my reality, Kang Hyun-Sung was already approaching me and reaching out his hand.


    He said, ¡°Let¡¯s go with rock-paper-scissors.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t even make it obvious that I hated this idea as everyone was pressuring me to just ept this proposal.


    ¡°¡­Let¡¯s do it.¡± In the end, I reached out my hand.


    The production crew was already on board with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s idea because they wanted to see a Tae-Yoon team without Tae-Yoon. It wasn¡¯t important to them whether or not this situation was fair. If there was an appropriate excuse, they were ready to jump in with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s proposal, and Kang Hyun-Sung had already made a suitable excuse to make this happen.


    There was no point in arguing about fairness anymore. Their number one priority was to make the show as entertaining as possible, and like this, a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide my fate began. I prayed to all the gods that I knew to help me win, but I¡ª


    ¡°Uh?¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Ahhh!¡±


    I lost. I couldn¡¯t ept it so I imagined cutting Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s rock with my scissors, but there was no point in denying it. ¡­I really lost.


    ¡°Geez, Tae-Yoon¡­¡±


    <em>Sighh¡­</em>


    ¡°Tae-Yoooon¡­¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon¡­¡±


    My members sighed.


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Awesome!¡±


    I didn¡¯t know why, but Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team cheered. I wanted to me my damn fingers for making a scissor. Then, at that moment, I met my eyes with Kang Hyun-Sung, and I was sure that he was trying to mess with my mind.


    He smirked and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, <em>maknae.</em>¡± He immediately dropped formalities and spoke casually to me.


    Today was the worst day ever since I regressed.

 Chapter 65

    Chapter 65


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, <em>maknae</em>.¡±


    I looked at him in shock when he addressed me so casually. Kang Hyun-Sung smiled to show the viewers that he was speaking in a joking manner. I didn¡¯t know whether it was my bias towards him but everything he did felt like part of a scheme or devious strategy. And though I perfectly built my team to get first ce in the third round, Kang Hyun-Sung came and ruined everything. Perhaps, this was what Kang Hyun-Sung was aiming for. By ruining my ns, he was trying to increase his likelihood of getting first in the third round, which would allow him to win the show for sure¡­


    ¡°Hello, Mr. Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Wee!¡±


    But for that to be the case, people from Only One looked too bright when they greeted me. I looked towards Kang Hyun-Sung again. Perhaps, it was because I put down some of my biases; he didn¡¯t look so conniving. But of course, there was no way I could tell that with his expression alone.


    ¡°Let¡¯s work together well, Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡± His voice and manner of addressing me were the same as usual now. He didn¡¯t appear tense or overly excited. It was as if he had just brought me into his team without any underhanded plots.


    <em>¡®Why in the world did he pick me though?¡¯</em> I thought. Honestly, our rtionship wasn¡¯t very good. We butted heads in our first confrontation under the stairs; and though things loosened up a bit after I saved Young-Ho from his team, the rtionship worsened again when I provoked him at the prayer room. It would¡¯ve been reasonable for Kang Hyun-Sung to detest me instead.


    <em>¡®What is this guy really?¡¯</em>


    Why was he going so far to bring me to his team? If this part of the show aired on television, he could be insulted for it depending on the way the producers edited the scenes. Of course, it was still on the safe side, but considering Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s personality, he wasn¡¯t the type to y dangerous games. Thus, he acted out of character to pick me while risking his reputation.


    <em>¡®Ah, I don¡¯t know.¡¯</em> I couldn¡¯t think of the reason behind his behavior at all. All sorts of thoughts popped into my head. And even besides Kang Hyun-Sung, there was a mountain pile of things I also had to think about.


    <em>¡®We really need to get first ce in the third round.¡¯</em> There was no more room for failure. After losing the first-ce title to Only One in the second round, the road to winning the show became much harder. Thus, Siren needed to win the third round no matter what.


    <em>¡®But it¡¯s going awry even from the very beginning.¡¯ </em>My n was ruined already.


    For now, I surveyed my group members. They were Only One¡¯s five members: Kang Hyun-Sung, Park Young-Ho, Kim Si-Woon, Kim Ju-Hyun, and Lee Chul-Woon. Then, the other members were OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Sang-Hoon, Choi Jin-Young, and Bleshu¡¯s Kang Jin-Kyu. There were two people from OnebyOne and one from Bleshu. Including me, there were a total of nine people in this group.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s not a bad group.¡¯</em> Each of the people here could do more than their keep. OnebyOne, Kang Sang-Hoon and Choi Jin-Young were both vocalists, while Bleshu¡¯s Kang Jin-Kyu was a rapper. It was a good bnce of roles.


    <em>¡®Furthermore¡­did that bastard Kang Hyun-Sung bring in the members based on their visuals?</em>¡¯ Both members from OnebyOne and Bleshu were the visual lines of their groups. I thought Kang Hyun-Sung had called the names thoughtlessly when choosing the teammates, but as expected of him, it seemed like he had a big picture and a n all along.


    <em>¡®But will I be able to stand out in this group?</em>¡¯ In the third round, members would be individually assessed instead of as a group, and the group that got the highestbination of individual scores would win first ce. Thus, I needed to stand out here.


    <em>¡®It won¡¯t be easy for me to make myself noticeable.</em>¡¯ Though I was the tallest in my group, everyone here was tall in this group too. I suspected that the average height of this group was 180cm and as mentioned before, their visuals were good.


    <em>¡®And above all, Kang Hyun-Sung is in this group¡­¡¯</em> It wouldn¡¯t be easy to get people¡¯s attention when Kang Hyun-Sung was on the same stage as me. I wondered if I could make a lot of ideas for the stage formation to give myself an advantage but this wasn¡¯t even my team. My group members only respected and epted my ideas because we were in the same group. It would be difficult to expect the same here.


    <em>¡®Moreover, since the entire Only One team is in here, the setup for this performance will flow in favor of them.¡¯ W</em>hether we decided on the ideas democratically or not, it was obvious that the performance would be made to ce Only One at the center.


    <em>¡®This is seriously tough.¡¯</em> My head hurt.


    ¡°Okay then! We will give you all time to get to know each other and discuss your next performance,¡± the host, Kim Young-Jin spoke then and continued the program. ¡°But before that, there¡¯s one announcement that I need to make!¡±


    <em>¡®Hm?¡¯</em> I turned my head towards the host, wondering what this was about now.


    ¡°Does everyone remember how the scores will be decided on individually this time?¡±


    ¡°Yes~¡±


    ¡°On top of that, we are going to introduce an MVP system!¡±


    <em>¡®An MVP?¡¯</em> I wondered if it was what I was thinking about.


    ¡°In short, the individual who showed the best performance in each team will be chosen as MVP. The MVP will be given enormous rewards so I hope you all give your best for the next performance! The MVP will be decided by professional guest judges who wille for the third round!¡±


    It was just as I thought. Of course, there was an MVP system when people were individually scored. It was a rule perfect for crushing any sense of teamwork in each of the teams.


    ¡°Ah, hahaha.¡±


    ¡°An MVP?¡±


    ¡°How nice.¡±


    Everyone was smiling, but they didn¡¯t seem too pleased to hear this. Since we were scored individually, it was already clear that there was going to be a lot ofpetition between the team members, but with the addition of this MVP system, thepetition would grow fiercer.


    <em>Sigh.</em> I sighed inside my mind.


    I hoped that everything would be over then, but when I was about to leave the stage, the host said, ¡°Then, now, I hope you talk to your new team members and get to know each other.¡±


    At the same time, I heard the following¨C


    [A surprise mission.]


    <em>¡®Haa, please.¡¯ </em>This damn system loved to push me into a corner. I already felt annoyed before hearing the content of the mission. I thought I should still hear it out.


    [ce first in the third-round performance.]


    [Upon sess, the secret of your regression will be partly revealed.]


    [Upon failure, control over your Insight ability will be retracted.]


    <em>¡®¡­What the hell?¡¯</em> It was a reward and penalty that I hadn¡¯t expected at all. I thought the penalty was understandable since the system had given me the Insight ability in the first ce, but the reward was truly unexpected.


    <em>¡®What in the world is the secret behind my regression?¡¯</em> Although the system always worked beyond my expectations, this part was especially surprising.


    <em>¡®¡­This isn¡¯t easy.¡¯ </em>I felt conflicted. But the only thing that I could be sure of was that I needed to win first ce no matter what. To hear what this secret was about, I really needed to seed in this mission. Perhaps, my desperation reached the system, and I heard the system continue.


    [Your probability of winning first ce is revealed.]


    [Probability of winning first ce: 35%]


    As if I had activated a device in another world, I saw my probability of winning in the corner of my vision.


    <em>¡®The probability of us winning is 35%?¡¯ </em>Perhaps, the system wanted us to win and gave me this special perk to see probabilities.


    ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s gather together and discuss,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung called us then. Everyone gathered around Kang Hyun-Sung in the center and sat in a circle.


    ¡°You all know each other''s names, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Haha, yes.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung got right to the point, skipping all formalities. It seemed he didn¡¯t want to talk about useless stuff. ¡±Let¡¯s get right to the point. What kind of performance do you all want to do?¡±


    Perhaps, it was his experience from being on<em> Select Your Idol</em>, but Kang Hyun-Sung appeared used to this type of team-alliance mission.


    ¡°I personally think it will be a good idea for us to do a sexy concept.¡± OnebyOne¡¯s Sang-Hoon suggested.


    ¡°Something sexy?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s because I don¡¯t think anyone has done a concept that could be considered sexy yet.¡±


    ¡°Oh! It¡¯s not bad.¡± OnebyOne¡¯s Jin-Young agreed with OnebyOne¡¯s Sang-Hoon. Perhaps, he was supporting a fellow group member, but Bleshu¡¯s Jin-Kyu also agreed.


    ¡°Yeah, since everyone¡¯s physiques aren¡¯t bad¡­¡±


    <em>¡®Sexy concept, my ass,¡¯ </em>I thought. This team alliance was a big group. Other groups would probably utilize theirrge numbers and make arge-scale performance. Yet, it wasn¡¯t easy to have a big-scale performance with a sexy concept since sexiness oozed in a ce that was more secretive and in the shadows. Even if it were fine to have some sexy elements in a conceptual performance, it wouldn¡¯t be easy centering the whole performance around it.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 27%]


    The system seemed to prove me right as the percentages decreased dramatically. At this point, I needed to stop this idea from solidifying at all costs.


    ¡°Rather than doing something sexy, why don¡¯t we do something a bit more conceptual?¡± I suggested. They could do this sexy concept or whatever years after their debut and for their fans in a concert, but here, it was better to do a performance filled with elements that K-pop fans liked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what concept we should decide on yet, but I think it would be a good idea to have some narrative elements, too,¡± I said, and as soon as I spoke these words, the probability rose again.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 30%]


    <em>¡®It didn¡¯t shoot up though.¡¯ </em>The probability didn¡¯t recover to its original 35%. In cases like this, maybe it was better not to do anything, but the situation was still better than when we were talking about doing a sexy concept.


    ¡°I-I also think it will be good to have narrative elements¡­!¡± Someone supported me quietly from a corner.


    I turned and saw Young-Ho from Only One nodding.


    <em>¡®What?¡¯ </em>His whole body seemed to be saying, ¡®I agree with you 100%!¡¯


    And perhaps, pushed by Young-Ho¡¯s agreement, other Only One members supported me.


    ¡°Yeah, I think that¡¯s a good idea.¡±


    ¡°Honestly, all our past performances had a story to it too.¡±


    ¡°I think we just need to choose our concept wisely.¡±


    I was a bit taken aback that Only One members seemed to support and even like me.


    ¡°Conceptual narrative, that¡¯s good,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said. Because he had been staying quiet after giving us the topic of discussion, everyone instantly turned in his direction when he spoke again. After checking that all eyes were on him, he said, ¡°But what about we try something cute?¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡± I was so shocked to hear the word ¡®cute¡¯e out of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s mouth that I intuitively asked him to repeat himself.


    ¡°We have the youngest member among the cast here. I think it will be a good idea to do a younger man concept,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung continued calmly without the slightest trembling in his voice. Then, he stared at me. I began to have serious doubts about Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s ability to assess me. How in the world could he think of doing something cute, seeing my size and appearance¡­?


    [Probability of winning first ce: 51%]


    That was what I thought, but the numbers seemed to disagree with me.

 Chapter 66

    Chapter 66


    I rubbed my eyes and checked the percentages again. I wondered if I was seeing hallucinations and checked for the second time, but whether I looked at it twice or three times, the percentage was still 51%.


    ¡°Did something get into your eye?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked, seeing me rub my eyes.


    ¡°Ah, no,¡± I shook my head and finally epted my shocking reality.


    <em>¡®¡­I guess we really have to go with the younger man concept.¡¯ </em>I didn¡¯t know what was so great about this concept, but it was helpful in increasing the probability of winning first ce.


    <em>¡®But why is this going to increase the chances of winning first ce?¡¯</em> I was not convinced by this concept yet.


    ¡°Do you not like the concept?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked.


    Even before I said anything, Park Young-Ho spoke on my behalf, ¡°E-even then, I, um, think it would be good to do a performance with narrative elements like Mr. Tae-Yoon said¡­¡±


    I didn¡¯t know whether Park Young-Ho actually liked my idea or was unconditionally siding with me.


    ¡®<em>What¡¯s up with him.¡¯ </em>It felt like he had given me infinite trust and support ever since I saved him from the vaulting incident. I felt bad that I had to betray his trust, but looking at the percentages right now, I had no choice but to push forward with the younger man concept.


    ¡°¡­I think the concept of a younger man¡­is good.¡± Despite fierce opposition from my whole heart, I said I liked this concept.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 52%]


    As expected, the probability increased. I guessed that the faster I epted this concept, the higher the probability would rise. Kang Hyun-Sung smiled as if he was satisfied, and Park Young-Ho looked betrayed by my words. I quickly checked the other team members¡¯ reactions.


    ¡°Younger man concept, I¡¯m all for it!¡±


    ¡°Haha! I think the fans will really like it.¡±


    Everyone said it was good, but they weren¡¯t sincerely saying it from their heart.


    <em>¡®They sound awkward.¡¯</em> Everyone only agreed because Kang Hyun-Sung said it, but it seemed like they felt reluctant about going with the younger man concept. It was understandable as most men around this age wanted to be treated older and not like a younger brother. However, they were working hard to follow along because they knew this concept worked well with the public, and above all, Kang Hyun-Sung was the one who made the suggestion. But¡ª


    [Probability of winning first ce: 50%]


    Was it because they weren¡¯t sincere about this concept? The percentage dropped. In order for the percentage to increase, it seemed as if everyone had to support this concept from the bottom of their heart and do their best.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t like the concept, we can look for a different concept together.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung noticed the difort in the air and was about to take a step back, but I quickly stopped him.


    ¡°No, I think we have to go with this concept.¡± If we don¡¯t go along with this concept, the probability of winning first ce decreased. I also didn¡¯t really want to do this conceptbut getting first ce was more important than my personal preference.


    Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me as if he was surprised by my firm answer, but I steadfastly argued and said anything on my mind. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t we be able to incorporate narrative elements we talked about earlier with the younger man concept?¡±


    I began to improvise a story. This was my specialty; to make a living as a web novel writer, I needed to have the skill of making even utter nonsense sound reasonable.


    I continued, ¡°Rather than a younger man concept that just focuses on ¡®oh we¡¯re cute~¡¯ cause we¡¯re younger, we can utilize the emotions and keywords that are tied with a younger man.¡±


    At this point, I had no idea what I was talking about, but I bbered on, ¡°Some keywords thate up with a younger man are first, innocence, and items like a school uniform. And I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s only me, but early summer alsoes to my mind. Overall, wouldn¡¯t it be okay if we make a story of a younger man¡¯s overwhelming and clumsy first love in a refined way?¡±


    After I eloquently delivered my speech, I scanned the audience¡¯s reaction.


    ¡°Oh, that sounds good?¡±


    ¡°If we¡¯re performing a story of a younger man instead of just a concept then¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think the performance would be good if we make good use of those emotions.¡±


    It seemed as if I was able to persuade them somewhat, as their expressions looked much better than before. They looked as if they really believed this might work, rather than just blindly following what Kang Hyun-Sung was saying.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 55%]


    The percentage soared again. It didn¡¯t rise as high as when Kang Hyun-Sung first suggested the concept of a younger man, but this was a pretty high increase. Was it because I also persuaded myself while making my speech?


    <em>¡®It might really not be that bad?¡¯ </em>I also became a bit serious about pulling off this concept. It seemed as if the system also noticed the change as¡ª


    [Probability of winning first ce: 56%]


    The percentage went up one more time. ¡­I didn¡¯t know why, but I felt a little bit of shame. Kang Hyun-Sung smiled strangely at me, and Park Young-Ho¡¯s eyes were wide open as if he were surprised.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s finalize our decision to go with the younger man concept.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung finished talking about the concept.


    ¡°Yes~¡±


    ¡°That sounds good!¡±


    It was a satisfactory result for all the team members.


    ¡°Then we have to choose a song now¡­,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung stopped in the middle and then said, ¡°Shall we meet tomorrow to discuss that? Let¡¯s each select a possible song and meet again tomorrow.¡±


    After saying this, he nced at the production crew. Just in time, the production crew were gathering and talking amongst themselves and it seemed as if they were ready to wrap up the shooting now.


    Sure enough, a staff member from the production crew shouted, ¡°Let¡¯s wrap up today¡¯s shoot!¡±


    With this, the team meeting ended. It seemed as if they got all the cuts they wanted.


    ¡°Except for Only One, who won first ce, all of you can leave and go home!¡±


    We stood up at the production crew¡¯s shout.


    ¡°Thank you for your hard work!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Great job today!¡±


    We bowed to the staff, and after finishing our greeting, we quickly talked about ns we hadn¡¯t finalized yet.


    ¡°Then where are we meeting tomorrow?¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung replied, ¡°Let¡¯s meet at ourpany¡¯s practice room by 9 a.m.¡±


    ¡°With possible song choices?¡±


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s do that.¡±


    Tomorrow at 9 a.m. Only One¡¯s practice room. Possible song choices. I quickly jotted the necessary information in my head. After saying goodbye to the team members like that, we separated. When I nced to the side, I saw my members also parting after saying goodbye to their team members. When I approached my members, they coldly mocked me.


    ¡°What? Is the traitor back?¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon, who abandoned his team!¡±


    ¡°Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon~¡±


    ¡°What do you mean traitor? I didn¡¯t even want to go because I wanted to.¡± Of course, I knew they were joking, but it still felt unfair.


    ¡°We¡¯re just joking~¡± Dong-Jun smiled and tickled me on the waist. When I instinctively moved away, he tried to tickle me even more. It was only when I went back as if I was going to run away, he finally stopped ying around. We finished our conversation as we moved to the waiting room.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, how was your team?¡± Yeon-Hoon was worried about how I would adjust to the new team.


    ¡°Don¡¯t lose confidence and crush them all.¡± Do-Seung seemed to be worried that I would feel discouraged.


    ¡°You don¡¯t feel like you¡¯re being left out, do you?¡± Woon was worried that I would feel like an outcast in my team. As for Dong-Jun¡­


    ¡°Ah, I think this joint mission will be fun.¡± He didn¡¯t seem to be thinking about anything much.


    * * *


    After arriving in the waiting room, we changed our outfits into our normal clothes.


    ¡°This outfit really yed a big role today.¡±


    ¡°I don''t think I can throw this away.¡±


    The members each voiced their thoughts while looking at our outfits. The outfits must have left quite an impression on everyone as we all struggled together to revive this messy costume.


    I said to the members, ¡°From now on, let¡¯s only wear better outfits than this.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we definitely will.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s work harder.¡±


    The older members seem to be quite impressed by my remark. After that, we went down to the underground parking lot and moved by car. Since it was a joint mission involving multiple members from different groups, there was nothing to practice between us. Thus, we didn¡¯t go to the practice room but headed straight to our dorm.


    ¡°I can¡¯t get used to this ce no matter how many times Ie here.¡± I couldn¡¯t get used to Dong-Jun¡¯s premium apartment in Gangnam no matter how many times I came here. Everyone felt frazzled due to living in a luxurious environment for weeks after living for a long time in a very shabby dorm.


    After everyone took their turns using the bathroom and taking a shower, we all gathered in the living room. I naturally tried toy a nket in the middle of the living room. Since the marble floor felt a bit hard on my back, I went to the mart and bought some nkets to put on the floor.


    While I was looking at the thick nkets and feeling pleased, Dong-Jun, who sat on the sofa, suddenly said indifferently, ¡°But are we going to keep sleeping all together in the living room like before?¡±


    At his remark, everyone, including me, flinched. Woon, who was hanging a towel around his neck after taking a shower, smiled awkwardly and said, ¡°Yeah, we should decide our rooms now.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, who was sitting on the sofa and fiddling with the TV remote control, carefully turned off the TV and came down to the floor and sat down. He murmured, ¡°I¡­I liked sleeping all together like a sleepover¡­¡± Yeon-Hoon seemed to enjoy sleeping all together.


    ¡°Well, me too.¡± Unexpectedly, Do-Seung seemed to also like it.


    On the other hand, Dong-Jun preferred sleeping separately and said, ¡°Come on~ Since there are so many rooms, we should at least use them.¡±


    ¡°I also think the same. Since there are three rooms, why don¡¯t two people take two rooms and one person take a room by himself?¡± Woon was also on the side of sleeping separately.


    Then, the members¡¯ eyes moved toward me. Since the opinions were tied, it was now up to me to make the final decision.


    <em>¡®Honestly, it¡¯s nice sleeping with all the members, but¡­¡¯ </em>Personally, I liked sleeping all together after being separated from them for so long. I wanted to keep them close, but I thought a problem would arise in the long run.


    <em>¡®Since everyone¡¯s lifestyle and biorhythms are different, I¡¯m sure they¡¯re feeling stressed in some way.¡¯ </em>Thus, the smartest method was¡ª


    ¡°Since there¡¯s a lot of rooms, let¡¯s divide them between us.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Dong-Jun punched the air in joy.


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s too bad.¡±


    Do-Seung and Yeon-Hoon seemed to be somewhat disappointed.


    ¡°Then shall we decide on who will use which room?¡± Dong-Jun suggested, and judging by how he was being so proactive, it seemed as if he wanted a room by himself.


    And as expected, he asked, ¡°Can I use a room by myself?¡±


    On second thought, it must have been difficult for a guy like Dong-Jun, who grew up rich, to keep sleeping with everyone in such a cramped space. Furthermore, Dong-Jun¡¯s request was very reasonable.


    ¡°Of course you can.¡±


    ¡°Dong-Jun, this is your house.¡±


    ¡°What are you getting permission for? We wouldn¡¯t have said anything even if you just told us and used a room by yourself.¡±


    This house was under Dong-Jun¡¯s name, and we were living in Dong-Jun¡¯s house thanks to his generosity.


    Dong-Jun replied, ¡°Then I¡¯ll use the smallest room alone. Thanks guys.¡±


    The members withdrew with a satisfied smile, and it was now time for us to decide which room to use in pairs.


    ¡°Shall we decide by <em>dedenchi</em>[1]?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s decide by flip over or under.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go with side up or side down.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go with <em>dedenchi dedenchi.</em>¡±


    All kinds of expressions for <em>dedenchi</em> came out from each member. Even though the original one was <em>dedenchi,</em> it was annoying that everyone was so stubborn about keeping their local way of saying<em> dedenchi</em> till the very end. Anyway, we decided to divide the rooms with<em> dedenchi</em>. As a result¡ª


    ¡°Do-Seung and I share one room, and Woon and Tae-Yoon share one room.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung became a pair, and Woon and I became a pair.


    ¡°Then shall we divide the rooms from today onwards?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve justid out all the nkets¡­¡± I pointed my finger at the nket that I had worked hard to set up.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll take two.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll also take two.¡±


    ¡°I only need one~¡±


    The members ignored my fingers and quickly took apart the nkets and disappeared into their respective rooms.


    Woon also looked at me with two nkets in his arms to put on the floor and said, ¡°Tae-Yoon, bring your nket ande to the room.¡±


    I replied, ¡°¡­Yes.¡± The members were extremely clear-cut at times like this.


    1. Game where you flip your palms up or down, and you team up with those who flip their palms in the same direction. ?

 Chapter 67

    Chapter 67


    I took the nket and went inside the big room that was designated to be mine and Woon¡¯s room.


    ¡°¡®The room is a bit empty,¡± I said. I didn¡¯t think much about the room except that it was quite empty.


    ¡°I suppose we can fill up the space bit by bit,¡± Woon said. While I just saw an empty room, Woon saw a room to be filled. Nevertheless, this was our lodging ce now.


    ¡°But will we be able to fill up the space?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! What do you mean? We can¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°Well, how should I say this? It feels like we will be leaving our luggage at a friend¡¯s house.¡± After all, this ce wasn¡¯t ours but somebody else¡¯s.


    ¡°Well, I suppose we will get used to it if we keep living here.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I ced the nket on the floor andy down. It felt weird since I was sharing the room with only Woon. After turning off the lights and pulling up the nkets all the way to my neck, I couldn¡¯t fall asleep.


    <em>¡®Hm.¡¯</em> Usually, I would¡¯ve been knocked out after finishing a schedule like this today, but my mind felt wide awake as I stared up at the ceiling. Noticing my behavior, Woon spoke first.


    ¡°¡­Are you asleep, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to sleep?¡±


    ¡°¡­I can¡¯t fall asleep.¡±


    It seems we both had a hard time sleeping after our sleeping ce changed. Since we had always slept with five people crammed together, it felt like something was missing due to a sharp decline in the room¡¯s poption density.


    ¡°¡­How was today¡¯s shooting? Was it fun?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you already know? Why are you asking?¡±


    ¡°Well, I wanted to hear from you in person,¡± Woon said and poked my sides.


    My group members loved to do that, and since it appeared like he would keep bothering me if I didn¡¯t answer, I said, ¡°¡­It was fun performing on the stage today.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°It helped that Do-Seung told me to believe in you guys and enjoy the show.¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung gave you some good advice.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, he did, though he looked so ufortable encouraging me.¡±


    ¡°To tell you the truth¡­I listened to you guys talking from the side.¡±


    ¡°¡­Really?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Woonughed out loud, staring at me. I should¡¯ve expected this since all my group members were right next to each other when Do-Seung and I talked.


    ¡°You guys looked so awkward talking to each other.¡±


    ¡°¡­Did I look as awkward as Do-Seung?¡±


    ¡°Yup!¡±


    ¡°¡­Ha, this is so embarrassing.¡±


    ¡°What is there to even be embarrassed about?¡± Woon finally calmed down afterughing by himself for a long time. ¡°Good job. I saw you today from behind and your movements were definitely better than usual.¡±


    The way I danced was much more natural on stage today, but I was surprised that Woon was able to catch that while also doing his own dance moves. It appeared that Woon certainly had a talent for dancing.


    ¡°I hope you will enjoy your performances more, Tae-Yoon,¡± Woon said cautiously. I thought we were just going to cheer each other up as teammates, but he said something more profound than that. ¡°It¡¯s because I want our group to work together for a long time. But for that to be the case, we have to have a good time while performing.¡±


    If even one person harbored dissatisfaction, the group didn¡¯tst long. And it appeared that Woon had been worrying about me more than I expected. ¡°Truthfully, the fact that you wanted to quit being an idol had been on my mind the whole time. And whenever we performed, you always seemed to get really nervous and stressed.¡±


    That was true. Since performing wasn¡¯t in my nature, I got more nervous than my group members.


    ¡°So, I thought you would crumble at some point, but fortunately, it seems like you were able to ovee that a bit.¡±


    ¡°¡­Thank you for looking out for me.¡±


    ¡°No need to thank me. It¡¯s only natural,¡± Woon said and thumped my chest.


    ¡°Should we go to sleep now?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I felt sleepy after conversing. I felt like I could go to sleep in ten minutes like this if I closed my eyes.


    <em>Creak.</em>


    It was then someone opened our room¡¯s door.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Woon and I simultaneously got up and looked towards the door.


    ¡°Um¡­Should we sleep together just for today..?¡± Dong-Jun said, and Do-Seung and Yeon-Hoon stood behind him.


    ¡°Well¡­for a better sleep, it¡¯s best to sleep the usual way¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s important to manage our conditions.¡±


    It was funny how each of them gave their excuses.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Woon burst outughing, and I looked at my group members with a baffled expression.


    ¡°Okay, just for today.¡±


    Just today, we could sleep together in one room.


    ***


    It was bright the next morning. After sleeping side by side in the living room, we all woke up at 6 am.


    ¡°You guys have to go to Bleshu¡¯s practice room, right?¡± I asked my group members.


    ¡°Yeah! We are going to practice there until evening.¡±


    Since we were on different teams for the third-round team alliance mission, I had to separate from them. It was regrettable that I was the only one left out of the group, but there was nothing that could be done now. And it wasn¡¯t like there were only negatives about this either.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 56%]


    Since I could see even numbers like this, perhaps, it was my great fortune that I went to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team.


    <em>¡®I should just think that the universe works in our favor,</em>¡¯ I thought. By thinking that everything happened for our good in the end, I felt better.


    ¡°We are going to meet up again here at 8 pm right?¡± I confirmed this final point with them. At 8 pm tonight, <em>The Showcase 2</em>¡¯s second episode was going to air, and we nned to gather together to watch it.


    ¡°Yeah~ Don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°We will see it all together.¡±


    ¡°See you at 8 pm!¡±


    My group members left the dorm. Since the Bleshu¡¯s practice room was located quite far away, they had to depart earlier than me.


    ¡°Haa. I should also get going.¡± After changing into a tracksuit, I packed lightly and left the house. On my phone screen, there was the address of the practice room that Kang Hyun-Sung sent me. We had quickly exchanged numbers before separating at the studio. Andst night, Kang Hyun-Sung created a group chat and invited all of us to join. He didn¡¯t make any small talk and just sent us the practice room¡¯s address.


    <em>¡®Park Young-Ho looked betrayed when he got my number yesterday,¡¯ </em>I thought, but I quickly erased this image that hurt my conscience and promptly moved my feet.


    ***


    The address that Kang Hyun-Sung sent me wasn¡¯t what I expected. I thought the address would naturally be Only One¡¯spany, TH Entertainment¡¯s but it was a practice room at Gangnam.


    <em>¡®Where is this ce?¡¯ </em>It appeared to be a personal practice room they rented out. The whole building was full of practice rooms, and it seemed Kang Hyun-Sung had rented out the whole floor on one side of this building. I walked up to the floor that Kang Hyun-Sung told me about.


    <em>¡®What?¡¯ </em>In the middle, there was an iron door blocking the path, and since there was a door lock on it, I couldn¡¯t open it.


    <em>¡®No wonder he told us to call when we arrived,¡¯</em> I thought and called Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡ªAre you here?


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡ªI will get the door.


    I heard the lock device release from inside the steel door.


    ¡°You are here early,¡± he said, and I was able to enter the practice room.


    ¡°¡­Oh,¡± I couldn¡¯t help but admire the room a bit. Though they painted the walls ck, the space still looked wide. Three air purifiers were running at once, and the mirrors sparkled. The air conditioner was the newest kind and the most surprising part was that this was Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s personal practice room.


    <em>¡®I thought we were going to meet up at TH Entertainment¡¯s practice room but this is his personal practice room.¡¯ </em>I was surprised that an individual was using a practice room of this size. Perhaps, he noticed the surprise in my eyes, and Kang Hyun-Sung exined.


    ¡°If you make an annual, it doesn¡¯t cost that much on a monthly basis. It¡¯s like a thousand¡­¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to tell me.¡±


    ¡°All right.¡±


    In the practice room, there was no one else but us. I thought OnebyOne and Bleshu members could be a bitte, but I wondered where the others were.


    ¡°Did the Only One members go somewhere?¡± It was strange that they were also not here.


    ¡°They left because they wanted to get some coffee and drinks.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°You can rest in the meantime.¡±


    Hearing this, I sat crouched in the corner. Kang Hyun-Sung sat on the sofa and fumbled with his phone with his legs crossed. Though no one told us to, Kang Hyun-Sung and I sat at the farthest corners of the practice room. We sat diagonally from each other, so we were really at the farthest endpoints, and the distance was more noticeable since it was a vertically long room. And in case one of us identally met each other¡¯s eyes, we intently stared at our phone screens with our teeth clenched.


    Then, I furtively nced up from my phone and looked towards Kang Hyun-Sung. Kang Hyun-Sung was smoothing his hair while looking in the mirror now.


    ¡°I¡¯m still curious,¡± he suddenly said.


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    He didn¡¯t nce in my direction and continued to look at the mirror as he continued, ¡°How did you find me in the prayer room that time?¡±


    <em>¡®Ah, that¡¯s right.¡¯</em> I expected this conversation toe up again when we were alone. From his point of view, that must have been aplete mystery to him.


    ¡°No, before that, why did youe to find me then?¡±


    If I were him, I would¡¯ve also been baffled. A guy he had a bad rtionship with suddenly visited him at the hospital and asked him why he wasn¡¯t getting ready. If I were him, I would¡¯ve swung my fist first. I didn¡¯t know how to answer when Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°Whatever your reason was, thank you.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°If it weren¡¯t for you, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to get up on the stage that day.¡±


    He should¡¯ve been angry at me for the crass words I said at that time, but Kang Hyun-Sung was thanking me instead.


    ¡°Of course, I was angry when you talked to me then, but after some time passed, I realized that wasn¡¯t what you must¡¯ve truly meant.¡± It seemed Kang Hyun-Seung realized that I had purposefully provoked him to push him back to the stage.


    Perhaps, it would¡¯ve been stranger if he didn¡¯t realize that because of how ridiculous that situation had been. No matter how crazy or mean a guy was, people didn¡¯t go seek out a sick person to pick a fight with them. It was more reasonable that they had some benevolent purpose behind their actions.


    ¡°So, that makes me more curious. Why did you find me and drag me outside?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung turned his head and met my eyes. I wondered how I could ovee this situation when just in time, Only One member appeared across the steel door while humming.


    <em>Di-di-ding!</em>


    <em>Di-ri-ring~</em>


    ¡°We bought ice americano and a couple of other drinks~¡± Young-Ho entered the practice room with both hands holding numerous drinks. Kang Hyun-Sung and I both turned our heads away from each other and stared at our phones.


    ¡°Huh? What?¡±


    ¡°Ah? Hello, Mr. Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°You are already here!¡±


    My surroundings became instantly noisy.


    <em>¡®Thank goodness.¡¯ I</em> was able to ovee another crisis like this. <em>¡®But I feel like he will ask me this question whenever he has the chance while we prepare for the third-round performance.¡¯</em>


    I finally understood why Kang Hyun-Sung dragged me into his group. He wanted to uncover the mystery of that day when I found him in the prayer room.


    <em>¡®Haa.¡¯</em> I could already feel that this would be a very difficult and stressful performance preparation. I was sighing inside my mind when Young-Ho approached me and handed me a drink.


    ¡°Um, Mr. Tae-Yoon, would you like to drink this¡­?¡±


    ¡®<em>What in the world is this?¡¯</em> It was a drink with whipped cream, chocte chips, and all sorts of toppings avable on the menu at venti size.


    ¡°¡­Ah, thank you.¡±


    ¡°Hope you like it!¡±


    ¡­It appeared that this performance preparation was going to be difficult in many ways.

 Chapter 68

    Chapter 68


    I took a sip of the drink Park Young-Ho gave me and immediately thought, <em>¡®¡­This is a trap.¡¯</em>


    This high-calorie drink was his secret ploy to make me gain weight so that I wouldn¡¯t stand out on stage¡­


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it good, Mr. Tae-Yoon? This is my favorite drinkbination in Star Caf¨¦!¡±


    ¡­But Park Young-Ho sounded way too bright for me to think he had any devious schemes. I sipped the chocte chip whipping deluxe, whatever. Although it tasted super calorie-dense, it was difficult for me to stop drinking it.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s good¡­!¡¯ </em>I had continuously eaten diet meals like sd and chicken breast ever since I regressed, so my tongue was craving a more stimting taste. I had been keeping my appetite in check until now, but¡­


    <em>Sigh¡­</em>


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Did something happen?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°¡­? What? Then why are you getting ang¡­¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing.¡±


    My hard efforts all crumbled because of one drink. I thought I should just drink half of it and stop. I put down the drink in the corner of the practice room after drinking about half of it. Then I exchanged greetings with the other Only One members.


    One of them asked, ¡°Did you go home safely yesterday?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I did. Thank you for asking.¡±


    ¡°Did you have a hard timeing here?¡±


    ¡°No, I had no trouble.¡±


    ¡°Did you eat breakfast?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I just ate sd¡ª¡±


    ¡°Whaaaat! You should eat well.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! Well, we all know that we always have to be on a diet, but I just said that to wish you well.¡±


    I stared nkly at the Only One members. Honestly, I still wondered why they all seemed to like me. Even though it always felt like I was fighting a battle of nerves with their leader, the other members were always all smiles whenever they saw me. It felt like Park Young-Ho began hovering around me ever since I saved him, but the other Only One members were also nice to me for no reason. Since there was such arge character gap between the Only One members and their leader, it was hard for me to adjust to their group.


    <em>¡®How on earth does Kang Hyun-Sung fit in with a group like this?¡¯</em> In the future, Kang Hyun-Sung became quite attached to his team- at least, that was what his interviews or official activities in the future indicated, and he subtly expressed his affection for his group.


    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe Kang Hyun-Sung and these golden retrievers are going to be friends.¡¯ </em>However, I couldn¡¯t imagine it at the moment. I thought it would be faster for me to get closer to them than him. I continued chatting with the Only One members like this for a while, but honestly, it was more like they asked questions, and I just answered.


    Then, the production crew entered the practice in the middle of our conversation. Since we all got a message that they wereing during practice yesterday night, nobody was too surprised. Since the team alliance was a mix of multiple groups, they said it was difficult to get separate practice videos, and they were going to ce observation cameras instead. It seemed as if they were going to install the observation cameras now.


    ¡°We¡¯ll take this back and change the battery on our own, so don¡¯t worry about this.¡±


    ¡°I hope your practice goes well~¡±


    The production crew said these words and quickly disappeared. They installed and left so quickly that it was hard to think they were here just a second ago.


    ¡°Wow! It¡¯s following me.¡±


    ¡°The camera is really small.¡±


    ¡°It feels like we became a celebrity for real¡­?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­I might have really be an idol¡­?¡±


    The Only One members exchanged jokes while staring at the installed camera. I thought the members in our group were very energetic, but this group was notcking in energy either.


    When I wondered how I could adapt to this, Kang Hun-Sung said to the members who were ying in front of the camera, ¡°Guys, stop the chit-chat and start stretching.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s stretch!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡±


    Even though he spoke in amanding way, everyone followed suit withoutining.


    It felt like there was a clear hierarchy in Only One, and I could now understand the team¡¯s structure.


    <em>¡®They¡¯re like a sports club style.¡¯ </em>If our team was like a noisy group of friends, this group felt more like a sports team with a clear hierarchy. The members of Only One stopped chatting at Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s words and began stretching.


    I stared at them nkly in surprise when Park Young-Ho suddenly handed me something and said, ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, this is¡­¡±


    I lowered my head and looked at the object that Park Young-Ho handed me. It was a¡ª


    ¡°¡­Foam roller.¡± It was a foam roller that I had desperately longed for in my deration of war video.


    ¡°Oh! Finally!¡±


    ¡°Congrattions!¡±


    ¡°You should hurry up and use it now!¡±


    If there were even a little bit of cynicism or mockery in their tone, I would have felt annoyed, but these people were really congratting from the bottom of their hearts.


    <em>¡®What? Why are they sincerely congratting me for getting a foam roller?¡¯</em>


    ¡°Ah, yes¡­¡± I took the foam roller and began rolling my body with it. However, I hadn¡¯t used it properly many times, so I awkwardly moved my body around.


    They must have noticed my inexperience as another Only One member, Kim Ju-Hyun moved closer to me and said, ¡°Hey, you can¡¯t use the foam roller like that~¡±


    He looked very fierce and scary, but his demonstration of using the foam roller was downright ridiculous. He sang out, ¡°Softly~ Swoosh~ Swoosh~¡±


    I tried using the foam roller by copying his movements.


    ¡°Now, try copying what I said. Softly~¡±


    ¡°¡­Excuse me?¡±


    ¡°It feels different from when you say that out loud and when you don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    I thought he was a very unique person and wondered how a person like him worked under Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡°Kim Ju-Hyun, don¡¯t make fun of Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Hehe, yes, sir!¡±


    <em>¡®What the heck is this?¡¯ </em>With just a single sentence, Kim Ju-Hyun immediately stopped talking and returned to his ce. I started warming up with the Only One members, and after warming up for about ten minutes¡ª


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for beingte!¡±


    ¡°There was so much traffic on the way.¡±


    OnebyOne Kim Sang-Hoon and Choi Jin-Young arrived.


    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry! I was confused with the room downstairs, so I spaced out for 10 minutes there¡­¡±


    Then Bleshu Kang Jin-Kyu arrived.


    ¡°Shall we start the meeting?¡± We sat in a circle and started the meeting.


    * * *


    A total of nine people, including Only One, sat in a circle. Now that we were sitting in a circle like this, an image came to mind.


    <em>¡®This feels like Select Your Idol.¡¯ </em>In Select Your Idol, which had now be a national survival audition, there were a lot of scenes where people sat around in a circle and had meetings.


    The first person to speak up was Kang Hyun-Sung. ¡°Did you all select some songs to perform?¡± Right before we all separated, Kang Hyun-Sung had told us to think about some possible song choices that matched the concept of a younger man and first love. Everyone smiled awkwardly at his question, and the first person who volunteered to showcase their song was Park Young-Ho.


    Park Young-Ho said, ¡°I just chose a standard song. Haha.¡±


    We listened to the song that Park Young-Ho chose through the tablet PC that he connected to the speaker.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s a song that came outst spring.¡¯</em> It was a song from a male idol group who were not up there with other first-tier idol groups but was also too famous to be called second-tier. It was a very standard spring song and fit both the concept of a younger man and first love.


    ¡°It¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°As expected, people think alike.¡±


    Although people¡¯s responses were good, I was a bit concerned. ¡°Hmm.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to share the same thoughts as me as he said, ¡°The song is good and fits our concept, but let¡¯s put it on hold for now and move on.¡±


    I wondered if the reasoning behind his words was the same as mine, and his following words confirmed my suspicions.


    ¡°It¡¯s too much of a recent song, and it¡¯s such a hit song that it¡¯s risky for us to perform it.¡±


    ¡­Our thoughts were unpleasantly simr. After that, we listened to the other team members¡¯ selection, but no song made me think, ¡®Wow, this is it!¡¯ Then Kim Sang-Hoon from OnebyOne proposed a slightly different song than the others.


    ¡°It¡¯s a theme song from an animation, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes! I thought it fit the image of the memories of first love pretty well, so I chose this song. What do you all think?¡±


    It was a fresh approach as it was a nostalgic animation theme song. It was probably a song that people in a simr generation as us have heard at least once. However, there was one problem.


    <em>¡®The lyrics and melody are too old-fashioned.¡¯</em> It sounded good because of the nostalgia factor, but honestly, if I judged it by the melody and lyrics alone, it wasgging far behind the songs that wereing out now in terms of quality. The lyrics were in typical animation style without rhyme or flow, and the melody was also old-fashioned, containing verses that were popr at the time. However, I couldn¡¯t say this all directly as there were probably a lot of viewers who had deep affection for that song.


    I wondered how I could word my rejection softly when Kang Hyun-Sung smoothly said, ¡°The approach is fresh, and the song selection is good, but it¡¯s hard for me to think about rearranging the song to perform this on stage.¡± As expected, he had experience froming out in <em>Select Your Idol.</em>


    After a few more members showcased their songs, it was finally my turn. Frankly, I hadn¡¯t brought an amazing song either, and I just brought out a song without clear disadvantages. It was not a recent song, but it wasn¡¯t too old. It also matched the younger man and first love concept.


    It was not a hit song, but it was a song that was pretty well known for being a hidden masterpiece. I didn''t have many possible choices to choose from after applying many filters. Among them, I chose a song that might appeal to the public the most.


    ¡°I chose Light¡¯s <Never Mind>.¡±


    ¡°Never Mind¡± was a song from Light, the group that sang the ¡°Traitor¡± song we performed in the second round. It was a b-side track from Light¡¯s first mini album, and it was a famous song only among fans. Since Light didn¡¯t have many refreshing songs with innocent vibes like this, the fans considered this song to be a hidden treasure. The melody was easy to listen to, and the lyrics were also written in a general manner that made sense no matter how they were interpreted.


    Overall, it was a song that was suitable for the concept of first love and a younger man. It seemed as if my song selection made a good impression too as the others gave positive responses.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung flinched his eyebrows and looked quite surprised.


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, there was this too.¡±


    ¡°This is good.¡±


    Since this song was released a while ago, there was less risk of beingpared to Light¡¯s performance, and above all, there were few instances where Light performed this song on stage. Since this was a song that hasn¡¯t been consumed by the public yet, this song could also feel fresh to the audience. Judging by the team member¡¯s reactions, it seemed as if my song would be picked.


    ¡°It¡¯s good. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a need to listen to the song that I thought of.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung also said that he liked it, but I was surprised that he said there was no need for him to even listen to his song. He must have really liked it, but I was curious what kind of song a person like Kang Hyun-Sung picked.


    Thus, I asked, ¡°But I still want to hear the song that you chose, so can¡¯t you tell us?¡±


    Then Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me with a monotonous expression, ¡°I actually chose the same song.¡± He indifferently showed his ylist on his phone screen, and there really was Light¡¯s ¡°Never Mind¡± at the very top.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go with this song and practice,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said as he turned off his phone¡¯s screen.


    On the other hand, I thought, <em>¡®¡­Damn it.¡¯</em>


    I felt annoyed that my thought process kept ovepping with his.

 Chapter 69

    Chapter 69


    ¡°Then, should we take a look at the video first?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung brought out his tablet and yed the video of Light¡¯s ¡°Never Mind¡± performance. Since this was a song that everyone had heard of already, no one was surprised about the song. Though it wasn¡¯t popr among the public, this song was famous among idol fans and those involved in the industry. Yet, there were some who watched the performance for the first time, though they had heard the song before.


    ¡°Ah, so this was how the mood of the performance was,¡± someonemented. Perhaps, they had actually seen it before but were only saying it for the camera. Anyway, we finished watching the video and went on to discuss the main points.


    ¡°Are we going to follow the choreography as it is?¡± Someone asked.


    This song had a medium tempo and a bright melody. There was an addictive chorus in the background and a chorus that would faintly linger around the listener¡¯s head while in the shower or studying. ordingly, the dance moves were also light and cheerful.


    ¡°Though these dance moves helped liven up the song better, it doesn¡¯t have enough impact for apetition,¡± I said, and my group members looked contemtive after hearing me. The first one to speak was OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Sang-Hoon.


    ¡°It¡¯s true that there¡¯s no hook usable for apetition, but won¡¯t the song not feel as bright if we change the choreography?¡±


    That was true. Everyone nodded and agreed.


    ¡°It¡¯s good for things to be bright, but for apetition, there¡¯s a need to have memorable points.¡± This was something we couldn¡¯t miss.


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    ¡°How difficult.¡± Everyone looked serious. I also stared at Kang Hyun-Sung for a bit. Kang Hyun-Sung was the one who suggested this song and concept. Perhaps, he had the answer to everything.


    ¡°What do you think, Senior Hyun-Sung?¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung wasn¡¯t the type to speak first. He was the type to speak after everyone talked quite a bit and after the conversation had progressed to some stage. But rather than it being part of his natural character, this behavior appeared more honed.


    <em>¡®Is it a habit he gained at Select Your Idol?¡¯</em> Since there were many contestants who fell to ruins by opening their mouths and making the wrong suggestions, it seemed Kang Hyun-Sung had picked up this skill during hisst survival show.


    Kang Hyun-Sung opened his mouth slowly and said, ¡°How about we make impactful points fitting for apetition but make it bright and refreshing at the same time?¡±


    It was the standard model response¡ªthe ideal answer that everyone wanted. But the problem was how we would manage to bring that to reality.


    ¡°The choruses out three times in total. One time in the first section, another time in the second section, and thest time after the bridge and at the highlight. How about we keep the original choreography in the first chorus and make our own choreography for the remaining two parts?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung suggested a blueprint that we could follow.


    It was to go with the original in the beginning and give more impact in the second part and the highlight of the song. It was a format close to the standard. With this, we would be able to make both a bright and impactful performance.


    ¡°Oh, that sounds like a good idea.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s important for us to maintain the same feeling as the original.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not bad!¡±


    Everyone responded positively. I also felt no qualms about the idea and epted it. This was Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s positive trait; he knew how to propose a solution that everyone could ept.


    <em>¡®Hm.¡¯</em>


    [Probability of winning first ce: 55%]


    The possibility that had been remaining at 56% dropped 1%.


    ¡°Then, if we request the editor to make this new arrangement¡­¡± Furthermore, when Kang Hyun-Sung spoke again, the possibility dropped another percentage.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 54%]


    ¡°Wait a moment,¡± I hurriedly changed the direction of the conversation.


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    People¡¯s attention concentrated on me, and I racked my head. First of all, I thought Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s idea was good, but there was a little more that could be done. I needed to suggest a provocative change that didn¡¯t change much from what Kang Hyun-Sung proposed. I thought about using my Insight ability, but it didn¡¯t seem like the time to use it.


    After picking my head as much as possible, I reached my answer, ¡°How about we lengthen the chorus of the song?¡±


    Simultaneously, the probability increased.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 55%]


    That seemed to indicate that this was the right direction to take.


    ¡°You mean to increase the time of the chorus ?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°You know there are three times the chorus melody appears in the song. One time in the first section, another time in the second section, and one more time at the end.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then, how about we do the chorus two times in the first section?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°Then, at the second section, we don¡¯t have to meddle with it much and do it as it is.¡± People began to listen to me more deeply and even Kang Hyun-Sung leaned his body towards my direction.


    ¡°Then, after following a simr format until the third section, how about we¡­¡± I paused for a bit and said, ¡°Continuously loop the chorus melody after passing the bridge and going to the outro?¡± That was the key to this arrangement.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 58%]


    The percentage shot upward again.


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Ah, I understand what you want to do!¡±


    ¡°Ahh! I get it!¡±


    ¡°This is good.¡±


    Most of the members¡¯ responses were positive and sounded more genuine than the time Kang Hyun-Sung proposed his idea. After hearing how we could ¡®constantly loop the chorus,¡¯ they seemed to havee up with a proper image in their heads.


    <em>¡®What a sess.</em>¡¯ I was d that I seemed to have ovee another hurdle. It was then Kang Hyun-Sung and I met eyes again. I wondered why he was staring at me suddenly and flicked my head away. There was no need to do another staring contest right now.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s rearrange the song ording to what you suggested.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    Like that, we finished our first meeting, which touched on the most important topics. Now, it was time for us to decide on the basic choreography.


    ¡°Before we discuss the choreography¡­¡± Kang Hyun-Sung spoke then, ¡°Should we choose our positions?¡±


    <em>¡®Ah, it¡¯s finally time.¡¯ </em>This was the huge hurdle that contestants in a team alliance mission needed to do: choosing positions. It was also the perfect time for a person to be edited as a viin of the show.


    <em>¡®There were many people who fell to their dooms at this time in survival shows.¡¯</em>


    ***


    Everyone became dead silent after Kang Hyun-Sung brought up the topic of choosing our positions. I sped my lips tightly and nced at Kang Hyun-Sung. I also knew that if I rashly opened my mouth, I could fall victim to evil editing. My probability of winning first ce in this round could drop again. Nevertheless, the position I was aiming for was lead vocalist since although I was beginning to feel that performing on stage was fun, I still wasn¡¯t used to it.


    The stage still felt unfamiliar to me, and rather than leading my group in the front, I wanted a position where I could support the other members from behind. It wasn¡¯t only an issue about my confidence, but I also had a logical reason for this. Though a position where I could catch the audience¡¯s eyes was good for getting high scores, there was a possibility that I could receive a huge bacsh after taking a main position just out of greed.


    K-pop consumers had high standards these days and wouldn¡¯t give good scores for a bad performance. Thus, if I didn¡¯t feel confident about carrying the performance and there was a possibility of me ruining it by taking the main position, it was better for me to take a position where I could do my best and raise the performance¡¯s quality. Thus, all in all, the position of ¡®lead vocalist¡¯ was strategically most sound for me.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, what position do you want to do?¡±


    ¡°I want to be the lead vocalist,¡± I said my top choice. In this song, the lead vocalist had many killing parts and could get as much attention as one of the main positions. In a way, it was the safest choice.


    ¡°Hm, okay. What about the others?¡±


    ¡°Well, I still want to aim for the main vocalist!¡±


    ¡°Since I¡¯m a rapper, I would like to keep rapping.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m also in the vocal line, so¡­¡±


    Everyone said their reasons for picking the positions they wanted to do. Without the conversation getting too heated, everyone exchanged their opinions politely. But as expected, because there were a lot of people in the vocal line in this group, the position as the main vocalist was the most popr.


    ¡°Still, since Mr. Si-Woon¡¯s vocal seems to fit this song better, I think the main vocalist position will suit you better!¡±


    <em>Gasp!</em>


    ¡°Then, I will try to live up to your expectations as the main vocalist¡­!¡±


    In the end, Only One¡¯s Kim Si-Woon was chosen to be the main vocalist. The main rapper position went to Bleshu¡¯s Kang Jin-Kyu, and the sub position went to Only One¡¯s Kim Joo-Hyun.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do a good job!¡±


    ¡°I will try to do the rap part well!¡±


    The main dancer was chosen most easily. It was because Kang Hyun-Sung applied for the position.


    ¡°Will it be all right for me to be the main dancer?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked and everyone nodded wordlessly. And this wasn¡¯t some privilege given to an ex-first-tier idol but because Kang Hyun-Sung was objectively the best dancer among the group.


    <em>¡®Now that I think about it, he didn¡¯t choose anyone that could be a main dancer for this group.¡¯</em> This was the part that surprised me the most about Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s cunningness.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s decide the center now.¡±


    This was the moment everyone had been waiting for: thepetition for the center. Though I wasn¡¯t greedy about the center, a couple of my group mates raised their heads with eager eyes. The producing director would probably focus on this part too. The first one to raise his head was Only One¡¯s Park Young-Ho.


    ¡°Since this is a younger man''s concept, I think this is an area that I could do well in!¡± As he said, Young-Ho looked most fitting for the concept among everyone else.


    ¡°I know I might be overstepping my boundaries, but I also want to try out for the center position!¡±


    ¡°I also wish to try it! Haha!¡±


    OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Sang-Hoon and Choi Jin-Young also applied. I watched them on the sidelines because I didn¡¯t care who became the center¨Cuntil I saw the probability..


    [Probability of winning first ce: 55%]


    <em>¡®What? Seriously, again?¡¯ </em>The probability dropped again on its own.


    <em>¡®Well, it¡¯s still over 50%...! I shouldn¡¯t be anxious,¡¯</em> I thought. Besides this chance, I thought there could be other opportunities to increase my percentage of winning first ce.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 50%]


    <em>¡®What the heck?¡¯ </em>It felt as if the system was ying with me now. <em>¡®Still, there¡¯s a half chance¡­¡¯</em>


    [Probability of winning first ce: 49%]


    <em>¡®I can¡¯t let the numbers drop any further.¡¯</em> Unable to win over the system¡¯s forceful push, I also said, ¡°I know it may be bold of me¡­ but I also want to¡­try out for the center position¡­I will let down the position as lead vocalist for now.¡±


    [Probability of winning first ce: 50%]


    The probability increased again and afterward, a very exhausting discussion of who would be the center continued. We discussed who would be the most fitting as a center but of course, couldn¡¯t reach an answer. The one who mediated the issue was Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t the people who want to be center follow the chorus¡¯ choreography, and the one who does it best can be center?¡± he suggested. It was a fair and reasonable method. All the applicants for the center position, including me, got up and learned the ¡°Never Mind¡± choreography. Since it wasn¡¯t a hard dance move, it didn¡¯t take us long to master it.


    <em>Whoosh!</em>


    Since this was such a crucial time, I used the Insight ability that I had been saving the whole time.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, were you always this good at dancing?¡±


    ¡°How could you move so lightly and smoothly with such a big body¡­?¡±


    ¡°Is it because you are thin though your physique isrge¡­?¡±


    And as a result, I had an overwhelming victory.


    ¡°I admit it. Wow, Mr. Tae-Yoon should be the center.¡±


    ¡°H-How cool¡­!¡± Young-Ho eximed from behind. I didn¡¯t understand this response since I wasn¡¯t dancing a cool dance move. Perhaps, there was something wrong with his eyes.


    ¡°Then, it¡¯s decided that Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon is the center.¡±


    <em>¡®Ha, damn it. I wonder if I can do a good job,¡¯ I wondered.</em>


    But despite my worries, the probability seemed to assure me.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 65%]

 Chapter 70

    Chapter 70


    [Probability of winning first ce: 65%]


    It was a significantly high number. The percentage that had hovered around 50% soared above 60% and reached 65%. There was only one reason for this substantial increase¡ªit was because I became the center of ¡°Never Mind.¡±


    <em>¡®¡­What in the world?¡¯ </em>I couldn¡¯t understand this. <em>¡®It¡¯s a good decision for me to be the center?¡¯</em>


    I began to have doubts about the system, and worries began to cloud my mind. Although this round was in the form of an individualpetition, it was still a performance on stage. No one would give a high score to a bad performance. Of course, there would be fans who would give a high score regardless of the performance of their favorite idols.


    But if that was not the case, there was no way the audience would give a high score to a bad performance; instead, they would give a harsh evaluation, saying, ¡®at least he¡¯s a bit better than the others in his group¡¯. If I stood at the center, we would probably get the following reactions:


    ¡ªWhy is the performance such a mess?


    ¡ªIt¡¯s messy.


    ¡ªWhy are they so out of sync?


    ¡ªWhy is the center¡¯s performance sockluster?


    If the center didn¡¯t do well, it could hurt the entire performance.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    <em>¡®My head hurts.¡¯</em> In the end, these were just my thoughts, and the system thought differently. I stared at the mirror and carefully inspected my expressions. People were shallow so no matter how well someone danced and sang on stage, their eyes naturally went to the performer¡¯s face first.


    Of course, this didn¡¯t mean that only good-looking people could be the center, but there needed to be something captivating about the center¡¯s face to draw the audience in. That coulde from expression or ability to convey the concept, or just having a god-level face to bewitch people.


    <em>¡®Am I good at making expressions?¡¯</em> The t-out answer was no. I often heard that my expressions barely changed. I usually looked indifferent or slightly smiled and that was the limit of my expression.


    <em>¡®Would I be able to convey the concept well?¡¯</em> Frankly, the concept of a younger man was tough for me. I needed to be refreshing and lively, but I didn¡¯t know how much of that feeling I could pull off.


    <em>¡®For god-level face¡­¡¯ </em>That was not the case for me; another member of our group was in charge of the visuals.


    While I was deep in contemtion, Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°Then, let¡¯s roughly try to match the chorus dance.¡± We got up with Kang Hyun¡¯s lead and began to match our choreography. It was not difficult to learn the dance thanks to my Insight ability, and I could make the key points of the dance stand out.


    ¡°There¡¯s one move at ¡®never¡¯ from ¡®never mind.¡¯ And another move at ¡®mind¡¯. Why don¡¯t we make the moves more clear-cut from each other.¡± Naturally, I began to exin the dance moves to the others. Everyone except for Kang Hyun-Sung started to learn the moves ording to my exnation. On the other hand, Kang Hyun-Sung¡ª


    <em>¡®He already knows the dance.¡¯ </em>Since he nned to do this song, it seemed as if he had already memorized the choreography.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s roughly set up the formation.¡± I stood in the center, and people stood in line behind me. The lyrics of the chorus consisted of a melody that could be easily followed along.


    ¡ªNEVER MIND~ That blue sky


    ¡ªI¡¯ll run! To hold them all~


    ¡ªSwoosh! I¡¯ll hold the


    ¡ªRising cloud in my arms and¡ª


    We roughly matched our movements ording to the chorus that boomed through the speakers. We cut through the air as if we were swimming and then stretched our left hand to the sky and moved forward one step at a time. Most of the moves required our arms and legs to be stretched out. I thought it was becauserge movements were better to convey the cool feeling of the chorus. Since everyone had experience as a trainee, nobody had difficulty learning the choreography. We were able to synchronize in our first attempt.


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°We did it!¡±


    ¡°Ohhh!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re in sync.¡±


    Everyone was brimming with excitement.


    <em>¡®Hmm.¡¯ </em>But I was still unsure about this. Overall, the members of our team were tall and had long arms and legs, so these moves looked good on them, but with the slightest mistake, it could look like we were floundering buffoons. Furthermore, if I lost my energy even a little bit as the center, the whole performance could end up as a disaster, and the overall picture could look downright terrible.


    Since we were just looking at the overall moves and not details like facial expressions, it looked alright for now, but the more I thought about it, I became more and more concerned. After a few more hours of memorizing and familiarizing ourselves with the choreography, we decided to end today¡¯s practice.


    ¡°Pweh. I think that¡¯s enough for today.¡±


    ¡°Since we haven¡¯t rearranged the song yet, and we¡¯ll revise the choreography anyway, I don¡¯t think we need to practice any more from here.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop for today.¡±


    We finished our practice around 6 p.m. Since we only practiced synchronization and details repeatedly for hours, everyone seemed bored, and I also thought it would be meaningless to practice more than this. We began to separate into different corners of the practice room naturally and began to pack our belongings.


    ¡°Everyone is going to watch episode 2 of <em>The Showcase 2</em> at 8 pm tonight, right?¡± Then Kang Jin-Kyu of Bleshu asked everyone out of the blue.


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    ¡°Wow, I really wonder how they¡¯ll edit it today¡­¡±


    ¡°I hope our group gets a lot of screen time.¡±


    Everyone seemed full of worries and hopes for the second episode of <em>The Showcase 2.</em>


    ¡°Uh? Should we just watch it together?¡± Then Kang Jin-Kyu made a sudden proposal.


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Shall we?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sounds good to me!¡±


    ¡°I was too scared to watch it alone, so I¡¯m all for it.¡±


    Everyone responded positively. I stared at Kang Jin-Kyu; all of the Bleshu members gave off a simr vibe as him. They were the mood makers of the group and amped up the energy wherever they went.


    <em>¡®Let¡¯s sneak out.¡¯</em> But there was no need for me to join them since I had made ns to watch the show with the members. I sent a message.


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon, are you heading to the dorm right now?


    Since I sent it to Yeon-Hoon, I thought I would get a reply within two minutes. I was wondering if I should pick up a sd for dinner on the way when Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly interrupted my thoughts.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, aren¡¯t you going to watch with us?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I moved my gaze away from my phone and looked straight ahead. Kang Hyun-Sung was looking at me. I could have secretly run away, but now that he pointed me out, it became impossible to do so.


    However, I had to go anyway, so I replied honestly, ¡°Ah, I made ns to watch it with my members.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung sounded like he didn¡¯t care. I didn¡¯t know why he even bothered to ask. Was he indirectly telling me to go quickly? Even without him telling me, I was nning to go anyway.


    <em>Zing-</em>


    Then I got a reply from Yeon-Hoon, but¡ª


    ¡ªTae-Yoon¡­


    I got an ominous feeling about this.


    ¡ªI don¡¯t think we can watch <em>The Showcase 2</em> together :''(


    <em>¡®What, why?¡¯ </em>I got an unexpected reply.


    ¡ªI¡¯ll tell you when I get home¡­the practice is getting longer, so it¡¯ll probably end at 10pm :((((((


    <em>¡®They¡¯re practicing until 10 pm?¡¯</em> This was a whole new problem; if they had to practice until 10 p.m., a serious problem must have arisen in their team. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s text message also had a negative nuance.


    When I stared at my phone nkly, Bleshu¡¯s Kang Jin-Kyu said, ¡°Huh? But Mr. Tae-Yoon, aren¡¯t your members practicing right now? I¡¯m texting with our group¡¯s leader, and he said they haven¡¯t finished practice yet.¡±


    This was dangerous. I now became someone who lied because I didn¡¯t want to watch the show together. I had no intention of wrecking my social life, and the atmosphere turned strangely cold.


    I quickly said, ¡°Ah, I just saw the message too and found out they¡¯re not done with practice yet.¡± I hadn¡¯t lied, as I just got the information a littlete, and I actively made my appeal.


    ¡°Then¡­do you want to watch it together?¡± At that moment, Only One¡¯s Park Young-Ho asked. The mood had be strange, and it felt like I couldn¡¯t say no now.


    In the end, I nodded and said, ¡°¡­Yes.¡± I had no choice.


    But then, in the corner of my mind, I thought, <em>¡®Is this okay?¡¯</em>


    I was actually worried about this situation. Editing was done to produce the most entertaining result possible, and to give the most dramatic entertainment, it was easiest to create hero and viin characters and make them fight each other. Whether it was tant or not, there would always be someone who would fall victim to the production team¡¯s editing.


    <em>¡®The atmosphere could get tense.¡¯ </em>Since this was a gathering of several groups, difort could arise from the editing, but I couldn¡¯t leave anymore.


    <em>¡®Let¡¯s just hang in there.¡¯ </em>I needed to endure and push through.


    It was then Kim Ju-Hyun of Only One who suggested, ¡°Then why don¡¯t we buy dinner and watch it together while eating?¡±


    ¡°Yeah! Let¡¯s go out to buy food~¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat~¡±


    Everyone got up from their seats and went out with their wallets in their hands.


    * * *


    Like this, we came back to the practice room with dinner in our hands. Although I said dinner, the menu was the same as always. For an idol who was ¡®on the job¡¯, we couldn¡¯t eat carbs or fat, so we were all unified under leafy greens.


    ¡°Wow, I love this dressing!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a sin to like yuja dressing.¡±


    ¡°Ah, respect people¡¯s taste.¡±


    Of course, there were differences in what kind of greens we got. We each packed a sd box at the sd shop where Only One frequented. I ordered a sd with salmon and oriental dressing, and coincidentally, the menu ovepped with Park Young-Ho.


    Park Young-Ho said, ¡°It¡¯s really good if you put tartar sauce on top of it instead of oriental sauce. I really rmend it!¡±


    I answered, ¡°But if you think about the calories, I would go with oriental.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true. But don¡¯t you think we have simr tastes?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­is that so?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    I didn¡¯t really have a special preference for dressings, but maybe Park Young-Ho was the same as me. I didn¡¯t think too much about it and glossed over it. When we returned to the practice room after buying sds, a beam projector and white screen had already been installed.


    ¡°It¡¯s part of this practice room¡¯s options,¡± Kim Hyun-Sung said in a t voice.


    <em>¡®I¡¯m so jealous¡­¡¯ </em>Compared to our practice room with squeaky floors, this was like a super luxury. Soon after, we brought out a table,id out the sd, connected theptop to a beam projector, and essed OTT to stream. Since there was still time left until the broadcast started, everyone was chatting and ignoring the screen. But soon, the broadcast logo appeared on top of the screen, and the countdown before the airing began.


    <em>Sighhh.</em>


    ¡°I didn¡¯t even eat much, but why do I have an upset stomach?¡±


    ¡°Do I have to drink a can of beer¡­?¡±


    Everyone began to look noticeably tense. I just wished for one thing. <em>¡®I really hope there¡¯s no evil editing today.¡¯</em>


    I hoped none of my teammates here would be viinized, or the atmosphere here would turn very ufortable. When I watched the screen nervously, episode 2 of<em> The Showcase 2</em> began.


    ¡°It¡¯s starting!¡±


    The second episode began after showing a summary of the first episode.


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    ¡°Um.¡±


    Thus, it started from the scene where Siren wasst ce in the introductory performance. Since people felt guilty about this, they all avoided my gaze. This was why I hadn¡¯t wanted to watch this show with the other groups. Why did they want to watch it all together¡­?


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    Since this already happened, there was no point dwelling in regret. I fixed my gaze on the screen and wondered what kind of development would happen.


    From my prediction, I thought,<em> ¡®We¡¯ll probably still be the main characters.¡¯</em>


    I thought the second episode would be pretty simr to episode 1 as in the first round since we tied for first ce with Only One. We went fromst ce to first ce in the first round and achieved a huge rebound. Thus, I thought we would be given the main character role for there to be a buildup for the first round.


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    However, the show went quite differently than I expected; it wasn¡¯t that we were robbed of the main role. Rather, it was even more emphasized that we were the main characters in the first round. But the problem was¡ª


    <em>¡®Did the producer go crazy? They¡¯re throwing away Only One?¡¯</em>


    It was great that the production team highlighted us, but in episode 2, Only One members were portrayed as arrogant and narcissistic viins who looked down on the wholepetition.

 Chapter 71

    Chapter 71


    <em>¡®This is bad.¡¯</em> I hadn¡¯t expected Only One¡¯s image to be portrayed like this. Of course, the editing wasn¡¯t as tant as it was in <em>Select Your Idol </em>because <em>The Showcase</em> wasn¡¯t a hyper-drama-focused program. Yet, the viewers watching the show would¡¯ve clearly caught the storyline.


    <em>¡®They made Only One act like the kingfish in a small pond.¡¯ </em>At best, Only One showed a carefree and leisurely attitude toward the uing performance, and at worst, they looked like arrogant snobs who thought they already made it big. I didn¡¯t know if things were going to changeter since the episode hadn¡¯t ended yet, but right now, the mood of my surroundings was dreary.


    <em>¡®What a mess,¡¯ </em>I thought.


    ¡°Um¡­¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Let me go to the restroom a bit¡­¡±


    The other members warily nced at Only One.


    ¡°Haa¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    ¡°Why did they¡­with that scene¡­¡±


    Meanwhile, the Only One members continued to stare at the screen as if they were in disbelief. Park Young-Ho¡¯s eyes looked especially teary, like he was going to cry any moment. He looked angry and regretful. Though I didn¡¯t do anything wrong, I wanted to apologize to him. And because of the guilt that was rising inside me, I had to avert my eyes¨Cto only see Kang Hyun-Sung in another spot. There was no safe haven to run away to. Thus, I moved my eyes away from Kang Hyun-Sung and simply stared at the screen.


    <em>Drrr.</em>


    Then, I heard someone drag the chair from somewhere. Kang Hyun-Sung was dragging his chair towards me. I thought he was going to crack the beam projector with his chair, but instead, he moved his chair beside me.


    ¡°¡­?¡± I wondered what he was doing, but he asked, ¡°What do you think about the episode?¡±


    What was this? Was this some kind of high-pressure interview? I didn¡¯t know what he wanted to hear from me, and I thought things could go really wrong if I said the wrong answer. Of course, since the producers took back their cameras the moment our practice ended, there was no way what I said now woulde out on the show.


    <em>¡®Wow, look at his eyes.¡¯</em> Kang Hyun-Sung looked like he wouldn¡¯t leave me alone until I answered. Of course, I didn¡¯t think he would really attack me or anything like that but perhaps, he would do everything besides that.


    <em>¡®Why only me?¡¯</em> I thought regretfully, knowing that I did nothing wrong.


    ¡°What do you want to hear?¡± I asked honestly.


    ¡°There¡¯s no answer I want to hear. I¡¯m just asking for your opinion.¡±


    Why was he asking me such an ufortable question? Did he want to see me struggle with a difficult question because he was in a bad mood? This was like the way bullies from high school talked to their victims, asking a question with a pre-determined answer. Anyway, I was in a crisis.


    ¡°I was quite taken aback by the editing direction of episode 2,¡± I finally said. Yet, I knew I could ovee it and said my honest thoughts. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the producers to edit you guys like that.¡±


    But simultaneously, I didn¡¯t think this editing was all bad news for Only One. Though it was disappointing for me as a fellowpetitor, the second episode felt like a build-up for episode 4 that woulde out the week after next week.


    Thus, I said, ¡°But won¡¯t things turn around by episode four? Since you guys won first ce by yourselves in the second round, the fourth episode would be edited to put your team in the center. Then, I think the story that had been going against you would turn in your favor again.¡±


    Since episode three was the mini-game, it was an exception, and I expected the show¡¯s storyline to change in favor of Only One on episode 4 again. That meant the producers were drawing up a big, dramatic picture for Only One to rise again. Of course, this could all be my delusion.


    ¡°I see,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said. But it didn¡¯t seem I was the only one who thought this. Kang Hyun-Sung appeared quite satisfied with my answer. He smiled faintly like apany CEO.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said while tapping my shoulder and getting up. It was ridiculous that he got up like some seasoned businessman and went back to where the other Only One members sat. I still wondered why he asked me a question like that. Perhaps, this was what he felt when I abruptly appeared at the prayer room while he was experiencing a burn-out.


    <em>¡®What if the system is also ordering him too?¡¯</em> I wondered and decided to quit my useless delusions. <em>¡®Ah, whatever.¡¯</em>


    I waved my thoughts away because it was too ridiculous. I sighed inside my mind and looked at the screen again. The show progressed until it was already the end of the performances. I picked up my phone.


    <em>¡®I think I can check the responses now at this point.¡¯</em> After calming my mind down in preparation, I quickly looked through social media sites andmunity forums to check the responses to episode 2.


    ***


    While <em>The Showcase</em> episode 2 was airing, the inte was in a buzz again. There were already fans forming for each group though Only One and Siren were the only ones who had what could be called proper fandoms. But still, interest in the other groups rose so that they were getting mentioned much more often than before.


    ¡ªAh quickly show us the video


    ¡ªI look forward to seeing all their performances


    ¡ªI love seeing pretty guys cry


    Even those who weren¡¯t fans of the groups had high expectations for the show. When the show started, the first responses were all about how Siren cedst. As soon as the announcement that they becamest ce was made, there was a close-up shot of the Siren members¡¯ faces.


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon is about to cry.


    ¡ªThis is freaking annoying.


    ¡ªNo way this is real!!


    They were all angryments that Siren cedst. Of course, there were also those who jumped at the opportunity to drag Siren down.


    ¡ªHahahaha You idiots who keep hyping up Siren to the heavens deserve it


    ¡ªYeah~ They don¡¯t even have the skills to pose a threat~


    ¡ªHahaha. Those sea fairy or whatever¡¯s performance was so stupid that they camest ce


    Though there were some mockingments, they soon disappeared without much support. It was because even other fandoms knew that Siren gotst ce because the other groups were keeping them in check and not because of their actual skills. The next scene was the hosts announcing the content of the first-round mission.


    ¡ªSinging with colors?


    ¡ªThe hell, is this some kind of children''s show?


    ¡ªHahahaha. The<em> ¡®Color of Showcase</em>¡¯? The way they keep using English randomly like this is funny.


    Most of them insulted the producers and the situation that followed afterwards.


    ¡ªAt this point, Sirens are getting outcasted by other groups.


    ¡ªAre they seriously giving blue to guys who just wore sailor uniforms??? What¡¯s up with them?


    ¡ªLook at how they also gave ck to Bleshu haha. That¡¯s hrious, jk. I¡¯m seriously upset.


    The color selection scene clearly showed the rivalry between different groups. However, before the conversation became overheated, surprising information was revealed.


    ¡ªvictory0505 is Kang Do-Seung?


    ¡ªWhat does that mean???


    ¡ªDid hepose a song and say it wasn¡¯t him??


    ¡ªWhat, why Do-Seung¡­? Others are dying to spread their work, so why¡­?


    It was revealed that Do-Seung was theposer behind ¡°Sailing¡±.


    ¡ªSo, Bong Tae-Yoon wrote the lyrics and Kang Do-Seungposed the melody?


    ¡ªYup, it¡¯s kind ofplicated but it¡¯s true.


    ¡ªSo, the song ispletely self-produced.


    ¡ªI heard Lee Woon also did the choreography.


    Reply: Tell me, why in the world are Sirens supposed to be doomed idols?


    Reply: You took the words out of my mouth


    Reply: WD Entertainment is truly amazing for not having debuted guys like this


    With this, it was revealed that Siren¡¯s performance was entirely made by the group members: Tae-Yoon with the lyrics, Woon with the choreography, and Do-Seung with the song. It was already surprising that a pre-debut team showcased a simr performance quality as Only One, so people were further surprised that the group members had also self-produced their song.


    ¡ªOur ck cat¡­is actually a genius¡­?


    ¡ªPicked up a stray cat and it was actually a geniusposer


    ¡®ck cat¡¯ seemed to be the nickname some Do-Seung stans started to call him, and now they were trying to push the ¡®genius cat¡¯ image on him. However, from this point on, the show¡¯s mood turned a bit strange.


    ¡ªHuh? What¡¯s with Siren¡¯s stage order?


    ¡ªAre you serious? They are going third? That¡¯s such a bad spot.


    ¡ªJust please leave Siren alone.


    Sirens, who seemed to be receiving setbacks from the beginning, also got a poor stage order. And because of this, negativements about Only One began to pour out.


    ¡ªIt was already so ridiculous that Only One got first ce in the introductory performance. They must realize how bad they look trying to stomp down Siren, right?


    ¡ªDamn it. It¡¯s too much seeing the Only One guys keep smirking. Do they think they are first-tier idols or something?


    ¡ªSomeone, please tell Hyun-Sung to quit being so arrogant


    ¡ªHyun-Sang, you think you are all that?


    ¡ªDid Only One guyse out here to just watch?


    ¡ªI¡¯m getting sick of all the members of Only One. They are all getting too haughty.


    Though these were responsesing from those who already hated Only One rather than the general public, they could bemonly sighted in social media feeds. Since the show provided content to hate on, people who already hated Only One began to rise to the surface. Of course, Only One¡¯s fans didn¡¯t back down from thesements.


    ¡ªDamn it. Producer idiots, get back your senses.


    ¡ªOur guys are the ones who are making this show famous. This is too much.


    ¡ªAnyone can see that this is some evil editing. How can people judge their characters based on this?


    ¡ªPeople who¡¯ve always dragged down Only One are having a field day.


    These responses died down a bit when Siren¡¯s performance began to start. At this point,ments about Siren flooded themunity forums and social media feeds so that they nketed even the negativements about Only One.


    ¡ªDid you see Siren¡¯s performance?


    ¡ªI literally screamed from my chair.


    ¡ªWhaaat? It¡¯s seriously amazing!!


    ¡ªI can¡¯t believe Do-Seungposed this song, Tae-Yoon wrote the lyrics, Woon made the choreography, Yeon-Hoon sang the high note, and Dong-Jun is just cute.


    ¡ªWow, this is seriously a legend.


    ¡ªHow the heck are these guys doomed idols?


    The responses that had been dying down because of the stages that came before were heating up again after seeing Siren.


    ¡ªI truly love Siren


    ¡ªLook at these guys


    ¡ªEveryone, look at our cute, squishy peach, Yeon-Hoon


    ¡ªOur ck cat is dominating the stage


    ¡ªThis part kills me (BongTaeYoon¡¯sEnding.jpg)


    ¡ªHow is Dong-Jun not a real puppy? (ParkDong-JunSmiling.jpg)


    ¡ªI have been reying this part of Woon erasing the red paint on his lips


    Reply: Yeah that part is gold


    ¡ªIs everyone seeing this? (LeeWoonErasingLipPaint.jpg)


    Reply: Ah I love you Woon


    Reply: Woon looks like a cute rabbit but is so sexy at the same time


    People¡¯sments poured in, and Siren fans took this opportunity to recruit more members into their fandom; and the part that got the biggest response was the scene of Yeon-Hoon crying after being touched by the audience¡¯s cheer.


    ¡ªIs Yeon-Hoon crying?


    ¡ªWhyyy?


    ¡ªNo our cute peach is crying :(((


    ¡ªI¡¯m so sad :(


    ¡ªLook at Bong Tae-Yoon rushing to cover Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face haha


    ¡ªIt looks more like they are in a historical period because he¡¯s covering it with his overcoat


    ¡ªEveryone is gathering tofort Yeon-Hoon. I¡¯m crying


    ¡ªHow is Yeon-Hoon the oldest? He¡¯s just a cute peach


    Like that, Siren swept the viewers¡¯ attention as the main characters of the first-round performances. Luminin¡¯s performance startlingly had no responses from the crowd, and finally came Only One¡¯s performance.


    ¡ª???


    ¡ªDid Park Young-Ho just make a mistake?


    ¡ªDamn, the dance is a mess.


    ¡ªWhy are they dancing out of ce??


    In Only One¡¯s performance, the editing repeatedly highlighted Park Young-Ho¡¯s mistake. Only One looked like guys who messed up their performance after acting all prideful and arrogant.


    ¡ªSiren and Only One are both in the first ce!


    Thus, when the announcement that both Siren and Only One ranked first ce was revealed, thements exploded.


    ¡ªDamn it, those bastards.


    ¡ªThis is crossing the line.


    ¡ªThis is way too much!

 Chapter 72

    Chapter 72


    I finished monitoring the responses and left my phone on the table. I had expected a drama-filled plotline since<em> The Showcase 2 </em>was the hottest topic on the idol tform right now. Thus, it was natural for all kinds of responses toe up. But¡ª


    <em>¡®They spiced it up too much.¡¯ I</em> could feel that people were getting too immersed in the show even through my phone screen. People were passionately loving, idolizing, and hating someone to the point that I wondered how anyone could be so passionate.


    Although I should be used to these types of responses by now, I thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s not easy.¡¯</em> My head felt dizzy every time I monitored these types of responses.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    I cooled my head, which had overheated from monitoring the responses, and then stared straight ahead. The broadcast just ended.


    ¡ªA refreshing taste! PepC Lime!


    An advertisement ran loudly. On the other hand, unlike the noisy screen, the practice room was dead silent. Even though the show was over, no one got up first. The Only One members seemed to have a lot on their minds as they silently stared at the ground, and Kang Hyun-Sung pressed his temples as if his head hurt. Bleshu¡¯s Kang Jin-Kyu peeked at them and nervously moved his butt up and down. No matter how one looked at it, he looked like he was waiting for the slightest chance to make a run for it.


    ¡°I, um, have a practice schedule¡­so I¡¯ll be taking my leave first¡­¡± Kang Jin-Kyu stood up first and left the practice room.


    The Only One members replied,<em> ¡®Haha, yes, please leave safely¡¯ </em>with deadpan expressions in a repetitive, mechanical manner. With Kang Jin-Kyu¡¯s lead, OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Sang-Hoon and Choi Jin-Young also got up.


    ¡°We also¡­have nste tonight¡­¡±


    ¡°Thank you for today¡­¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s see each other again tomorrow¡­!¡±


    Those two also got up awkwardly and quickly left the practice room. It was my turn now. Since I was thest one to get up, no one could possibly fault me for this.


    ¡°Thank you for today. See you tomorrow.¡±


    The moment I got up from my chair, Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly called me out, ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I wondered why only I got a different response.


    ¡°We have to clean up together.¡±


    <em>¡®Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡¯ </em>Come to think of it, he was right. I almost ran away without cleaning up.


    But then I thought, <em>¡®Then what about the other dudes who left earlier?¡¯ </em>Why was I the only one who had to stay behind and help clean up? I mean, it was only right that I should clean up after using the practice room, but I couldn¡¯t shake away the feeling that he was picking on me.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s strangely unfair.¡¯ </em>Kang Hyun-Sung got up from his seat and said, ¡°I¡¯ll tell the people who went earlier to clean up tomorrow, and let¡¯s do it ourselves today.¡±


    The other Only One members got up one by one. No matter how much they were struggling psychologically, they began to move one by one under his orders. Like this, we began cleaning up the practice room.


    * * *


    I began cleaning up the practice room with Only One. Since it was just cleaning up, it wasn¡¯t a very difficult or cumbersome task. First, we folded the table and put it in the corner. We turned off the beam projector, removed the white screen, and wiped the mirror with a mop until it was sparkling. After vacuuming the floor, we wiped it clean with the mop again¡­


    <em>¡®¡­Wait, why are we doing such a massive clean-up?¡¯</em>


    When I came to my senses, I realized how thoroughly we were cleaning up this ce. Frankly, a practice room was not a space where there were many things to clean as most of the space was empty for practice, and there were not many corners for dust to umte. Thus, cleaning shouldn¡¯t normally take this long.


    <em>¡®At this rate, do I have to start waxing the floor?¡¯</em> I began to have my suspicions that they might make me wax the floor. I wiped the whole body mirror with a dry mop once more and looked around. Everyone, including Kang Hyun-Sung, was intently focused on cleaning. In particr, Kang Hyun-Sung was going crazy.


    He swiped his fingers through the window frame and inspected it for any stains. I only saw people doing that in cartoons and didn¡¯t know anyone who actually did that. On one side, I heard the vacuum going on, and on the other side, I heard mopping on the floor. Every person here was not allowing even a speck of dust to remain.


    I thought this might be how an borate cleaning show might look. Since I had to finish my task anyway, I finished cleaning the mirror with a dry cloth. Since everyone around me was so focused on cleaning, it made me work hard too.


    <em>¡®This dust is bothering me for no reason.¡¯ </em>Perhaps because the material was made out of ss, some stains didn''t fall off even after I wiped it with a dry cloth. After wiping all the areas that needed to be cleaned, I went back to the areas that still needed more work and removed the dust one by one with my fingers. It was strangely addictive work, so I looked for any uncleanliness on the mirror as if I was possessed.


    ¡°¡­Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Ah, what the.¡± I was startled that someone called me from behind. Park Young-Ho was standing behind me, holding a mop in his hand.


    I asked, ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Ah, you can go now, but you were too focused on cleaning¡­haha.¡± I wondered why he had called me, but it was to tell me I could leave now. It was finally some good news. I roughly wiped off the dust I had been eyeing with my finger and organized the mop. I was about to leave but¡ª


    <em>¡®Geez.¡¯</em> Park Young-Ho looked as if he was about to cry. I could clearly see that his mental health was in the gutters right now.


    <em>¡®It feels like they got insulted more because of Park Young-Ho on today¡¯s episode.¡¯</em> Park Young-Ho¡¯s mistake became a decisive point forpletely destroying the public opinion of Only One in this episode. However, it was difficult to say this was all his fault. It was unfortunate that he made a mistake, but if I had to point fingers, I would me the producer for editing the show like this.


    I said, ¡°Don¡¯t be so hard on yourself.¡±


    ¡°¡­Sorry?¡±


    ¡°Mistakes are mistakes, but it¡¯s the producer¡¯s fault for editing the show like that. Rather than ming yourself, you should me others, and don¡¯t worry about it too much because the public opinion can be reversed next week.¡±


    There would probably be a tear-jerking moment for Only One in episode 4, and just thinking about this made me worried as a strong force once broken down would only rise stronger. Of course, this ploy didn¡¯t work if they were broken down too much, but Only One would be able to make a strongereback at this level. I was hoping that our group would have gotten this plotline, but everything went in the opposite direction from my predictions.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    <em>¡®It¡¯s getting jumbled up.¡¯</em> I didn¡¯t know why I wasforting Park Young-Ho when I wanted to beforted instead. However, I felt too guilty to just ignore him when he was tearing up like a poor dog abandoned in the rain.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be going. Cheer up.¡± I patted Park Young-Ho on the arm several times and said goodbye. When I also said my goodbye to the other Only One members, they all said goodbye to me as well. I opened the practice room door and left.


    * * *


    Park Young-Ho stared nkly at the ce where Bong Tae-Yoon left; then, he rubbed the arm Bong Tae-Yoon patted for a bit. Bong Tae-Yoon hadforted him when he least expected it, and he had also saved him when he almost fell. Park Young-Ho began to think that Bong Tae-Yoon might be like a guardian angel to him. But if there was one thing that bothered him, it was that¡ª


    ¡°¡­Aren¡¯t I a year older?¡± It strangely felt like Bong Tae-Yoon treated him like a younger brother. When he was about to think deeper about this, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s words brought him back to reality.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get ready to leave and go down too.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°Pweh.¡±


    Park Young-Ho organized the mop he was holding. As Bong Tae-Yoon said, it would be better for him to me others than me himself for now. Of course, he didn¡¯t really know if that was the right thing to do, but he couldn¡¯t lose hisposure.


    <em>¡®I need to stay mentally strong.¡¯</em>


    He needed to at least stay mentally strong to focus on the performances. The show was not over yet, and at some point, he believed that a redeeming moment would definitely arrive for him.


    * * *


    It was time for me to return to my dorm. I tried to return by using public transportation, but WD Entertainment¡¯s Ms. Seung-Yeon was already waiting for me in the basement with the car parked. It wasn¡¯t the van we usually rode but a smallpact car.


    ¡°It¡¯s my own car. Ms. Hyuna is driving the other members in the van right now.¡±


    It didn¡¯t matter to me what car I rode as it was more convenient than public transportation, and I could keep a low profile.


    ¡°Thank you for picking me up.¡±


    ¡°No need to thank me! Of course, I should do it. Then let¡¯s go~¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon said and started the engine, and the car smoothly moved forward.


    ¡°Did you monitor the responses of today¡¯s episode?¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon asked.


    ¡°Ah, yes I did.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t the reactions crazy?¡± ¡°Ah, yes. I think so too.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think something insane might happen? Like you guys might really win¡­¡±


    I nodded while listening to Ms. Seung-Yeon. She seemed even more excited than me, but it was good news to me either way. In fact, I thought we would earn a lot of fans from today¡¯s episode. <em>The Showcase 2</em> was attracting quite a lot of viewers who weren''t attached to a clear fandom as the show focused on gathering doomed or flopped idols. And through the performance aired today, I thought we could absorb arge number of viewers who were not part of any fandom into our core fandom.


    ¡°I was wondering if you guys should start making an official social media ount using the group name, or it might be a little too early¡­¡±


    Currently, our SNS wasn¡¯t officially set as Siren but under WD Entertainment ount. We were posting only our photos and broadcast notifications through the WD Entertainment ount. In fact, since we hadn¡¯t even debuted yet, it was natural for us to use thepany ount other than the official ount.


    <em>¡®We missed the right timing to make it.¡¯ </em>Frankly, we should have made it a while ago since we already started official public activities.


    I said, ¡°I think I need to talk about this with the members.¡± I thought it would be better to talk with the members about the official Siren social media tforms.


    Then Ms. Seung-Yeon suddenly said, ¡°Ah, um, Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°I think you should tread a bit more carefully than usual when heading back to the dorm.¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡± I tilted my head at Ms. Seung-Yeon¡¯s words, wondering why there was a need to be careful.


    ¡°Well, Ms. Hyuna told me that the atmosphere in the practice room was really tense¡­¡±


    The atmosphere in the practice room? She was probably referring to the practice the other members did today.


    <em>¡®What in the world happened?¡¯</em> There must have been a problem since Yeon-Hoon said earlier that we couldn¡¯t watch today¡¯s broadcast together. I thought I would find out once I got there but¡ª


    <em>Zing¡ª</em>


    The phone vibrated, and I got a text message. I wondered who sent it.


    <em>¡®OnebyOne Choi Jin-Young?¡¯</em>


    He was a OnebyOne member that I just had practiced with.


    ¡ªMr. Tae-Yoon, I wanted to apologize to you first. We also just heard about this at our dorm, but there¡¯s been a bit of a conflict between our members and Siren members¡­


    ording to the message, there was a conflict between Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon from OnebyOne and my members. When I read through his whole message, even Choi Jin-Young, who just sent me the text, was not supporting his members but ming them as well.


    <em>¡®What is this?¡¯ </em>I didn¡¯t know the exact details, but he said it was probably his members'' fault. His message was quite long, but thest line was as follows:


    ¡ªJoon-Hyuk and Young-Joon are quite difficult to handle, so please apologize to the members in my stead.


    I couldn¡¯t even imagine what type of personality they had if even their team members were apologizing to me. I picked them because I thought they did well on stage.


    <em>¡®But what the heck?¡¯ </em>It seemed as if I just added two trolls to my team. Since OnebyOne was a group that flopped so hard before I regressed, I didn¡¯t have much information about their personalities. I had thought they would at least be average, but there must have been a problem.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    ¡°Well, I think we should quickly head back to the dorm.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes! Let¡¯s quickly go.¡±


    There were too many heads I needed to crack in this world.

 Chapter 73

    Chapter 73


    I arrived at our dorm.


    ¡°Thank you, Ms. Seung-Yeon,¡± I said and went outside the car.


    Ms. Seung-Yeon also seemed to have said something in response but unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t catch it. I didn¡¯t ask her to repeat because this wasn¡¯t the right time to stay behind and chit-chat. My mind was too upied with news about OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon.


    After getting on the elevator, I organized information rted to those two trolls. When I first picked out those two to be in our group, I hadn¡¯t made any big calctions. I simply chose them because they were good at performing. In OnebyOne¡¯s worst performance¡ªthe gangster concept show where I didn¡¯t even remember the title of¡ªthose two were the only ones who¡¯ve managed to look rtively okay. Their visuals weren¡¯t bad, and I knew they had talent because they were able to showcase their skills even in a terrible performance. Thus, I had expected them to blend into my team with no problems.


    <em>¡®Yet, I didn¡¯t realize that they had such a drawback.¡¯ </em>It appeared that I had made the wrong assessment. In the message that OnebyOne¡¯s Choi Jin-Young sent me, there was a word that immediately caught my eye.


    <em>¡®They are difficult to handle?¡¯</em> People usually describe a really stubborn person in this way. I thought of several possibilities, but I thought I shouldn¡¯t make rash decisions before finding out more about the situation.


    <em>¡®I should check what happened first.¡¯ </em>The elevator stopped at the 24th floor. I opened the door and went inside and saw Yeon-Hoon waiting for me on the living room sofa.


    ¡°¡­Hey.¡± Yeon-Hoon lookedpletely exhausted as if all his energy had been drained out of him. He looked even more soulless because the only light in the living room was themp shining behind him.


    ¡°Why are you sitting like that?¡± I asked. I turned on the ceiling lights and brightened up the living room. Yet, even after I lit up the room, the dark and dreary atmosphere didn¡¯t disappear. Yeon-Hoon continued to ooze out negative energy from the sofa.


    ¡°What about the others?¡±


    ¡°...They are probably in their rooms.¡±


    ¡°I heard that there was some trouble within the group on my way here¡­¡±


    <em>Thud. </em>Before I could finish, Yeon-Hoon rushed towards me and hugged me.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon¡­what are¡­we going to do¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°What happened¡­were those guys really that terrible¡­?¡±


    ¡°Terrible?¡±


    ¡°I felt suffocated the whole day. Umph. <em>Erm</em>¡­¡± Yeon-Hoon looked like he was holding back his tears until he finally burst out crying. I couldn¡¯t fathom what exactly happened that he was acting like this. Of course, I knew that Yeon-Hoon¡¯s reaction would be much more exaggerated than most people''s since he was a very expressive person. Furthermore, he must be feeling more high-strung and pressured than usual by participating in a survival show. Thus, I needed to find someone else to gain more objective information.


    ¡°Dong-Jun!¡± I yelled in front of Dong-Jun¡¯s room. After a while, Dong-Jun came outside.


    <em>¡®His face also doesn¡¯t look good,¡¯ </em>I thought. I was surprised that the usually carefree Dong-Jun looked quite gloomy too.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon is crying?¡± Dong-Jun asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Are you okay, Yeon-Hoon? Don¡¯t cry,¡± Dong-Jun said.


    ¡°Dong-Jun¡­¡±


    ¡°I know you had a¡­really hard day today.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon hugged me and cried again. I asked Dong-Jun what happened with my eyes, and Dong-Jun sighed and went to the sofa. I also pulled Yeon-Hoon to the sofa and sat.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty easy to exin, but I don¡¯t think I should exin it in simple terms.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Simply put, it¡¯s because some people were way too stubborn.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± The words I expected to hear came out: ¡®stubborn¡¯. It appeared that OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyun and Lee Young-Joon remained obstinate and didn¡¯t back down from their opinions.


    ¡°I will exin to you in more detail.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°You know the phrase, ¡®there¡¯s nothing more dangerous than the blind conviction of a fool¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°But I realized there is something more dangerous than that.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°The conviction of a guy with mediocre skills.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t understand what he meant then.


    ¡°You know OnebyOne¡¯s performance with the gangster concept? That came from Kim Joon-Hyun and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s heads.¡± <em>Sigh.</em>


    I could infer a lot from his sigh.


    <em>¡®The idea for that stage came from the group members</em>?¡¯ I was surprised to hear this. I was certain that theirpany CEO made them do such an awful performance.


    ¡°They should¡¯vee to their senses after gettingst ce with that performance, but they seem to believe that they gotst ce not because of the concept but because their group members didn¡¯t properly execute the idea. And overall, they think their idea was good.¡±


    I understood what Dong-Jun meant by people with mediocre skills then. In OnebyOne¡¯s gangster concept performance, those two were the only ones who managed to live up to the concept somewhat. Perhaps, they were the type to have good performance skills but awful ideas. After going through many years making up for bad ideas with good skills, it seemed they began to believe that their intuition was truly good.


    <em>¡®Damn it.¡¯</em> It was just as Dong-Jun said¡ªit was dangerous to work with mediocre-skilled guys who had great conviction and confidence in their abilities and ideas. But that didn¡¯t seem to be the end of it.


    ¡°Their personalities are also bad!¡± Yeon-Hoon yelled from beside me.


    Dong-Jun nodded. ¡°It seems like they are used to ying king in their group. They are pros at making fun of others and putting them down.¡±


    ¡°Then, did¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon suffered a lot from them.¡±


    I clenched my fists intuitively. If those guys were in front of me right now, I would¡¯ve punched them.


    ¡°How were they like exactly?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re the type of people to take your words out of context, tease people about the smallest things, and ignore other people¡¯s opinions while dominating the conversation in their favor.¡±


    In other words, they were trash.


    ¡°Whenever Yeon-Hoon proposed something, they jokingly said, <em>¡®Ohhhh~ That¡¯s bad~¡¯ </em>but you could tell that they were trying to establish hierarchies since Yeon-Hoon looks like a pushover.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a pushover! They were being mean because I was too nice!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s as you say.¡± I felt my blood pressure rise. I could understand why Choi Jin-Young sent an apology message to me about his own team. I wondered how I could enact my revenge. Could I go and beat them up?


    ¡°Well, they kept steering the conversation towards the concept they want to do.¡±


    ¡°What is the concept they want to do?¡±


    ¡°They said they wanted to do something cool and mix Joseon, cyberpunk, and medieval times themes all together. Their general idea is to make a one-on-one battle with a Joseon cyberpunk martial artist versus a medieval knight.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s as you think. They want to mismatch our and Only One¡¯s performance and add some dreadful ideas along with it.¡±


    ¡°¡­What¡¯s wrong with those guys?¡±


    Dong-Jun shrugged like he also didn¡¯t know. After hearing Dong-Jun¡¯s exnation, I had a general idea of how their day went. The OnebyOne members in their team probably kept mocking Yeon-Hoon, who tried to settle the situation peacefully and stop their terrible ideas. Yet, those two continued to act like absolute trolls and remained stubborn about their ideas.


    <em>¡®It must have been hell,¡¯</em> I thought and asked, ¡°How could they act like that when they were getting filmed?¡±


    ¡°They only acted like that when the producers turned their cameras off to change the batteries.¡±


    ¡°Ha, seriously?¡± These guys seemed to have only learned the worst tricks in this industry. But then, I began to wonder and asked, ¡°And did Do-Seung just watch all this?¡±


    There was no way our fiery-tempered Do-Seung would leave those two trolls to act as they wished. I would¡¯ve expected him to do something whether or not the cameras were on. Yet, at this part, Dong-Jun¡¯s face darkened.


    Now that I thought about it, I wondered,<em> ¡®Where is Do-Seung and Woon?¡¯ </em>I couldn¡¯t see them anywhere. I thought they were washing themselves up or were at a convenience store, but it has been too long.


    ¡°We could¡¯ve ignored it and ended things if it was just those two guys trying to ruin the show, but things became heated on our side.¡±


    ¡°On our side?¡±


    ¡°Woon and Do-Seung fought.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    I didn¡¯t expect this at all. At times, Woon and Do-Seung acted like old couples with a good rtionship. They came from the samepany before transferring here and practiced together for a long time. ordingly, the trust and camaraderie they had with each other was deep.


    ¡°You know how Do-Seung and Woon¡¯s personalities are like opposites?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°They shed with the way they responded to the two OnebyOne members.¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung¡¯s stance was to just passive-aggressively ignore those two while Woon wanted to incorporate the two into the team somehow and work altogether.¡±


    They truly had drastically different personalities. As expected, there was no way Do-Seung would reach an understanding with the OnebyOne members. He probably had to restrain himself a lot by not hitting them. But Woon had the type of personality to continue to try to work with everyone in harmony; it was as if his life motto was that no one was truly bad in this world.


    ¡°But that seemed to have pissed Do-Seung off. Theyter left by themselves to talk.¡±


    ¡°And were things very tense after that?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they didn¡¯t say a word to each other in the practice room and didn¡¯t even meet each other¡¯s eyes.¡±


    This was a serious problem. If the problem wasing from the outside, we could all just insult those two culprits and forget it. Yet, if the problem came from inside, we needed to address the issue and ovee it. And naturally, it was harder to handle thetter problem. I looked at Woon and Do-Seung¡¯s rooms. Honestly, Woon¡¯s room was also my room and Do-Seung¡¯s room was also Yeon-Hoon¡¯s room.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    ¡°¡­Hm?¡± It seemed Yeon-Hoon calmed himself a bit and looked up at me.


    I pulled him away from me and said, ¡°I think we¡¯ll only be able to sleep after solving this problem with Woon and Do-Seung. What do you think?¡±


    I thought it was best for Yeon-Hoon to solve internal conflicts within the team. He was our leader after all and the oldest.


    ¡°¡­Yeah, we have to solve it.¡± Yeon-Hoon wiped his tears and looked to be contemting seriously. We could deal with OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joonter and needed to solve the conflict within the team first.


    ¡°I will go and talk to them first,¡± Yeon-Hoon said while getting up from his spot and going to Do-Seung¡¯s room.


    <em>Creak.</em>


    Soon after, the door opened and Yeon-Hoon came outside. Then, he went into Woon¡¯s room afterward. After some time passed, the door creaked and Yeon-Hoon came outside of Woon¡¯s room. Then, he staggered towards me and Dong-Jun.


    ¡°Was the conflict solved?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They said they don¡¯t want to talk today¡­¡± Yeon-Hoon answered in a gloomy voice. It seemed the problem wasn¡¯t solved.


    ¡°Haa.¡±


    <em>Siiigh</em>.


    Dong-Jun and I sighed simultaneously.


    Dong-Jun said, ¡°They usually have such a good rtionship with each other. What happened~¡±


    I stretched out my arms and said, ¡°Then, let¡¯s sleep for now, and tomorrow, we can¡­¡±


    I was about to suggest discussing this issue again tomorrow when I noticed the percentage.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 60%]


    The percentage I had barely managed to raise to 65% by using ¡®Insight¡¯ was dropping again.


    <em>Sigh. </em>I sighed exasperatedly when the percentage dropped again.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 59%]


    While I was thinking these thoughts, it seemed as if the emotional divide between my teammates was bing wider. There was no way I could tell what was going inside Woon or Do-Seung¡¯s mind. I racked my head. We needed to get first ce in the third round. I racked my brain to find a solution when Dong-Jun suggested an idea.


    ¡°How about we make Woon and Do-Seung sleep in the same room~¡±


    [Probability of winning first ce: 60%]


    In response, the probability rose again.

 Chapter 74

    Chapter 74


    The percentage rose again. Although it rose by a small percentage, it was encouraging that the numbers rose up, and I was relieved that the percentage rose above 60 percent again.


    <em>¡®Since the fall isn¡¯t that big, it¡¯s not a serious problem yet.¡¯ </em>I assessed the current situation based on the percentages. Since the drop in the percentage was not significant, I thought it would be unlikely for it to grow into a serious issue. However, I couldn¡¯t bepletely sure that if I left the situation as it was, it wouldn¡¯t affect the percentagester on. I needed to remove the root of the problem before it got any worse.


    <em>¡®I need to resolve this by tonight.¡¯</em> I couldn¡¯t let this problem go beyond today as emotions deepened the longer one held onto it; whether it was good or bad. If we left it alone, our two married couple, who¡¯ve enjoyed a long and happy marriage so far, might split up.


    ¡°I think it would be a good idea to make them sleep in the same room today.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Really?¡± Dong-Jun must not have expected his careless suggestion to be epted as a usible solution.


    ¡°I also think that¡¯s a good idea.¡± Yeon-Hoon also seemed to like that idea. ¡°If they¡¯re together, they have time to talk and reconcile naturally.¡±


    He was right, but the problem was¡ª


    ¡°But how do we make them sleep in the same room?¡± It was as Dong-Jun said. If I asked Do-Seung or Woon to sleep in the same room, they would have normally answered, ¡®Yeah, sounds good to me~.¡¯ But if I asked them the same question right now, they would ask me if I had gone bonkers. I also thought if we forced them into the same room, it would only escte into a bigger fight.


    I said, ¡°Let¡¯s go step by step.¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Rather than telling them to sleep together, I think we should let them meet first.¡± I told them a simple, shabby n that was not much of a n in the first ce.


    ¡°Ah! That¡¯s not a bad idea!¡± I thought it was nothing much, but Yeon-Hoon brightened up instantly.


    ¡°Oh, yes. Simple and direct.¡± Dong-Jun seemed to like my n too.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s do it.¡±


    Like this, our operation for Do-Seung and Woon¡¯s reunion began.


    * * *


    Kang Do-Seungy on the floor and stared nkly at the ceiling. His back hurt from lying on the floor without anything to support his back. He slightly regretted not saying yes when Park Dong-Jun had offered to buy a bed for them¨Cno, he shook his head. Since Dong-Jun was letting them use his house, it was only right that they bought their own beds.


    Do-Seung recalled how that conversation ended by them saying that if they got money after their debut, they would buy their own furniture. Kang Dong-Seung got up from his seat and leaned on the wall. His heart felt heavy and ufortable, and he had no desire to look at his phone.


    <em>¡®How long has it been since Ist fought with Woon?¡¯</em> He had fought with Woon once when they were in their past agency. No, even during that time, Kang Do-Seung had one-sidedly gotten angry at Woon rather than things escting to a full-blown fight. In that case, it was more urate to say that this was the first time he had ever fought with Woon. Although his mind was telling him to go and apologize first, his heart felt reluctant.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    The reason why they fought was nothing much. OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon had gotten on their nerves the entire day. He had wanted to give them a good scolding, but he repressed his anger for the team. They acted rudely to Yeon-Hoon and ruined the entire team atmosphere. However, even these were all somewhat tolerable since he could carry on the performance while just excluding those two in the nning and preparatory process. He was in charge of the song, Lee Woon was in charge of the choreography, and Yeon-Hoon was the main vocalist.


    It was a given that Siren was the heart of thisbined team, so just ignoring those two troublemakers was the guaranteed path to sess. However, Lee Woon kept trying to help them and include them in the team. He listened to their nonsense and kept nodding his head and trying to empathize with them. But above all, what annoyed Do-Seung the most was the way Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon treated Woon.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    ¡°Seriously, what¡¯s wrong with those pieces of trash¡­?¡±


    It was beyond infuriating that those two troublemakers looked at Lee Woon like easy prey. Do-Seung wanted to immediately get up and cuss them out, but since he couldn¡¯t do that on a TV show, his mind was in a mess. When he finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore, he asked Lee Woon to talk separately outside. With Woon¡¯s support, he nned to appropriately deal with Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon.


    ¡ªDo-Seung, we¡¯re a team in the end.


    But Woon wanted to still work amicably with them.


    ¡ªCan¡¯t you see that they¡¯re looking at you like an easy pushover? They¡¯re just idiots with overinted egos.


    Because of how frustrated he was, Kang Do-Seung¡¯s words came out stronger than he intended.


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s so bad about being an easy pushover? It¡¯s good to build teamwork first.


    ¡ªWe can just build teamwork amongst ourselves. Why do you have to also involve them?


    ¡ªIf we gently coax them and help them merge¡­


    ¡ªFuck it with gently coaxing them or whatever. Why do you have to keep giving in to others? You can¡¯t ever stop being nice? They think you¡¯re easy because you¡¯re only nice to them.


    In the end, Do-Seung''s suggestion to ignore them changed to criticism of Lee Woon. He felt so frustrated that he ended up making this mistake. Kang Do-Seung finally realized that he made a mistake when he saw Woon¡¯s eyes be cold, but he couldn¡¯t stop talking.


    ¡ªThis is an important opportunity for us. You know that if it¡¯s not this, we can¡¯t debut properly. So, please act in a way that makes sense. Instead of just being nice.


    Once he began talking, the rest of his thoughts poured out, and Lee Woon only listened quietly.


    ¡ªDo you have more to say?


    In the end, Lee Woon¡¯s eyes became ice cold, and their rtionship has been like this ever since. They didn¡¯t say a single word to each other and didn¡¯t even meet each other''s eyes. Kang Do-Seung also knew what he did was wrong. He knew that considering Woon¡¯s personality, he couldn¡¯t cast away or leave anyone behind. This wasn¡¯t what he meant, and the reason why he was angry wasn¡¯t because Woon was kind.


    It was because he was frustrated that the situation was not going the way he wanted, and he was angry that those dimwits were treating Woon like a pushover. And what infuriated him the most were Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s eyes, which looked at Woon as if he was beneath them. However, nothing was resolved, and the practice ended with a heavy heart.


    <em>Sighhh.</em>


    It felt like this whole situation was his fault. Do-Seung got up from his seat. He opened his door, thinking he should at least go out to exercise when¡ª


    <em>Knock, knock.</em>


    Someone knocked on the door. He thought it was Woon at first.


    ¡°Do-Seung, are you sleeping?¡± But he heard Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s voice.


    ¡°¡­No.¡± He tried to hide his disappointment.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go in for a bit.¡± Tae-Yoon came inside.


    ¡°Why?¡± Do-Seung unintentionally replied coldly and was surprised by his own voice. ¡°Did youe here to persuade me to talk to Woon like Yeon-Hoon did earlier?¡± Do-Seung felt regretful that he didn¡¯t take up Yeon-Hoon¡¯s suggestion to apologize. He tried to control his emotions as much as he could and resolved to reply as nicely as he could this time.


    ¡°Do you want to make up with Woon? He said he wants to apologize.¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°Woon told me he wanted to apologize to you. Why don¡¯t you go and have a little chat?¡±


    Any anger he had in his heartpletely dissipated at those words. Woon wanted to apologize¡ªit didn¡¯t matter to him whether Woon actually said this or Tae-Yoon made this up. As soon as Do-Seung heard this sentence, any pride or resentment disappeared from his heart, and he only felt apologetic toward Lee Woon.


    ¡°¡­I¡¯ll go. I want to also go and apologize.¡± Do-Seung left his room and stood in front of Woon¡¯s room.


    <em>Knock, knock.</em>


    After knocking, he asked for Woon¡¯s permission. ¡°¡­Woon, do you mind if Ie in?¡±


    After a brief silence, Woon said, ¡°Yeah,e in.¡±


    Do-Seung opened Woon¡¯s door.


    * * *


    Do-Seung went into Woon¡¯s room and seeing that made meugh a little. Why did they fight so much if they were going to easily make up like this? Looking at Do-Seung¡¯s attitude just now, it seemed like they would have reconciled without us having to step in. His whole bodynguage was crying out that he wanted to go and apologize to Woon.


    The original n had been for me to talk to them separately and lie to them that they wanted to apologize to each other first so they could calm down and talk it out. Frankly, both of them never said they wanted to apologize first, so the primary goal was to make Do-Seung visit Woon¡¯s room. I pushed ahead with this n because I thought even if I had to fudge the truth a little, everything would go well once they met each other.


    <em>¡®But there was no need for me to even persuade them.¡¯</em> As soon as I said the word ¡®apology,¡¯ I clearly saw all negative emotions melt away from Do-Seung¡¯s face as anger disappeared in his heart altogether, and he was just waiting for someone to give him a push. Do-Seung was someone who would ride or die for his family and friends, and Woon was not the type to push someone away if they came to apologize.


    I said, ¡°We should go in at the right time and tell them to sleep in the same room today.¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°It all worked out~¡±


    After tonight, the two woulde out as a happy, old married couple again.


    ¡°Then, I guess I¡¯ll be sleeping with Tae-Yoon today?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked.


    ¡°Well, yes.¡± Since Do-Seung and Woon were sleeping together, I had to automatically sleep with Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°Shall we watch a movie before we go to bed?¡± Yeon-Hoon excitedly made ns, but I immediately cut him off.


    ¡°What? A movie, that¡¯s too much¡­just go to sleep. We have practice tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s our first time sleeping in the same room together.¡±


    ¡°What, we all used to sleep together in the living room before.¡±


    ¡°Still, it¡¯s your first time in this room¡ª"


    ¡°I¡¯m too tired.¡±


    ¡°¡­So mean.¡± Yeon-Hoon showed his disappointment, but I couldn¡¯t do anything about it because I also had to go practice tomorrow.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll go to bed first~¡± Dong-Jun left for his room.


    About half an hourter, I went to where Do-Seung and Woon were and said, ¡°Do you guys want to sleep together tonight?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yeah.¡±


    ¡°Well, all right¡­¡±


    After I suggested they should sleep in the same room, Yeon-Hoon and I went to the other room to sleep.


    ¡°We should get to bed too.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Once we both were inside, Yeon-Hoon kept pestering me to y with him. ¡°You seriously don¡¯t want to watch a movie? Really? Or should we y a game?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just sleep. Do it tomorrow.<em> Tomorrow,</em> okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay! Then¡­but won''t you not be here tomorrow¡­?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I mean. You should y with Do-Seung instead of me.¡±


    ¡°¡­Meanie.¡± At my firm refusal, Yeon-Hoon finally prepared to fall asleep. Even though he whined so much to y, he fell asleep in an instant once he closed his eyes. I wasn¡¯t surprised because he was the type of person who fell asleep wherever heid his head down. Iy on the floor and fell into thought.


    [Probability of winning: 65%]


    The percentage was back to its original state. It meant that we sessfully resolved the conflict within the team. So what was left was¡ª


    <em>¡®How do I crush Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon?¡¯ </em>I had to deal with those two bastards who didn¡¯t know their ce. Honestly, the way to deal with guys like them was easy: to crush them with pure skills.


    However, many conditions were ced to carry out this solution. We had already proved to OnebyOne several times with our performances and rank that we were better than them in skills. However, Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon still believed that they had superior skills. Thus, there was only one solution.


    <em>¡®We need to crush them sopletely that they have no room for delusions.¡¯</em> Since those guys seem to be surprisingly strong-minded, I didn¡¯t think they would acknowledge that their skills were inferior unless they werepared one-on-one with us. Thus, we needed apetitive arena where we could perfectlypare ourselves with them. I thought about how to make this happen when I realized I didn¡¯t have to set up the stage.


    <em>¡®Ah, that¡¯s right. We had that.¡¯</em> Since the second round was over, it was about time for ¡®that¡¯ to start. I thought the production crew would probably send us a text message tomorrow morning.


    <em>¡®They went on a field day or something. Probably around this time.¡¯ The Showcase 2</em> did various activities besides the performances, starting with the mini-games. I thought I could utilize that to make a good¡­


    <em>Zing¡ª</em>


    A strange sensation enveloped my entire body, and a haze began to rise in front of my eyes. I wondered what in the world was suddenly going on in the dead of night when I realized¡ª


    <em>¡®Ah, Precognitive Vision.¡¯</em> I just remembered that this was how Precognitive Vision felt right before it activated. I couldn¡¯t believe that it was starting so randomly like this; as expected, I thought the system was quite tactless. Since I didn¡¯t know what would pop out, I prepared my mind and looked straight ahead. There was a crack between the haze, and soon, the space ripped in an instance and a future scene yed out in front of me.


    <em>¡®¡­What?¡¯ </em>But a face that I didn¡¯t expect at all appeared. It was a face that I didn¡¯t want to see even in my dreams. A person whose very existence became a source of trauma for me¡ªit was my aunt.

 Chapter 75

    Chapter 75


    I gripped my fist and clenched my teeth. I had to press my lips tightly to not let out a sound because if I didn¡¯t, I thought swear words would escape out of my mouth. Yeon-Hoon was sleeping, and I needed to calm my heart. I stared at the scene in front of me. I was inside a coffee shop. Since it didn¡¯t look like a coffee franchise that was nearby here, I thought this incident wasn¡¯t something that would happen around our dorm.


    My aunt was sitting on the chair, looking at me. And in this future scene, I was wearing a sweater and track pants. I didn¡¯t own any of these clothes yet, so I supposed this was a future that wouldn¡¯t take any time soon. Since Precognitive Vision let me observe the scene from a third-person perspective, I was able to check facts as an outsider. I nced at my aunt and checked her appearance. She was wearing a homely dress filled with strange patterns. As she usually did, her appearance was gaudy and entric.


    <em>¡®She aged.¡¯ </em>Though it had been just three years since Ist saw her in this timeline, she aged considerably more. It was inevitable, considering how much she drank and smoked. I could easily predict what she would say next.


    ¡ªI bet you earned quite some money now.


    Of course, it was all about money. How could she be so obvious and predictable? It always surprised me that the perfect example of a ¡®bad adult¡¯ clich¨¦ that came out in dramas, movies, or novels lived and breathed right near me. But perhaps because of her, I was able to mature faster and leave the house.


    ¡ªHow could you not contact me even once? Do you not have any gratitude for the person who fed you and gave you a ce to stay? Do you not have a conscience?


    She spoke just as I expected her to.


    ¡ªWhy don¡¯t you share a bit of your pay for appearing on shows? I heard that celebrities get paid hundreds and thousands per episode.


    Not a single line she said escaped my expectations, so I stopped paying attention to what she said and scanned my surroundings to look for clues. I wanted to find something that would help me figure out this day¡¯s date. Perhaps, there could be a calendar on the wall, or someone could even say the date out loud.


    <em>Whoosh!</em>


    Then, my Precognitive Vision abruptly cut off.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    <em>¡®Damn it.¡¯</em> I didn¡¯t feel good because it felt like I didn¡¯t gain much from this vision.


    <em>¡®So, it seems certain that my aunt is going to visit me.¡¯ T</em>his was the most important part.


    My parents passed away not long after I was born. Thus, I didn¡¯t feel any longing for them or missed them. Yet, the problems came after that. The person who gained guardianship over me was my aunt, and my aunt was a person who fundamentallycked morals.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    I had a headache. I thought a day like this woulde. I didn¡¯t know what my aunt could do. I needed to think of all possibilities and quickly searched through my phone.


    <em>¡®¡­.I still have it¡­¡¯</em> Fortunately, all the evidence I collected was still there. It was what I had been preparing for since I realized the wrongs of this world and knew that there could be a day when I would need topletely cut off all connections with my aunt.


    I had learned the ways of the world earlier than other people at the young age of ten¡ªabout nine years ago. I checked whether or not there was any damaged data and thought of a couple of preventive measures. I had hoped my aunt would never enter my life again, but I knew that was being overly optimistic.


    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way she will leave me alone.¡¯ </em>Thus, there was only one thing I could do¨Cto make her not even think about getting close to me.


    <em>¡®She won¡¯t even be able to approach me,¡¯</em> I thought.


    ***


    The main director, Park Soo-Chul, and writer, Jin, sat together in a pension while pouring drinks for each other all night long. They still had more scenes to edit, but they were using the excuse of work to drink as they wished.


    ¡°Ahhh, this ce is nice. Really nice,¡± Park Soo-Chul director said and gulped down a whole ss of a drink. He was obviously very pleased by the ce they chose to drink.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you just happy that you are finally out of the editing room after being stuck there the whole day?¡± One writer asked.


    ¡°Honestly, when I¡¯m in the editing room, it¡¯s nice to even go to the bathroom.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah.¡±


    The reason they were all gathered at this pension was simple: it was to n for <em>The Showcase 2</em>¡¯s outdoor trip. The original n was to have something simr to a school trip but instead of that idea, they decided to develop it further and create a new n: a training camp.


    ¡°Will a training camp help the casts? You know, to improve the quality of their performances?¡±


    A training camp for celebrities was a very old and established idea now. Since the theme, ¡®camp¡¯ was used so many times, it had lost its freshness a long time ago.


    ¡°There¡¯s a team alliance going on right now. This is the only opportunity to do this.¡±


    They probably wouldn¡¯t get another chance to get the same teams as they currently did, and this team alliance mission had potential to gain enough attention to be mentioned from time to time on the inte. Naturally, it could also be beneficial when nning for the show¡¯s seasons 3 and 4.


    ¡°Instead of only staying at the broadcasting station, let¡¯s also rest a bit and get some fresh air outside,¡± Park Soo-Chul said. Personally, he also wanted to have some healing time by working at a ce with nice scenery while the casts were locked in one ce.


    ¡°We do all the work anyways. Actually, we will have more work.¡±


    ¡°But I don¡¯t think the cast will like it too much,¡± the other staff protested. Their reaction was as expected. The only one who would be able to y would be the main producer, Park Soo-Chul, while the rest of the crew would have longerbor time and more work to do for the training camp. Overall, they wouldn¡¯t gain much from doing this.


    ¡°I will do something for you allter. Sorry,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and drank another ss.


    ¡°You are going to give the announcement tomorrow, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Okay, then let¡¯s y hard today and work hard tomorrow,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and took a spoonful of the snack in front of him.


    ¡°Okay~ Let¡¯s do a good job~ Cheers!¡±


    ¡°¡­Cheers.¡±


    ¡°¡­Yay¡­¡±


    And thus, a grand project that only one person desired began.


    ***


    It was morning. I was now used to waking up at 6 a.m. When I shared the room with Woon, we both got up together at 6 a.m. and folded the nkets, yet Yeon-Hoon¡­


    ¡°¡­Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°<em>Yeon-Hoon</em>!¡±


    ¡°¡­Huh?¡±


    On the other hand, Yeon-Hoon only woke up after I called him three times. Yeon-Hoon looked half-awake as he looked at me. Though his face was swollen because it was morning, he was still handsome.


    ¡°It¡¯s morning.¡±


    ¡°Ah, ahh! Let me sleep a bit more!¡±


    ¡°You have to wash up!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, why don¡¯t you wash up first?¡±


    ¡°Are you going to wake up while I take a shower?¡±


    ¡°Yeaaah, I will. Go wash yourself.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah! Just go now.¡±


    I knew he was lying for sure. I thought he would definitely sleep some more, but I still went to the bathroom. It was nice that there was a bathroom for each room. When I came outside after washing up, Yeon-Hoon was naturally sleeping again. Thus, while drying my hair with the towel, I yelled.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    ¡°Ahhh!¡±


    I woke Yeon-Hoon up with a very loud voice. Yeon-Hoon finally got up from his spot and then sat on the ground.


    ¡°Go wash yourself now.¡±


    ¡°¡­Okay.¡±


    After seeing Yeon-Hoon stagger to the bathroom, I finally went outside the room. The delicious smell of food wafted through the living room. Though it was my turn to prepare the food today, Do-Seung was already preparing breakfast.


    ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡± he asked me.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I just prepared breakfast today. Let¡¯s eat,¡± he said. It seemed he was sorry that he brought the group¡¯s mood down by fighting with Woon yesterday and was making breakfast to make up for it. It was then Woon came out of the bathroom after his shower. Perhaps, they had made upst night because the two talked with no problems.


    ¡°Wow, that looks good. Finally some Korean food.¡±


    ¡°You said you wanted to eat it yesterday.¡±


    ¡°I thought you said it was hard to prepare food in the morning.¡±


    ¡°I just need to wake up 30 minutes earlier.¡±


    I was thankful that they were back to acting like an old couple again.


    <em>¡®But with this amount of side dishes, he probably woke up one hour earlier,¡¯</em> I thought. It probably wouldn¡¯t have been enough for him to wake up just half an hour earlier. There were egg rolls, soybean paste soup, fresh kimchi, and stir-fried spicy pork that was slightly torched on the table.


    <em>¡®Dong-Jun will really like this meal,¡¯</em> I thought. It had all his favorites and food with strong vors.


    ¡°I will go wake up Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, all right.¡±


    ¡°If he doesn¡¯t get up, just shove him inside a bathtub.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    I opened Dong-Jun¡¯s room. I thought he would obviously be sleeping, but he was sniffing with his eyes closed.


    <em>Sniff, sniff.</em>


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°¡­Is it soybean paste soup, stir-fried pork, and egg rolls?¡±


    ¡°¡­Sorry?¡±


    ¡°¡­I will quickly go after washing myself.¡±


    Perhaps, due to all those sd meals, Dong-Jun automatically got up from the smell of today¡¯s breakfast. It was shocking to say the least. Dong-Jun¡¯s fans affectionately called him puppy, and it appeared he was gradually bing like a real dog. Eventually, we all gathered around the dining table and my heart finally felt calmer.


    Honestly, the scene I saw with my Precognitive Vision had kept me awakest night. Yet, in front of this dining table with all my members gathered around me, my worries seemed to disappear.


    ¡°Okay! Let¡¯s eat~¡±


    ¡°Thank you for the meal.¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much, Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Wow! This is so delicious! Did you put drugs in this or something?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s how crazy good it is.¡±


    Seeing them, I felt this groundless, strange hope that I would be able to solve any problem or hurdleing my way. Like that, I finished my breakfast.


    ¡°When are you guysing back today?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hm. Probably around 10?¡±


    ¡°Haa. We mighteter, considering how stubborn the other members are.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll try to be patient as possible.¡±


    We all separated ways to head to our respective practice rooms.


    <em>Zing.</em>


    <em>Zing.</em>


    <em>Zing.</em>


    ¡­


    Everyone¡¯s phone simultaneously rang.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Everyone looked surprised since our phones rang at the same time.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    The content we read from our phones was shocking for me, so it was even more surprising for my group members.


    ¡ªThe <em>Showcase 2</em>¡¯s training camp begins!


    ¡ªStarting tomorrow, don¡¯t separate from your team members and eat, sleep, and practice from the same ce together!


    ¡ªWe ask you to gather at the pension linked below by tomorrow at 12 p.m.


    ¡ªYou all will lodge in the same ce for one week.


    I clearly remembered idols on <em>The Showcase 2</em> going on an outdoor trip in my past life. Yet, in this life, the trip changed to a training camp. However, besides that, I couldn¡¯t believe they told us such crucial information just a day before. How much crueler could they be? But the person who was in more shock than us was probably not us, but WD Entertainment¡¯s only working staff, Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon.


    <em>¡®I bet they don¡¯t realize that this is another way that the broadcasting station is exercising undue authority and control over their casts. Or perhaps, they thought a one-day notice was enough. But if we are going to camp together, we will probably do all sorts of different events,</em>¡¯ I thought.


    Perhaps, things could be better than I expected. Rather than just making us train, they would probably make us y games to amass points and prizes that would lead to greater opportunities. Since our fandom was still smallpared to Only One, we needed to use this chance as well as possible.


    <em>Zing.</em>


    My phone rang again then. I wondered what it was and was surprised to receive a message from an unexpected sender.


    ¡ªWe¡¯re going to a training camp. Did you see the message?


    We never contacted each other after changing numbers, but Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly messaged me out of the blue.


    <em>¡®What¡¯s up with this bastard?¡¯</em> I wondered.

 Chapter 76

    Chapter 76


    Why the hell was this guy suddenly texting me? We hadn¡¯t contacted each other personally before, but as soon as we received information about the camp, I received a text from him. It was a text message that seemed like it had hidden intentions. A training camp meant that we were all going to eat and sleep together...


    <em>¡®Is he warning me that he¡¯s going to beat me up at camp?¡¯</em> I thought that this text might be a kind of deration of war, but I erased this thought with a hollowugh. I had a tendency to take my imagination way too far when Kang Hyun-Sung was involved. It might just be a text without much meaning.


    ¡ªYou should be prepared. I¡¯ll make you practice really hard.


    ¡­I guess he really was nning to beat me down, military style. Besides that, I wondered why he sounded strangely like a middle-aged man in his text. I turned off my phone. I thought I had to reply something, but I also wondered if I had to if I was going to see his face in a few hours anyway.


    ¡°What are we going to do about this training camp?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know.¡±


    ¡°If we go, we probably have to gather in our assigned teams, not groups, right?¡±


    A dark cloud loomed over the members¡¯ faces.


    ¡°We have to eat and sleep with those OnebyOne members, right¡­?¡±


    <em>¡­Sigh.</em>


    ¡°Seriously¡­¡±


    ¡°Guys, hold me back so I don¡¯t hit them.¡±


    ¡°¡­Yeah, but I can¡¯t guarantee it. I don¡¯t know if I can stop myself from hitting them either.¡±


    At Yeon-Hoon¡¯s words, Woon, Dong-Jun, and Do-Seung showed simr responses. If I had to sleep in the same room with Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon, I would have also reacted like them. They were infuriating even during practice, so I wondered how even more annoying it would be to live together with them.


    ¡°We¡¯re living together for a week, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    <em>Sighhh.</em>


    Furthermore, it was not a day or two, but we were spending a whole week together. There was no way that they could avoid a mental breakdown for a week.


    ¡°¡­They say if you remain patient three times, it would save you frommitting murder.¡±


    ¡°¡­I think I¡¯ve already shown patience a hundred times."


    ¡°¡­Pweh.¡±


    Then the members resolved with determined expressions.


    ¡°Let¡¯s manage our expressions in front of the camera no matter what.¡±


    ¡°We just have to smile and answer well whatever happens.¡±


    ¡°Just think of them as dogs barking, not people.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t ever show our fists.¡±


    The members exchanged words like this as if they were chanting a Buddhist prayer and trudged out for team practice. We went down to the underground parking lot, and Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were waiting for us. Both of their expressions looked dark as they probably had a lot of things to discuss about the training camp.


    ¡°Ah, um, Mr¡­.Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    ¡°¡­Yes?¡±


    However, since the members¡¯ faces looked even worse the usual, the two couldn¡¯t say anything and stepped back. Then the members got into the van. But before Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna went up to the driver''s and passenger¡¯s seats, I called out to them.


    ¡°Um, Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon.¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    I was sure that both of them were having a headache about the training camp, but I had important information to ry to them.


    ¡°Did you perhaps, receive any special information about my family?¡± It was about my aunt. Before our current head manager, the former head manager was well aware of my family situation, and he probably handed over this information to Yoon Tae-Hyung, the current head manager. Then Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon should have also received information about that but¡­


    ¡°No?¡±


    ¡°Did something happen?¡±


    Of course, I couldn¡¯t expect anything from Yoon Tae-Hyung. I pressed my finger against my temple and slowly said, ¡°Well, someone iming to be my aunt might contact the agency soon.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Your aunt?¡±


    ¡°Yes.<em> Aunt. </em>But you can¡¯t tell her anything about my schedule or the location of our dorm. No, I would appreciate it if you could just answer all her questions by saying ''<em>no, it''s confidential.</em>''¡± I repeatedly asked Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna to answer like this, and the two listened to me for a while nodding their heads. They probably were wondering why it was my aunt calling and not my parents, and why they couldn¡¯t tell her anything. However, neither of them was tactless and probably realized this was a sensitive issue.


    ¡°Sure thing!¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t worry!¡±


    They nodded reassuringly to my request without asking any more questions.


    ¡°But by the way, what¡¯s the news about the training camp?¡±


    ¡°Did the cast get notified of it beforehand?¡±


    They must have wanted to ask about the camp, not about my family.


    I answered, ¡°Ah, it¡¯s the first time we heard about it, and we also heard about it today. The members and I will take care of the packing and other necessities, so all you have to do is just drive us to the pension.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes, I got it.¡±


    ¡°Please contact us if you need anything.¡± After sharing only the information we needed, we got into the van.


    I got off right in front of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s practice room, and the members moved to another ce where their team practice room was.


    ¡°See youter at night.¡±


    ¡°Bye.¡±


    ¡°Work hard in practice.¡±


    The members said their goodbyes as I got off, but their expressions looked listless and tired.


    <em>¡®They look like people being sold off. I should crush Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon at the training camp for sure this time.¡¯</em> If I just left the situation as it was, I thought it would have a significant impact on their morale. I left the van behind and went up to the practice room.


    * * *


    When I went up to the practice room, I noticed that the other team members had arrived earlier than me. They had already gathered amongst themselves and were talking about the training camp. However, in stark contrast to my members, they all seemed to be very excited about the training camp.


    ¡°I clicked on the link, and it seems like they¡¯re borrowing the whole vi.¡±


    ¡°Did you see how there¡¯s a pool?¡±


    ¡°Wow, I always wanted to go to a ce like this at least once.¡±


    ¡°It would be a good idea to bring my swimsuit, right?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s March and you¡¯re going to swim¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­Well, you never know.¡±


    The atmosphere hadn¡¯t been this lively when we yed the mini-games before. Perhaps, it was because while the mini-gamepetitions felt like it was stealing our practice time, the training camp sounded like it could increase the efficiency of our practice. Thus, people seemed to be looking forward to it instead.


    ¡°It¡¯s my first time going on a trip like this! Except for summer Bible school!¡±


    As for me, I had never been on a school field trip or retreat.


    ¡°Oh? That¡¯s the same for me too.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it the same for everyone here?¡±


    Other trainees sympathized with these words. All the people here were in their early 20s, and that meant they had been trainees since their childhood. As a trainee, it often became difficult to participate in events such as school field trips and retreats. The reason was simple¡ªit was because they could practice more during that time. A simr example would be physical education students who also did not go on such trips. Of course, there were exceptions even among idol trainees, but it seemed as if this didn''t apply to anyone here. Thus, that was why they were so excited about going to this training camp.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, it¡¯s your first time on a trip like this too, right?¡± Park Young-Ho approached me and suddenly asked.


    Honestly, it was not my first time going on a trip, but I hadn¡¯t gone many times either. Thus, I answered, ¡°I¡¯ve been on a few trips before.¡±


    ¡°Wow! I¡¯m jealous!¡±


    ¡°But Mr. Young-Ho, didn¡¯t you say you went on summer Bible school trips.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. But I couldn¡¯t y because I went there to help the missionaries.¡±


    As I was having an awkward conversation with Park Young-Ho, Kang Hyun-Sung approached me from afar. His eyes were smiling, but his mouth squirmed as if he had a lot to say to me.


    I wondered what he wanted to say to me when he suddenly said, ¡°You¡¯rete?¡±


    ¡°Oh, was Ite? I came exactly on time.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m saying you cameter than yesterday.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡± I was appalled by his outdated remark, and I held back from saying, ¡®Why are you nitpicking that I came on time and not earlier when you¡¯re not even paying my sry?¡¯


    Then he said, ¡°Have you seen my message?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I saw it.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t say anything for about three seconds.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go and practice hard.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Like this, a fruitless conversation passed between us and ended. I thought we were going to start practicing now, but someone else approached me.


    ¡°Um, Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡± It was Choi Jin-Young and Kim Sang-Hoon from OnebyOne. Judging by their expressions, I could guess what they were here to say.


    ¡°Um, were the Siren members feeling okay yesterday?¡± As expected, they were here to talk about Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon.


    ¡°Truthfully, when we went back to our dorms yesterday, we heard Young-Joon and Joon-Hyuk boasting that they put Siren in their ce, so we were worried that they could''ve given the Siren members a hard time.¡± I couldn¡¯t believe they had made such shameless boasts when they went back to their dorm yesterday. I wondered how there could be such infuriating people in the world. If I could, I would¡¯ve punched their heads¡­ They must have seen my expression go cold as they quickly added.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m really sorry.¡±


    ¡°Even if they talk like that, they¡¯re kind in natu¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, I got it.¡±


    I didn¡¯t want to talk to them anymore and didn¡¯t want to hear things like Young-Joon and Joon-Hyuk were actually good people inside or were affectionate or whatever. If I talked to them anymore, I thought I might ruin the atmosphere of today¡¯s practice. But I recalled again how those two had boasted of putting Siren in their ce.


    <em>¡®How ridiculous.¡¯ </em>They should be grateful that my members were trying to include them and help them stand out on performance; if they really wanted, they couldpletely crush the OnebyOne members¡¯ spirits and confidence. In terms of visuals, skills, and ideas, Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon were worse than my members in every way. It made my mind boil, imagining how they made fun of my members with their senseless, stupid minds. If possible, I would have liked to grind them with a shredder¡­


    But I had no choice but to endure it because it would be a crime to carry out what I wanted, so instead, I said, ¡°Let¡¯s concentrate on our practice today.¡±


    ¡°¡­Yes, let¡¯s practice.¡±


    ¡°¡­Yes, thank you.¡±


    The practice continued no differently from yesterday. We learned and memorized the choreography, and Kang Hyun-Sung adjusted the choreography a bit based on the rough version of the rearrangement he received from a musicposer. I thought the musicposer must have worked very fast, as the quality was good even though it was a rough version.


    ¡°The finished version wille out this week, but theposition or feel of the song won¡¯t change from this rough version.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°Where did you find such a talented person?¡±


    ¡°As expected of the leader. You¡¯vepletely transformed the arrangement.¡±


    It seemed as if they werefortable with Kang Hyun-Sung now as they joked around with him, but Kang Hyun-Sung did not respond to their jokes and said indifferently, ¡°Let¡¯s practice.¡±


    The choreography was mostly created by Kang Hyun-Sung; everyone gave various ideas, but in the end, his choreography was chosen as the final choreography. It wasn¡¯t because we were all too afraid to go against him, but his choreography was objectively the most suitable for the song. However, the problem was¨C


    ¡°Did you always dance that badly?¡±


    ¡°...I¡¯m trying.¡± My foundation was a bit wonky when I danced without using Insight. Shivers ran down my spine when Kang Hyun-Sung spoke honestly to me while the observation camera¡¯s memory cards were being switched out. I thought that he might take me out as center at this rate, so I ended up using today¡¯s Insight again to learn the choreography.


    Perhaps because my skills suddenly improved like crazy, Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me quizzically during practice. ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°I said I was trying,¡± I answered his gaze with a confident expression.


    And like this, the practice continued nonstop until 8 pm. When I thought it was probably about time for practice to finish-


    <em>Ding-dong.</em>


    Someone rang the practice room bell while we were busily practicing. We tilted our heads when the bell rang for the first time since we began practicing here. Even the Only One members looked surprised and seemed to have never heard the practice room¡¯s bell ring. On the other hand, only Kang Hyun-Sung wore his mask as if he had expected this and went downstairs. Then he came back with many boxes in both hands.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not delivery food?¡±


    Everyone flocked around the box.


    ¡°When a team was formed, I thought about what could strengthen our teamwork, so I prepared this,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said and opened the box. ¡°Fortunately, they arrived the day before the training camp.¡±


    I wondered what it was that he prepared, and it was¨C


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a group outfit?¡±


    ¡°No way! Isn¡¯t this the new model?¡±


    It was a set of sweatshirts and training pants from a famous sports brand. I thought thebined price of the two pieces would be about 200,000 won. However, there was one problem.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to take it, Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡±


    It was the design of the clothes. I couldn''t even be surprised that Kang Hyun-Sung prepared these expensive training clothes for all of us because¨C


    ¡°...Thank you, I¡¯ll wear it well.¡±


    It was the exact same clothes I was wearing when I was with my aunt in the future I saw with Precognitive Vision.

 Chapter 77

    Chapter 77


    I stared nkly at the clothes Kang Hyun-Sung gave me.


    ¡°Your size isrge, right?¡± he asked.


    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±


    I was grateful that such a cold guy like Kang Hyun-Sung was attentive enough to order clothes in my size, but I couldn¡¯t help but feel conflicted about it.


    <em>¡®¡­Why are these clothesing out here?¡¯ </em>I wondered. Because the clothes that I saw myself wearing in Precognitive vision weren¡¯t ones that I currently possessed, I thought my meeting with my aunt would happen quite some timeter. Since I had no ns to shop for clothes in the meantime, I thought I would meet her at least a couple of monthster.


    <em>¡®But at this point, she might visit me in the middle of training camp.''</em>


    It was much earlier than I expected. Perhaps, I should¡¯ve expected it. Although <em>The Showcase 2</em> was an idol program, it was quite well-known by the public. Though it was probably only the idol stans watching the show, the program¡¯s name and a couple of clips must have already spread to the general public. My aunt could¡¯ve misunderstood that I had earned a lot of money by now since she didn¡¯t have any idea about how the broadcasting industry worked.


    <em>Sighhh</em>.


    I sighed inside my mind. The franchise coffee shop I saw in my Precognitive Vision was probably a caf¨¦ near the pension where we would be staying. I had wondered why there were some low-level buildings outside of the shop¡¯s window, but it made sense if the location wasn¡¯t even Seoul in the first ce. I probably needed to warn the broadcasting crew about my aunt beforehand and exin why I was avoiding her and what kind of person she was.


    <em>¡®¡­This is driving me crazy.¡¯</em> And the thought of doing all that made my head hurt.


    ¡°Do you not like the clothes?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s good. But aren¡¯t these too expensive to buy in bulk?¡±


    ¡°I suppose it wasn¡¯t cheap.¡±


    ¡°Well, thank you for them.¡± I clutched the clothes tightly.


    ¡°Wow! Look at the fitting for this!¡±


    ¡°As expected of our great leader. I will remain loyal to you forever.¡±


    ¡°Money is truly great.¡±


    My other team members also grinned from ear to ear after epting Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s gift. It appeared Kang Hyun-Sung was also well aware of the fact that the quickest way to young men¡¯s hearts was by gifting them with sports brand clothes. With this, I could tell the remaining bits of awkwardness that the Only One members still had with their leader was gradually disappearing. They were nowfortable enough with him to make little jokes here and there. It was a positive change.


    <em>¡®At first, I was worried about joining Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team but this could be a good thing.¡¯</em>


    Though I didn¡¯t know what kind of person Kang Hyun-Seung really was yet, he appeared to be a good leader. But besides that, I had a more pressing problem at hand: it was my inevitable meeting with my aunt.


    <em>¡®What am I going to do?¡¯</em> I needed to find a way to escape it.


    ¡°Is something wrong?¡±


    ¡°¡­Sorry?¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly approached me again, and I stepped backwards in surprise. I hadn¡¯t sensed his presence at all.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like it.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just that I had something to think about.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°¡­Am I obligated to tell you?¡±


    ¡°¡­I suppose not.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me wordlessly. I furrowed not knowing what he wanted and Kang Hyun-Sung backed away.


    ¡°If you are struggling with a problem, you shouldn¡¯t let it be but take the initiative and solve it,¡± he suggested.


    What he said was true, but it was difficult to carry that out in action. Did I need to personally approach my aunt first, make the first move, and break off our rtionship? I thought there was no way I could do that when I realized, <em>¡®¡­He¡¯s right?¡¯</em>


    A great realization befell me then. There was no need for me to be worrying like this. I had numerous pieces of evidence in my phone that I had collected for several years. Furthermore, there were other methods that I would have a difficult time using if it wasn¡¯t right now. Like that, I didn¡¯t need to worry myself sick wondering when she woulde to find me but make the first move.


    ¡°¡­You''re right.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It will bring me ease to solve the problem myself first.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me in slight surprise.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to fight or hit anybody, right?¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°¡­No, never mind.¡±


    I wondered how in the world Kang Hyun-Sung viewed me, but it wasn¡¯t like I had positive opinions about him either. Nevertheless, I had my solution now. I didn¡¯t need to keep running away. I was twenty-four¡­no, I was neen now, but my mental age was twenty-four. I already passed the age where I would shudder in fear at my aunt¡¯s words. My aunt was just a middle-aged woman with depleting health. There was no need for me to fear that she could physically attack me or raise her voice at me.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I expressed my gratitude.


    ¡°¡­What?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me in surprise but didn¡¯t repeat his words.


    But while all this went on, the rest of the team members were having a little fashion show with the new clothes they got in front of the mirror.


    ¡°Let¡¯s take a picture with these clothes!¡± Park Young-Ho suggested and stood in front of the mirror. We all looked sort of funny wearing all the same clothes. And after taking numerous pictures, we continued our practice with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s lead. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s practice again.¡±


    Perhaps, it was because we were going to the training camp tomorrow, we practiced longer than usual and separated only after 10 pm.


    ¡°Good work everyone~¡±


    ¡°See you tomorrow at the pension!¡±


    ¡°Good luck~¡± I also saw Ms. Hyuna, who came to pick me up, and got into her car and returned to my ce.


    ***


    When I returned to my dorm, my group members were lying limply on the floor.


    ¡°¡­Hey, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°¡­Good job today too.¡±


    ¡°¡­Did you eat dinner?¡±


    ¡°¡­You must¡¯ve worked hard.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help butugh, seeing all four of them on the floor like this.


    ¡°¡­Are you seriouslyughing?¡±


    ¡°Do you know what kind of suffering we had to go through?¡±


    Though my group members appeared to feel betrayed by myughter, I still thought their behavior was funny.


    ¡°Did you pack all your belongings for tomorrow?¡± I asked, wondering if they were lying down after finishing all the tasks they needed to do.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°We have to do that now.¡±


    ¡°Haaa. I really don¡¯t want to.¡±


    My group members felt immense pressure from having to pack, and it wasn¡¯t because they werezy that they didn¡¯t do any of that yet. All right, I guess a part of them waszy, but it was probably because they were too mentally exhausted to do anything now.


    ¡°Get the cleansing foam¡­¡±


    ¡°Your pajamas and training clothes too¡­¡±


    My group members moved very slowly to pack their clothes. In the end, I quickly picked up their belongings and loaded them onto their suitcases. In an instant, four suitcases were packed. And while I was packing my own suitcase, my group members showed interest in the clothes that I was holding.


    ¡°Did you buy new clothes? I haven¡¯t seen that before.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t those clothes just been newly released?¡±


    ¡°Senior Kang Hyun-Sung gave these to everyone on my team,¡± I told them.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­Haa, I¡¯m so jealous.¡±


    My group members didn¡¯t say anything for a bit and then said they were jealous. They seemed to not be envious of the clothes but the fact that my team members were close enough to share the same clothes. I couldn¡¯t fathom how much they were struggling with their current team.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 64%]


    And the most concerning problem was that the probability of winning was dwindling bit by bit. Perhaps, it was because one¡¯s morale and state of mind also affected their performance. I felt a sense of guilt for some reason since it was me who made their team. It felt as if I had dropped a bomb on them and ran away to another ce.


    ¡°Are you guys all right? It seems like you guys are more tired than usual.¡±


    ¡°Our practice today was more difficult than usual.¡±


    ¡°What, why?¡±


    ¡°The other two guys from OnebyOne kept doing something else¡­¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°They kept turning on other videos while we looked at the choreography video, and they just began doing random dance games on their own.¡±


    ¡°What¡­?¡±


    ¡°Any chance they get, they keep asking to eat or drink. And even though we didn¡¯t even think of a concept properly yet, they still talk as if we have all the time in the world.¡±


    ¡°Why¡­¡±


    ¡°And when they go to the bathroom, they don¡¯te back even after ten minutes have passed.¡±


    ¡°And when they begin talking, they talk to one another for over ten minutes.¡±


    ¡°And when we try to focus on a specific dance move, they just keep fooling around and joke amongst themselves.¡±


    ¡°And they keep making it seem like they''re having so much fun that if you try to stop them, you seem like a boring prude who doesn''t know how to have fun.¡±


    My group members poured out theirints as soon as they began. It seemed like they had a lot on their minds. Even Woon, who had talked about continuing to work together with OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon, shook his head.


    ¡°I also couldn¡¯t bear them¡­¡± Woon said. The fact that Woon gave up on them meant those two were the worst of the worst.


    ¡°I think they are acting like that because they still don¡¯t like our idea.¡±


    ¡°You mean they are purposefully hindering your practice?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you know those people who ruin the whole game if things aren¡¯t going their way?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°They are just like that¡­¡±


    ¡°Since they already know that winning the show seems impossible, they want to do performances they like. And since they can¡¯t even do that, it feels as if they don¡¯t care about anything and just want to do what they want.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t they know that they would be insulted if their behavior gets broadcasted?¡±


    ¡°I think those guys believe they are beating the system and acting super covertly.¡±


    ¡°What¡­¡±


    I could already see the future; it was something I could see even without Precognitive Vision. Those two will be met with great anger from the public if what my group members said was right, since this level of conduct wasn¡¯t a level that could be covered up with just good editing.


    <em>¡®They must¡¯ve nned everything,¡¯</em> I thought. There were probably many among the broadcasting crew who checked the situation. Thus, they probably knew who the troublemakers in the group were and what kind of issues there were in each group.


    <em>¡®Then, there¡¯s a high chance that some kind of issue could happen at the training camp.¡¯ </em>There was probably something that the broadcasting crew was picturing.


    ¡°We are nning to talk more after going to the training camp.¡±


    ¡°We need to finish this somehow.¡±


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    My group members sighed and reaffirmed their resolutions.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 63%]


    But unlike what they were saying, the probability kept dropping. The worries that I had been having were bing a reality now. We might not get first ce because of those two trolls.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wash ourselves first, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°We should also get to sleep soon.¡±


    ¡°Weined too much to Tae-Yoon when he must be busy with his own practice.¡±


    My group members quickly got themselves together because they didn¡¯t want to make me worried. Do-Seung and Yeon-Hoon went to their rooms and Woon went to our room. Woon immediately ced the nkets on the ground, and I went to take a shower.


    <em>¡®The situation isn¡¯t easy.¡¯</em> While taking a shower, I tried to think about how I would be able to achieve everything I wanted from the training camp. Right now, I needed to end my rtionship with my aunt and knock some sense into OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon.


    Though I had some ns, I couldn¡¯t be certain of what would happen. All I could do in this instance was toe up with some ns inside my mind in preparation. I dried my hair and went back to my room.


    ¡°Are you asleep, Woon?¡± I asked. Woon seemed to be deep asleep. I turned off the room¡¯s lights and went outside the living room. The living room was also dark, and it appeared that all my group members were asleep. It was natural, considering how tired they must have been all day. I sat on the sofa and raised my phone. Then, I tried to remember a phone number I had erased a long time ago.


    It seemed the old saying that childhood memoriessted a lifetime was true. Though I had tried my best to forget them, I still clearly remembered my aunt¡¯s eight-digit phone number. I pressed on the numbers and though it waste, I didn¡¯t give a damn about maintaining my manners. I breathed in deeply and my call was epted.


    ¡ªHello?

 Chapter 78

    Chapter 78


    My aunt received my call.


    ¡ªHello.


    I took a deep breath while clutching my phone. My aunt probably didn¡¯t know who was calling since after I left home, I immediately changed my number and didn¡¯t tell her my new number. She was the only person I could call ¡®family¡¯ among the people who were left; of course, it was not a family out of love and affection but merely by blood. My heart beat in a frenzy as this was something that I had never done even before I regressed. I had never contacted my aunt after I left home, but it was now a necessity.


    ¡ªWho is this?


    I heard my aunt¡¯s voice from across the line. It was only natural she asked as I said nothing for a while. Seeing how her voice softened slightly, she sounded like she was scared. I supposed she got frightened that she received a phone call from a number she didn¡¯t know, and the caller wasn''t saying anything.


    I took my time to say, ¡°It¡¯s Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    Was it because she heard my name? Her breathing immediately rxed¨Cno, rather than rxed, it sounded like she was even a bit excited. I could predict what she would say next. It was probably¡ª


    ¡ªAh, this fucking bastard, you¡¯re finally calling me.


    As expected, she swore at me. I held the phone a little tighter.


    ¡ªYou called at just the right time cause I was about to go and find you anyway. You should know your ce. Do you think you¡¯re a celebrity now or something?


    My aunt had always been like this and showed the same reaction whenever I told her I wanted to be an idol. She said an idiot like me had no chance, and I should live quietly inside the house and do as I was told. After that, she would always tell me¡ª


    ¡ªHow can a bastard like you, who killed your parents, wander outside so shamelessly like that?


    Without fail, she always told me that I was the reason my parents died. Was it because I hadn¡¯t heard it in a while? I made a hollowugh, not because I felt insulted, but because of how ridiculous her words were. I had heard these kinds of words from my aunt ever since I was young. Every single word had burned me to the core back then, but now¡ª


    ¡°Aunt, be careful.¡± Rather than hurting me, it didn¡¯t even faze me in the least.


    ¡ªWhat? Are you crazy?


    ¡°I told you to be quiet.¡±


    ¡ªYou¡¯re the one who should shut up! How dare you talk to me like that! I can rip that trainee contract or whatever into shreds whenever I want!


    Just because I told her to be quiet, my aunt was furiously going overboard to threaten me. Since I was still a minor, I couldn¡¯t make a contract without the consent of a legal guardian, my aunt. Thus, when I was signing a trainee contract with WD Entertainment, my aunt had to be present.


    However, she was now threatening that she would tear up this contract. Although she had said all kinds of swear words and insults at me, she was now spitting out anything she could to break me down just because I talked back to her once.


    This was how ugly and pathetic her true nature was, and she had been like this since I was a child. She had made me do all kinds of strenuous andborious work and cursed me to the heavens when I didn¡¯t want to follow her every order. At that time, I didn¡¯t know much. I thought everything my aunt said was right.


    Since she gave me food and provided a ce for me to sleep, I thought I had to do everything my aunt told me to do in return for her favor. Starting frompleting housework, I received corporal punishment that was closer to torture, which was done only to vent out her anger. Now that I reflected on it, it seemed apparent that she had some mental problems and wanted to y a power game with me beneath her. But now I had no need to listen to her.


    ¡°Whether you destroy the contract or not, do as you please. I¡¯ll be an adult in a few months anyway. I can sign the contract again then.¡± To be honest, if my aunt canceled the trainee contract now, things could get quite messy as <em>The Showcase 2</em>petition ended in early April.


    If we won first ce then, a joint venture would be established between Jaeil Group and WD Entertainment. Our present contract had to be transferred to the joint contract, but I wouldn¡¯t have a contract to transfer to. However, if I exined my circumstances, I could probably go through it. Jaeil Group would do anything to resolve my contract issue and debut our group as we were a group who had already garnered fame in a popr TV show.


    <em>¡®But it¡¯s safest to have a contract left.¡¯ </em>I thought having a contract would be the best scenario.


    ¡°Rip the contract. I¡¯ll sign it againter.¡± But of course, it was better for me to act strong in front of my aunt.


    ¡ªYou think I can¡¯t do it if you tell me?


    ¡°I told you to rip it.¡±


    ¡ªHow dare you act so cheeky! How dare you act so ungrateful when I gave you food, clothes, and a ce to sleep!


    Since I didn¡¯t budge at the words that she was going to tear up the contract, she began yelling in a different direction. <em>¡®Food, clothes, and a ce to sleep¡­¡¯</em>


    ¡°Did you forget what you fed me, what clothes you gave me, and where you forced me to go to sleep?¡± I found her words ridiculous.


    ¡ªDo you not know how hard it is to raise another person?


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s hard to raise a person, but you never raised me.¡±


    ¡ªWhat?


    ¡°What you did was abuse. It¡¯s more than enough for me to sue.¡±


    ¡ªWhat? Abuse? Hey!


    I moved a bit away from my phone for a bit as she yelled at the top of her lungs to the point that my ears hurt. Even after many years, she remained the same. I hadn¡¯t called her to fight like this, but it was thrilling to p back at her ridiculous remarks after years passed. However, I needed to get to the main point.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we meet up soon?¡±


    ¡ªWhat? Meet up? Just think abouting home right now! I¡¯m going to tear apart the contract and tell everyone your parents died because of you!


    When I asked her to meet up, she threatened me with the same repertoire.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    ¡°Do as you please. Then I¡¯ll sue you too.¡±


    ¡ªHa. Sue? Who the hell is going to believe what a little shit like you says?


    ¡°Well, even if they don¡¯t believe me, they¡¯ll believe the evidence.¡±


    ¡ªEvidence?


    ¡°You want me to show you?¡±


    I sent an image file to my aunt¡¯s number. They were bruise marks from being hit by her. ¡°I have more. Do you want me to show you more?¡±


    ¡ª¡­You don¡¯t have proof that I did that. How dare you threaten me with just pictures!


    ¡°I also have evidence that you were the one who hit me. Want me to show you that too?¡±


    ¡ª¡­What?


    ¡°When I called you in the past, you cursed at me for running away from home just for a few beatings, and you threatened me, saying that I¡¯ll get hit more if I evere back home.¡±


    ¡ª¡­


    ¡°I recorded all of that too.¡± Phones these days were great as they allowed me to record calls, and the first phone I used also had a call-recording function.


    ¡°By the way, I¡¯m recording this call too.¡± Of course, my current phone also had a recording function. I continued, ¡°So let¡¯s meet and talk face to face. I¡¯ll let you know the ce and time.¡±


    ¡ª¡­I¡¯ll fucking kill you if we meet again.


    ¡°Ha, seriously.¡± My aunt was going to kill me. ¡°¡­How scary. Haha.¡± How could threats sound so unintimidating? Now that I saw it, my aunt was not just a vicious person but a pathetic and cowardly human. I couldn¡¯t believe I¡¯d been stepped on and bullied by such a pathetic person for so long; this very fact felt like a disgrace to me.


    ¡°Then goodnight, aunt.¡±


    ¡ªYou fucking ba¡ª


    <em>Tap.</em>


    I hung up before my aunt cursed me more. Then I blocked her number right away in case I got a call again. My ears felt sore from hearing her shout so much.


    <em>Sighhh.</em>


    I sighed deeply and rubbed my ears. I wondered if this might lead to hearing loss¡­


    ¡°¡­Tae-Yoon.¡± I heard someone call out my name from the corner of the living room; I didn¡¯t realize that there was someone there. It was Woon.


    ¡°¡­Woon.¡± I had no idea how long he had been there and wondered if he heard my call with my aunt.


    <em>¡®He probably¡­heard it.¡¯</em> There was no way he didn''t since my aunt¡¯s angry voice must have rang out in this quiet, living room.


    ¡°Um, did you hear¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah, um, I didn¡¯t mean to eavesdrop, but I came out to drink water and ended up hearing a very little bit¡­¡±


    A very little bit. <em>¡®Even if he heard a little bit, she cursed from start to finish.¡¯</em> It would be enough for Woon to realize that the person I was talking to was not a sane person with a normal thought process. But the problem was¡ª


    ¡°¡­Did you just talk to your aunt on the phone?¡± It seemed that Woon heard that the person who poured out curses was my aunt. I wondered what I should do. I hadn¡¯t nned to tell the members about my family history as there was nothing good to say about it.


    ¡°Ah¡­yes.¡± However, I couldn¡¯t stay silent in this situation either. If I didn¡¯t say anything, Woon would think that considering my personality, he must have asked something he shouldn¡¯t have and returned despondently to his room.


    ¡°¡­I was talking to my aunt.¡± My mouth moved on its own, and Woon¡¯s expression darkened.


    ¡°Are you okay, Tae-Yoon?¡± He slowly walked towards me.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s all right. I¡¯m used to it. Really¡­¡±


    But before I could finish, Woon came up to the sofa and hugged my head. ¡°It¡¯s okay. You don¡¯t have to tell me.¡±


    It was a pretty surprising development. He calmly patted me on the back with his palm. I had been fine until the end of the call. Since my aunt had always cursed at me, I had no intention ofmenting about my circumstances after all this time. But I didn¡¯t know why I suddenly felt so emotional. I clenched my fist.


    ¡°It¡¯s all right. I don¡¯t know what happened, but you¡¯re with us now.¡±


    I bit my lips in his arms. I had no intention to cry, and I thought this was nothing to cry about. But¡­


    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know.¡¯</em> I must have actually wanted to beforted from the bottom of my heart. The warmth that touched my skin, the hand that patted my back with a rhythmic beat, and his gentle voice that told me it was okay¡ªall of these touched my heart as if I had been waiting for them for a very long time. Considering my usual personality, I would have pulled myself out when he hugged me, but today¡ª


    <em>Squeeze.</em>


    ¡­I hugged him back a little harder today. Only the sound of the second hand of the clock rang out in the silence. Perhaps deep inside my heart, I had been a bit frazzled as no matter how many times a person listened to insults, they seemed to have the power to chip away a person¡¯s heart every time one heard them. My startled heart was finally calming down again. For a long time, I sat on the sofa in the living room and hugged Woon.


    ¡°¡­Shall we go and sleep now?¡± When my breathing seemed to have calmed, Woon asked carefully.


    ¡°¡­Yes,¡± I calmly replied.


    Woon and I went into the room andy down.


    ¡°Good night. Sleep peacefully and cover yourself with a nket up to your neck.¡±


    ¡°Yes, thank you.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing. See you tomorrow, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    I thought I wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep untilte today. I had a lot of things to think about, so I thought I should organize my thoughts all night. However, a strong sleepiness wafted over me.


    ¡°¡­¡± My hands that were holding the edges of the nket gently spread out, and without my intention, I fell deep asleep.


    * * *


    The next morning arrived.


    ¡°Ah, damn it.¡± For the first time since I regressed, I overslept.


    ¡°Aghhhhhhh!¡±


    ¡°No, we¡¯re in trouble!¡±


    ¡°Ughhhh!¡±


    ¡°Noooooo!¡±


    ¡°Why did all of us wake upte?¡±


    However, the problem was that it wasn''t just me, but everyone overslept, and today was the first day of training camp.<blockquote>


    RedBird''s Thoughts


    Andie: Not me just realising that there''s actually a Korean boy group IRL called OnlyOneOf. They debuted in 2019 D:</blockquote>

 Chapter 79

    Chapter 79


    It was as if a great cmity had befallen them. Perhaps, this was what would happen if a war broke out and citizens were ordered to flee.


    ¡°Hey! My toothbrush! Toooothbrush!¡±


    ¡°Here it is.¡±


    ¡°Can we go out after washing ourselves?¡±


    ¡°<em>Haaa</em>. There isn¡¯t enough time.¡±


    My group members got ready while running around the living room. We needed to get to the Gapyeong pension by 11 am, but we woke up at 9 am. It was no wonder we were in a full-blown panic. I was still remaining calm because I was trying to shake off my drowsiness while sitting nkly on the floor.


    But as soon as I was fully awake, I would probably be running around like my members. And taking advantage of the calm feeling my sleepiness gave, I tried to organize my thoughts. I took out my phone and inputted the pension¡¯s address. Then, after marking that as our destination ce, I checked how long it would take us to arrive there.


    ¡ª1 hour and 36 minutes.


    It would be fine if our travel time really took 1 hour and 36 minutes but the problem was that we were leaving in rush hour and our apartment was located at Gangnam¡ªthe ce with the heaviest traffic in the entire country.


    ¡°Hey, guys!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just go down after changing our clothes!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Without washing ourselves?¡±


    ¡°What about breakfast?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no time!¡±


    Rather than shuffling around like this, we needed to immediately get dressed and hop into the car. If things went well, we could arrive at our destination without beingte.


    ¡°Umph! My toothbrush!¡±


    ¡°Gargle your mouth after arriving there. <em>Gargle.</em>¡± I took out the toothbrush that Dong-Jun was holding inside his mouth.


    ¡°Woon! Don¡¯t pick out your clothes and just wear this.¡±


    ¡°Ah? Okay.¡±


    I handed Woon a training wear as he looked to be still contemting what to wear.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon! This isn¡¯t the time to take a shower.¡±


    ¡°Ah, no, I will be really quick!¡±


    ¡°Just wash your face quickly!¡±


    ¡°What!¡±


    I held back Yeon-Hoon who looked intent on going to the bathroom to take a shower. The only person who had the same mind as me was Do-Seung.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, I will take all these five suitcases down right now. You gather up everyone ande down the parking lot,¡± Do-Seung said. Do-Seung had just put on any training wear he saw and pushed his hat down low over his face. Then, while carrying five suitcases, he went down the parking lot first. After stopping all my members who were about to waste more time and making sure they did nothing more than washing their faces, I dragged everyone down the parking lot.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    I woke up at 9 am but by the time I pushed all my members to the elevator, it was just 9:10 am. It was one of the most stressful and hectic ten minutes of my life. When we finally reached the parking lot, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were waiting for us while looking quite nervous.


    ¡°Ah! They''re here!¡±


    ¡°Why did you alle down sote!¡±


    ¡°We nned on meeting at 8:30 am!¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyunained as soon as they saw us. Since we had no excuses to make, we simply lowered our heads in apology. It was fortunate that we didn¡¯t have to get our hair and makeup done since we were going to a training camp. But if we had to also go to a salon, we would have definitely beente.


    ¡°We''ll leave right away! We might be able to make it if we hurry up!¡±


    As soon as we all got into the car, Ms. Seung-Yeon hit the elerator. The car swiftly broomed forward. There was nothing I could do now besides praying that we wouldn¡¯t bete. Fortunately, when we arrived at the main road, Gangnam¡¯s traffic wasn¡¯t as heavy as expected.


    ¡°Wow! Thank goodness. I think we will be able to arrive at our destination with five minutes of spare time.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°<em>Haaa</em>.¡±


    ¡°Thank goodness.¡±


    We finally felt relieved and felt more at ease. It was then, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna asked the reason for our tardiness. What happened this morning was unusual. Usually, I got out of bed first and woke up all my members, but that wasn¡¯t like a decided rule or anything. It was what I did on my way, and my group members could easily wake up by themselves hearing their rms.


    ¡°¡­Does stress affect your sleep?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡±


    ¡°Haha¡­¡±


    It seemed evident that all my members woke upte because they felt too stressed in a short period of time. Their source of stress was naturally OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon, and my source of stress was the phone callst night. Talking to my aunt on the phone had taken a great deal of energy and made me wake upter than usual. In short, this situation was what happened as several bad situations ovepped, and factors we couldn¡¯t control affected us.


    ¡°We will be more careful next time.¡±


    ¡°We will manage our condition and sleeping schedule better.¡±


    But since it was also an idol¡¯s responsibility to manage our conditions, my group members responded like this.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask to hear you guys just apologize¡­haha.¡±


    ¡°Well, thank you for saying that.¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna looked a bit taken aback to hear my members'' resolution when they had simply asked their questions out of curiosity.


    ¡°But will it be all right for us to go in our current state?¡± Woon changed the topic then.


    Hearing this, everyone else also inspected the clothes they were wearing. Today, we simply wore our training wear as we usually did without dressing up one bit. We wore white training pants, oversized sweatshirts, and ck and white hats bought from a street shop. It was too casual to even be called casual style. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna seemed to contemte this a bit and answered.


    ¡°It will be fine. It¡¯s not like some intense shooting. The broadcasting crew told you all to just wear like you are going on a college field day.¡±


    ¡°Hopefully, that¡¯s the case.¡±


    ¡°Well, since they told us to not overdress¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good¡­¡±


    My group members looked a bit relieved then. Perhaps, they thought it would¡¯ve been more awkward for them to dress up too much.


    ¡°But don¡¯t most people dress up when going on a college field day?¡± I asked. Of course, I didn¡¯t know because I didn¡¯t go to college, but I knew that this was an event that college students often looked forward to the most. Thus, I couldn¡¯t imagine them not dressing up for a day like that. They probably wouldn¡¯t go all out but would care hard enough to make a difference.


    ¡°You know what they call it? The casual but not casual look?¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Ah, hm.¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, the only ones who went to college amongst us, struggled to answer and I took their responses to mean yes.


    ¡°¡­Does it look like we really missed the brief?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked desperately.


    ¡°Well, it does look more like you are just goingpletely natural¡­¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon replied regretfully. The inside of the car fell silent then.


    ¡°S-Still, everyone¡¯s skin looks good so it makes you all look fresh. Haha. Don¡¯t worry about it!¡±


    ¡°Maybe this is even better!¡±


    ¡°You guys don¡¯t really need to dress up anyways! Honestly!¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna tried to cover what they said btedly but the mood didn¡¯t improve.


    <em>¡®This is serious¡­¡¯</em> I thought.


    ***


    Park Soo-Chul looked around the pension porch wearing much less formal clothes than usual. Though he usually dressed informally while going to the studio, he dressed reallyfortably today in training wear from top to bottom. Not just him but the majority of the staff dressed in this manner.


    This was because it wasn¡¯t like they were on a school trip or anything but were simply on a work trip that took ce outside. Most people thought it would be better to wearfortable clothes for a work trip, and the only one excited about the change of scenery was the main producer, Park Soo-Chul.


    ¡°Ahhh! I remember having so much fun when I was in college. It reminds me of the old days, seriously.¡±


    ¡°Ah, what are you going on about?¡±


    ¡°I yed foot volleyball here, cooked pork belly for dinner, and ate ramen and <em>soju </em>at nighttime. Ah, how good those days were.¡±


    ¡°It sure seems like it.¡±


    ¡°Good to be here again.¡±


    ¡°¡­Haa.¡±


    Though Park Soo-Chul was usually energetic, his mood was soaring today. It felt as if he would ept any requests the casts made to him while filming. In a way, he appeared sort of like a schoolteacher on a field day, and the usually strict man appeared softer than usual.


    Of course, for the rest of the broadcasting crew, he sounded just like an excited old man. They wondered how long they would have to put up with him when a car arrived from far away. Everyone looked towards the car and saw that it belonged to Only One. The car¡¯s door opened, and the Only One members walked out.


    ¡°Wow. They give off a different feel outside of the studio.¡±


    ¡°There must be something about Gapyeong. It makes your heart thump.¡±


    People weed the Only One members warmly andplimented them with just their entrance.


    ¡°Hello!¡±


    ¡°Hello~¡±


    Only One greeted each of the staff. Though they all dressed casually, they clearly dressed up. All their outfits made them look like handsome college students. They were drastically different from the main producer, Park Soo-Chul, who dressed in a set of training clothes from top to bottom.


    ¡°Only One members, you look really cool today!¡± Park Soo-Chul greeted them excitedly and the Only One members looked a bit taken aback as they stood awkwardly.


    ¡°Thank you. You also look cool today,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung responded without a change in his expression.


    After that, other groups¡¯ cars began to arrive one by one: Bleshu, Luminin, and OnebyOne. Every time a new car arrived, the scene¡¯s atmosphere changed from employees in a workshop with their employees to a group of college studentsing on their school trip.


    It appeared everyone caught onto today¡¯s shooting¡¯s main theme and all dressed casually but well. This was a good opportunity for them to do some shooting in more everyday wear clothes. The only people they had to wait for were the Sirens now, and there was still ten minutes left before the expected start time.


    ¡°Hmph. They are a bitte.¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not time yet.¡±


    The staff said while staring intently at the pension¡¯s entrance. The Siren members had already be known among the staff for their everyday wear. When the idols sometimes walked around the studio in casual clothes, Siren caught their eye for being so fashionable. Perhaps, they would be able to bring that advantage to its full light today.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Siren¡¯s car.¡±


    Siren¡¯s car came closer from far away with five minutes left before 11 am. People waited for the car¡¯s door to open and looked expectantly to see what they were wearing today.


    <em>Drrr.</em> The door opened, and the Siren members appeared.


    ¡°Sorry that we arete!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°¡­.Huh?¡±


    All the staff looked confused. They had expected Siren to wear the best clothes today, but their current outfits looked too underwhelming.


    ¡°Huh, what are they doing?¡±


    ¡°Did theye with only the intention to practice?¡±


    And when they stood next to the other group members, it was even more noticeable.


    ¡°Pft!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯tugh!¡±


    ¡°Bear it!¡±


    It appeared all the Siren members were also well aware that their clothes were different from the other groups and had their heads deeply bowed, unable to raise them again. The only one who appeared happy among the broadcasting crew was Park Soo-Chul.


    ¡°Ah, as expected of Sirens! They know what¡¯s up! On a school trip, you are meant to dress casually like this and return home after ying your hearts out! Hahaha!¡±


    ¡°Ah, hahaha.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Thank you¡­¡±


    The Sirens replied to each line that Park Soo-Chul said while looking embarrassed.


    The only one who seemed calm among the group was the Siren¡¯s youngest, Bong Tae-Yoon.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon sure looks calm. Does he think nothing of the situation?¡±


    ¡°He is usually expressionless.¡±


    ¡°Okay, since all five teams gathered, let¡¯s begin our opening!¡±


    And this was how they began a strange opening shooting where one group stood in stark contrast with the rest of the four groups with the way they dressed.

 Chapter 80

    Chapter 80


    The members¡¯ faces turned bright red like a tomato, and Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face burned up. Even Woon, who cared the most about his fashion among us, red at me.


    <em>¡®I feel a bit bad.¡¯</em> I wondered if I should have let them choose their clothes, but then I thought, <em>¡®No, it¡¯s better than beingte.¡¯</em>


    Besides how we were doing in the show, we were still rookies; no, not even rookies but a pre-debut group. It was ridiculous to bete with our current status. Of course, I had no intention of beingte even if I had more experience either.


    <em>¡®¡­And isn¡¯t this actually an advantage?¡¯</em> I had thought this might actually be advantageous for us since we were the only ones who hadn¡¯t dressed up among all the groups.


    <em>¡®We¡¯ll stand out much more.¡¯ </em>I thought we¡¯d already shown our cool and cute sides from our previous performance, and we also had Yeon-Hoon¡¯s god-tier visuals. Thus, I thought it might be better to appear like this once or twice to make us feel more approachable, and I thought we needed to own our looks despite our embarrassment.


    ¡°Um, you didn¡¯t forget that we had shooting today, right?¡± Bleshu¡¯s leader, Han Do-Young asked.


    I wondered if he was picking a fight with us, but he seemed to have no ill intentions. Although his question seemed to be asked out of genuine concern, it only seemed to dampen the members¡¯ emotions even more.


    ¡°Ah, no¡­¡±


    ¡°We also knew it was shooting day¡­¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t ask, Mr. Do-Young¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes¡­!¡±


    The members answered with difficulty, and Han Do-Young withdrew with an awkward smile.


    Soon after, Park Soo-Chul said, ¡°Now that all five teams are here, let¡¯s start the opening shoot!¡±


    We gathered in the middle and stood in opening formation for the camera. We somehow ended up standing at the center, and Only One happened to stand next to us.


    ¡°Nice outfit.¡± And out of all ces, Kang Hyun-Sung had to stand next to me. Heplimented my outfit with a sly smile. Hisment was in apletely different category than Han Do-Young¡¯s question just before. While Han Do-Young asked because he really was worried, Kang Hyun-Sungmented to make fun of me. I looked at him to see just how great his outfit was that he could make fun of mine but¡ª


    <em>¡®¡­His clothes do look nice.¡¯ </em>I shut my mouth because it was an indisputable fact that he dressed well.


    ¡°First of all, I¡¯d like to start by saying thank you to everyone for gathering here on time, even though Gapyeong must be far from where everyone lives." It appeared Producer Park Soo-Chul was today¡¯s host, and he began his speech by thanking us. He gave a standard speech. He warned us to pay attention to safety and encouraged us to have fun filming before returning home. He said it was only for today that they were going to film us variety show style, and they would leave uspletely alone to practice tomorrow.


    After saying all the information that was worth sharing, Park Soo-Chul said in a more excited tone than before, ¡°Okay! Then let¡¯s officially start the shoot!¡±


    It seemed as if they hadn¡¯t hired a separate host for the training camp to reduce the production costs.


    <em>¡®But it seems like this middle-aged man is just getting excited by himself.¡¯</em> It almost felt like Park Soo-Chul hadn¡¯t hired a host for his own enjoyment; even though he didn''t appear on camera and only his voice narrated behind the scenes, he still made all kinds of motions with great enthusiasm.


    ¡°First of all, everyone is gathered in their groups, right? Please reassemble ording to your teams for the next performance.¡± At his words, we gathered again in our teams, but before that, it was time for me to say goodbye to the members.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be going.¡±


    ¡°Be confident.¡±


    ¡°Do well.¡±


    The members seemed to take extra care of me because I was the <em>maknae</em>.


    But I said, ¡°You should all try to reel in your anger as much as possible.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll also do well¡­¡±


    Truthfully, the one who had to be on their best behavior was not me but my members, and after I separated from them, I went to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team''s side. When I joined up with the team, I realized again that the team members on my side were tall. I was the tallest in my group, but in this team, I was just average.


    But above all, <em>¡®Why are they all dressed so well?¡¯</em> When tall people dressed up, their aura felt different. Yet, I thought I had to be more confident, especially at times like this.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, didn¡¯t you wear the same clothes when you practiced with us yesterday?¡±


    Did they hate seeing me act so confident? People kept shooting me down with questions that crushed my spirits. The person who asked the question was Only One¡¯s Kim Joo-Hyun. I wondered if Only One members, starting with Kang Hyun-Sung, were all trying to pick a fight with our outfits today, but when I saw Kim Joo-Hyun¡¯s face, he looked like he was just asking out of pure curiosity.


    <em>¡®He really is just asking me innocently.¡¯ </em>I wondered if my current outfit was so bad that it garnered so much reaction; I honestly didn¡¯t know and answered, ¡°It¡¯s the same design but different clothes.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you must be the type to buy several of the same clothes.¡±


    ¡°These are the mostfortable clothes to practice with.¡±


    We chatted like this for a while about my outfit. Clothes just had to cover one¡¯s body, so why did people have so much to say about it? I just stood there and nodded mechanically to people¡¯s questions andments.


    Among them, Kang Hyun-Sung scanned my outfit up and down and suddenly asked a question that hit right on the mark. ¡°Did you oversleep today?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± I didn¡¯t think wearing shabby clothes was such a big deal, but I felt a bit embarrassed about hisment. It was okay that I wore casual clothes, but I was a bit embarrassed that I overslept.


    When I answered with silence, Kang Hyun-Sung seemed a bit taken aback. ¡°Oh, you really overslept?¡± He said in a slight tone of surprise, ¡°I thought it was on purpose.¡±


    Why the hell would I do this on purpose? Of course, I thought we could stand out in this outfit during the opening shoot, but there was no need for us to go this far. Purposely wearing shabby clothes to stand out was not an ordinary person¡¯s thought process. Thus, this meant¡ª


    <em>¡®He doesn¡¯t see me as a normal person.¡¯</em> I could clearly guess how Kang Hyun-Sung saw me.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think it was possible for <em>you </em>to oversleep.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung smiled and said, ¡°It might be because you¡¯re still growing and need a lot of sleep.¡± He muttered as if he was much older than me even though we were only four years apart. I was older than Kang Hyun-Sung if I added up my actual age before regressing. It was so ridiculous that it almost made meugh.


    ¡°Since it looks like we¡¯re all gathered in teams now, let¡¯s start the shooting again!¡± Park Soo-Chul said just in time and gathered our attention. We stopped chatting and stared straight ahead.


    ¡°Can everyone see the three buildings in front of you?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Those are the amodations you¡¯re going to use as a team.¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°It''s really nice.¡±


    I looked at the buildings that Park Soo-Chul pointed at. They were buildings with overall the same appearance but slightly different details. They were modern white buildings with separate rooftops on the second floor. It was not actually a pension but closer to a pool vi. Due to its expensive exterior, everyone responded enthusiastically, and Park Soo-Chul gestured slightly at us to show an even bigger reaction. People elicited a stronger reaction than before and eximed.


    ¡°Wow! It¡¯s the best!¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ll be living in a ce like this!¡±


    ¡°How can a building look this amazing!¡±


    After he got many reaction cuts like this, Park Soo-Chul proceeded with the shooting by saying the next lines, ¡°Now, we¡¯re going to y a distribution game to choose among those three amodations.¡±


    <em>¡®A distribution game?¡¯ </em>The wording sounded a bit strange, but it was easy to guess what it was about by the title.


    ¡°Those three amodations have different characteristics. To exin¡ª,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and took a moment to point to one of the amodations with his hands. ¡°That one has various spa facilities, including a jacuzzi inside.¡±


    People¡¯s heads swooshed to where Park Soo-Chul pointed. A spa facility, including a jacuzzi.


    <em>¡®Wow, that¡¯s good.¡¯</em> There was nothing better than that after a tiring day of practice.


    ¡°And now, if you look at that building over there, there¡¯s a full set of game consoles and top-level desktop additions, including yStation and Switch. There''s a bunch of games avable too.¡± The amodation on the other side had a game room. I personally didn¡¯t think too much of it because I didn¡¯t y many games but¡ª


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s amazing¡­?¡±


    A few members were ted. I wondered if all the dorms had these luxurious advantages and if that was the case, why he had even bothered us to y a ¡®distribution game¡¯.


    ¡°Lastly, there''s the building over there. Unlike the previous two amodations, there¡¯s nothing. There¡¯s just beds and a sofa, and it¡¯s a ce that fulfills the most basic function as an amodation.¡±


    I smirked and nodded at hisst words. As expected, there was no way all the amodations could be good, and the producers would have set a clear method to differentiate them.


    ¡°From now on, all of you will have to y a game to get a choice of those three dorms!¡± Park Soo-Chul smiled while saying this.


    ¡°Wow, I really want to try a jacuzzi.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve yed games.¡±


    ¡°I think we just need to avoidst ce.¡±


    Perhaps due to the great facilities, Park Soo-Chul sessfully ignited a fire in people¡¯s hearts.


    <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t matter to me.¡¯</em> As for me, I wasn¡¯t too impressed as the jacuzzi and game consoles were nice, but it didn¡¯t matter to me as long as I had a ce to sleep. Even using the jacuzzi and ying games were allbor in the end. It didn¡¯t matter to me as long as we could practice and sleep. However, this was only my opinion, and Park Young-Ho from Only One seemed to have a different opinion.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think a jacuzzi would be great, Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡± Park Young-Ho was staring at the amodation where the jacuzzi was located with sparkling eyes.


    ¡°Then I will now introduce the first of the three games we prepared for the amodation selection,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and brought out a sketchbook. ¡°We¡¯re going with a ssic variety show game¡ªOne Voice!¡±


    ''One Voice''. I listened to Park Soo-Chul¡¯s exnation. The rules were simple; two people from each team were chosen as representatives, and they were shown two options such as <em>jajangmyeon</em> vs <em>jjamppong</em> [ref] Chinese-style Korean noodle dishes. [ref/] Both people had to choose one of the two options, and the pair that gave the most number of the same answers was the final winner. Frankly, there was no need to even exin the rules of the game as the name said it all.


    Park Soo-Chul said, ¡°Then, two yers from each team, please step forward.¡± If possible, I wanted to stand in the background and not participate in the game.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t youing out?¡± However, Kang Hyun-Sung came forward first and then looked at me.


    ¡°¡­What?¡± I was taken aback that Kang Hyun-Sung asked me to y the game with him, and a game called One Voice at that. I tilted my head because I wondered why he asked me out of everyone. When I stepped back instead of stepping forward, Kang Hyun-Sung approached me.


    Then he spoke so quietly that the other team members couldn¡¯t hear him, ¡°This is probably the easiest game. Are you nning to just hold out even while not knowing what the other games would be like?¡±


    <em>¡®¡­He does have a point.¡¯ </em>He was right. I didn¡¯t want to participate as much as possible, but since I didn¡¯t know how the situation would proceed, it would be in my best interest to y the easiest game and finish my part for sure. In the end¡­


    ¡°¡­Yes, let¡¯s go.¡± I joined Kang Hyun-Sung as the representative for One Voice. I also scanned the representatives of the other teams.


    In Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon, Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun came out, and in Luminin¡¯s team, Luminin¡¯s leader and <em>maknae</em> came out together. I wondered who would y first when the production crew said, ¡°Kang Hyun-Sung and Bong Tae-Yoon, pleasee forward.¡±


    I supposed we were going first. Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°Let¡¯s do a good job.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Frankly, I had no desire to win; even if we lost or won, it all felt the same to me. I nned to take it easy and move on, and I was just going to work hard to the extent that the public wouldn¡¯t insult me for beingzy. However, this was quite unpleasant but¡­


    ¡°We¡¯ll start with the first option. No onees to my wedding vs no onees to my funeral. So, what¡¯s your choice?¡±


    ¡°No onees to my funeral.¡±


    ¡°No onees to my funeral.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung and I started off to a great start.

 Chapter 81

    Chapter 81


    Kang Hyun-Sung and I were off to a good start. This appeared to be a <em>Would You Rather Bnce</em> game by the questions they posed to us, and both Kang Hyun-Sung and I replied without a hint of hesitation.


    ¡°Winning first ce in a lottery vs. Everyone around me and I have a long, healthy life!¡±


    ¡°Everyone around me and I have a long, healthy life.¡±


    ¡°Everyone around me and I have a long, healthy life.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung and I matched pretty well. Afterward, the bnce game continued for a while.


    ¡°Teleportation vs. Transfiguration!¡±


    ¡°Teleportation.¡±


    ¡°Teleportation.¡±


    ¡°250 per month for a job you liked vs. 1,000 per month for a job you detested.¡±


    ¡°1,000 for a job I detested.¡±


    ¡°1,000 for a job I detested.¡±


    ¡°Workingte till night on Friday vs. Coming to work early morning on Monday.¡±


    ¡°Workingte till night on Friday.¡±


    ¡°Workingte till night on Friday.¡±


    ***


    At the tenth question, I began to feel that something was strange. How could we choose the same answer this many times? Even the producers looked at us doubtfully, as if they were wondering if we had nned this beforehand. But we didn¡¯t even have the time to discuss a n, and there was no point in scheming for a game of this level.


    Furthermore, if we had actually schemed something, we would¡¯ve shown some kind of rule like picking only right or left answers or chosen answers in a pattern like two answers on the left, and then one answer on the right.


    Yet, these rules would¡¯ve easily been discovered, and Kang Hyun-Sung and I chose our answers with no order. Thus, I trusted that the broadcasting crew must have known we used no underhanded tricks.


    Yet, what continued to happen was so unbelievable that it looked as if we had fabricated the whole thing. We spat out the same answer for the eighteenth time, and upon the neenth question, the broadcasting crew changed their sketchbooks like they were going to use theirst hidden card.


    ¡°Cat vs. Dog!¡±


    It was the dilemma of the century. Kang Hyun-Sung and I, who had been answering without hesitation until now, stopped to think for the first time.


    ¡°Dog.¡±


    ¡°Cat.¡±


    In the end, we finally gave different answers. I chose ¡®dog¡¯ while Kang Hyun-Sung chose ¡®cat¡¯.


    ¡°Yeees!¡±


    ¡°They finally got different answers!¡±


    ¡°Wow! It sure took a long time.¡±


    The broadcasting crew looked so d to see our failure that we didn¡¯t know how to respond. Eventually, the broadcasting crew smiled awkwardly and apologized to us for getting too invested in the game. Then, I turned around and joined the rest of my group members. Our current score was 18.


    <em>¡®But the way people look at us is strange.¡¯</em> My members especially looked betrayed.


    ¡°Booo! You traitor!¡± Dong-Joon was the first to express his dissatisfaction.


    ¡°You sure get along well with the other team, Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Are you sad that you are with Siren instead of Only One?¡±


    ¡°Maybe our current team arrangement was Tae-Yoon¡¯s n all along.¡±


    My members treated me like a traitor just because I got many questions right with Kang Hyun-Sung. Perhaps, I needed to worry about them kicking me out of Siren if they saw me performing with Only er. But in the end, I simply shrugged off my group members¡¯ teasing, and that made them act even more fiercely. Our interaction created aedic scene that made everyone in our surroundings roar withughter.


    ¡°Okay, then! Let¡¯s continue the game with the other teams!¡±


    The second game was between Dong-Jun and Yeon-Hoon. I watched to see how they would do.


    <em>¡®But why did they pick those two?</em>¡¯ Out of all the pairings, I wondered why they chose two people couldn¡¯t be more different from each other.


    ¡°Jjajang ramen vs Jjampong ramen.¡±


    ¡°Jjajang ramen!¡±


    ¡°Jjampong ramen!¡±


    As expected, those two crumbled from the very first question, which was basically a copy of the most ssic question of ¡®Jjajangmyeon vs. Jjampong¡¯.


    ¡° It¡¯s over! Can the next teame out!¡± The main director, Park Soo-Chul looked satisfied by what happened and yelled that the game was over cheerfully. Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun med each other as they returned to their team. The Luminin team got five of the same answers until they failed the sixth question. Thus, the first win came to our team with a score of 18.


    ¡°Good job leader.¡±


    ¡°You too, Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°No, it was nothing.¡±


    The second game was physical. It was also a ssic game where the yers had to get postcards off of them without using their hands. A representative from each team came out to y the game and from our team, Bleshu¡¯s Kang Jin-Kyu volunteered. Kang Jin-Kyu assured us that he was good at ying physical games like this and told us to trust him.


    ¡°Mr. Kang Jin-Kyu,st ce!¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    And the first ce went to¡­Woon.


    ¡°Siren¡¯s Mr. Lee Woon is so fast.¡±


    ¡°I thought he had a motor on his body or something.¡±


    When Woon came out while looking very serious, he started to run in one spot with all his might. Because of how powerful his movements and how fast his speed were, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him in shock. People only started tough after he dropped all the Post-it notes on his body in twenty seconds. Our team¡¯s representative, Kang Jin-Kyu had stood right next to Woon of all ces and started the gamete after watching Woon in astonishment. That was the reason for hisst ce.


    ¡°I have no excuses. When I saw Woon run hard enough to make the wind blow next to me I couldn¡¯t help but stare,¡± Kang Jin-Kyu admitted his failure and exined that his loss was inevitable. I also felt like I would act the same in his situation and empathized with him. The final game was one most fitting for an idol survival show: it was a random dance y game.


    Two people needed toe out from each team. In my team, Only One¡¯s Park Young-Ho and Lee Chul-Woon came out. Lee Chul-Woon appeared a bit unconfident but determined to do his best. From Luminin¡¯s team, the group¡¯s main dancer and main vocalist came out. Yet, we had to wait a bit for the team which my Siren members were part of to send out their representatives.


    ¡°Ah! We¡¯ll do it! We¡¯ll do a really good job!¡±


    ¡°But since Mr. Do-Young and Mr. Ji-Hyuk also want to do the game, I think it¡¯s only right to give everyone a fair chance.¡±


    ¡°Ah, seriously. Don¡¯t you all know that we are better at dancing?¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    These were the two viins of my Siren group members¡¯ team: OnebyeOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. Those two were on top of my list of people that I wanted to smack on the head, and as expected, they were throwing a fuss again. After seeing their behaviors in person, I understood what my group members must have gone through more clearly. The content of their words was in annoying butbined with their motions and tone of voice, they appeared like guys cutely whining to people who they were close with.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s hard to deal with them.¡¯ </em>Those two were clinging to my group members, smiling, and gesturing in a way that was hard for the receiver to refuse their request. It didn¡¯t look good because I could feel the tension in the air and there was a sense of forcefulness in their movements. But if their actions were passed through the camera filters, they wouldn¡¯t look rude but like cute members whining to their close, older members.


    <em>¡®No wonder my group members are having a hard time.¡¯ </em>They could be insulted for their behaviors on air but it wasn¡¯t to the point that would lead to their doom. If possible, I needed to put them in their ce somehow¡ªat least to the point that my group members could easily deal with them. Yet, there was no clear method that I could immediately think of.


    ¡°Um, Mr. Chul-Woon.¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°If you are fine with it, could I do this random y dance?¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    I wanted to see these two faces fall at least once. Lee Chul-Woon seemed to have felt forced to participate in this game and didn¡¯t appear too confident about ying it. Thus, he seemed d to see me volunteer myself.


    ¡°Then, will Mr. Tae-Yoon and I be going out together?¡± Park Young-Ho seemed equally happy as Lee Chul-Woon that I was participating in this game.


    ¡°Well, yes.¡± I also asked my other teammates if I could participate in Chul-Woon¡¯s stead and they told me to do as I wished.


    ¡°I¡¯m really good at the random y dance! There was a time when I danced it every day in a church camp and did it a lot of times at school break times.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I see.¡±


    ¡°I know pretty much all the recent songs, <em>really</em>,¡± he told me.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    I simply nodded to Park Young-Ho¡¯s words and thought about my Insight ability. I could only use Insight once a day but I wondered if I could lengthen the time I used it. Since I had control over the ability now, perhaps, I could also increase its use time. I also felt myself bing more and more used to the sensation of the ability. Thus, I thought it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to lengthen its time a bit right now.


    ¡°Okay! Let¡¯s start our random y dance!¡±


    The game began when we stepped forward. People were eliminated if they made the wrong dance move and just one person needed to survive each time. Matching the time the music came out, I used my Insight ability¡ªvery long and powerfully this time.


    ***


    Park Young-Ho wanted to punch his past self who had bragged confidently to Tae-Yoon about his random dance skills. It was as if he had bragged to a pro gamer that he was good at games and a pro athlete that he was good at sports. As soon as the random y dance began, the air changed when Bong Tae-Yoon moved as the center. This was the first time Park Young-Ho had seen such a powerful and skilled random y dance.


    The enjoyment of watching random y dance was seeing yers have a slightg before beginning their dance and showing viewers a feeling of awkwardness and nervousness the yers also felt. Yet, there was not a moment of hesitation or awkwardness in Tae-Yoon¡¯s movements. He was simply perfect, magnificent, and inspiring.


    ¡ªYou are my heart¡¯s SHOOTING STAR¡ª!


    ¡ªMy heart goes t<em>hump, thump</em>¡ª!


    He even perfectly danced to a girl group¡¯s song that was released ten years ago in perfect sync. His dance moves, expressions, and gestures seemed to have exactly copied from the performance of the original singers. In the end, Park Young-Ho himself gave up on the game and backed away. Eventually, the only one remaining on top of the stage was Bong Tae-Yoon. All the broadcasting crew was staring at Tae-Yoon in the same sense of shock and admiration.


    A faint, feverish passion flowed out of Tae-Yoon¡¯s eyes. It was as if he was a master who became one with dance.


    ***


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, stop!¡±


    Because I used my Insight ability, all my senses were concentrated on dancing. I was only able to break out from that fixation from the producing director¡¯s call, and I quickly canceled my Insight.


    <em>Whoosh!</em> I felt a strong sense of dizziness then and fell on one knee.


    ¡°Uhh!¡± <em>Boom.</em> I managed to endure by putting great force into my legs and clenched my teeth to bear the headache. I bowed my head to cover my face from the cameras and swallowed back my pain.


    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±


    ¡°Wow, that was amazing!¡±


    ¡°Everyone, p!¡±


    ¡°That was just¡­¡±


    ¡°That was the best I¡¯ve seen someone do a random y dance.¡±


    ¡°Did your legs go out as a result?¡±


    As I struggled against the afterpain of using Insight, people pped and cheered for me. It seemed people thought I had been too focused on my dancing that I lost my bnce and staggered instead of falling in pain.


    <em>¡®¡­Now that I think about it, I¡¯m the only one on the stage.¡¯</em> It seemed I made history in this random y dance without even realizing it. That hadn¡¯t been my intention but when I saw Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon stare at me in shock, it felt good.


    <em>¡®Sucks for them,¡¯ </em>I thought. They probably had thought they would be the main characters of this game before I suddenly appeared and took the spotlight off them. Seeing their expressions, I felt no regret for using my Insight ability for a long time. The only drawback I had was that my head hurt and it burdened my body a bit.


    ¡°First ce goes to Mr. Tae-Yoon! It was truly an amazing performance!¡± Park Soo-Chul announced that our team won again. Since we won a total of two games out of three, we ended up in first ce. It felt like I had worked too hard on these games even though that hadn¡¯t been my intention.


    ¡°Good work.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung approached me and patted my back. I felt a bit annoyed that he touched me without permission, but what I heard next immediately improved my mood again.


    [A surprise mission]


    I usually wasn¡¯t happy about these surprise missions, but it was different this time.


    [Go hide in a bathroom stall before anyone elsees during break time.]


    [Upon sess, you will gain Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s weaknesses.]


    [Upon failure, Siren members¡¯ stress level rises.]


    The system was finally helping me for the first time today. The words ¡®gain Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s weaknesses¡¯ clearly rang in my head, and I thought, <em>¡®Yeah, this is what I expected a system would do.¡¯</em>


    For the first time since I went back in the past, I felt like I had regressed.

 Chapter 82

    Chapter 82


    [A surprise mission]


    [Go hide in a bathroom stall before anyone elsees during break time.]


    [Upon sess, you will gain Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s weaknesses.]


    [Upon failure, Siren members¡¯ stress level rises.]


    I reyed the contents of the surprise mission that rang in my ears again. The sweet phrase, ¡®Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s weaknesses¡¯, lingered in my mind. I¡¯ve been waiting for a surprise mission like this, and these were the special perks I¡¯ve been waiting for as a regressor. In novels, the ¡®system¡¯ usually gave out cheat-like skills and advantages to people who were already going to be strong anyway. However, in my case, the system gave me barely any cheats and extremely difficult quests.


    <em>¡®But this is it.¡¯ </em>This was the easiest and most timely mission I had so far.


    On the other hand, Park Young-Ho must have misinterpreted my smile as he approached me with a big smile on his face. ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, your random y dance was amazing! I¡¯ve never seen someone so good at that game before.¡±


    ¡°Ah? What? Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°Your gaze changed so starkly every time the song changed¡­I thought I was seeing something like the Chinese <em>Bian Lian</em>[1]!¡±


    I heard Park Young-Ho¡¯s grandiose praise in one ear and let it out the other ear. Then I stared at Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon once more. Their expressions looked very annoyed. Though it was my second time seeing such expressions from them, it felt fresh and delightful every time. Then I met Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes for a brief moment.


    ¡ªGreat job, Tae-Yoon.


    Dong-Jun mouthed these words with a big smile. I replied with a slight nod and thought about the surprise mission¡¯s content. Since I was so focused on Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s weaknesses, I had not thought much about it. But honestly, the content was simple. I just needed to go to the bathroom stall during break time. Compared to my previous missions, it was so easy that it was almost embarrassing to make theparisons.


    First of all, there was only one bathroom outside here. There were probably restrooms in each building, but the surprise mission probably wasn¡¯t telling me to infiltrate the restrooms inside the buildings. Considering that it told me to go ahead of anybody else and stay hidden in a bathroom stall, it was probably a public restroom, and the only bathroom that fit this criteria was the bathroom outside.


    <em>¡®I wonder when the break time is.¡¯</em> I roughly assessed the shooting¡¯s atmosphere, and it still felt like we were in the middle of filming. They were getting more reaction cuts from our team that won first ce. The new topic was whether we were going to take a break after we finished filming and deciding on our amodation or taking a short break now.


    ¡°Then, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team, who won, will decide their amodation first!¡± As I expected, we were going to take a break after choosing our amodation first; timing-wise, this was better. I scanned the team members. Only One members, including Kang Hyun-Sung, Bleshu¡¯s Kang Jin-Kyu, and OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Sang-Hoon and Choi Jin-Young. Everyone was staring at me, and I wondered why.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to choose the dorm?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked.


    ¡°You want me to choose?¡± I wondered why they passed the decision to me.


    ¡°We won two games, all thanks to you.¡± Thanks to Only One¡¯s Kim Si-Woon saying this to me, I finally grasped the context of their behavior. True to their words, I did lead two games to victory.


    However, I didn¡¯t care which dorm we chose, so I said, ¡°I have no thoughts about selecting the dorms.¡± And then I added, ¡°If it really is okay for me to choose, can I choose the dorms with no options?¡± Rather than a jacuzzi or games, my top priority was sleeping well.


    I continued, ¡°We could be distracted during practice time instead, so it might be helpful to get rid of temptations in the first ce.¡± Thus, I thought the dorm without options was the best choice. I thought I spoke somewhat logically, but the faces of my team members became grim. Kang Hyun-Sung was the only one who nodded.


    Judging by their reactions, I might be public enemy number 1 if I chose a dorm without options. Thus, I gave them another chance to reverse their decision, ¡°Would it really be all right to leave me with the right to decide the dorm?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s choose by voting.¡± People jumped in at the chance to take back my right to decide the amodation, and the result of the voting was¡ª


    ¡°We¡¯ll choose the jacuzzi dorm.¡±


    ¡°All right! Team Kang Hyun-Sung has been assigned the jacuzzi dorm!¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡± I made a mechanical reaction and pped. On the bright side, I thought the jacuzzi dorm was better than the one with a game room as the jacuzzi took around 30 minutes at most, but games used up at least a few hours. Then, as expected, the game room dorm was taken by Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon, who came in second ce.


    ¡°Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon has been assigned the dorm with the game room!¡±


    ¡°Wooooow!¡±


    ¡°Games!¡±


    The people over there screamed with genuine delight, especially Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon.


    <em>¡®It makes me angry to see them happy.¡¯ </em>I wondered if I should have chosen the dorm with the game room to spite them. Lastly, the room with no option was taken by Luminin, who came in third ce.


    ¡°Then you can all have your free time from now on! Take a good rest, look around the dorms, and unpack your belongings~.¡± And finally, the time that I¡¯ve been waiting for arrived.


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    It was now time for us to shoot the dorm tour.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, let¡¯s go inside and look at the jacuzzi!¡± Park Young-Ho excitedly said.


    But I replied, ¡°I have to use the bathroom first.¡±


    I moved in the opposite direction and quickly hid in a bathroom stall. Since the mission gave me a specific ce to hide, I thought a predictable development would follow where Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon would gossip in the bathroom. It was a clich¨¦ to hear secrets in the bathroom whether it was in dramas or stories. Frankly, this became a clich¨¦ because it happened frequently in real life. I held my breath and stayed quiet after entering the stall. Then I turned on the phone recording function. And just as I expected¡ª


    ¡°Ah, it was so hard to watch that bastard Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s disgusting dance.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, when I saw him do those bitches¡¯ group dances, I almost vomited for real.¡±


    Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon came into the bathroom swearing. I wanted to thank myself for turning on the recording function in advance.


    * * *


    Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon went into the outdoor bathroom and began venting out all the frustrations they acquired during the shooting. The main ways they vented their annoyance was through smoking and swearing.


    ¡°Ah, it was so hard to watch that bastard Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s disgusting dance.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, when I saw him do those bitches¡¯ group dances, I almost vomited for real.¡±


    Since they couldn¡¯t swear on the show, they had to do it as much as they could when they had their microphones off. Thus, they cursed harder than usual, as if they were showing off how good they were at cursing. They chewed out Bong Tae-Yoon with a cigarette in their mouths. They wanted to smoke with the staff in the smoking area, but it would be troublesome if they got the image that they didn¡¯t take care of their image, so they secretly hid and smoked there. The two poured out curses and harsh words as if they werepeting to see who was the bigger trash-talker.


    ¡°Damn, I¡¯ll have to go and fucking suck up to Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    ¡°Those Siren bastards have no sense. All they have to do is just do as we say, but how dare they fucking question us.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go and butter up those bastards and drag them to our side. I¡¯m telling you, I almost got them.¡±


    ¡°But Woo Yeon-Hoon would be like, ¡®<em>Ah, really? But don¡¯t you think there might be a better way?¡¯</em> and pretend to be all nice and sweet.¡±


    ¡°His nice act is fucking nauseating.¡±


    ¡°I want to m those shitbags¡¯ heads to the ground and beat the living shit out of them.¡±


    ¡°Dude, I¡¯m confident I can crush Lee Woon¡¯s leg.¡±


    ¡°Then I can take Kang Do-Seung. That bastard tries so hard to be tough. If we met outside this program, I would have beaten the hell out of him.¡±


    ¡°What, you sure he¡¯s not going to beat you shitless instead?¡±


    ¡°Ah, what the hell? I got mad muscles. That bastard muscles are just full of air.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re full of shit.¡±


    Then they checked the mirror and tapped the cigarette ash. It was time for them to head back.


    ¡°Hey, do you have Febreeze?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I have it here.¡±


    ¡°Spray it.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡±


    ¡°Ah, will the smell of cigs go away?¡±


    ¡°Damn it, I should seriously quit smoking or something. It¡¯s a pain in the ass to do this every day.¡±


    They sprayed their clothes until it was almost soaking to erase the cigarette smell when¡ª


    <em>Squeak.</em>


    They heard a squeak and the sound of metal scratching from the toilet stall. Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon, who were busy spraying Febreeze, flinched in surprise and stopped and turned back. Bong Tae-Yoon was standing behind them.


    ¡°You seriously think you can get rid of the cigarette smell just by spraying that?¡± His expression was distorted like an evil spirit, and he looked like he could kill someone. Before Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon could finish assessing the situation, Bong Tae-Yoon raised his phone and yed the file he had recorded.


    ¨CAh, it was so hard to watch that bastard Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s disgusting dance.


    ¨CYeah, when I saw him do those bitches¡¯ group dances, I almost vomited for real.


    ¡°I also have a backup, so don¡¯t rack your head to get out of this and smash your head to the ground.¡± Bong Tae-Yoon said as he pulled out a mop rod that had been ced in the corner of the bathroom.


    Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon thought about joining forces and catching Bong Tae-Yoon for a moment.


    <em>¡®We¡¯re fucked.¡¯</em>


    <em>¡®Fuck.¡¯</em>


    But they soon realized that the only safe way to cover up this incident was to obediently smash their heads to the tile floor.


    * * *


    I smacked the mop rod on the floor and pondered if I should beat the crap out of these guys until they puked out blood. At first, I pulled out the mop rod to beat every inch of their bodies, but I felt a bit hesitant once I actually tried to hit them. I wondered if I really had to use my own hands for these lowly bastards. They looked like they were already in pain by smacking their head on the floor, but I didn¡¯t beat them.


    Frankly, I originally had no intention of going this far, but the level of what they said had gone far past my expectations. They talked about how they would crush Woon¡¯s legs or beat up Do-Seung. It was not at a level where I could just endure it and easily let them go. I needed to at least do this much to calm my anger. When it seemed like a crack might form on their heads, I pushed them with my feet. Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon were pushed aside and rolled on the bathroom floor.


    ¡°Stand up straight.¡± At my order, they faltered to stand up.


    ¡°Pwehh.¡± I sighed deeply to calm down and stared at them. There were countless ways for me to make these guys suffer. If I released this recording, these two bastards, including all of OnebyOne, would plummet to the abyss. These guys hadn¡¯t just used a lot of swear words. They said misogynisticments, threats about hurting someone, and remarks full of mockery and ridicule. These were not statements that could just end with people getting shocked that idols cursed. These guys were probably well aware of this as well, and that was the reason why they were acting so obedient to me now. Personally, I wanted to release this recording and send them to hell, but¡­


    <em>¡®¡­It¡¯s a shame that there¡¯s still the performance left.¡¯</em>


    Besides everything, these guys still had to perform with my members. I was beyond infuriated that I had to send these trash back to my members¡¯ side, but the show needed to go on. Thus, I needed to teach them a lesson to make sure they at least listened well to the members.


    ¡°If you go out and act rude to my members one more time, I¡¯ll release this recording.¡± I was going to offer the minimumpromise. ¡°So once you get out of here, make sure to never carelessly prattle your mouth again and act cooperative at all times,¡± I told them to behave well in front of the members and cooperate with them for the performance.


    Honestly, I was acting quite gentlemanly, and Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon seemed to realize that as well as they said, ¡°¡­R-really?¡± Their eyes shone even while rubbing their sore heads.


    I got annoyed again, seeing their eyes brim with hope. However, if I punished them more here, it could disrupt the performance, so I had no choice but to suppress my anger. I had to be careful because I had no idea whether this recording would simply end with these two or they would bring the whole show down with them.


    But above all, I thought,<em> ¡®Weaknesses are most effective when you hold onto them without using them right away.¡¯</em> I had no idea what these two trolls would do if I released this recording on the inte. They might try to bring down everyone along with them by spreading false rumors, and the whole situation might turn into a shitshow. False rumors spread by others may determine the team¡¯s fate at such a crucial time like this. Thus, for now, this was the safest way, since I could only control these two if I had their weakness in my hands.


    I suppressed my anger again and repeated, ¡°If you two don¡¯t cooperate properly, I will release this recording directly on the inte, so make sure that I hear nothing bad from you.¡±


    Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon nodded with grim expressions.


    ¡°Then go now. I don¡¯t even want to see your faces,¡± I said, throwing the mop rod against the wall. Then the two went out of the bathroom while nervously ncing at me. I leaned back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling after the two left. The situation was resolved in the end, but I didn¡¯t feelpletely relieved as it was still unknown whether they would really shape up in front of my members.


    <em>¡®I¡¯m worried.¡¯</em> I was most annoyed that I had to send these pathetic bastards back to my members. I wanted to injure them so they would drop out of the show, but then I would be a criminal then. I couldn¡¯tmit a crime and be a criminal for pathetic losers like them and came out of the bathroom with a deep sigh. I nned to return to the dorm after ventting the cigarette smell out from those bastards. But¡ª


    Someone approached me from behind and spoke right to my ear. When I looked back in surprise¡ª


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to our dorm.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung was standing in front of me. ¡°I didn¡¯t record a video or voice recording, so don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡­Anyway, how I saw it, it seemed as if our fates were tangled in the worst way possible. How could Kang Hyun-Sung always pop out whenever I did something¡­?


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    My head hurt.


    1. Ancient Chinese dramatic art where performers quickly change masks to dramatic music. ?

 Chapter 83

    Chapter 83


    At this point, maybe I had some kind of connection with Kang Hyun-Sung in my past life. What else could exin how we got tangled up in every big event to this extent? Perhaps, we were arch nemesis, lovers, or both in our past lives. I scratched my head. I couldn¡¯t guarantee whether or not Kang Hyun-Sung recorded what he just saw or not. His promises were meaningless without evidence.


    Perhaps, Kang Hyun-Sung read my doubtful eyes, and he offered, ¡°Do you want to see my phone or something?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°I told you I didn¡¯t record anything, but you don¡¯t seem to believe me.¡±


    ¡°Do you not have a recorder on you?¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­Never mind.¡± I thought Kang Hyun-Sung might carry a recorder with him, but I quickly changed my mind, thinking that I was being too skeptical. But as I was thinking this, Kang Hyun-Sung pulled out a recorder from his pocket.


    ¡°Here it is. I didn¡¯t turn it on. I just carry this around to hear myself when I sing. You know, since there is a limit to recording on your phone.¡±


    It was a reasonable excuse. For now, I confirmed that his recorder wasn¡¯t on. Then, Kang Hyun-Sung turned on the recorder himself and showed me the records. Among the records, there was none that had today¡¯s date.


    By then, I wondered, <em>¡®Why does it seem like he¡¯s trying to cover for me?¡¯ </em>He was totally capable of recording the situation since he carried a recorder around with him everywhere, yet he didn¡¯t leave any evidence behind as if he had purposefully wanted to cover up the situation for me.


    ¡°With this, my debts are paid.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go now to look at the amodations.¡±


    <em>¡®What was he talking about? He owed me debts?¡¯</em> Even after racking my head, there was nothing I could guess what he was referring to. But since he was the one saying this, I just glossed over the situation while thanking my good fortune.


    ***


    Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon murmured curses as soon as they got out of the bathroom.


    ¡°Fuck. Shit! What¡¯s wrong with that bastard!¡±


    Since they were on a deserted path where staff didn¡¯t usually enter, they could yell and curse as much as they wished. But they still soon lowered their voices, knowing that someone could find them if they continued to scream repeatedly. They were outside, after all.


    ¡°Haaa. Fuck. What do we do now?¡± Kim Joon-Hyuk asked Lee Young-Joon. They couldn¡¯t act rashly when their private conversation had been recorded.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal for people to curse and stuff. How dare he use that against us?¡± In the end, Kim Joon-Hyuk couldn¡¯t withstand the anger overflowing out of him any longer and kicked at any random tree root. But of course, the tree didn¡¯t budge and only his toes felt pain from the kick.


    In their hearts, the two knew that they hadn¡¯t simply said some curse words; they demeaned some people and tried to harm another person. Furthermore, their word choices were beyond repulsive. Yet, these two didn¡¯t think about these points and were simply displeased by the fact that someone had caught their weaknesses and used them to exercise control over them.


    ¡°Joon-Hyuk.¡±


    ¡°What!¡±


    ¡°Should we just fight that bastard?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°We can hold him down and pound on him. Then, we can take his phone and erase all the recordings.¡±


    ¡°He said he made backups.¡±


    ¡°Even if he did that, he probably just moved the recordings to chat rooms or uploaded them on his cloud.¡±


    ¡°So, how will we erase those?¡±


    ¡°You know everything is done with fingerprint verification. We can unlock everything with his fingerprint and erase everything.¡±


    ¡°¡­Will we be able to handle the aftermath?¡±


    ¡°Then, do you want to live the rest of your life listening to that bastard? We can just hit him in ces that aren¡¯t visible.¡±


    ¡°Well but¡­¡± Kim Joon-Hyuk was about to say something but closed his mouth. If he could, he also wanted to follow Lee Young-Joon¡¯s suggestion. He wanted to capture Tae-Yoon, beat him up, and erase the recordings. But the tiny shred of conscience¡ªwhat others called morality¡ªseemed to hold him back.


    <em>¡®Besides, it might leave us more screwed.¡¯</em> It would be good if they seeded, but if they failed, he couldn¡¯t fathom how much this issue could escte. If anyone caught them attacking Bong Tae-Yoon, it would be over.


    <em>¡®They could really sue us then.¡¯ </em>And this incident wouldn¡¯t end with just a scandal, but they could really go to jail. But the most crucial factor holding him back was this:


    <em>¡®He¡¯s seriously scary.¡¯ </em>Truthfully, Kim Joon-Hyuk couldn¡¯t realistically imagine winning against Tae-Yoon even if they attacked him together. It had been his first time seeing someone make such a frightening face. Tae-Yoon was usually cold-looking, and when he scowled threateningly on top of that, it intimidated him a bit. Furthermore, the physical differences between him and them were drastic. There was probably an over ten centimeters difference between their heights.


    ¡°So, what? Are you going to fucking do it or not? Why did you stop talking suddenly?¡± Lee Young-Joon asked.


    Kim Joon-Hyuk had a hard time opening his mouth. If things went wrong, this wouldn¡¯t end with just their wrongdoings. It could lead to the cancetion of the program or even the disbanding of their group. Theirpany already had little money, so if they didn¡¯t catch the public¡¯s attention this time, they could really not work anymore. If Tae-Yoon¡¯s recordings became released to the public in this situation or they were sued for assault, the little fame they managed to amass would backfire on them.


    ¡°Hey, so are you not going to do it? How long are you going to ignore me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking, you idiot,¡± Kim Joon-Hyuk finished thinking and said, ¡°¡­Let¡¯s not resort to violence.¡± No matter how much he thought about it, beating someone up wasn¡¯t the right way to go about this situation. Furthermore, they might end up getting beaten up by Tae-Yoon instead.


    ¡°How about we just steal his phone? While that bastard is sleeping, we could use his fingerprint to unlock his phone.¡± This seemed like a much better n. Though Lee Young-Joon seemed displeased by the idea, he eventually replied.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    ¡°Fine. Then, let¡¯s take his phone and try to unlock it somehow.¡± It seemed Lee Young-Joon also realized that this was the most realistic n. Thus, the two decided to act during the night and solidify their n.


    ***


    I returned to the lodging ce with Kang Hyun-Sung. Perhaps, it was because of the tense conflict I had in the bathroom, that I couldn¡¯t get used to this atmosphere at all.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon! Look here! Jacuzzi! Jacuzzi!¡± Young-Ho pulled me towards the jacuzzi as soon as I returned. The jacuzzi was installed on the second-floor veranda. I couldn¡¯t understand how such a structure could fit into a veranda, but I quickly changed my mind when I saw the ce. The veranda wasn¡¯t a normal veranda.


    ¡°¡­This is insane.¡± The veranda was more like a mid-sized garden attached to the second floor and floating from the bottom. There were a total of three jacuzzis installed in total and next to them, there was a massage chair, foot bath, and other spa goods.


    <em>¡®They sure used some money,¡¯ </em>I thought. The ce looked like someone¡¯s dream resting ce.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be so nice for us to use this all together after finishing our practice?¡± Young-Ho jumped up and down like an excited dog. If he had a tail, he would probably be wagging it around like a motor. Even Kang Hyun-Sung appeared shocked about our amodations and looked at the space wide-eyed.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s nice but we also have to practice. Everyone change your clothes and gather at the practice room.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to have realized that this wasn¡¯t the type to dilly dally and rx. And though people appeared regretful to hear this, they went down one by one. Young-Ho looked back at the jacuzzi sadly but Kang Hyun-Sung clutched his arms around his shoulders and dragged him down. Like that, we all went to prepare for our practice.


    ***


    After taking out our practice uniforms from our individual carriers, we all gathered at the practice room. The producers had changed karaoke rooms and pool hallsmonly found in premium vis into practice rooms, so there was a room for casts to practice in each lodging ce. After removing all the pool boards and karaoke machines, the rooms were spacious and empty, so that it was perfect for us to practice for our performance.


    ¡°The speaker¡¯s performance is unexpectedly good.¡±


    ¡°Well, this ce used to be a karaoke room.¡±


    After getting familiar with the ce, everyone focused on their practice. We had all memorized our dance moves by now and were just adding details to the performance. The songposition would soon be finished, and one could say that we were already in the safe zone whenpeting. Yet¡­


    [Probability of winning first ce: 65%]


    My group¡¯s possibility of winning didn¡¯t seem to rise any further. Was it because I failed to do something at the center? But I had memorized the dance moves by even utilizing the Insight ability. I had done as much as I could at the center and wondered what the problem was.


    <em>¡®Perhaps, it¡¯s not me who¡¯s the problem.¡¯ </em>We wouldn¡¯t be able to win by just me doing a good job. My group members all needed to individually get high scores for us to get first in the end since the third performance¡¯s results were decided by adding each of the individuals¡¯ scores and getting the average of it. Everyone needed to do well to increase that average. And I thought our probability of winning would naturally go up since I caught OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s weaknesses, but the probability remained the same.


    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em> At this point, there seemed to be two remaining possibilities. Perhaps, I was doing a really bad job at this, or Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon still hadn¡¯te to their senses yet. There was no way my group members wouldn¡¯t do a good job in their performance. They were guys who could¡¯ve debuted a long time ago and actually had opportunities or got close to debuting in bigpanies. I thought I should check up on Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon again when somebody¡¯s phone vibrated. It came from Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡°Let¡¯s rest a bit.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung stopped the music and went to get his phone.


    <em>¡®What¡¯s going on?¡¯</em> I wondered.


    After reading the content, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s face turned serious and he said, ¡°I will share what I just got with you all. Please check it.¡± Then, he uploaded the message he got onto the group chat.


    ¡ªThere¡¯s no point in camping altogether if you all just practice by yourselves! Thus, we will have a midterm checkup on each of the group¡¯s performances in the form of apetition!


    ¡ªPlease gather at the central yard one hour from now on and show us the stage you have prepared until now.


    ¡ªPrepare your hearts because you will be harshly scrutinizing each others¡¯ performances and criticizing them!


    This was basically a time for us to batter and bring down the other teams.


    ¡°Did everyone read the messages?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked. Everyone nodded. There seemed to be no one among our team who seemed to wee this event much. As trainees, we were already reluctant to show an iplete performance.


    <em>¡®But I suppose this is an opportunity for me to check on how Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon are acting.¡¯ </em>This was an event that was good for me in some ways, but everyone else looked worried sick.


    Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to have noticed their reaction and proposed, ¡°Okay, why don¡¯t we do this? There¡¯s no need for us to show our performance as it is and reveal to all the other groups our tricks and ns.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung came up with a couple of ideas to relieve his members¡¯ worries.


    ¡°Rather than showing them our final arrangement version, let¡¯s show them our original version. In other words, we shouldn¡¯t give it our all.¡± This made sense to do. If we did this, we wouldn¡¯t bepletely lying, and even if we were reprimanded for not trying our best, we could still be forgiven in the end.


    ¡°And Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°I will stand in the center this time.¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    And that wasn¡¯t all. Kang Hyun-Sung asked to change the center positions. I wondered if this guy was suddenly coveting the center position and grabbing his chance now. It had been suspicious how well he seemed to have been treating me.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, you are the core of this performance. There is no need for us to show this hidden card too. So, why don¡¯t you stand in the back for today?¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡± I couldn¡¯t understand what he meant and that wasn¡¯t all.


    ¡°And you can learn from me...¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°What it means to be the center,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said.


    I almost doubted my ears. How could he say such arrogant words with his own mouth?

 Chapter 84

    Chapter 84


    I doubted my ears and tried to interpret what Kang Hyun-Sung had just said. However, there was nothing for me to interpret as he meant exactly what he said. I was about to let out a hollowugh because of how ridiculous it was, but¡ª


    ¡°Wow, that confidence!¡±


    ¡°How cool!¡±


    ¡°Damn!¡±


    The team¡¯s response was good, as I supposed Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s line sounded cool to them. On second thought, I guess it would have sounded ridiculous if an inexperienced noob said that, but Kang Hyun-Sung was skilled. Thus, the team members reacted positively.


    Honestly, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s skill was more than enough to be a first-tier idol, but of course, being a first-tier idol was not all about great skill. I just smiled lightly and nodded. Since he told me to learn from him, all I needed to do was just sit back and watch how well he did.


    ¡°Chul-Woon, you be the main dancer for now, and Mr. Tae-Yoon, you take Chul-Woon¡¯s position.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I got it.¡±


    Like that, Kang Hyun-Sung took the center position, Lee Chul-Woon the main dancer position, and I became in charge of the lead dancer position. Although it was a major change in positions, we¡¯d alreadypletely mastered our choreography, so with just one run, we were able to adjust to our position.


    Of course, the details were definitely worse than before, but I thought, ¡®<em>This should be enough.¡¯</em>


    This was not a performance to showcase all of our skills. It was a midterm checkup that allowed us to think strategically and aim to cause a disturbance among the other team members. It might be more advantageous for us to drop the details in a usible way but hide our true skills.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go through it one or two more times and move to the central yard.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°I got it~¡±


    Under Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s instructions, we continued to practice for the midterm checkup.


    * * *


    Producer Park Soo-Chul was setting up the stage in the central yard and taking a sip of coffee. Frankly, it was too exorbitant to call it a stage. All they did was put a wooden board on the floor to cover rocks on the ground to prevent injuries since mming one¡¯s knee on a wooden board would cause fewer injuries than on the stone floor.


    ¡°Have you finished setting it up?¡±


    ¡°Well, yes, sir. All we have to do is fix it on the floor without having to install it.¡±


    ¡°Did you fix it on the ground well so it won¡¯t shake?¡±


    ¡°Yes, of course.¡±


    Park Soo-Chul went up on the board himself and shook his body back and forth to test out the wooden boards; they were firmly fixed. He said, ¡°You can rest well after finishing this today~¡±


    ¡°Sir, you¡¯re the only one taking a break while we have to take out the memory cards from the observation cameras inside the dorms. Then, during the night, we have to go around each dorm to turn off the camera. Besides that, we have a lot of things to do.¡±


    ¡°But they¡¯re all menial tasks anyways.¡±


    ¡°Then, sir, why don¡¯t you do those menial tasks yourself then?¡±


    ¡°Am I mistaken to think your word choices are getting stronger?¡±


    ¡°¡­Haha.¡±


    ¡°Take your time to slowly take out those memory cards, and just make sure to turn off the cameras at night. Otherwise, the agencies willin.¡±


    ¡°They sent outints?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah. They say they don¡¯t agree with filming the boys while they sleep. They told us to at least let them rest peacefully at night.¡±


    ¡°¡­Hmm. Well, they do have a point.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re just ying hardball. I just went easy on them and epted it to keep their pride.¡± Park Soo-Chul said and put an e-cigarette in his mouth. He took a big puff and swiped his hand. ¡°Finish it well and call me when it¡¯s time for the midterm checkup.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    Park Soo-Chul moved to his lodging after ordering his subordinates. Frankly, the midterm checkup hadn¡¯t been part of the original n, and they had nned to do something simple like a dinner menu bet. However, he changed his mind and decided to switch the program. And the reason for that was¡ª


    <em>¡®There¡¯s definitely trouble with Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon.¡¯</em> He wanted to check the temperaments of those two members. Park Soo-Chul had checked what the production crew brought from the practice room observation camera, as it was a good idea to check theserge files in advance and save useful cuts.


    However, the more he watched the footage, the more he felt bad vibes from Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. First of all, they were too uncooperative in team activities. They diluted this impression by acting friendly, but for Park Soo-Chul, who was used to watching videos all day long, he saw the situation differently. They were purposely picking a fight and causing trouble.


    And secondly, they were too opinionated. Even while the meeting was heading in a good direction, they would suddenly intervene and say things like, <em>¡®I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea. Don¡¯t you think this is better?¡¯.</em>


    Team leader Woo Yeon-Hoon listened to every one of theirints and opinions and eventually lost his authority and fell into their pace. But above all, their ideas weren¡¯t good either and ruined the stage. Thus, this was the reason why he added this midterm checkup.


    <em>¡®I need to catch at least either Kim Joon-Hyuk or Lee Young-Joon red-handed through this.¡¯ </em>The team members of Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon were suffering too much. Someone needed to end their pain, and this was not because he especially favored Siren but for the entire program. Now that Only One won first ce in the second round and was currently monopolizing thepetition, Siren, their rival, could not copse here. If Siren copsed now, the tension and excitement of the show would not continue till the final and fall through.


    Thus, for the long-term sess of the program, someone should stop those two trolls. First, the person he set his hopes on was Bong Tae-Yoon. Since he must have been listening to his member¡¯s suffering directly, he must have been looking forward to this moment. Whatever happened, if someone came forward and disciplined Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon with pure facts, Park Soo-Chul also nned to support them every step of the way.


    * * *


    When we went to the central yard, there were three teams lined up, including us: Team Luminin, Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon, and Team Kang Hyun-Sung.


    It seemed as if everyone hade out after practice as they didn¡¯t look as polished in the morning, and there was one team that had especially the worst expressions.


    <em>¡®This is driving me crazy.¡¯ </em>It was Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon that the rest of my members were part of. I had definitely thought I properly warned Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon, but I guess that wasn¡¯t the end.


    <em>¡®It wasn¡¯t solved?¡¯ </em>Judging by the members¡¯ faces, it seemed like they had gone through another rough battle with Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. Seeing their faces, a new thought went through my mind.


    <em>¡®Hold on. I didn¡¯t get a notification that I sessfullypleted the mission?¡¯ </em>I didn¡¯t get a sess notification for my surprise mission. I had hidden in the bathroom and got their weakness by recording their conversation, but that wasn¡¯t the end of the mission.


    <em>¡®That wasn¡¯t it?¡¯</em> Just to be sure, I requested the system to recite the surprise mission again. If the mission was over, the system would have been silent, but¡­.


    [A surprise mission]


    [Go hide in a bathroom stall before anyone else during break time.]


    [Upon sess, you will acquire Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s weaknesses.]


    [Upon failure, Siren members¡¯ stress level increases.]


    The mission clearly rang in my ears once again.


    <em>¡®..Damn it.¡¯</em> It was now crystal clear that I hadn¡¯t sessfullypleted the mission. Just hiding in a toiletpartment wasn¡¯t all there was to this mission. This had happened before. In the mission to find Kang Hyun-Sung, it didn¡¯t just end with finding where he was. I also had to raise Kang Hyun-Sung''s morale and get him outside. I thought I had to do something simr this time as well. This mission didn¡¯t end with me just hiding in the bathroom.


    <em>¡®Perhaps, that was only the start of it.¡¯</em> I might still have a long way to go until Iplete the mission. I pressed my temples because of how stressed I was.


    Kang Hyun-Sung must have thought it was because my head hurt as he said, ¡°Endure it.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡± Normally, people would have asked, <em>¡®Are you all right?</em>¡¯, but this crazy bastard immediately told me to just endure it. Well, he did have a point, as that was the only thing I could do when my head hurt before a performance; but I couldn¡¯t help but feel baffled.


    <em>¡®What the hell¡¯s up with this bastard?¡¯</em>


    Then Park Soo-Chul took the mike and sent his lines, ¡°Did everyone practice hard today?¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir~¡±


    People appropriately responded to his question.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone must have been surprised because we suddenly announced that we¡¯re doing an intermittent check, but please don¡¯t worry too much and show us what you¡¯ve prepared!¡± Park Soo-Chul said while smiling gently.


    But I thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s basically telling us to have fun in a colosseum.¡¯ </em>It was ridiculous for him to say that when he told us to give constructive criticism after watching each others¡¯ performances.


    ¡°Then the first team to perform on the stage is, hmm¡­¡± Park Soo-Chul paused for a while and then finally shouted, ¡°It¡¯s Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team! Pleasee out and prepare for the performance now!¡±


    No matter how much I thought about it, I could clearly see that he was making the order on the spot. I almost eximed at his detailed nning.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just do as we practiced.¡±


    We went up the center stage. Usually, we danced in the direction of the production team, but today, we danced in the direction of the cast. Of course, since there were cameras all over the ce, there would be no problem with the editing no matter which direction we danced. However, it felt strange to have the cast members, not the production crew, as our audience.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do well.¡±


    ¡°Yes, as we practiced.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    We exchangedments to encourage each other and stood in formation with me as the lead dancer and Kang Hyun-Sung as the center. Soon¡­


    <em>Ding¡ª</em>


    The intro came out.


    ¡°Uh?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it <Never mind>?¡±


    Those who knew the song stared at us with surprised faces as they had never imagined we would be doing ¡°Never Mind.¡± This song was cheery and light, so it must have been unexpected that Kang Hyun-Sung would choose such a bright song.


    ¡ªIn this current moment~


    ¡ªMaybe I was waiting for you~


    ¡ªHoping to meet you one day,


    ¡ªThe meeting between you and me!


    The first verse of ¡°Never Mind¡± rang out with its signature refreshing feel, and Kang Hyun-Sung, who stood at the center, danced with facial expressions he had never shown before.


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°Woooow!¡±


    ¡°Crazy!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that!¡±


    [Probability of winning: 66%]


    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em> That was extremely unexpected. Kang Hyun-Sung was doing the choreography while making lively and cute expressions. Was it because I was so taken aback by Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s unexpected expressions? I almost forgot my choreography while watching him. Furthermore, as soon as he danced, the probability of winning, which had stalled for a long time, went up by 1 percent.


    ¡°Wooow!¡±


    ¡°What the heck! It¡¯s cute!¡±


    Needless to say, the atmospherepletely flipped. Everyone, including the production crew, stared at Kang Hyun-Sung in the center with their mouths open. A person who was quiet with minimal facial expression hadpletely changed as soon as the performance began. Then the performance gradually progressed to the chorus. Since we had practiced all possible angles and formations numerous times, our formations were perfect despite having changed our positions.


    ¡ªNEVER MIND~ That blue sky


    ¡ªI¡¯ll run to hold them all!


    ¡ªSwoosh! I¡¯ll hold the


    ¡ªrising cloud in my arms and¡ª


    Since it was a choreographyposed ofrge and dynamic movements, people eximed for the second time.


    ¡°Woooow!¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re so good at dancing!¡±


    This performance was definitely less detailed than the performance we originally nned. Since this was a pre-arranged version, it also wasn¡¯t strong enough for apetition, but I suddenly began to worry.


    <em>¡®Could I do better than this performance¡­?¡¯</em> I finally realized what difference a good center made, and what Kang Hyun-Sung meant by learning from him to be a center. His words hit me to the core after watching him perform.


    <em>¡®That bastard is insanely good as the center¡­</em>¡¯ He hadn¡¯t been saying an arrogant remark.


    <em>¡®I¡¯m doomed.¡¯ </em>Furthermore, I began to worry about how I could be a better center than him. I finally realized that a center was not just about being a good dancer or being good-looking. It was done by someone who was deeply immersed in the performance and knew how to draw people in.


    This immersion was not just done through dancing and facial expression. It was actualized by the small details that he added as naturally as breathing such as controlling his air intake as if he was slightly out of breath while not being out of breath, and fine-tuning his dance and singing to the second details to match the lyrics.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s all the skills a center needs.¡¯ </em>I couldn¡¯t miss a single detail out.


    After the performance was over, people cheered instead of spouting out criticisms.


    ¡°Wow!¡¯


    ¡°Can¡¯t you do more songs?¡±


    ¡°So cool!¡±


    {Probability of winning: 70%}


    The probability of winning first ce shot upwards. I supposed the odds were remaining low because I hadn¡¯t been doing my job properly as the center. Although this left a bitter aftertaste, I thought positively.


    <em>¡®I learned a good lesson from him¡­¡¯</em>


    When it was time for the others to give their criticisms, everyone gave great responses.


    ¡°I liked everything!¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t find any faults in the performance.¡±


    ¡°If I really had to say something, I think the angles didn¡¯t perfectly match except for the chorus. But it wasn¡¯t a weakness that particrly stuck out to me.¡±


    Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon seemed to be thinking for a long time whether they should take the mike or not, but they didn¡¯t say anything until the very end. They probably wanted to criticize us out of hatred for me, but they were holding it in because it would be a reach for them to criticize a stage like this. After we came back to our seats like this, the second team was announced.


    ¡°Then the second team to perform will be Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon! Pleasee to the stage!¡±


    Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon came forward.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s finally here.¡¯</em>


    I prepared my heart and¨Cmy mouth.


    <em>¡®I¡¯ll give them hell.¡¯</em>

 Chapter 85

    Chapter 85


    I stared intently at Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. Perhaps, it was because they had just witnessed a good performance; their shoulders looked tense. No matter what the other groups said, it felt like the editing would make everything right. Of course, we wouldn¡¯t be able to say things that crossed the line just because we were swept by this atmosphere, but it was a good thing that my teammates seemed to have gained confidence.


    It was then I met Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s eyes. When Kim Joon-Hyuk met my eyes, he flinched and shuddered. Lee Young-Joon also appeared to be slightly intimidated and purposefully tried to look distracted and averted my gaze. I felt annoyed by the sheer fact that our eyes met once, but the probability began to fall again.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 69%]


    <em>¡®Haa. This is driving me crazy.¡¯</em> My group members¡¯ faces seemed to falter again. Woon¡¯s face looked especially red like he was embarrassed to even be standing on top of this stage. In contrast, Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon appeared confident, as if they couldn¡¯t wait to show what they had prepared. Yet, the brighter Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s faces appeared, the probability of us winning dwindled further.


    <em>Ding.</em>


    The song started then with a deep brass sound. The song caught the listeners¡¯ attention right away because it started with a heavy sound, and a <em>daegeum</em>[1] melody climbed over it. It was as if a single thread created by a light flute sound was floating over a thick line drawn by a heavy brass instrument and intertwining together. It sounded mystical and imposing.


    <em>¡®This is Do-Seung¡¯s work.</em>¡¯ In other words, victory 0505¡¯s song. This was one of the samples that he showed me at the studio. It seemed he had developed it further since then.


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°Hear the melody.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s so good.¡±


    People also responded positively to the music. As I thought, there was hardly anyone in Do-Seung¡¯s age range who couldpete against him inposing.


    <em>¡®What¡¯s going to happen then?¡¯</em> I couldn¡¯t judge yet because things were better than I expected so far. I didn¡¯t understand why the probability kept dropping.


    ¡ªHear ye! Is anyone there?


    ¡°¡­¡± A second after I thought I couldn¡¯t understand what the problem was, I saw what was wrong. Lee Young-Joon suddenly appeared at the front and spoke in an awkward historical period tone. It appeared that they were nning to act at the beginning of the performance like a musical.


    <em>¡®But isn¡¯t this too much?¡¯</em> Yet, his sudden acting broke the mood of the song and pulled the audience away from the immersive experience instead.


    ¡ªWho dares to oppose me?


    <em>¡®What¡­this is crazy?¡¯</em> Kim Joon-Hyuk approached Lee Young-Joon like some noble medieval knight. I didn¡¯t know where those two had gotten the props, but they were holding tree branches in their hands. Perhaps, these branches were supposed to be swords, and I briefly recalled my members telling me that Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon wanted to perform a one-on-one battle between a medieval knight and a cyber-punk Joseon martial artist.


    <em>¡®But to think their acting would look this cheap?</em>¡¯ I thought. They didn¡¯t even mix this concept well into the performance but just had a full-on acting as the intro. In the first ce, I wondered if anyone would¡¯ve been able to live up to this over-reaching concept.


    <em>¡®Who¡¯s going to enjoy this if you just mix and match different things together?</em><em>Furthermore, it¡¯s not even well executed.</em>¡¯ It was too absurd. I didn¡¯t know how their directing senses could be this bad. But perhaps, this wasn¡¯t a problem with their senses.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s a problem with their intelligence.¡¯ </em>This was something people wouldn¡¯t choose to do if they just hadmon sense and logic.


    <em>¡®Haaa¡­</em>¡¯ I only saw the intro and I could already clearly feel the suffering my Siren members had gone through. The stage continued to progress centering around Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. It looked as if these two were just using their other team members as backup dancers, and they hadn¡¯t evene up with the lyrics for the song yet and only the melody yed behind them. It was understandable that they still didn¡¯t have the lyrics done since there was still some time before the third-round performance, but the whole thing was a mess.


    They weren¡¯t a team. This was just Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s low-quality y. I understood why Woon had looked so bright red at the start of the performance. If I were in the same position as him¡ªhaving to perform <em>this </em>performance in front of all these people and the cameras, I would¡¯ve wanted to die on the spot. I didn¡¯t even want to imagine it.


    The performance ended at a strange point too; right at the time when the mood of the performance seemed to change and they were about to go to the second act, the melody got cut off.


    ¡°<em>We didn¡¯t finish after this point so this is the end,¡±</em> Kim Joon-Hyuk said proudly and scanned his audience. People didn¡¯t say anything for a while and then responded.


    ¡°¡­Haha.¡±


    ¡°¡­Good work.¡±


    Like a robot, they moved stiffly and pped slowly. I didn¡¯t know whether or not they really didn¡¯t finishpleting their performance or were purposefully hiding it for a strategic purpose, but most people were d that they didn¡¯t have to watch anymore.


    <em>¡®But why the heck are those guys looking so confident?¡¯ T</em>he two looked certain thatpliments would pour over them and looked our way while breathing roughly.


    <em>¡®They don¡¯t even seem really out of breath.¡¯ </em>They were purposefully acting like they worked hard when the performance was not even that strenuous.


    ¡°Um, uh, did you all purposefully make a fake performance to lower all the other groups¡¯ expectations¡­?¡± It was then that someone asked. Though he asked in a bright and innocent voice, his question crushed their delusions mercilessly.


    ¡°But shouldn¡¯t you at least make it simr to the performance you are going to do for the fairness of thepetition¡­?¡± Only One¡¯s Park Young-Ho spoke like a church youth group leader as hended a great blow against those two.


    Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s faces immediately darkened. My Siren members, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t raise their heads from the beginning. They seemed to feel greatment for their current situation.


    <em>¡®But Dong-Jun seems to be holding back hisughter?</em>¡¯ I just noticed then that the edges of Dong-Jun¡¯s lips were slightly curved. And seeing Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s faces fall, it seemed this wasn¡¯t a fake performance but a real one.


    ¡°Could you give us more specifics on why you felt that way? It¡¯s hard for us to ept your assessment if you only criticize us.¡± Lee Young-Joon retorted as soon as he was handed the mike. He clenched his teeth, and it looked as if his face was going to blow up any moment.


    ¡°Ah! So, it wasn¡¯t a fake performance? I¡¯m sorry. Rather than some points, the whole performance was¡­¡± Young-Ho trailed off mid-sentence and averted his eyes. It seemed he was signaling to another person.


    <em>¡®Why is he meeting my eye?¡¯</em> It was as if he was signaling to me for help. Thus, I raised my hand and epted the mike.


    ¡°Yes, overall, it felt rather disorganized,¡± I summarized what Young-Ho had been meaning to say and Young-Ho nodded in agreement. People¡¯s attention naturally all gathered to me and I wondered if it was right for me to really say all my true thoughts right now. There was a chance that I could be shown as the viin of this show.


    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em> It was then I met the producer Park Soo-Chul¡¯s eyes. ¡®<em>Why is he looking at me like that?¡¯ </em>With his gaze, he seemed to be egging me to continue without worries. It seemed he had already realized what I wanted to do. Yet, I knew I could fall to doom if I fell for this temptation.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s okay whatever I do?¡¯</em> I read his sign. Park Soo-Chul pointed at his mouth and then, made an okay sign. Then, he pretended to use the mouse and keyboard and drew an X sign. He was basically telling me to beat down these guys as much as I wished and he won¡¯t evil edit me. At this point, it seemed more efficient for him toe near my ears and whisper what I should do.


    But after Park Soo-Chul¡¯s reassuring signals, I continued, ¡°Truthfully, the acting at the beginning was too shabby. The linesck originality and a hook, and it just sounds like you just took the most clich¨¦ lines someone would think of when thinking of a Korean historical period or a medieval knight.¡±


    Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s faces reddened. I worried if I had gone too strong but the probability increased again.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 70%]


    The percentages went up again.


    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em> The probability of us winning increased the more I criticized these guys. Thus, I opened my mouth again. ¡°Furthermore, this is a team alliance mission but I don¡¯t see the whole team. Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon are the only ones who alternate from the center. Are the other teammates not allowed to stand in the center too?¡± I was really provoking them this time with thisst line.


    I waited to see how the system would respond to my words this time.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 71%]


    It went up again. This was it. The more I criticized these guys, the percentages went up.


    ¡°The melody was good. It felt mysterious and deep, and there was something about it that grasped the audience¡¯s attention. Yet, the acting breaks the immersion the song gives and kills the uniqueness of the melody. Furthermore, since you two keep insisting on only being at the center, it limits the variety of dance formations the team can create and makes the performance less interesting to watch.¡±


    I continued to batter them. No, I wasn¡¯t just putting them down but saying my honest feedback with no filtering. The only thing I wasn¡¯t doing was cursing, and as I continued, Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s faces became redder. Lee Young-Joon especially clenched his fist tightly and seemed to shudder. He looked as if he was nearing his breaking point. Usually, I would¡¯ve stopped here, but my probability kept increasing.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 74%]


    ¡°This performance was¡­how should I say? It wascking in so many ways that I wonder if it all came from one- or two people¡¯s selfish decisions with no consideration for others.¡± In the end, Inded my final blow.


    ¡°¡­Haa, seriously?¡± Lee Young-Joon said. He had been listening with his lips parsed until now but he now raised his head while swiping his hair. Then, he red piercingly at me. His eyes looked like he wanted to rush towards me this instant and punch me. I stared at him with my usual expression, and Lee Young-Joon spoke after repressing his feelings.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough, Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    With just those words, my possibility of winning rose again.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 75%]


    I cheered inside my mind but the atmosphere was dreary.


    ¡°Oh¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    Even my Siren members looked at me worriedly. The only one who smiled at me was Dong-Jun. In normal situations, I would have also been afraid to make all these promations for fear that I would be shown as the bad guy on the show. Yet, the system supported me by showing the increasing probability of winning, and the producing director, Park Soo-Chul assured me to go on. Park Soo-Chul was now looking at me with full adoration and affection, and I knew he was certainly not a normal person by any means.


    ¡°Well, with this, the performance of Tae-Yoon¡¯s team without Tae-Yoon is over,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and quickly ended the performance perhaps, thinking he had already gained everything he wanted. The team returned to their original position, and I felt Lee Young-Joon¡¯s rage from every step he took. Kim Joon-Hyuk stared at the space in front of him nkly like his head had gone nk.


    Woon and Yeon-Hoon tapped my shoulder once before also returning to their sports. Though I wasn¡¯t worried, it seemed everyone was worried for me. Even Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me in surprise and frowned a little. I stared at them expressionlessly like I usually did.


    <em>¡®It really is strange.¡¯</em> I didn¡¯t know why my probability of winning increased the more I battered Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. Did it increase because it was guaranteed that Park Soo-Chul wouldn¡¯t edit me badly? But that didn¡¯t seem enough. I met Lee Young-Joon¡¯s eyes again then.


    <em>¡®He looks like he wants to really fight me.</em>¡¯ I thought and then realized. All the pieces of the puzzles seemed to fit together then. I couldn¡¯t be sure that my guess was correct but it exined everything.


    <em>¡®That will exin why my probability rose the more I criticized them¡­</em>¡¯ I thought the system had given me a surprise mission to find out these two¡¯s weaknesses and force them to cooperate better with their team and improve their rtionships with their teammates. But I was wrong.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s like how some trash can be recycled but others have to go into the incinerator,</em>¡¯ I thought. The system was telling me I was thinking in the wrong direction. I had been moving until now to try to recycle these trash piles, but the system was telling me to just burn them both. It was telling me not to worry about the little details and just push these guys to their dooms.


    1. Korean bamboo flute ?

 Chapter 86

    Chapter 86


    Team Luminin¡¯s performance began. Their performance continued smoothly without any noticeable faults or wow factors. Yet, perhaps, due tock of practice, they were slightlycking in details andpletion. However, since it hadn¡¯t been long since we started practicing for the thirdpetition, I thought it was natural.


    I barely looked at Luminin¡¯s stage and continued my previous thoughts. I first stared at Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon sitting across from me. Kim Joon-Hyuk had his head down and was clenching and unclenching his hands. He looked angry, but it was more urate to say he waspletely out of it.


    On the other hand, Lee Young-Joon¡¯s condition was a bit worse. He was tantly ring at me; it was so intense and obvious that I wondered ifsers might shoot out of his eyes.


    At this point, I was surprised. I was surprised that they were acting like this while I had evidence that could destroy their careers. Kim Joon-Hyuk felt like he was trying to moderately repress his anger because of this fact, but in contrast¡­


    <em>¡®What the hell¡¯s with Lee Young-Joon?¡¯ </em>Lee Young-Joon seemed like the type to act rashly and let his anger control his actions and thoughts. I turned my gaze away from Lee Young-Joon. It felt like if I stared at him any longer, he might ept that as a provocation and rush toward me. I needed to at least avoid that shitshow. On the other hand, I met eyes with Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡ªTae-Yoon, are you okay?


    Yeon-Hoon mouthed out these words, and I nodded. However, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes still looked concerned. Then he nced between Lee Young-Joon and me for a while and sighed deeply while shaking his head.


    ¡°Team Luminin¡¯s performance is over. Does anyone want to give their feedback?¡±


    Finally, it was now time to criticize Luminin¡¯s performance. Since it was an ''okay'' performance, nobody said anything too harsh and glossed over it.


    ¡°Then don¡¯t forget the feedback you received today and please start practicing hard again tomorrow!¡±


    ¡°Great job!¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your hard work~¡±


    After Luminin¡¯s performance was over, the bizarre midterm checkup ended.


    ¡°Ughhh~¡±


    ¡°Come on! Get up~¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team began to get up one by one and stretched their stiff muscles and joints. I also got up from my seat and gently rolled my ankle. It was time to go back in and finish our practice.


    <em>¡®I also need to filter out the trash that needs to be discarded.¡¯</em> It was time to make my final confirmation that what the system wanted from me was topletely incinerate these two trolls. I also needed to prepare ordingly. While my head felt heavy as I had a lot on my mind¡ª


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    Someone approached from behind. It was Dong-Jun.


    He asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°About what?¡±


    ¡°Their personalities are unbelievably awful. Well, it felt refreshing for me to listen as a bystander, but they could cause serious trouble for you.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I would if I had nothing to worry about.¡± Dong-Jun stared at me for a moment. He was always a yful person, but I got a glimpse of his serious side. He continued, ¡°Don¡¯t do anything dangerous. I¡¯m also repressing my frustration. Those guys rush ahead first without thinking when they get angry.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for the warning.¡± It was notmon for Dong-Jun to warn me so seriously like this. I tried to look as calm as possible to make him feel reassured.


    ¡°That¡­why are you making that weird expression?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± But it seemed to not have much effect. Instead, I answered, ¡°I got it. I¡¯ll be careful.¡± After saying this, I began walking again. Although it would be a lie if I said I wasn¡¯t worried, I needed to finish what I started. I needed to end this once and for all.


    * * *


    Park Soo-Chul stood among the staff organizing the scene and fell into thought. Regardless of everything else, he had created this event so that someone could knock down Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s pride a few inches. And frankly, Bong Tae-Yoon did exactly what he wanted.


    <em>¡®But it feels iffy.¡¯ </em>It didn¡¯t feel like things were resolved neatly. It was normal for people to feel dispirited after hearing criticisms and then calm down since constructive criticisms were hard to hear but had a positive effect in the long run. However, Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s reactions just now felt a bit different. No, Kim Joon-Hyuk showed an expected reaction, but the problem was with Lee Young-Joon.


    <em>¡®His eyes were crazy¡­¡±</em> He seemed like the type of person who couldn¡¯t control their emotions and made a huge deal about small problems. For now, all he could do was wait. It was natural for intense emotions to die down after a night''s sleep. Park Soo-Chul thought that if they just safely passed this night, everything would have ended up fine in the end.


    * * *


    The practice finally ended at noon. In the midterm checkup, our team performed the best by far. However, ironically, it was also our team that practiced thetest even though we did the best. Even though we confirmed that the lights from the other dorms went off, we practiced one hour longer.


    As soon as it became midnight, Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°Practice is over.¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Wow! I almost died!¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t feel my hands.¡±


    ¡°I think my hip joint just popped out.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it pops out that easily.¡±


    People fell to the ground and groaned. While practicing with Kang Hyun-Sung, I realized many things.


    First, even if Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯te out in <em>The Showcase</em>, I thought he would''ve seeded anywhere. The amount this guy practiced was insane. Second, there was an expression that if one squeezed a dried squid hard enough, water would seep out of it. Even in moments when a person thought they were within their limits, they would be able to go further if a strong-willed person pushed them hard enough. And like this, a bunch ofpletely dried-out squids sprawled on the floor.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go and wash up, and after eating breakfast tomorrow, let¡¯s gather again by 8 o¡¯clock.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said in a t voice.


    ¡°¡­Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°¡­Roger that.¡±


    The team members answered in a dying voice. Then, I walked out of the practice room with a towel around my neck. It was very convenient that the practice room was in the basement of the dorm we were staying. These were the advantages of staying in a training camp. When we went up to the dorm, the production crew weed us as if they had been waiting for us.


    ¡°Are you guys done with practicing?¡±


    ¡°What? Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°Then can we go into your respective dorms for a brief moment?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes? Have you been waiting for us all this time to ask us that?¡±


    ¡°Since you guys looked so focused, we didn¡¯t want to break your concentration.¡±


    The production crew were people who knew how to respect people''s time and efforts. If it were a different program, they would have just intervened in our practice session and asked immediately -no, they wouldn¡¯t have even asked to go into our private rooms. Nevertheless, the production crew went into our respective rooms as soon as we gave our permission.


    When I asked what they were doing, they replied, ¡°As we said, we won¡¯t shoot at night. That¡¯s why we¡¯re turning off the camera.¡±


    ¡°Ah, did you wait all this time to just ask us that?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Well, we didn¡¯t have anything to do anyway. Haha.¡±


    There was an observation camera installed in each private room. We were told they would turn off the cameras at night, and they had waited for hours to give us a warning before entering our rooms. At this moment, I felt a surge of gratitude and positive feelings towards the production crew.


    But I thought, <em>¡®I should go up and turn the camera on again.¡¯ </em>I had another n in mind. Thus, after spending about five minutes waiting in the living room¡ª


    ¡°We¡¯ve turned off all the cameras so please go up and rest well!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    We went up to our respective rooms. This pension had tworge rooms and five small rooms, so there were seven rooms in total. It was decided that Only One member would share onerge room and the rest would use a room each. Since I was the only one separated from all my group members, I was given a private room first.


    ¡°Everyone, good night.¡±


    ¡°Good night and see you tomorrow~¡±


    We said our goodbyes in the living room and separated. After I went to my room, I quickly finished my shower. Then I sat on the bed and dried my hair with a towel. When I looked out the window, I saw that all the production staff had already withdrawn.


    The outside space, which had been noisy and bustling with activity due to the shooting had changed into a space that was like any other pensions. I checked the observation camera installed in the corner of my room. Then I turned on the camera that could capture most of my room with the widest angle. This was the extent of my preparation.


    <em>¡®I should turn off the fingerprint function and change my PIN number.¡¯ </em>I also changed the lock method of my phone and left the door of my room unlocked. Then, I left my phone in in sight. If what I predicted came to light, it was game over. If not, that would also be a relief. I closed my eyes and went to sleep. I didn¡¯t know until then. The system¡¯s n and my n had slightly different end goals, and I had no idea what was going to happen that night. But overall, I had a good night¡¯s sleep, and even without my intervention, everything was resolved overnight.


    * * *


    3 am. It was way toote for those who¡¯ve practiced and done shooting all day to stay awake. However, Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon got up from their beds. In Lee Young-Joon¡¯s case, his eyes were bloodshot as he hadn¡¯t calmed down yet from today''s embarrassment.


    ¡°Hey, Kim Joon-Hyuk, let¡¯s go.¡± Lee Young-Joon kicked Kim Joon-Hyuk, who was lying next to him. But even while keeping his eyes open, Kim Joon-Hyuk didn¡¯t get out of bed. There was only one reason why.


    ¡°Hey, are we going to do this¡­?¡± It was because Kim Joon-Hyuk no longer felt very confident in this n. He had made this n in a fit of anger, but once they had to execute their ns, he began to have doubts about it.


    ¡°Fuck, you¡¯re nning to step out now? Did you forget how that bastard mocked us during the midterm checkup?¡± On the other hand, Lee Young-Joon¡¯s hostility towards Bong Tae-Yoon seemed to have only grown as time passed by. Rather than catching them in the act, Lee Young-Joon was more agitated that Bong Tae-Yoon embarrassed him in front of everyone else.


    ¡°Yeah, but what difference would it make if we erase it? Is erasing it revenge? Then will that make us feel better?¡± However, Kim Joon-Hyuk had gotten back his senses to a certain extent. Frankly, he was not happy about Bong Tae-Yoon either, but at least on an objective basis, he had enough sensibility to realize that they were in the wrong and Bong Tae-Yoon acted reasonably.


    Thus, Kim Joon-Hyuk said, ¡°Hey, leave me out of this. If you¡¯re going to do it, do it alone you dumb bastard.¡± In the end, he chose to step out.


    ¡°What the hell did you say?¡± And Lee Young-Joon was greatly offended.


    ¡°I said dumb bastard, you got a problem with that?¡± Kim Joon-Hyuk didn¡¯t back down and retorted. Although they were friends, he didn¡¯t want to be partners in crime either. He continued, ¡°We were the ones who were in the wrong in the first ce. I would be crazy mad if someone cursed my family or friends behind my back, so why would he be any different?¡±


    ¡°Hey, you fucking shit, watch your words. Whose side are you on?¡±


    ¡°And honestly, didn¡¯t you see the reactions we got during the midterm checkup earlier? I¡¯ve been wanting to tell you this too, but the medieval knights and Joseon warriors concept is fucking cheesy. I only went along with it because you fucking begged me to.¡±


    ¡°Hey, you said you wanted to do it and thought it was cool. But now that people said it was bad, you¡¯re changing your mind?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve changed my mind. If you can¡¯t even get a reality check after experiencing that, you have a problem with your brain.¡±


    Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon, who already spoke roughly in the first ce, spoke even harsher than usual and shot out daggers at each other. After repeatedly firing curses at each other without backing down, Lee Young-Joon was the first to throw a punch.


    <em>Smack.</em>


    ¡°¡­Did you just fucking hit me?¡± Kim Joon-Hyuk was not the type to stay still, and he also punched Lee Young-Joon¡¯s face in the same spot. At this point, theypletely forgot about Bong Tae-Yong. They punched and kicked each other, and their only concern was to get more punches in and cause more harm than each other.


    ¡°Aghh!¡±


    This pathetic dogfight only ended after Lee Young-Joon identally broke Kim Joon-Hyuk¡¯s ankle. All of this ended by 4 am.


    [Mission sess.]


    [You¡¯ve sessfully severed Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s rtionship by utilizing their weaknesses.]


    With the mission sess notification¡ª


    [Probability of winning first ce: 80%]


    At the same time, a notification that the probability of winning first ce increased also rang out.


    ¡°¡­Hm?¡± However, Bong Tae-Yoon, was deep asleep due to a long day of hard practice, and fell asleep without hearing the notification.

 Chapter 87

    Chapter 87


    Many changes urred while I was asleep, and it took me a while to sort everything out after I woke up. As if it had been waiting for me to wake up, the notification as soon as I woke up and told me that I had sessfullypleted my mission. No, I supposed it had rung repeatedly until I woke up since I faintly recalled hearing notification sounds while sleeping. Simultaneously, I noticed a change in my Siren group¡¯s possibility of winning first ce. The percentage that had been fixed at 75% rose another 5% and reached 80%.


    <em>¡®¡­What in the world happened?¡¯</em> It appeared many dramatic events happened overnight. First, I carefully studied the notification.


    [Mission Sess.]


    [You¡¯ve sessfully severed Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon¡¯s rtionship by utilizing their weaknesses.]


    The notification said that I broke their friendship by finding out their weaknesses. That hadn''t been my intention. I had predicted that the two would try to ambush me at night and steal the recordings on my phone. Thus, my n was to stay awake while waiting for the two and fight them off by myself. Then, I would hand over the rted evidence of what happened to the broadcasting crew, and the two would be forced to drop out of the show. This was what I predicted to be the core goal of this mission.


    <em>¡®But separating the two was this mission¡¯s main goal?¡¯</em> Things went in apletely different direction than I predicted.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon. The team next to us is in an uproar.¡±


    ¡°They said Mr. Kim Joon-Hyuk and Mr. Lee Young-Joon dropped out of the show.¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡± I asked in shock to hear that the two quit.


    ¡°Yes, I also just heard it from Mr. Jin-Young and Sang-Hoon. They received the news from the broadcasting crew when they woke up.¡± Kim Ju-Hyun told me that he heard this information from our team¡¯s OnebyOne¡¯s members, Choi Jin-Young and Kim Sang-Hoon. In other words, it was reliable information.


    <em>¡®But they just quit in the middle of the night?¡¯ </em>It was surprising that the two just dropped out of the show without even attempting to ambush me during the night. I thought this was good news since this was what I had been aiming for¡ªno, it was even better than what I hoped for since the problem was solved even without me doing anything. And since I had nothing to do with them dropping out, I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the consequences afterward. It was the perfect ending.


    Furthermore, the process of how those two dropped out was even more surprising.


    ¡°The two fought?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it wasn¡¯t just some bickering. The two had a huge fight, and Mr. Joon-Hyuk even twisted his ankle.¡±


    ¡°What about Lee Young-Joon?¡±


    ¡°They said he had a bruise on his face, busted lips, and everything.¡±


    ¡°So, that¡¯s why they decided to drop out from the show?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I heard.¡±


    It was unexpected that those two fought.


    <em>¡®But I suppose the main point was to break their friendship rather than make them drop out.¡¯</em> It was as the old saying went, ¡®fight the barbarians with the barbarians¡¯. Anyway, it felt like everything became resolved much more easily than I expected. Though the two were a bit injured, I thought it was karma and didn¡¯t feel bad for them. My only concern was whether this would affect my Siren members.


    Thus, I snuck to their lodging ce to check how they were doing. Because OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon dropped out, the only ones in the group were my four Siren members and Bleshu¡¯s Han Do-Young and Yoo Ji-Hyuk. I thought they would feel terrible for having to fix and change the whole performance because they went from an eight-people group to a six-people group, but I was wrong.


    ¡°Oh, hey, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    Contrary to my worries, my group members greeted me brightly and came out to the living room. The atmosphere was great, and Dong-Jun looked especially happy.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s so nice now.¡±


    ¡°Dong-Jun!¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    ¡°Ah, what~¡±


    Dong-Jun appeared very pleased that the two were gone, yet my other group members looked a bit more careful about how to react.


    <em>¡®But even though they are being cautious, their faces look bright.¡¯ </em>It didn¡¯t appear that the two¡¯s disappearance affected them badly; instead, it seemed to have relieved them of a huge burden.


    ¡°But are you guys all right? Won¡¯t you have to remake the whole performance again?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It was already something we couldn¡¯t use. I originally nned to scrap everything from beginning to end anyway.¡±


    ¡°The song choice too?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m also going to change the song.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung told me and smiled. It seemed they had something else in mind.


    ¡°What kind of concept are you thinking about right now?¡± I asked out of pure curiosity.


    ¡°What? Are you acting as a spy for the other team?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t let our enemy know!¡±


    My Siren members purposefully overreacted and even pushed me back a little. I knew they were doing this jokingly, but I felt a bit left out. I mean, I was originally the leader of their team.


    <em>¡®Haaa¡­¡¯ </em>I began to feel more resentful of Kang Hyun-Sung again.


    ¡°If I must give you a hint, it¡¯s innocence,¡± Do-Seung said.


    I didn¡¯t know how to respond so I simply said, ¡®<em>oh¡¯.</em> But it seemed my response was lukewarm and Do-Seung reacted sensitively to what I said.


    ¡°What? Do you think it¡¯s bad?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Then, why did you respond like that?¡±


    ¡°I just said, ¡®<em>oh¡¯.</em> That¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not just what you did.¡±


    ¡°Come on, stop it, Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°Seriously!¡±


    My Siren members bickered amongst each other and joked around. When the topic was about music, Do-Seung became strangely timid and doubtful. Nevertheless, I thought about what Do-Seung told me.


    <em>¡®Innocence? Is that a good concept?¡¯</em> The concept itself was fine. After all, it was rare for a concept itself to be bad¡ªwell, except for the one about a Joseon martial artist and a Medieval Knight fighting one-on-one. But the only reason why I felt wary about the concept was because it was hard to make a memorable hook.


    Would they be able to make a big impact that would make the audience remember their performance? Most groups brought dark,plicated, and hard beats inpetition because otherwise, it was hard to make an impactful performance. Besides, with aplicated and dark melody, it would be easier to put a dance break anywhere, and the group could dance to a tough beat with no lyrics.


    However, it was hard to do that with a pure concept. Not only was it difficult to make a big impact with a concept like that, it was difficult to create a varied and colorful stage. Yet, when I looked at our probability of winning first ce, the percentage didn¡¯t change.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 80%]


    If this was a truly bad idea, the percentage would¡¯ve dropped. Thus, I decided I should trust Do-Seung and Woon for now.


    ¡°Our performance could be better than you guys¡¯ter on!¡± Yeon-Hoon said as if he was dering war against me.


    ¡°All right. I will look forward to it,¡± I told them and got up from my spot. Because they became a six-member group, they could look a bitcking. Yet, smaller numbers could also have their positives since in this round, we would all be individually assessed on our performances. And since they had fewer people now, they could have more individual screen time.


    ¡°Then, see you again after practice,¡± they told me.


    ¡°You cane to see us when you''re bored.¡±


    ¡°Should we eat dinner together?¡±


    ¡°I will have to see what happens around dinner time,¡± I replied to my group members and left.


    When I returned to my lodging, I saw that everyone had already changed to their training wear and were warming up in the lounge.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, you''re here!¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go practice.¡±


    I went down to the basement. From what I heard, we wouldn''t have to shoot any more variety content. In other words, it was time to practice and practice and practice some more.


    Thus, Kang Hyun-Sung announced, ¡°Let¡¯s only have some breaks to recover and practice the rest of the time now. If we just follow the schedule, I think we will be able to get everything done on time.¡±


    I also didn¡¯t mind practicing but Kang Hyun-Sung was insane. He was almost too much. It was like he was addicted to practice.


    ***


    A couple of days passed since we arrived at the training camp. All teams, including ours, focused on their practice. OnebyOne members seemed to have received quite a shock that two of their members had dropped out and Kim Sang-Hoon and Choi Jin-Young from our team couldn¡¯t make much progress in their practice on the day of the news. But soon afterward, they seemed to pick themselves up and focus on training again.


    ¡°Honestly, we didn¡¯t like those two either.¡±


    ¡°They were trainees who were in our agency for a long time. And because the group was created around those two, we couldn¡¯t say much but everyone disliked them."


    ¡°Well, I guess <em>¡®everyone</em>¡¯ now is just me and Jin-Young and Kyoung-Joon who is in the Luminin¡¯s alliance team now.¡±


    ¡°Anyways, ourpany also decided to halt their activities for now, and I think they might get expelled from the group too.¡±


    ¡°The only thing that concerns us is that we have to prepare a stage with only the three of us in the final round, but I guess things will work out in the end.¡±


    OnebyOne members appeared to not have liked Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon much either, and they didn¡¯t appear too regretful that those two had dropped out of the group. The only reason why they hadn¡¯t been able to focus at the beginning of practice was because they were worried about the final performance. At this point, it seemed clear how those two usually acted. Even their own group mates had no sympathy for them.


    I also wondered how the public would react if they heard the news, but I supposed the broadcasting crew would take care of this matter. In the first ce, those two had been casts without much screen time so I doubted that they would receive many setbacks. Like that, we practiced again and again and asionally used the jacuzzi or spa in our facility. Then, we practiced again, ate, and followed the same routine.


    And while this happened, my aunt contacted me from time to time. More urately, I unblocked her contact number sometimes and checked her messages filled with curses.


    ¡ªAh, damn it. You bastard. ept my call, you crazy¡­


    Since her rage seemed to have not calmed down yet, I decided to let it be and focus on the current matters at hand. Like that, the same routine-like days continued until it was March 18, Friday. The producers sent us a notice then.


    ¡ªAnother episode is airing today~ Please stop dinner practice for today and gather at thewn!¡±


    ¡°¡­Did you all receive the message?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Haa¡­.¡±


    The Only One members¡¯ faces didn¡¯t appear too bright from the news.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s because they are going to air the mini-game episode today,¡¯ </em>I thought. There had been a littlemotion that day, which was when Park Young-Ho tried to jump over the hurdles. Though the day ended with no idents, I wondered how the producers would¡¯ve edited thest event.


    But based on how the show didn¡¯t highlight Park Young-Ho¡¯s leg injury much inst week¡¯s episode, I doubted that they would put much emphasis on it in this episode too. After all, this could be a sensitive issue for a broadcasting show too. Still, it was natural that they were nervous because they didn¡¯t know what would happen.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to thewn for now.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    We all moved to thewn together. There were several camping chairs already stationed on thewn, and in the center, there were theater snacks like popcorn and nachos set up for us. And on the back of a white curtain, there was a projector lighting it from behind.


    ¡°You all just need to react like you are watching a movie,¡± the producers announced. The setting was nice andfortable, besides the fact that it was a bit chilly this March evening.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Come here!¡± Yeon-Hoon called me then.


    ¡°I''ll go now.¡±


    ¡°What, sorry?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡±


    I quickly raised my chair and moved to where my Siren members were before people from Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team could stop me. Though Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team stared at me with a look of betrayal, this was my true group members after all.


    ¡°How is your practice going?¡± I asked them.


    ¡°Good, of course~¡±


    ¡°Our new concept suits us so well!¡±


    ¡°I look forward to seeing it.¡±


    ¡°Are you mocking us again!¡±


    ¡°No, of course not.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t act so sensitively to Tae-Yoon, Do-Seung.¡±


    I brought the popcorn while talking to my teammates. Dong-Jun took a clump of popcorn and shoved it in his mouth, but Do-Seung pulled Dong-Jun¡¯s hand back out.


    ¡°Umph! Ah!¡±


    ¡°I told you to control your weight before the performance!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s popcorn!¡±


    ¡°You think popcorn has no calories? Eat one at a time.¡±


    ¡°Soon, you won¡¯t even let me drink water.¡±


    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t even drink water.¡±


    ¡°Wow, what a devil.¡±


    It felt like I was at home as I waited for the broadcasting show to begin. I didn¡¯t feel worried about this mini-game episode airing. My only concern was how the producers would edit Park Young-Ho¡¯s jumping scene, but that wasn¡¯t really a problem for us since we did nothing wrong. And since I got no warning from the system, I thought there would be no problem with the general direction of this episode. I looked towards the screen with a light heart.


    ¡°¡­Huh?¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°What¡­?¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    Yet, I quickly realized that something was off. We weren¡¯t evil-edited as viins or anything like that, and there were no points that we could be reprimanded about either. Park Young-Ho¡¯s injury wasn¡¯t highlighted in any way, and everyone was edited to beughing while just ying games.


    <em>¡°Hm¡­but this is ufortable.¡¯</em> In this episode, we were the main characters again. Yet, more than before. Of course, since this wasn¡¯t the first time we took this role, it was neither surprising nor a problem for us, but that was the case <em>only</em> for us.


    <em>¡®Ah, I can feel prickles¡­on the back of my head.¡¯ </em>Right now, we were at a lodging ce where all the groups were gathered. On top of that, we were doing a team alliance mission. Though it wouldn¡¯t be good for anyone to openly show their jealousy towards us andin that they had so little screen time, I knew people didn¡¯t only act rationally. For the other teams, we could have a big target on our backs.

 Chapter 88

    Chapter 88


    The mini-game episode of <em>The Showcase 2</em> could be considered break time for the contestants. Contrary to the prediction of people who expected it to be boring because it was an episode without stagepetitions, the episode became quite popr and spread through the inte. The first part of the episode began with a summary of the previouspetitions. It showed the groups'' preparatory process and edited the scenes with appropriate slow-down, sentimental, and heart-wrenching effects.


    ¡ªThe members of each group are running with all their might


    With this caption, the screen changed, and a bright set with apletely different atmosphere appeared in view. Members of each group came out in pastel-toned gym clothes, and up to this point, it felt just like any normal sub-episode of a survivalpetition show.


    ¡ªThey¡¯re giving them a break after making them suffer so much? lol


    ¡ªGiving both pain and healing haha


    ¡ªI sometimes wonder if the producers of survival shows have a conscience


    People quickly skimmed over the videos and waited for the interesting parts toe out as even for the most ardent fangirls and fanboys of <em>The Showcase</em>, this opening part was usually boring for them. Until this point, they would be looking at their phone to do SNS more than looking at the broadcast screen. Before the game officially started, scenes of different groupsing out in their respective cars were yed out in slow-motion, retro vibes. Then, there was a scene where each group was asked what game they wanted to y.


    ¡ªHmm. Is there a game with vaulting involved? Or is that too much like a physical education performance evaluation? Haha.


    Bleshu¡¯s Han Do-Young said this.


    ¡ªLet¡¯s, uh, do that¡ªguessing the song quickly!


    Only One¡¯s Kim Ju-Hyun said.


    ¡ªI saw a hot dog eating contest in the USst night? Or something like that? Will there be a game like that?


    OnebyOne¡¯s Choi Jin-Young suggested a hot dog eating contest.


    ¡ªEating lemons?


    Siren¡¯s Woo Yeon-Hoon suggested eating lemons.


    ¡ªIf it¡¯s a mini-gamepetition, wouldn¡¯t it be nice to have a game like a treasure hunt?


    Lastly, Luminin¡¯s Yoo Jin-Won mentioned the treasure hunt, and the screen went dark. The background changed to ¡¯s prop warehouse, and a staff member wearing work clothes and holding a phone in their hand came out.


    ¡ªYes. One member from each group just said eating lemons, eating American hot dogs, listening to the intro and guessing songs, treasure hunt, and vaulting.


    As soon as they heard the games through their phone, the staff began searching the warehouse and began to search for the equipment.


    ¡ª???


    ¡ªThey¡¯re preparing the props on the spot after listening to the games?


    ¡ªcrazy hahhahaha why do even the staff here have to fight for their survival?


    One staff member found the vault and mat, and another staff member found a speaker to y the song guessing game by listening to the intro. Then another staff member found stic balls for the treasure hunt and even started writing a treasure list. Other staff members carried out tasks such as buying lemons and obtaining American hot dog ingredients in bulk. These videos inspired a sense of urgency in them.


    ¡ªQuickly, Quickly!


    ¡ªAghhh!


    ¡ªLemon! Please give me all the lemons!


    ¡ªAll?


    ¡ªYes!


    ¡ªOh my, you sure are good at eatin¡¯ those sour lemons. Haha. But you''ll die if you eat all of it.


    ¡ªI won¡¯t die!


    ¡ªHaha, got it.


    One staff member and a fruit store¡¯s rambling became a hot topic of conversation due to the stark difference in their attitudes.


    ¡ªlol this is like watching my fav idol and me haha


    ¡ªI''ve never heard someone say you''ll die in such a rxing way haha


    However, there was a meme that became an even more hot topic.


    ¡ªWoo Yeon-Hoon eating lemon.jpg


    ¡ªWTH, how can he be so cute while saying that?


    Reply: Woo Yeon¡¯s face is insane


    ¡ªOur cutie peach pie wants to eat lemon so precious aww


    ¡ªThe way he tilts his head while saying eat lemon? Looks like a fox??


    ¡ªI didn¡¯t know but Woo Yeon-Hoon is brutal


    ¡ªhe¡¯s eating his own family


    ¡ªis it okay for a peach to eat a fruit?


    It was a GIF of Woo Yeon-Hoon eating lemon. A lot of K-pop fans who were disappointed in male idols¡¯ visuals these days were starting to gather around Woo Yeon-Hoon. There were all sorts of talks among fans about whether Kang Hyun-Sung or Woo Yeon-Hoon was better looking, but the general consensus was that in terms of facial features and objective beauty standards, Woo Yeon-Hoon was better.


    The type of games they would y was revealed then, and thanks to the funny interaction with the staff member and owner of the fruit store and Woo Yeon-Hoon, who created a sensation with his visuals alone, more and more people began to gradually join the live broadcast. When it was time to grab the audience¡¯s attention and speed up¡ª


    ¡ªFinally, what everyone is waiting for! I¡¯ll announce the big prize that goes to the team that wins first ce overall in today¡¯s games! Oh, I think everyone will be surprised by the huge prize! A chance to appear in PepC¡¯smercial!


    ¡ªWow, that¡¯s amazing.


    ¡ª<em>The Showcase 2 </em>must be doing well. They got a big sponsor right away.


    ¡ªThen let¡¯s start with the first game! Are you ready!


    ¡ªYesss!


    ¡ªThe first game is¡­eating lemon quickly!


    The first game, eating lemon, immediately began.


    ¡ªAh wtf, they¡¯re going to eat lemon on an empty stomach?


    ¡ªWasn¡¯t that a morning shooting?


    ¡ªF*** my stomach feels queasy just watching


    People swore at the viciousness of the production crew who started lemon eating as the very first game of the mini-game series.


    ¡ªOkay! Who will go first? Ah, will the Sirens want to go?


    ¡ªYes, since it was our leader who suggested the game, we want to take responsibility for it.


    ¡ªTae-Yoon!


    But once the actual game began and the show became interesting, the viewers all enjoyed watching it. The audience typed away as they watched the show.


    ¡ªHe shows no mercy to even his elders.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s so funny that Bong Tae-Yoon keeps his objectivity at all times lol


    ¡ªHe¡¯s the real deal


    Most of the screen time for the lemon-eating game was taken by Siren.


    ¡ªMr. Tae-Yoon, are you good at eating sour food?¡±


    ¡ªNo.


    ¡ªBut your face is too calm.


    ¡ªThese are very sour though.


    ¡ªNo, but it doesn¡¯t seem sour to you at all!


    ¡ªThey are really sour though.


    ¡ªDon¡¯t tell me that while grabbing another one!


    Thanks to Tae-Yoon¡¯s hard work and skill and¡ª


    ¡ªAhhhhh!


    ¡ªMr. Yeon-Hoon! Are you all right?


    ¡ªAghhhh!


    Quite an entertaining scene unfolded with Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s obnoxiously loud hollering.


    ¡ªFace of someone after eating two and a half lemons.jpg


    Reply: Face of someone after eating one piece of lemon.jpg


    Reply: Who is the normal one?


    Reply: Neither of them are normal;


    Reply: But both of them are handsome


    Reply: Ah, but looking at them both together, their visuals go super well together


    Afterward, Kang Do-Seung, Lee Woon, and Park Dong-Jun also yed a small role, and Siren ended up winning the lemon-eating game.


    ¡ª2 minutes and 10 seconds! Wow, that¡¯s fast.


    The editing for the song guessing game they yed after was also focused mostly on Siren due to Bong Tae-Yoon, who was basically like a machine that spitted out the correct answer.


    ¡ªCorrect! Bong Tae-Yoon! Aro¡¯s <em>The One in the Sad Picture</em>!


    ¡ªCorrect! Bong Tae-Yoon! Kim Nam-Kyoug¡¯s <em>The Guy From the Pier</em>!


    ¡ªCorrect! Bong Tae-Yoon! Hyung-Jung¡¯s <em>Strange Time</em>!


    The audience was blown away by Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s expressive y.


    ¡ªWhat the hell is up with him?


    ¡ªFor real, what is his identity?


    ¡ªIughed so hard that tears areing out of my eyes hahhaha like wth hahahaha he really seems crazy haha


    ¡ªI think someone just possessed him?


    ¡ªOther team members are also staring weirdly at Bong Tae-Yoon lol


    People¡¯s responses poured out at Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s brilliant y that almost seemed as if he was possessed, and naturally, Siren won the second game as well. However, perhaps due to the overwhelming amount of screen time they had since the start of the broadcast, people began to speak of injustice once again.


    ¡ªAh but Siren has too much screen time;;


    ¡ªThey¡¯re pushing Siren way too much


    ¡ªIf the producers don¡¯t favor you, no matter how good you are, you really fail.


    In contrast, refutation for this injustice was fiercer than before.


    ¡ªWhat, even if I¡¯m the PD, won¡¯t you want to highlight that crazy answering machine out of everyone else?


    ¡ªA person who was fine after eating two and half lemons and a person who was sobbing after eating one piece of lemon are in the same group, so which group should the PD have given the screen time to?


    ¡ªThey gave reaction cuts and narratives for others too. It¡¯s just that they¡¯re not funny ok


    ¡ªIf you can¡¯t remember them cause they¡¯re not interesting and you¡¯re arguing about theirck of screen time, it must feel so unfair to the PD


    ¡ªDoes your fav group not have much screen time? Then please think carefully about whether your fav is ugly.


    Siren¡¯s Woo Yeon-Hoon was being spotlighted as the male idol visual of the next generation, and all the members of Siren had unique talent and gave excellent performances. Furthermore, while Woo Yeon-Hoon was just on another level, the other members were also handsome as well, and Siren had the title of self-producing idols.


    Although there was still little public exposure for Siren, <em>The Showcase 2</em> was the most popr show among K-pop fans in the first half of the year, and Siren had gathered a sizable fandom by this time. Thus, in short, Sirens had enough fans who systematically responded to unfair usations.


    Furthermore, after that, Bleshu came out more than Siren for the hot dog eatingpetition. Bleshu¡¯s fans were quite happy to see their idols in the spotlight for the first time in a while.


    ¡ªWow Bleshu¡¯s leader eats so well


    ¡ªThey say he used to be on the swimming team


    ¡ªNo wonder his shoulders are like Mount Everest


    However, Woo Yeon-Hoon stood out again because he was the only one who deliciously chewed one hotdog while everyone else was stuffing hotdogs into their mouths with all their might.


    ¡ªDid our cutie pie just say he¡¯s full after just eating one hotdog??


    ¡ªAh so cute; he¡¯s not even a hamster but he¡¯s chewing like that?


    ¡ªToo cute aww


    After that, the broadcast went smoothly without much trouble. There was a game called Vaulting, but there were no noticeable scenes from that. It was a game that just ended with a simple appreciation such as ¡®handsome guys are also athletic¡¯. Siren received the main role in the vaulting game again, but this point was quickly passed over as the editing emphasized Siren¡¯s athleticism by putting cuts where they seeded in all the vaults that other groups failed to jump over.


    ¡ªWow, Siren is really athletic.


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon is even good at sports.


    ¡ªWhy does Lee Woon look so elegant even while vaulting?


    ¡ªLee Woon looks strangely elegant in whatever he does lol


    Reply: I¡¯ve felt this before but doesn¡¯t Lee Woon kind of feel like a princess? Hahaha


    Reply: hahahhaha Princess Lee Woon?


    Reply: I think I kind of get what u r saying lol


    Reply: Then I propose my boyfriend Kang Do-Seung as Princess Lee Woon¡¯s bodyguard:)


    Reply: Then Park Dong-Jun as the puppy that Princess Lee Woon raises:)


    After that, the treasure hunt came out. The broadcast ended by highlighting that all the treasures from the treasure hunt were a real treat. However, there was a smallmotion at the end.


    ¡ªOnlyOne won the rights to appear in PepC¡¯smercial on the treasure hunt?


    ¡ªDidn¡¯t Siren get it for winning first ce in the games overall?


    ¡ªThey must be filming it with OnlyOne


    ¡ªI have a lot to say but will keep my thoughts to myself.


    There was controversy over OnlyOne¡¯s right to appear in PepC''smercial.


    ¡ªWell, this is an obvious choice from the advertiser¡¯s point of view.


    ¡ªSigh, let¡¯s just move on


    Although the audience was simply viewing the show, they knew how the entertainment industry worked and everyone seemed to move on easily. Like this, the show ended. While the audience started their second round of consumption by talking about video clips taken from the broadcast show on various SNS tforms, the main characters of the show were not very cheerful.


    Siren was explicitly given the main role of this episode. Following the first and second episodes, the main characters were the same for the third episode. That being said, everyone had a hunch who the winner of this game was and that their struggles really had been nothing more than desperate struggles.


    ¡°The show was edited in a really fun way.¡±


    ¡°Ah, haha, yes. I agree.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha¡­¡±


    ¡°I thought you guys were good at the games and were funny, but you¡¯re even more funny on TV.¡±


    ¡°Siren, you guys must be happy.¡±


    ¡°The MVPs of this episode!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so jealous~¡±


    The problem with this was that while Siren was a powerhouse in the broadcasting show, they were still rookies on the scene. There were contestants like Kang Hyun-Sung, and Siren hadn¡¯t made their official debut yet. While sarcasticments under the guise ofpliments were being heard from all sides, especially from Luminin, Bong Tae-Yoon said one line.


    ¡°It was so fun even from my perspective. Thank you for thepliments. I will work harder thanks to everyone¡¯s support.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    With one line from him, everyone became instantly silent. Although he was the youngest, Bong Tae-Yoon overwhelmed everyone by his energy alone and refused to back down.


    * * *


    I immediately stopped the tense and ufortable atmosphere that was flowing out. Rather than other groups¡­I just epted it as Luminins giving us shade for no reason. The members looked quite surprised but maintained their poker faces. I thought we should especially remain confident in times like this.


    It was true that the episode was edited so that we got most of the screen time, but what did they want us to do? We really did our best. Although it was true that the atmosphere was ufortable, there was no reason for us to feel discouraged. We should be proud of ourselves.


    But above all, I thought,<em> ¡®Why the fuck are they trying to pick a fight with us?¡¯</em>


    It was so ridiculous that they were trying to put us down. Thus, I faced their mockery head-on and said, ¡°Since we¡¯reing out on broadcast in such a favorable light, I think we have to work harder to meet your expectations. Not just my group but all of us together.¡±


    By saying ¡®all of us together,¡¯ I actually meant, <em>¡®If you guys don¡¯t want to be edited out like today, don¡¯t me us and do better, you fuckers¡¯. </em>This was exactly what I meant if I didn¡¯t soften my words.

 Chapter 89

    Chapter 89


    I spent the next moments just ring at people. The Luminin guys who were making snidements at us now couldn¡¯t meet my eyes. Yes, this was how they should¡¯ve responded from the beginning. I knew that there was currently a gap between our status on the show and in real life, but as this show progressed, I was confident that this gap would quickly dwindle.


    Of course, we weren¡¯t quite there yet. Even if we were the main characters of this show, we had so many weak points where people could attack us. We didn¡¯t even debut yet and didn¡¯t have a big fandom like Only One. Above all, ourpany was the smallest and worst of all the groups¡¯panies.


    <em>¡®But I¡¯m confident that we could turn all of this around,¡¯</em> I thought. We nned to debut after this show and our fandom was steadily growing. And after we won this program, we could confidently change our agency to a big corporate one. Though everything wasn¡¯t set in stone yet, everyone knew that it could happen and there was quite a high possibility of that happening too. Thus, I thought I was now in the position to get up and reestablish this fact to everyone like this.


    Perhaps, Yeon-Hoon thought I was going to start a real fight at this rate and pulled on my clothes to tell me to stop. I pulled my eyes away from other people. I didn¡¯t know how my behavior would be shown on the show, but knowing producer Park Soo-Chul¡¯s personality, I knew he wouldn¡¯t miss a chance to show some drama.


    <em>¡®But still, he won¡¯t abandon us.¡¯</em> And if he had to choose who to save between Luminin and us, I knew who he would pick. Thus, there was no need for me to worry even about the editing. At most, the show would only show Luminin provoking us and me responding to it.


    ¡°Okay! So, did everyone enjoy the show?¡± Park Soo-Chul came to the scene and asked.


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°We had fun!¡±


    ¡°Thank you everyone!¡±


    The stiff atmosphere instantly turned bright for the show. It was as if no one had been tense or shot out provocations. Seeing this, Park Soo-Chul smiled softly and continued. ¡°Everyone worked really hard today too. Now, you all are free to return to continue practicing or sleep!¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    People began to rise one by one. The first team to rise was Luminin¡¯s team alliance. It seemed they knew there was nothing they could gain by staying any longer. I also bid my farewells to my Siren members.


    ¡°Good luck with your practice.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s be more chill, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°See you tomorrow.¡±


    My group members appeared a bit concerned with my conflict with Luminin, but I simply epted their farewells and walked toward Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team. Soon, this training camp would be over, and in the short time period left, I wanted to practice as much as possible.


    Thus, I thought Kang Hyun-Sung would suggest we continue practicing at thiste hour when he unexpectantly said, ¡°Let¡¯s rest for today.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Are we really going to rest, leader?¡±


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s rest.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Kang Hyun-Sung suggested that we rest for today. I felt shocked and confused, but since I couldn¡¯t force everyone to continue practicing, I just decided to ept his decision.


    ***


    Iy on the bed. Though I took a shower, I didn¡¯t feel refreshed. Perhaps, it was because I had been used to practicingte into the night and dropping unconscious onto the bed that I was feeling this way.


    <em>¡®Or maybe not. My condition wasn¡¯t great the whole day,¡¯</em> I thought. The episode that aired today was definitely satisfactory. Though we gained some negative attention because we were edited as main characters again, that was a hundred times better than getting ignored. Furthermore, I didn¡¯t feel as physically tired because we didn¡¯t practice as much as usual. Yet, I didn¡¯t feel good.


    Iy on the bed and fumbled with my phone after a while. I looked at the pictures I took with my group members, surfed the inte, and looked at videos that made meugh mindlessly. Yet, I couldn¡¯t keep my interest for long and my mood immediately dropped again.


    <em>¡®Rather than doing this, I should just practice</em>.¡¯ I thought it was better to move my body rather than fool around in my room like this, so I went down to the basement. I thought nobody would be there but the practice room door was open.


    ¡°¡­Ah.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung was practicing by himself. It was awkward to see him like this, and Kang Hyun-Sung also appeared startled to see me.


    <em>¡®Why did he tell others to not practice but went to practice by himself?¡¯</em> A part of me thought he was cheating since we were going to get individually assessed in this round.


    <em>¡®No, it¡¯s ridiculous to count individual practice as cheating</em>.¡¯ It seemed I had a negative filter on whatever Kang Hyun-Sung did. Besides, I hade down to the basement to practice on my own too so I had no right to say this to anyone else.


    As I stood awkwardly, Kang Hyun-Sung told me. ¡°If you are going to practice, go ahead. But if you aren¡¯t going to, why don¡¯t you leave?¡± He was telling me to stop standing still in one spot.


    ¡°I''m going to practice.¡± I couldn¡¯t go back after all this. Furthermore, if I just left without doing anything, I would be someone who escaped the scene because I was afraid of Kang Hyun-Sung. I didn¡¯t want that to happen at all costs.


    Kang Hyun-Sung had been practicing with his earphones in his ears, but he asked me, ¡°Should I just turn on the speakers?¡±


    If I said yes to this, we would really have to practice together. Thus, I said, ¡°No, let¡¯s use our individual earphones.¡±


    ¡°Do as you wish.¡±


    Thus, I put some Bluetooth earphones into my ears and loosened up. This was our third-round song, "<em>Never Mind". </em>The song was edited and was now finished. I didn¡¯t know what kind of song producer Kang Hyun-Sung contacted, but the song was rearranged splendidly. The end of the third verse was especially well done and fulfilled my suggestion of putting the chorus on an infinite loop.


    Of course, the loop wasn¡¯t actually infinite and repeated about five times before settling down slightly and disappearing altogether. All in all, I thought it was a great arrangement that captured both sentimental feelings and excitement.


    And as if the song producer knew that a song could sound nd if the same melody and lyrics just repeated again and again, there was a slight change of melody and lyrics in the looping chorus part. And thanks to that, it felt like apletely different song in the third verse.


    <em>¡®If they know how to make lyrics of this level and rearrange the song like this, it¡¯s someone who knows how to make a whole song by themselves.¡¯ </em>If I could, I almost wanted to ask Kang Hyun-Sung for the song producer¡¯s number and contact them separately.


    I warmed up while listening to the song and inspected each of my moves. Though I didn¡¯t want to admit it, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s practice methods and tips had helped me. It helped me liven up my dance moves and hone the details. Besides that, I learned how to control my breathing, have better control over where to put more or less force, reserve my stamina, and so on. By just observing him and learning his tips and pieces of advice, I felt my skills rise.


    Though my dancing was almost perfect because I used the power of Insight, this ability wasn¡¯t a means to all problems. After learning about it a bit more, I realized that Insight allowed me to showcase the best performance I possibly could but nothing more. Thus, my dance moves were only able to be another level cleaner with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s guidance. Of course, the result of that was always mouth-dropping because it awakened my potential to the highest level, but it couldn¡¯t create talent that didn¡¯t exist.


    <em>¡®And I can¡¯t beat a born genius.¡¯</em> In other words, the Insight ability put me at the highest peak of skills that an ordinary person could reach by doing their best.


    While I inspected my moves and followed the details that Kang Hyun-Sung taught me, Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly said, ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon. Are you going to dance like that in that part?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think this is better?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked and showed me what to do by example. The details were slightly different from the ones he taught me during practice.


    ¡°I thought you told me to do this.¡±


    ¡°But that was when we were practicing in a group.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡± What? Was he saying that our movements were supposed to change in a group and in an individual practice?


    ¡°When we practiced in a group, I told you the smoothest and cleanest way to move. But I think it¡¯s better to have details that match you individually as a person when practicing separately.¡±


    ¡°¡­Are you supposed to differentiate between the two situations?¡±


    ¡°¡­Why wouldn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°¡­I see.¡±


    I changed my moves ording to the direction Kang Hyun-Sung told me. My dance moves became obviously cleaner. How should I describe it? Before, it felt like I was wearing form-fitting clothes, but now, it felt as if I was wearing clothes that were perfectly tailored to me.


    <em>¡®He really is a genius,¡¯</em> I thought. Kang Hyun-Sung was someone who had already ced first in dancing in another show,<em> Select Your Idol</em>. Truthfully, one could say that his dancing skills were 90% of what made the current Kang Hyun-Sung. Like that, we practiced for a while longer and practiced quite a great deal. It was time to return now.


    <em>¡®But what is this?¡¯ </em>I found myselfpeting against Kang Hyun-Sung on who could practice the longest. We didn¡¯t say anything to each other nor made any deration to do that but agreed on it through silent signals.


    This was like how cars implicitly got into a speeding contest when driving. From the moment our eyes met while practicing, I sensed a strange sense ofpetition from our exchange and atmosphere. I had originally nned to go back to bed before 11 p.m., but it was now 11:30 p.m. At this point, I could practice until the next day. But I didn¡¯t want to go back up like this. I wasn¡¯t the type to feelpetitive like this, but I didn¡¯t want to lose today at all costs.


    <em>¡®¡­This is really infuriating.¡¯ </em>And that was how 12 a.m. arrived. And it soon became 12:30 am, then 1 am, and then, 1:30 am.


    <em>¡®He¡¯s so headstrong¡­¡¯ </em>I thought I couldn¡¯t bear it any longer when Kang Hyun-Sung hung the towel around his neck and left the practice room first.


    ¡°Good work,¡± he said.


    As expected, hard work always paid off. Iy on the ground with my arms and legs stretched out. ¡°Ha!¡± What happened today? I picked a fight with Luminin and strained myself after feeling a strangepetitive spirit against Kang Hyun-Sung. I wasn¡¯t usually the type to be swayed by my emotions this much.


    <em>¡®But maybe it¡¯s because of my hormones.¡¯ </em>It seemed I was getting influenced by my physical body since my body was neen, though my mind was twenty-four. I was at an age where hormones oozed out of me nonstop.


    <em>¡®I should go up after five minutes,¡¯ </em>I thought. Since it would be awkward to meet Kang Hyun-Sung right after I went up, I decided to rest a bit. Five minutester, I wiped my sweat with the towel and went up the stairs.


    I nned to wash myself before sleeping when I suddenly thought, <em>¡®Maybe I should use the jacuzzi.¡¯</em>


    With all the sweat that I poured out, I wanted to soak myself in the warm water while feeling the cold air. I thought it would be a good change of mood and could clear up my mind. Thus, I changed into my swimming trunks and moved to the second floor¡¯s veranda. I opened the door and went outside.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°¡­Again?¡±


    I saw Kang Hyun-Sung soaking himself inside the jacuzzi with his swimwear. Though I used the jacuzzi with other members before, I had never seen Kang Hyun-Sung use that area. He had always gone to his room by himself, saying he didn¡¯t like these things.


    ¡°¡­I thought you said you didn¡¯t like jacuzzis.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Yet, he was enjoying the jacuzzi with the most rxed face I had ever seen on him.


    ¡°¡­I just don¡¯t like other people¡¯s bodies touching mine,¡± he replied.


    Iughed humorlessly because I was too baffled to respond, but I couldn¡¯t turn my feet since I also came here to rx.


    <em>Shaaa.</em> Thus, I filled up another jacuzzi next to the one that Kang Hyun-Sung was using and went inside.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    And that was how I had the most awkward time at the jacuzzite at night.

 Chapter 90

    Chapter 90


    <em>Sha¡ª</em>


    <em>Shaaa¡ª</em>


    Only the sound of water filling the jacuzzi rang loudly in the second floor''s middle garden. No conversation passed between Kang Hyun-Sung and me, and frankly, it was extremely awkward. It wasn¡¯t like this when I used the jacuzzi with other people in my team as it wasmon for men to go on public baths together. It was strange to feel awkward being in a tub with another man.


    I didn''t know if it was because I was with Kang Hyun-Sung but I thought, <em>¡®This is crazy awkward.¡¯</em>


    This was the most awkward public bath experience I had ever had in my life. I was d that several jacuzzis were installed. I got goosebumps, just thinking about what if I was in the same bath as Kang Hyun-Sung. Kang Hyun-Sung said the reason why he didn¡¯t want to use the jacuzzi was because he didn¡¯t want other people touching him.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s so like him.¡¯ </em>It was a reasoning that someone like Kang Hyun-Sung would give. Since then, the silence continued between Kang Hyun-Sung and me. It was a little awkward at first, but when the water began to slowly rise, I no longer paid attention to him.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s nice. The water temperature is just right.¡¯</em> It felt like I would sleep well after staying here for about 10 minutes, and I could see why a jacuzzi was installed at every healing spot. When my mind began to feel drowsy, and I thought I could fall asleep like this¡ª


    ¡°Isn¡¯t practice hard?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly posed a question.


    ¡°¡­What?¡± I immediately regained my senses before I was about to m my nose into the water. ¡°¡­Yes, it¡¯s hard,¡± I fought back against the drowsiness and managed to answer.


    ¡°But we still have to do it.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung nodded and asked, ¡°Who do you think will win in the third round?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to be very curious as he kept pestering me with questions. But why did he ask who I thought would win first ce? Wasn¡¯t the answer for that a given?


    I answered, ¡°Our group?¡±


    ¡°Do you have a solid reason for that?¡¯


    ¡°Yes, I do.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Do I need to tell you?¡± The basis for my reasoning was that the system calcted our group¡¯s probability of winning first ce as 80%. However, I couldn¡¯t tell him that, so I decided to get out of answering seriously by bluffing my way.


    Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°You know that this survival game will be over if we win first ce in the third round, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I know.¡± If Only One won first ce in the third round, thispetition would be over. Of course, we would do the final performance for the fans waiting for us. However, it would be a concert to repay the viewers who loved <em>The Showcase 2</em> without considering the scores, and it won¡¯t feel like a realpetition to decide the winner like now.


    ¡°I n to work hard so that Only One doesn''t win first ce in the third round, and thepetition doesn''t end early.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I hope thates true too.¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡± I stared at Kang Hyun-Sung in shock. Did he just tell me he didn¡¯t want his group to win first ce in the third round?


    When I looked at Kang Hyun-Sung with surprise, he replied, ¡°It¡¯s a conflicting feeling.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s so conflicting about it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m conflicted about whether we should win the third round and finish this survival show so boringly.¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°<em>Or</em> whether to drag this out a little longer and win the final.¡±


    ¡°Do you call that conflicting thoughts? Don¡¯t you just want to win?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right too.¡±


    I thought he was feeling conflicted about wanting to win and not wanting to win, but he was just pondering whether to win quickly or impactfullyter. Seriously, was he ying with me¡­?


    ¡°We will win,¡± I dered to Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡°Yes, well. Think as you like,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said in a slight tone of mockery and swept his wet hair fully back. ¡°Do you know what¡¯s the privilege of winning this show besides the contract transfer and debut promotional support?¡± Then he asked out of the blue.


    I tilted my head and stared at him, wondering why he was suddenly asking me this question. Frankly, I also knew about the additional prize besides the contract transfer and promotional support since I¡¯ve also watched this program before my regression. However, I couldn¡¯t reveal this now as it was a top secret among the production crew. If I recalled properly, it was¡ª


    ¡°It¡¯s a reality show production. A reality show that¡¯s going to be filmed right after thepetition and not just a promise that they would film itter.¡±


    Yes, that was what it was. I didn¡¯t know how Kang Hyun-Sung knew this, but it was kind of unprecedented in a way. It was not just any reality show but a reality production that continued right after <em>The Showcase 2.</em> This had quite a big merit as they were airing the reality show during the prime time when <em>The Showcase 2</em> aired, right before <em>The Showcase 2</em> lost its buzz.


    Furthermore, they were going to keep the title as <em>The Showcase 2</em>, and they were going to add a sub-title ording to the theme of the reality show. Although there was a strong perception that only those who were fans watched idol reality shows, if they utilized this time period, they could maximize the inflow even before debut and get a core fanbase to some extent.


    <em>¡®This is just going beyond catering to their fans but maximizing the inflow of any potential fans.¡¯ </em>However, this was a secret.


    When I stared at him, wondering how Kang Hyun-Sung knew this, he answered, ¡°Considering the editing they¡¯ve done so far, it¡¯s only six episodes when all thepetition episodese out.¡±


    He was right. The advantage of <em>The Showcase 2</em> was that the progress was fast and went by quickly, and although the editing was quick, it was more fun because they aired a week''s worth of content that another program would air for two weeks.


    ¡°But this program has ten episodes. I¡¯m sure you know that too since ites out when you search for basic information about this show.¡±


    I just quietly nodded to his remarks.


    ¡°I wondered what the other four episodes were about, so when I asked an acquaintance, they said it was a reality show.¡±


    ¡°They told you that easily?¡±


    ¡°You need to use your personal connection at times like this.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that cheating?¡±


    ¡°Do you think I get any personal gain from this information? I just asked because I was curious, and my acquaintance answered.¡±


    Well, as he said, there was nothing much he could do with this information. It didn¡¯t matter unless he received a mission in advance.


    ¡°I don¡¯t wish to seed by using underhanded methods. Don¡¯t look at me like that.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung must have sensed distrust in my eyes as he said in an annoyed tone.


    I purposely moved my gaze away and looked far in the distance, so that he wouldn¡¯t yell at me about my gaze again. But there was still one thing I was curious about. ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡¯


    I wondered why he was sharing this information with only me. Of course, since I already knew about this, it was not worthwhile information for me. However, from Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s point of view, he must have thought he was sharing some kind of valuable information with me. He must be sharing this information for a reason, and I was sure that he wanted something in exchange.


    While I pondered about this, he asked, ¡°Why did youe to the prayer room that day?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± I realized then that he was building up to ask this question.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    I stared at Kang Hyun-Sung. Since he had been quiet for a few days, I thought he might have finally forgotten it, but I couldn¡¯t believe he was still fixated on that. There must be many things in the world that were hard to understand, so why couldn¡¯t he just let this one go? My answer would always be the same.


    ¡°¡­I told you it was because I was worried about you.¡± I couldn¡¯t say it was because the system ordered me to go as if my life depended on it.


    Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me with doubt as before. ¡°Is that really true?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Why would you be worried about me?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­¡± I needed to say something. Otherwise, I would fall for his trap. ¡°Isn¡¯t it normal to worry about someone who hasn''te after the set time passed?¡± I said any excuse that popped into my head.


    ¡°But it¡¯s not normal to look so hard for someone who you aren''t close to just because they are runningte.¡± However, Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t fall for my excuse.


    ¡°I¡¯m the type who worries a lot about small things.¡±


    ¡°Do you seriously expect me to believe that?¡±


    ¡°I also have a caring personality.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s harder for me to believe than what you said earlier.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± This was really an interrogation.


    Kang Hyun-Sung was looking at me with unshakable eyes. Then he asked with a slightly tentative voice, ¡°¡­Who ordered you?¡±


    Who ordered me? Yeah, someone did¡ªit was the system. However, I couldn¡¯t tell him that. But¡ª


    <em>¡®I could make an excuse along that line. ¡¯ </em>I thought this would be better than the ridiculous lies I¡¯ve been saying so far.


    ¡°¡­Yes, someone did.¡±


    When I said this, Kang Hyun-Sung answered, ¡°¡­Hmm, I see.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s steadfast pupils shook for a moment for the first time. Silence flowed between us.


    ¡°¡­Who ordered you?¡± He soon asked the following question.


    ¡°That¡¯s difficult for me to say,¡± I answered in a roundabout way with a nuance that the higher-ups ordered me to. In a way, it was the higher-ups who ordered me as the being was a god-like being disguised as a system. However, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s expression slowly turned into a scowl.


    ¡°All right, I got it.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung got up from his seat and got out of the jacuzzi. Then he wiped himself with arge towel and brushed off the water. ¡°Then there was no reason for me to feel grateful to you.¡±


    No reason for him to be grateful to me. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡± Frankly, he was right. There was no need for him to thank me.


    Kang Hyun-Sung stared down at me and said, ¡°Yes, all right. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± Then he left the middle garden, and I was left in the jacuzzi alone. The water was quickly running out of the jacuzzi that Kang Hyun-Sung left. I stared at the water in Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s jacuzzi, which was quickly emptying. After all the water was drained, I also got up, dried myself, and came back to my room. Even though I practiced and even used the jacuzzi, it was hard for me to fall asleep.


    <em>¡®I can¡¯t sleep.¡¯</em>


    * * *


    Although it felt like I would never fall asleep, my body eventually copsed under fatigue. I didn¡¯t even know how I fell asleep, but when I regained my senses, the rm was going off.


    <em>Sigh¡­</em>


    I sighed deeply and turned off the rm. 8 a.m. I still had a bit of decent sleep. Today¡¯s practice started at 9 a.m. I thought I could just wash up, change, and go out. After cleaning my bed, I thought about what to wear. However, I couldn¡¯t think for longer than 5 seconds, and I nned to wear the first thing I grabbed. First, I washed my hair and my face. When I was about to go down to the practice room¡ª


    <em>Ziiiing¡ª</em>


    The phone vibrated.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± It was a phone call from the production team of <em>The Showcase 2</em>. I usually received notices by text, so I wondered why they were suddenly making a phone call.


    <em>¡®Ah.¡¯</em> But a possibility crossed my mind. When I answered the phone¡ª


    ¡ªMr. Tae-Yoon, are you awake?


    I heard the voice of the program¡¯s <em>maknae</em> writer. She sounded urgent and a bit scared. Although these were small clues, I could predict what happened.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m up. What are you calling about?¡± I tried to ask as calmly as possible.


    ¡ªUm, a person saying she''s your aunt is here now. I think you need to hurry up ande out. Ah¡­


    As soon as I heard the word ¡®aunt,¡¯ my fingers trembled a bit.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    But I quickly calmed myself down and said, ¡°Yes. I¡¯lle out.¡± I was going to put an end to this. Perhaps this was the moment I could put an end to this toxic rtionship disguised as family. I looked at the clothes in my hand.


    I hadn¡¯t realized this before, but I was holding the outfit that Kang Hyun-Sung bought for our team. It was the same clothes that I had seen in my Precognitive Vision. I thought about just wearing this, but¡ª


    <em>¡®No.¡¯ </em>I picked out different clothes to wear. This was my small wish to change the fixed future. I opened the door and went outside. I made a firm resolve and took a steady step. When I left the building, walked through the yard, and went out to the entrance of the amodations¡ª


    <em>¡®She¡¯s here.¡¯</em> My aunt was standing there.

 Chapter 91

    Chapter 91


    My aunt was standing there, and the writer who was standing next to my aunt gestured towards me. It was as if she was signaling me to save her. I walked toward them, and the writer said, ¡°Ah, I hope you have a good time with your family. <em>Hahaha</em>,¡± and left like she was making a quick escape.


    Seeing her response, I could easily tell how my aunt acted. She probably spewed out curses while asking where I was.


    I looked at my aunt again. She was wearing loose-fitting, dark clothes to hide the weight she gained over the years. She had a big pearl ne like she always did, a heavy coat of makeup, and eyeliner that stretched out ferociously upward. She was just as I remembered though she aged a bit.


    On the other hand, my aunt looked at me quite startled. It was understandable since I was only about 170 cm when I left the house and had now grown to 184 cm. I looked down at my aunt without saying a word.


    <em>¡®Was she always this small?¡¯</em> I wondered. In the past, she probably would have clutched my hair first, but now the top of my head was no longer in her reach.


    And as I continued to look down at her wordlessly, she asked with great annoyance, ¡°How dare you look at your elder so insolently? Shouldn¡¯t you greet your aunt? What are you standing like a fool for? Where are your manners?¡±


    Since she didn¡¯t have the stamina and strength to hit me anymore, it seemed she was trying to attack me with her words. But these werements that a middle-aged woman might have said to another middle-aged woman while fighting. I had been slightly afraid before meeting her, but now that I was meeting her, I only felt astonishment and boredom.


    <em>¡®Ha, seriously?</em>¡¯ I thought. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said. Thus, I didn¡¯t reply to her provocations and began moving away.


    ¡°Hey! Bong Tae-Yoon! Who talks to their aunt like that? Hmph!¡± My aunt became enraged immediately. It seemed her blood pressure rose after seeing me ignore her in person. It must have been more surprising to her because when I was living in her house, I had always been a timid and obedient boy who was at her beck and call.


    ¡°Stand here properly before I count to three,¡± she said and treated me as if I was still a young child who trembled in fear at her every word.


    ¡°You follow me instead of standing there,¡± I said.


    But I was no longer afraid of her. Uncaring about how she reacted, I went on my way. It was her loss if she didn¡¯t follow me and after today, I had absolutely no intention of meeting her again. Furthermore, I wanted to leave this situation as fast as possible before my group members caught sight of me.


    Since this ce was right at the entrance of the lodging ce, my members could see me at any moment. Thus, I walked for about thirty seconds without turning back even once and soon heard my aunt follow me from behind.


    <em>¡®Unbelievable.¡¯</em> I almostughed in bafflement but continued to go straight. Since there was only one caf¨¦ in this vicinity, I nned to go there.


    ***


    I opened the caf¨¦ door and went inside. My aunt also entered the store following me, and I surveyed my surroundings. The ce looked identical to the one I saw through my Precognitive Vision. And though I didn¡¯t realize it in my vision, it looked like quite an old caf¨¦ in real life. The first thing I did when I entered was check the CCTV locations first. There was one toward the counter and one at the center of the hall¨Ca total of two CCTVs.


    <em>¡®Well, this is good.¡¯ </em>I had been worried that there would be no cameras and felt relieved to find two. My aunt was already in her seat. She didn¡¯t want to pay for her coffee but that was all within my expectations.


    Thus, I ordered, ¡°Two sses of iced americano please.¡±


    ¡°All right. Thank you.¡± The waiter who took my order was an old man.


    ¡®<em>This is good.¡¯</em> I didn¡¯t have to worry about him spreading rumors aftering out of here. I waited until the americanos came out and took the drinks. Naturally, I ordered an iced americano in case my aunt sshed her drink on my face, and I also turned on my phone¡¯s recording function.


    ¡°Why did you drag me all the way here? Is there that much you have to say?¡± my aunt said. Every word this woman said was aggravating.


    ¡°First of all, how did youe all the way here? Didn¡¯t I say that I would contact you first?¡± I asked what I was curious about first.


    ¡°I made a bit of a fuss at the broadcasting set. What about it?¡±


    ¡°Not at my agency?¡±


    ¡°Ah don¡¯t even mention it! It infuriates me every time I think about those young bitches in your agency! Those crazy¡­¡± As soon as I mentioned mypany, my aunt cursed Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna. To summarize what she said, it seemed those two hadn¡¯t revealed information about me to the very end no matter how much trouble my aunt caused.


    <em>¡°But I suppose the broadcasting crew couldn¡¯t stop her either,¡¯</em> I thought. This crazydy seemed to have found out <em>The Showcase 2</em>¡¯s phone number after finding out that she couldn¡¯t reach me through the agency.


    <em>¡®Haa. Seriously.¡¯</em> I already predicted that she woulde find me, but I didn¡¯t feel good that many people seemed to have been troubled because of me.


    ¡°So, why did youe to see me?¡± I got to the main point.


    ¡°Give me some money,¡± and my aunt immediately replied without circling around too.


    I red at my aunt and replied, ¡°Why? I don¡¯t owe you anything.¡±


    ¡°What about the fact that I fed you and took care of you all those years?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t I say this before? You just gave me some leftovers and gave me a corner to sleep on. How can you say that you took care of me with just that? You don¡¯t even treat a dog like that.¡±


    ¡°There are plenty of kids who don¡¯t even have that. You should just be grateful that I took you in. You damn¡­¡± Then, she went on another parade of insults. I drank a sip of my coffee and let her words flow in one ear and out the other.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have money,¡± I told her again.


    ¡°I heard celebrities earn a couple hundred and thousands per episode.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s only for famous people.¡±


    ¡°I heard idols earn loads though.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t even debut yet.¡±


    ¡°Stop pretending you¡¯re poor and give me your money. Why are you acting like you don¡¯t have anything when you do?¡±


    ¡°<em>Haaa.</em>¡± Common logic didn¡¯t work on someone like her. Unlike what she said, I really didn¡¯t have any money. She must¡¯ve heard some false information from here and there but it simply wasn¡¯t true.


    ¡°Do you want to take a look at my bank ount? I really don¡¯t have anything.¡±


    ¡°Who knows if you will show me a fake ount after transferring your money?¡±


    ¡°You are driving me crazy¡­¡± I didn''t know why she was going this far for money.


    ¡°Give me about 50 million won for now. And 10 million won for today and send me 5 million won every month.¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡± I thought I heard her wrong. I red at her in astonishment and asked, ¡°Where are you going to use all that money for?¡±


    I wanted to know why she was requesting such arge sum. Of course, I knew her family didn¡¯t have much money in the first ce. They used to but my aunt wasted it all away. She lost a huge sum by getting into real estate and stocks, and because of all that stress after losing money, she even dipped her hands into gambling.


    And as she repeatedly squandered more money after the next, she became a person who only talked about money. But there seemed to be a reason why she was asking for such an exact amount like this out of the blue.


    ¡°¡­It¡¯s none of your business.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m asking you where you are going to use it.¡±


    ¡°You should just give it when I ask you. What¡¯s with all these questions?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so ridiculous. Isn¡¯t it natural that I¡¯m curious?¡±


    After panting in anger a few times, my aunt answered. ¡°Minji is going to school this year.¡± Kim Minji was this woman¡¯s daughter. She also had a very bad personality and temper like her.


    ¡°Ah, did she finally get into university after three years?¡±


    ¡°Do you even know the university she got epted into? It¡¯s somewhere someone like you would never be able to enter even after studying all your might!¡±


    Hearing this, I thought Minji got into some medical school or something, but she just went to a rural college called Chung-Wee College or something. It wasn¡¯t a school I ever heard of nor seemed like one that I wouldn¡¯t be able to reach no matter how much I tried. It was only expected because Kim Minji had yed the whole time while saying that she was preparing for her college entrance exam.


    ¡°So, you want me to pay for your daughter¡¯s college fees and living expenses?¡± I asked. Kim Minji probably needed housing and school fees when going to college.


    <em>¡®This is unbelievable,¡¯ </em>I thought. Kim Minji was someone who had treated me badly just like her aunt. She always looked down on me and hit, scratched, and stomped me. Whenever she saw me, she repeatedly told me to piss off and always went on about how my parents died because of me and generally repeated terrible insults that had no basis in reason or logic. And it wasn¡¯t like she only told me these things when I was very young either, but after I got into middle school and was beginning to develop a self-identity of sorts.


    Of course, I had the messages she sent me from that time, and I was beginning to be tired of all this. This was thest time my aunt was going to use blood rtions as an excuse for me to keep listening to her.


    ¡°Heydy,¡± I said, not wanting to even call her ¡®aunt¡¯. ¡°I don¡¯t even have a cent to give you.¡± This was the time for me to speak now. ¡°And it will be the same even if I seed in the future.¡±


    My aunt¡¯s face began to redden. It seemed her blood pressure was rising.


    ¡°You! Bong Tae-Yoon!¡± She screamed like she was trying to scare me but I continued, ¡°I have all the evidence that you hit me since I was young.¡± Using my phone, I sent my aunt a couple of crucial pieces of evidence to her phone.


    ¡°I could sue you for child abuse,¡± I said.


    But my aunt simply snorted and said, ¡°Child abuse? Ha! You think that¡¯s easy to prove, especially after you¡¯re all grown up like this? Do you think I will be scared? Why don¡¯t you try it?¡±


    She sounded calm. It seemed she had already done her own research with the evidence that I sent her.


    ¡°Of course, I wouldn¡¯t have brought this up if that was all to it.¡± Then, I sent her the messages that Kim Minji sent me and the sound file I recorded when my aunt used to beat me. The sound file was filled with sounds and effects that clearly indicated abuse and violence.


    I was d to have collected all this evidence until now. This was all the file I had desperately collected for the future when I might seed one day and break out of this hell. I had waited for the decisive moment to use it and this was the time.


    ¡°¡­You crazy bastard!¡± My aunt got angrier.


    ¡°Sue me! You think everything would go ording to your n? Hm!¡±


    She sounded like she wanted to catch me and kill me this very instance. ¡°You think suing people is easy? Don¡¯t you know how long these processes take?¡± It seemed she had something to believe in that she was acting like this.


    ¡°Yes, I suppose it could be difficult. But I don¡¯t intend to only rely on thew.¡± I inhaled deeply and stared at my aunt again. This crazydy was human in the end, and as one, there was something she still treasured: it was her daughter, Kim Minji. Though she had always given me cold rice, beat me up whenever she had the chance, and ordered me to do housework, she had always treasured her daughter tremendously.


    ¡°You told me she was going to Chung-Wee College this year,¡± I said. Because she had boasted about her daughter¡¯s school proudly just now, it became easier for me to ckmail her. I continued, ¡°I¡¯m going to release all this evidence on the school¡¯s main page.¡±


    My aunt flinched at the mention of Minji¡¯s name.


    ¡°Every couple of months, I¡¯m going to upload this evidence onto the school¡¯s page so that the issue would never die down. If possible, I¡¯m also nning to spread it around with pamphlets.¡±


    ¡°College is over when she graduates¡­¡±


    ¡°And when she gets a job, I¡¯m going to find herpany and spread the evidence there.¡±


    ¡°And if she dates someone, I will show them this evidence. And if she marries, I will show them to her partner¡¯s family. And if she gives birth to a kid, I will show her kid and your grandchild these files.¡±


    In order to win over this crazydy, I needed to attack her daughter. This was someone who already lost almost everything she possibly could. Thus, to have an effect on her, I needed to attack her daughter who still wasn¡¯t hopeless.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to use every means possible to make Kim Minji¡¯s life hell.¡± I continued while leaning my torso toward my aunt. These days, social media sites were like a double-sided de, and rumors spread fast. And thus, I quickly found a social media page filled with students from Chung-Wee College. All I needed to do was follow through with my threat to send the files I had as a message on this social media page.


    ¡°If I click this send button, Kim Minji¡¯s life will be quite tiring,¡± I said while showing my phone¡¯s screen to my aunt. ¡°What will you do?¡±


    ¡°You bastaaard!¡± My aunt, who clearly had anger management problems seemed unable to bear it any longer. She clutched my head and said with bloodlust in her eyes, ¡°You remember how I said I would kill when I met you.¡±


    <em>Thud. </em>I easily pulled her fingers away from my head. Then, I met her eyes and said, ¡°If you are going to kill me, you should kill me where the cameras can see you crystal clear.¡±


    Hearing this, my aunt scanned the caf¨¦. The spot we were at was right between the counter CCTV and the CCTV in the hallway. I thought this was going to be the climax now until I heard someone running toward me.


    ¡°Get your hands off Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon?¡± It was our team leader.

 Chapter 92

    Chapter 92


    ¡°Get your hands off of Tae-Yoon!¡± Yeon-Hoon suddenly jumped out.


    Even my aunt, who was preparing to p me on the cheek, became a little surprised and faltered.


    ¡°Who are you to hit our Tae-Yoon!¡± Yeon-Hoon stood in front of me to block my aunt and shouted at the top of his lungs; he had a very determined look on his face. He shouted again, ¡°Why are you trying to hit another person!¡±


    My aunt seemed quite taken aback by the sudden intrusion of a third party, but she was not the type of person to back down from an intervention of this level. She was the type of person who had to see through things to the very end until her anger dissolved.


    ¡°Hey! What the! Who the hell are you!¡±


    It was not a question hoping for an actual answer, but Yeon-Hoon replied clearly, ¡°I¡¯m Tae-Yoon¡¯s <em>hyung</em>! How can you act like this when you¡¯re his aunt? Can you answer that?¡± He even replied with a question, and I had no idea how Yeon-Hoon could stand his ground so firmly like this.


    <em>¡®He knows she¡¯s my aunt.¡¯</em> It seemed he overheard my conversation with my aunt a little bit. But this was not the important part now. He shouldn¡¯t be yelling like this in front of my aunt. Of course, it didn¡¯t matter to me but¡ª


    ¡°You fucking rude bastard, how dare you raise your voice in front of your elder!¡±


    I couldn¡¯t let Yeon-Hoon get hit. My crazy aunt raised her hand and poised to p his cheek. I wish I could have punched her, but I couldn¡¯t; so, I needed to be hit instead.


    <em>Swoosh.</em>


    I pushed Yeon-Hoon behind me and then¡ª


    <em>p¡ª!</em>


    I was pped in the face by my aunt instead.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡± Yeon-Hoon screamed in surprise. Frankly, it didn¡¯t hurt. I used to get hit harder than this and didn¡¯t think too much about it.


    <em>¡®I¡¯m within the view of the CCTV.¡¯</em> We were at an angle that would have been clearly caught by both cameras, and I was sure that this sound was clearly recorded on the phone that I had in my pocket.


    ¡°This crazy¡­!¡± My aunt looked quite surprised when I suddenly intervened and got pped. A normal person would have taken a step back from here but¡ª


    ¡°Ha, yeah. This is great. I should¡¯ve beaten the crap out of you. Come closer so I can hit you more. I¡¯ll smash your face today so you won¡¯t ever dream of being an idol.¡± This crazy woman was not going to stop; she needed to see me fall into ruins.


    It was because of this damn personality that she lost hundreds of millions of won and drove her house to ruins. If things didn¡¯t work out even after spection, she put in more money in a fit of anger. And she blew money by buying stocks and then selling it out of anger again and again. Even when she was gambling, she still kept on going even when she knew she was losing.


    ¡°I need to release my anger if I can¡¯t get paid. Come here you brat. I¡¯ll kill you here today.¡± My aunt rolled up her sleeves with a deep scowl; that was her sign that she was going to hit me with all her might now. Even when I was young, I gave up on resisting whenever she made that motion and expression. Was it because I had memories of getting mercilessly hit until I was half-dead? I didn¡¯t feel any fear or anything about her movement just now, but¡ª


    ¡°I said don¡¯t hit him¡ª!¡± Yeon-Hoon shouted. However, his voice was so loud that even my aunt faltered.


    <em>¡®What?¡¯ </em>Honestly, I was also surprised. I knew that Yeon-Hoon had a strong voice as I could tell by his singing. However, now that he was really trying his best to shout as loudly with all his might, I felt like my eardrums would burst.


    Furthermore, the caf¨¦ owner, the grandpa, joined, ¡°What are you all doing here! You can¡¯t do this at someone¡¯s store.¡± Frankly, I thought he had been waiting for a chance to stop us for a while and finally found the right time to intervene. Was it because two third parties had rushed in and were trying to stop her?


    ¡°Ha, ha! I¡¯m bbergasted¡­¡± My aunt finally backed down a bit.


    ¡°Get out now! Right now!¡± The caf¨¦ owner kicked us out. And we were kicked out of the caf¨¦ just like that. Even when we were kicked out into the middle of the street, my aunt kept ring at me.


    ¡°You, just wait, I¡¯ll kill you for real.¡± She told me she would kill me so many times that I now felt nothing from it. Did my indifferent expression only trigger her further?


    ¡°Hey! You think what I¡¯m saying is a joke! I¡¯m really going to kill you!¡± Her words got stronger.


    Yeon-Hoon grabbed my wrist as if to pull me away from this situation. I felt sorry for Yeon-Hoon, but I still had a conversation to finish with this crazy woman.


    I said, ¡°Excuse me but stop yelling your head off when you literally have nothing. My eardrums are about to burst.¡±


    ¡°What? What did you say, you bastard?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t spew so many curses when you¡¯re old. You look pathetic.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡±


    ¡°And don¡¯t evere to find me again or tell anyone you¡¯re my family. Lastly, don¡¯t even think about asking me for money.¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s never meet again.¡± I nned to return like that but that crazy woman decided to cross the line.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to tell everyone in Korea that you¡¯re an imbecile who killed your parents!¡± She shouted for the whole world to hear, ¡°How dare a monster who killed both his parents act like a human in a broadcast show? You¡¯re a fucking bastard who has to live like a corpse forever to atone for your parents! Know your fucking ce!¡± I¡¯ve heard this same repertoire so many times since I was young that it didn¡¯t faze me in the least anymore.


    However, the fact that she was shouting all this in such a public area was quite annoying.


    ¡°T-Tae-Yoon.¡± I let go of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s hand for a moment.


    Then I walked toward the bitch who called herself my aunt. ¡°Who did you call an imbecile?¡±


    I knew that I shouldn¡¯t hit her, but I felt like I might really hit her in my current state. I said, ¡°My parents died in an ident, and I just survived that ident.¡± Honestly, these were memories that I didn''t want to recall or even think about. However, this nasty woman kept forcing me to recall my past memories.


    I added, ¡°You said I killed my parents? Stop shouting nonsense.¡±


    ¡°You were fated to be a killer from the moment you were born. A shaman said that your fate was full of death! I should have listened to her then, so I wouldn¡¯t have ended up in this mess.¡±


    ¡°Oh, really?¡± The words that I was fated to be a killer- that was also something I had heard till my ears bled. But now I could really see myself killing someone.


    ¡°You think it would help your image if rumors spread that you killed your parents when you want to be a celebrity? Do you have a brain?¡± My aunt began threatening me again.


    She must have thought this would work, but honestly, I didn¡¯t care. ¡°Spread it. As soon as you spread this rumor, I¡¯ll go to Kim Minji.¡± All I had to do was threaten her back.


    ¡°You said I was fated to be a killer.¡± I took a step closer to my aunt. ¡°And that I killed my parents? That¡¯splete bullshit.¡± My aunt was not someone I could reason with in the first ce. ¡°But think carefully about it. Don¡¯t you think social death is also another form of death?¡±


    ¡°Yooooou!¡± My aunt once again tried to grab me by the hair but¡ª


    <em>Tap.</em>


    I dodged her arms by turning slightly. Then I took another step toward her and said, ¡°I''ll make your daughter¡¯s life extremely painful and tiring so that she¡¯ll never be able to show her face ever again outside.¡±


    ¡°If you ever touch Minji, I¡¯ll kill you even if doing so brings me down! You got that?¡±


    ¡°Then do it. I won¡¯t just stand still.¡± The woman calling herself my aunt began to go full-on bonkers. It was her turn to raise her hand one more time, but¡ª


    <em>Squeeze.</em>


    I grabbed her wrist first, and when I squeezed it with a bit of strength¡­


    ¡°Kyahhhh!¡± She screamed at the top of her voice.


    ¡°If you try to wreck my future, I¡¯ll wreck your daughter¡¯s future, and if you ever appear in front of me again, I won¡¯t stay still then. You got that?¡± I said while looking down at this crazy woman. ¡°If you want your daughter to be safe, behave carefully.¡±


    After hearing all this, my aunt slumped down to the ground and looked up at me in a daze.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that I can socially bury your daughter even while sitting in the corner of a room.¡± I turned away, leaving behind my aunt on the ground. Despite pouring out everything I had prepared, my heart didn¡¯t feelpletely at ease.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    However, I couldn¡¯t show my weakness here. I walked nonchntly and saw Yeon-Hoon standing on the other side. His facial expression looked quite conflicted and hard to read. I didn¡¯t know why; I¡¯ve never felt like this before but I couldn¡¯t make eye contact with him now.


    <em>¡®¡­That¡¯s strange.¡¯</em>


    ¡°Tae-Yoon.¡± Yeon-Hoon reached out his hand to me. But¡ª


    ¡°¡­Let¡¯s go, Yeon-Hoon.¡± I didn¡¯t have the strength to hold that hand now.


    * * *


    Yeon-Hoon and I didn¡¯t speak a word to each other while heading back. Yeon-Hoon followed, and I led the way the whole time. When we reached our dorm, I faced him again. He had an apologetic look on his face.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­intend to see it.¡± And for some reason, he was now starting to make excuses. ¡°I came out to buy coffee for the members before morning practice and happened to overhear your conversation. At first, I thought it sounded too personal so I was going to leave, but I was so surprised that she was going to hit you that my body just moved on its own¡­¡±


    There was no need for Yeon-Hoon to apologize.


    <em>¡®Seriously, what¡¯s up with me?¡¯</em> I felt ufortable. Was it because I showed him a side I didn¡¯t want to show him? I had no courage to make eye contact with him.


    ¡°¡­No, you don¡¯t have anything to apologize for. Thank you for taking my side,¡± I said to Yeon-Hoon.


    My heart hadn¡¯t feltfortable when I got caught by Woonst time, and the same was true for now. No, it was worse than that time as my aunt hadn¡¯t shown up in person then.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon.¡± Yeon-Hoon called my name again in a low voice. When I couldn¡¯t hold my head up¡ª


    <em>Squeeze.</em>


    Yeon-Hoon approached me and gave me a hug. ¡°You suffered a lot, Tae-Yoon.¡± A simr scene as before began to unfold.


    ¡°¡­¡± I hadn¡¯t felt like this even after leaving behind my aunt, but now my heart felt heavy as if something was broken.


    ¡°You did well, Tae-Yoon. It¡¯s all right.¡± I hadn¡¯t realized that a rhythmic patting on the back could be such a big form of constion. And like this, I stood in front of our dorms and stayed still for a very long time.


    * * *


    Perhaps due to the hectic and rough start I had as soon as I woke up, I couldn¡¯t concentrate much on anything all morning that day. Fortunately, my mental breakdown didn¡¯t seem to have affected thepetition much as the percentage of winning didn¡¯t change.


    [Probability of winning: 80%]


    Since I was used to practicing, I could now do all the movements without much difficulty. After lunchtime passed like this, dinner also passed, and we finished evening practice.


    ¡°Today is thest day of training camp. Thank you for following my lead even though you must have had to practice a lot.¡± The practice ended after Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s closing remarks.


    ¡°Whoa!¡±


    ¡°It feels a bit relieving but sad at the same time.¡±


    ¡°But I think we were able to thoroughly prepare for our stage thanks to this camp.¡±


    ¡°Since we still have time until thepetition on the 24th, let¡¯s do our best until the end.¡±


    We left the practice room after saying appropriatements like this. The production crew didn¡¯t prepare any event or anything like that tomemorate thest day of camp. All they did was prepare a dinner that day in a buffet style that was a bit more generous than usual.


    Although they kept on shooting, it was material that would be aired for about five seconds and had no script. Iy in bed and reflected on what had happened that day. It was a normal day overall except for the fuss in the morning. My heart felt a bit heavy, but I thought time would solve it.


    <em>Knock, knock.</em>


    Then someone knocked on my door. It was the first time someone knocked on my door since I came here. When I opened the door, wondering what was going on¡ª


    ¡°¡­Guys?¡± My members were standing in front of the door. I wondered why they were standing in front.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon said he borrowed a car.¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡¯


    ¡°We told the producer that we were going on a drive at night, and he gave us a camera and permission to go out as long as we got some footage of us ying for a bit.¡±


    It appeared a lot of things had been talked about without my knowledge. However, I didn¡¯t feel like going. I felt apologetic to the members, but I wondered if I should go with them when¡ª


    [Probability of winning: 81%]


    The percentage, which had not budged so far, suddenly rose.


    ¡°¡­Yes, let¡¯s go.¡± In the end, I came out with my coat.

 Chapter 93

    Chapter 93


    As I got my coat, I wondered if I was doing the right thing. My first concern was that it was quitete right now, and this e-night rendezvous could affect my physical condition for future schedules.


    ¡°Let¡¯s each have one of these before we go~¡±


    ¡°¡­What is this?¡±


    ¡°Ginseng!¡± Yeon-Hoon took out a packet from his bag pack.


    ¡°Where did you prepare this?¡±


    ¡°All convenience stores sell it these days.¡± I took a ginseng stick that Yeon-Hoon handed me and ate it. Then, I looked toward my members again. Dong-Jun and Do-Seung were ying while holding the camera.


    ¡°But is it okay for us to suddenly go out like this?¡± I asked. This was my biggest concern. We were already receiving suspicions of having the broadcasting show backing us. If this little trip aired on TV, we could really get used of receiving special privileges. But as I was thinking this, Kang Hyun-Sung and other Only One members came out with their cameras.


    ¡°So, where are we going, Hyun-Sung?¡±


    ¡°Chung Pyong-Ho.¡±


    ¡°Whaaat~?¡±


    Simultaneously, other voices popped out.


    ¡°What! It¡¯s free time?¡±


    ¡°Can we really go anywhere?¡±


    Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Luminin came out.


    ¡°Truthfully, when I asked to go on a drive, the producer said that he¡¯s going to give other teams free time too.¡± It appeared that my members requested tonight¡¯s privilege to be shared by everyone. Hearing this, I thought it was fine for us to leave now.


    ¡°I understand.¡± My biggest worry was solved, and Yeon-Hoon turned on the rental car¡¯s app and the car¡¯s engine.


    ¡°Park the car in the front over there. Let¡¯s go!¡±


    The cars parked in front of the lodging greeted us in a weing light.


    ¡°Who wants to sit next to the driver''s seat today?¡±


    ¡°Want to do rock, scissors, and papers?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Just let Tae-Yoon take the seat.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


    ¡°No, just sit there.¡±


    Though I had no intention of sitting in the front, it was still nice for them to offer it and I didn¡¯t refuse.


    ¡°Okay~ Let¡¯s go~¡± The car left the lodging ce and moved clearly forward across the driveway. It was quite an exciting and nice drive.


    ¡°Do we have a destination in mind?¡±


    ¡°No?¡±


    ¡°What destination?¡±


    ¡°Just go.¡±


    As we left, my group members didn¡¯t even have a destination in mind. I let them be because this was supposed to be just a drive anyways.


    ¡°Huh? We got on the wrong road.¡±


    ¡°Huh, wait.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Ugh, give me a moment.¡±


    It was then that more foreboding noises began to ring out.


    ***


    ¡°Where¡­is this ce, guys?¡±


    After a couple of confused gasps, we arrived at a strange ce.


    ¡°When I look at the map, it says Ga-Pyeong.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°But besides that, there¡¯s nothing¡­¡±


    My group members stood on a vacant lot and stared above the empty and dark space before them. Then, after parking our car in a suitable ce, we began to walk aimlessly. We had our phone¡¯s shlight on because we couldn¡¯t see what was in front of us. After walking a bit, we saw that there was quite a picturesque scenery before us.


    ¡°Hey, everyone~ We just arrived at a very strange ce just now~¡±


    ¡°Where is this ce?¡±


    Dong-Jun and Do-Seung eachmented while holding their cameras. Woon, Yeon-Hoon, and I just quietly walked from behind.


    ¡°How is your team? Is practice going well?¡± Woon suddenly asked me then.


    ¡°Yes, things are going well.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes, things are going so smoothly that it almost frightens me.¡±


    ¡°Oh~¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team had finished honing their performance and there was nothing to fix now. That was how high the quality of our performance was.


    ¡°What about you guys?¡±


    ¡°We are also doing really well!¡±


    ¡°Good job.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Woon both appeared confident.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon is working especially hard.¡±


    ¡°Woon is also working hard. He came up with the choreography and everything.¡±


    I felt my love for humanity restore a bit while walking between Woon and Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°Are you struggling with anything, Tae-Yoon?¡± Woon then asked me in a worried voice.


    ¡°No, there¡¯s nothing really. I¡¯m just going with the flow.¡±


    Woon wordlessly patted my shoulders. It was then, Dong-Jun, who had been walking in the front, pointed forward and said, ¡°Everyone! I think I see an ocean in front of us!¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that ake instead of the ocean?¡±


    ¡°Ah, is that so?¡±


    ¡°Huh? What are you saying?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s something?¡± Woon and Yeon-Hoon moved forward and asked. I also went forward.


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    There, we saw a wide-openke.


    ¡°Is there anywhere to sit?¡±


    ¡°There are some stic chairs here.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t they dirty?¡±


    ¡°We can just wipe them.¡± Dong-Jun got five stic chairs thrown away in the lot. And as we all stared nkly at the water before us, we naturally became speechless. This was the overwhelming feeling that nature gave to its viewers. I remembered hearing that staring nkly like this was good for mental health and thoughtlessly stared at theke in the darkness. But the more I tried to empty my mind, my thoughts headed toward a deeper ce.


    ¡°Why do you all want to be idols?¡± It was then that Dong-Jun broke the silence and asked in a low voice.


    ¡°Me?¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    ¡°Suddenly?¡±


    Woon, Do-Seung, and Yeon-Hoon¡¯s faces became serious after hearing this question.


    ¡°I really enjoyed listening to music since I was young.¡± The first one to speak was Do-Seung. ¡°It was to the point that I got an ear infection because I had the earphones inside my ears all the time.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°So I naturally wanted to be a singer. And after some research, I thought bing an idol was better, and in perfect timing, there was an audition¡­so, that¡¯s how I ended up here.¡±


    ¡°What there was no soul to that story~ How boring, Do-Seung.¡± Dong-Jun booed Do-Seung¡¯s realistic story.


    ¡°Come on!¡±


    ¡°What about you, Woon?¡±


    ¡°I think¡­I honestly wanted to be a dancer more than an idol.¡±


    ¡°A dancer?¡±


    ¡°Well, rather than a dancer. I just wanted to be a dance instructor in our neighborhood.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You know my hometown is a bit rural.¡±


    Oh yes, I remembered now. Woon didn¡¯te from a city¡ªsomewhere in Jeo-do. I forgot about it because he didn¡¯t use a non-standard dialect.


    ¡°Since there was only one dance instructor in our neighborhood, I thought I would naturally be an instructor there when I grew up. But then, one of my instructor¡¯s friends was an idol dance trainer in Seoul so¡­¡±


    Woon¡¯s story also had nothing dramatic and sounded normal. It seemed Dong-Jun wanted a more heart-wrenching story and looked toward Yeon-Hoon. Yeon-Hoon smiled brightly and said, ¡°Pass!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon looked like he didn¡¯t want to tell his story.


    ¡°What about you, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± It was my turn now. I also wanted to say ¡®pass¡¯ and skip over my turn but Dong-Jun looked at me with hopeful eyes.


    <em>¡®He¡¯s expecting something,¡¯</em> I thought. <em>¡®But I just wanted to y house and have a ce to stay and food to eat.¡¯</em>


    Yet, I knew the mood would dramatically be heavy as soon as I told my story. I had be an idol trainee because I wanted to run away from the house where my aunt beat me every day and wanted to stay in a ce where people cared for me. I didn¡¯t begin this career because I truly wanted to be an idol.


    <em>¡®Hm.¡¯</em> But now that I think about it, this didn¡¯t seem to be the whole reason.


    ¡°Why do I want to be an idol¡­¡± Perhaps, it was the first time I genuinely asked myself this question. The words I had been thinking in my mind escaped my lips and my members looked at me curiously. Dong-Jun especially leaned closer in great expectations that he would hear the kind of story he wanted. I felt like I needed to say something in this mood.


    There were other ces that provided housing and meals besides being an idol trainee. When searching the inte, there were many part-time jobs and amodations like that. Yet, I had skipped all that to take an audition as an idol trainee.


    <em>¡®It really is strange.¡¯</em> Of course, I had my own reasoning for this back then. I couldn¡¯t just run away to any ce since I was so young¡ªa middle-schooler when I started as an idol trainee. There was no job that would ept me at that age and it would be very suspicious if anyone did. Thus, the safest ce that would provide housing and care for me was a ce that housed idol trainees.


    And though it was arrogant of me to say this, I knew from a young age that my appearance was far from terrible and thought being an idol trainee was the easiest and safest road for me. But when I reached high school, there was no reason for me to have continued the trainee lifestyle.


    I could¡¯ve lied about my age or just got hired by apany that provided room and board. Yet, despite that, I continued my idol trainee life. I even joined the hopeless WD Entertainment to continue that life despite knowing that other jobs would¡¯ve been a realistically better option for me financially.


    ¡°¡­Maybe I wanted to receive something like love¡­?¡± I thought perhaps, it was this.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Love?¡±


    My group members looked at me in surprise.


    ¡°I think I wanted to be loved. And without me realizing it, I looked up to idols on stage and wanted to be like them.¡± This was the mostprehensible reason that I coulde up with an objective viewpoint. ¡°I wanted to be loved like them on stage, something like that¡­¡± I was about to add that I honestly didn¡¯t know too well when Yeon-Hoon and Woon suddenly burst into tears.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon¡­¡±


    ¡°Urgh!¡±


    ¡°¡­Huh?¡± I stopped speaking, seeing those two suddenly cry.


    ¡°Um, Woon?¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    Do-Seung, Dong-Jun, and I all sat frozen in our spots too.


    <em>¡®What?</em>¡¯ Both Yeon-Hoon and I knew what happened with my aunt. It seemed after hearing what I said, they made up a whole tear-jerking drama in their heads. It was my timing to getforted but I wasforting them somehow.


    ¡°Are you all right, guys?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yooon!¡±


    ¡°We will love you a lot¡­¡±


    Simultaneously, Dong-Jun and Do-Seung looked at the three of us with nk faces. ¡°W-What? Is it our time to also cry?¡±


    And that was how we poured our eyes out in front of theke. Then, we were about to leave after things settled a bit when I heard amotion from a ce quite some distance from us.


    <em>Thud.</em>


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°¡­Hm.¡±


    Afterforting Woon and Yeon-Hoon, I turned toward where the noise came from. It was a dark ce at ate hour. We began to feel a bit anxious in this unfamiliar ce where we had very little information while waiting for the unknown toe out. Growing tense, I wondered if an ident was going to happen and kept my senses alert as much as possible.


    <em>sh¡ª</em>! A strong shlight shone on us, and I looked forward with my eyes squinted. Over the brilliant light, the people approaching us were¡­Only One.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we are meeting you guys here.¡±


    ¡°Siren members also came to Chang-Pyong Lake?¡± Young-Ho asked brightly. It was then I recalled Only One saying amongst themselves that they were going to Chang-Pyongke.


    <em>¡®Ah, this was theke they were talking about.¡¯</em> What an unbelievable coincidence.

 Chapter 94

    Chapter 94


    It was an incredible coincidence. How in the world did we meet Only One at this darkke? Only One¡¯s fans must be dying to see their faces just once, but our group constantly ran into Only One without even trying.


    ¡°But did you guys cry? Um, we came here because we heard a crying sound, and your faces are¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Woon rubbed their faces at Only One¡¯s Kim Ju-Hyun¡¯s question. They tried to erase their tear marks, but¡ª


    <em>¡®It¡¯s already been all filmed.¡¯</em> It was filmed on our camera and Only One¡¯s camera over there. I thought this whole scene mighte out strangely through Only One¡¯s camera.


    ¡ªLate at night. The Only One members were drawn by a strange crying sound from the darkke¡­and a wild Siren sobbing his heart popped out¡­!


    I thought this kind ofedic line might be included at the bottom, but I brushed away that thought. It seemed that the more things went on, the more we would be portrayed as aedic group. Yeon-Hoon and Woon had cried while talking about something serious, and I thought I would be disappointed if our conversation was edited as a funny scene but¡­


    <em>¡®Were we even being serious?¡¯</em> On second thought, I wondered if we had even been talking about something serious. In a way, we were talking about everyday things, but Woon and Yeon-Hoon suddenly cried out of the blue.


    Only One members looked a bit conflicted as they stared at Woon and Yeon-Hoon''s teary eyes as if they were looking at something they shouldn¡¯t have seen. I didn¡¯t say anything and met eyes with Kang Hyun-Sung, who was standing at the back.


    Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me for a while and turned his head. It felt somewhat awkward between us after that day in the jacuzzi. No-awkward was not the right word, as we didn¡¯t have a proper rtionship in the first ce, and things were awkward between us from the very beginning. Rather than awkward, it was more urate to say¡­


    <em>¡®Is he mad?¡¯</em> It seemed as if Kang Hyun-Sung was angry at me about something, or he was trying to push me away. I didn¡¯t want to think more about it, and I didn¡¯t think things would get any better between us even if I thought about it.


    ¡°Then, we will go on our way for now. Haha.¡±


    ¡°Have a good time with your members~¡±


    ¡°Haha¡­thank you¡­¡±


    Only One members quickly moved on, realizing that staying longer would not be beneficial for them. I met Park Young-Ho¡¯s eyes, and he smiled brightly and disappeared after saying, ¡°See you in the practice room.¡±


    When we were left in the dark again, Woon was embarrassed after regaining his senses. ¡±I¡¯m starting to worry about how I¡¯ll appear on the show for crying¡­all of a sudden.¡±


    ¡°I already cried so much, so I¡¯m just going to let it go¡­¡± Yeon-Hoon replied, sounding a bit resigned.


    ¡°Then shall we also head back?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go~¡±


    We all got in the car together. Woon got in the passenger seat and I got in the back seat this time. I sat in the middle with Do-Seung and Dong-Jun on each side.


    ¡°So Tae-Yoon, why did Yeon-Hoon and Woon cry?¡±


    ¡°Is there something up with those two?¡±


    They whispered in my ear at the same time.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    There was no worse ASMR than this. I sinctly replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Dude, tell me.¡±


    ¡°Booo. Guarantee our rights to know.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    I had no desire nor heart to talk about this. I just closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, and Do-Seung and Dong-Jun yed around to wake me up but eventually left me alone.


    * * *


    Perhaps due to the midnight drive, my heart that had felt heavy after meeting my aunt felt a bit lighter. Although we returned somewhatte at night, I was able to sleep well that day, and I didn¡¯t feel too drained. But above all¡ª


    [Probability of winning first ce: 82%]


    Since I went out for a drive yesterday with my members, the chance of winning first ce has increased by 2%. Until now, the probability had only risen through clear activities and practices.


    <em>¡®Why did it go up?¡¯</em> I thought it might have risen because managing one¡¯s condition was also part of the preparatory process, but I knew from past experience that this probability was not something that rose so easily.


    <em>¡®That means something happenedst night.¡¯</em> If I had to pick out an incident that stood out to me yesterday, it was that we talked about why we wanted to be idols.


    <em>¡®Is it rted to that?¡¯</em> Come to think of it, I thought, ¡®<em>Wait, I think there¡¯s a connection?¡¯</em>


    As a result of watching the probability of winning rise and fall again and again, I realized that there was some sort of rule connected to its movements.


    <em>¡®Is it rted to my mindset?¡¯</em> No, to be more precise, it was¡ª


    <em>¡®I guess¡­my self-identity as an idol.¡¯</em>


    I deeply sighed. The song ¡°Never Mind¡± was a song that was very idol-like; even more so with the rearranged version.


    <em>¡®But I think I¡¯m quite the idol now¡­¡¯</em> My identity as a novelist in my past life faded a lot now. Since I risked my life to carry out the missions and did my best every moment, my previous life¡¯s consciousness as a novelist inevitably decreased. However, the system was still saying that I wascking something.


    ¡°Thank you for your hard work in training camp for the past week!¡± Producer Park Soo-Chul gathered us in the yard and announced.


    With his voice, I thought I should put all my focus on the shooting for now.


    ¡°Hooray!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Great work everyone!¡±


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    I bowed to the staff.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take the microphone off~¡±


    After taking out the microphone on our clothes and the luggage from our amodation, the shooting really was over. My members and I gathered again in the yard with our luggage.


    ¡°Ahh~ Thank you for a great week~¡± Dong-Jun said goodbye to the pension even though no one asked him to.


    ¡°These will all be great memories, right?¡± Woon took out his phone and took pictures of the pension.


    ¡°Let¡¯s take selfies, here!¡± Yeon-Hoon took out his phone camera and took a selfie. He was probably going to send these to Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna and ask if it would be okay for us to post them on WD Entertainment¡¯s official SNS. Just in time¡ª


    ¡°Everyone~¡±


    ¡°Oh? They¡¯re here!¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna wereing towards us from a distance. Their voice seemed to be full of energy as they called us.


    ¡°Did you enjoy your stay together?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°We did our best.¡±


    ¡°While you guys were here, we also enjoyed a break in Seoul¡­um, I mean, we were praying that everything would end well over there.¡±


    While we were moving towards the car, I continued to think about what I was thinking earlier. The system seemed to be telling me now that my self-identity as an idol wascking. I kept feeling that the probability of winning first ce would rise above 90% if I just fully developed my identity as an idol. On the other hand, it was quite funny to say I had to fully develop my idol identity.


    <em>¡®Don¡¯t I just have to be sincere about my performances and being an idol?¡¯</em> It was not something that I could aplish with effort. I had to sincerely want to be an idol.


    In order for that to happen, I thought, <em>¡®Should I talk a little more about what I said yesterday?¡¯</em>


    I wondered if I needed to continue yesterday¡¯s conversation with my members a bit longer.


    <em>¡®No.¡¯</em> My members already had strong self-identity as idols. They were people who were serious about their dreams of bing idols and thought of this as their sole path. If there was someone who could be a bit more helpful to me... one person came up in my mind.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    <em>¡®But¡­it¡¯s a bit ufortable.¡¯</em> However, it was hard for me to reach out to him for help. However, I had to live as an idol and needed to address this issue. I needed to talk to someone who could tell me directly and transparently what it meant to live as an idol and what kind of life it was. In the end, I took out my phone and sent out a text.


    ¨CDo you want to have breakfast with me on the day of the thirdpetition?


    I sent it and put back my phone. I thought he would reply to me on his own. Living as an idol¡­it was already quite difficult.


    * * *


    ¡°Pweh! A week at training camp was really productive!¡± Only One members got into their vehicle with their luggage. Since they had a lot of luggage to organize, they became thest group to start heading back after all the other groups left.


    ¡°Let¡¯s quickly pack up and leave~¡±


    ¡°Yes~¡±


    At the manager¡¯s words, the Only One members moved busily and loaded their luggage into the car. Only Kang Hyun-Sung, who had packed all his luggage in advance, got into the car first and was enjoying a leisurely time.


    <em>Zing.</em>


    Then Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s phone suddenly vibrated. When he checked the text, he paused and stiffened for a moment. However, he quickly returned to his original self and sent out a reply after typing mechanically. After sending his reply, he smiled faintly with his phone in his pocket.


    The other members caught his smile, and Park Young-Ho, who got into the van with all his luggage, asked, ¡°Did something good happen¡­?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung answered firmly and quickly.


    * * *


    Time flew by after the training camp. I came back to the dorm with the members and unpacked our belongings again. After that day, we started practicing for the thirdpetition again. Since we had roughly finished matching our choreography, our practice became closer and closer to mindlessbor. We repeated the same movements dozens or hundreds of times to hone the fine details of the same movement.


    Our practice could be easily described as doing high-intensity, systemic aerobic exercises all day long. Furthermore, the fact that our thirdpetition stage deadline was approaching put our bodies in a state of constant stress, and we forgot about our fatigue. We practiced with the mindset of working to the bone till the very end, which was less than a few days away anyway. Was it because of the crazy amount of practice? On thest day of practice¡ª


    [Probability of winning first ce: 83%]


    I thought the probability wouldn¡¯t increase anymore with practice, but it rose 1%.


    Kang Hyun-Sung must have also known that we couldn¡¯t improve any further with the choreography as he said, ¡°Thank you for all your hard work. We roughly look like a proper team now.¡±


    Heplimented us for the first time. Of course, ¡®roughly look like a proper team¡¯ was barely apliment from the listener''s point of view. When I returned to our dorm after practice, my members were already asleep, so I also washed up and quickly fell asleep.


    Then it became 5 am. At dawn on the D-day of the thirdpetition¡ª


    <em>Ziiing.</em>


    I woke up an hour earlier than my members and left the dorm.


    ¡ªCome down. This is the only time to eat breakfast.


    ¡ªI know. I¡¯m going down now.


    The reason for that was that I was going to have breakfast with Kang Hyun-Sung. When I went down to the first floor of the dorm, Kang Hyun-Sung was standing still while wearing a hat and mask.


    I asked, ¡°You¡¯re already here?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. To eat.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe I was eating breakfast with Kang Hyun-Sung. Even though I was the one who suggested it first, I still couldn¡¯t believe it.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s so strange.¡¯</em>


    ¡°Let¡¯s go get our hair and makeup done right after we eat.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Since today¡¯spetition was a joint mission, we had to start as a team, not as groups. Since we decided to meet at 7 in front of the practice room, we had about two hours left to eat.


    I asked, ¡°What do you want to eat? There won¡¯t be many ces open at this time.¡± I was deeply pondering about what questions I should ask Kang Hyun-Sung to raise the probability of winning first ce above 90%, but¡ª


    ¡°What about McMorning?¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡± How should I say this? This punk seemed strangely excited for some reason by himself. I said, ¡°Let¡¯s go eat <em>gukbap</em> instead.¡± [1]


    Above all, I couldn¡¯t believe he suggested McMorning. His menu selection was awful.


    1. Hot soup with rice. ?

 Chapter 95

    Chapter 95


    Kang Hyun-Sung and I went to a 24-hour franchise burger ce nearby. Though I suggested eating<em> gukbap</em>, Kang Hyun-Sung brushed off my suggestion and went inside the burger store.


    ¡°Our food preference is very different,¡± I noted.


    ¡°Is that so?¡±


    ¡°Why do people even like <em>gukbap</em> that much?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked.


    ¡°You know that could be quite a problematic line¡­?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just personal taste.¡±


    It was shocking to see a Korean who didn¡¯t like <em>gukbap</em>. It was like seeing an Italian who didn¡¯t drink coffee. I looked at Kang Hyun-Sung in shock and turned my eyes to the nearby kiosk. After just ordering some random things on the menu, I scanned the inside of the store. Though we were in Gangnam, the ce was empty because it was so early in the morning. Still, I sat in the most unnoticeable spot since Kang Hyun-Sung was a pretty well-known celebrity, even if it wasn¡¯t the case for me,


    My food came out after Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s. Since we ordered individually, we didn¡¯t know what each other ordered, so I was surprised by Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s menu.


    ¡°Is a warm cup of coffee all you¡¯re going to have?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung simply ordered one cup of coffee, unlike me, who ordered the breakfast set menu.


    ¡°If you eat a lot of sodium before a performance, you will look swollen.¡±


    ¡°Then what about me?¡±


    ¡°Now that I think about it, we are going to stand on the same stage.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung took the saltiest food on my tray and put it to the side.


    ¡°Eat it after the performance is over or something,¡± he said.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that just telling me to only have a drink?¡±


    ¡°Is that a zero?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°You can drink that,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said as if he would¡¯ve taken my drink otherwise. I was usually the one scolding my members about their menu choices, but now, I felt like I could understand how my members must have felt.


    <em>¡®I feel sorry for my members suddenly,¡¯ </em>I thought.


    Kang Hyun-Sung wordlessly drank his coffee, and all I did was sip on my drink with a straw. We sat in silence for a bit. Since there was no music in this store, a heavy silence surrounded us. But since I was the one who called him to this ce, it was only right for me to speak first.


    ¡°The reason why I called you for breakfast was because I had something to ask you.¡±


    ¡°Yes, go on.¡±


    ¡°Why did you want to be an idol?¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung frowned slightly while looking at me. ¡°Are you running a background check on me?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Then, is this an interview for a magazine?¡±


    ¡°¡­No?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s my first time getting this question outside of the cameras,¡± he told me.


    ¡°¡­¡± I didn¡¯t say anything and hung my head low. I knew this question was sudden. I wondered how many idols would ask a question like this outside of work. In the end, being an idol was also a job. Though people might have begun it out of passion at first, there were plenty of people who just did the work like any other job. Perhaps, I was trying to force out some past, innocent passion to a person who was worn out from reality.


    ¡°Why do you ask that? Are you going to use my answer somewhere?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Truthfully, I did have a use for it which was to increase my group¡¯s probability of winning to over 90%.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 83%]


    Objectively, this was already a high percentage. 83% was a good number to rely on, but in this third round, I couldn¡¯t allow for even the smallest chance of a mistake urring. It was because if Only One got first ce this time, it would be game over. Thus, we needed to be number one for the third round at all costs. Thus, at such an important time, I didn¡¯t want to leave even a 17% possibility of losing and wanted to drop it down to 10%.


    ¡°I am asking out of curiosity.¡±


    ¡°Really? Were you the type to set a meeting like this just because you are curious?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± How did he know me so well? Usually, I would never think of eating a meal with Kang Hyun-Sung like this.


    <em>¡®But I need to hear it.</em>¡¯ Though I didn¡¯t want to admit it, the person whose personality was most like me in this industry was him. Anyone could see that he was a pro idol. He was nice and caring to fans, performed well on stage, and took care of himself well. I wanted to know where he got the drive to do all these things. If this person could do it, I thought I could also do the same.


    ¡°Please, I ask you. Think of it as giving a consultation to a junior.¡±


    ¡°Okay, all right,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said after taking a sip of his coffee. ¡°Of course, in the beginning, I aspired to be like other idols.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± This was obvious from this point.


    ¡°Then, after that, it was jealousy.¡± This part was slightly unexpected.


    ¡°After that, it was rage.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°My debuting process wasn¡¯t easy,¡± he said. I was generally aware of how hard Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s trainee days were while he was doing<em> Select Your Idol</em>.


    ¡°Honestly, I almost forgot why I wanted to be an idol in the first ce. Now, I think a part of me is doing this as a job and part of it as a dream.¡±


    This was a bit different from what I expected. I thought Kang Hyun-Sung would say a more nd and business-like answer.


    ¡°I likemunicating with fans and always like standing on the stage. It also gives me great satisfaction to build my career bit by bit.¡±


    ¡°¡­Aren¡¯t you the epitome of an idol?¡±


    ¡°¡­Sorry?¡±


    ¡°Never mind.¡± I thought Kang Hyun-Sung was like me but that wasn¡¯t the case. It was as if I found a part of him that was simr to my Siren members instead. And as I saw my members ovep with Kang Hyun-Sung a bit, I shook my head.


    ¡°It seems my answer isn¡¯t what you wished for.¡±


    ¡°Can there be a different answer though? It¡¯s your story after all.¡±


    ¡°But there must have been an answer you were expecting.¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Silence befell us again. Because we finished our drinks, there was only ice remaining in my cup.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, do you feel like you are internally stumped?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked. ¡°Why do <em>you</em> want to be an idol?¡±


    I already had prepared an answer for this. ¡°I think I perhaps¡­ wanted to be loved.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by ¡®perhaps¡¯?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t be certain of it.¡±


    ¡°Then, why are you trying to be an idol now?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t tell him it was because the system ordered me to.


    ¡°Maybe the answer exists between the reason why you wanted to be an idol in the first ce and why you are hesitating right now.¡±


    <em>The reason between the beginning and now?</em>


    ¡°If you wanted to be an idol because you wanted to be loved, maybe you don¡¯t want to be one because you don¡¯t want to be loved anymore.¡±


    ¡°I never said I didn¡¯t want to be an idol,¡± I said.


    ¡°But you are hesitating about your career as an idol right now.¡±


    <em>¡®What? Was he reading my mind right now?¡¯</em>


    ¡°So, if you are hesitating right now, isn¡¯t it because you don¡¯t want to be loved anymore?¡±


    ¡°¡­Perhaps, that¡¯s the reason.¡± I began to understand better as Kang Hyun-Sung exined. Perhaps, this was the right answer. In my youth, there was a time when I was obsessed with love. But my current self, who had gone through my members¡¯ deaths, lived in solitude, and regressed, didn¡¯t feel the luxury of wanting to be loved anymore. Maybe there was a part of me who was feeling resistant to the happy idol life that I had dreamed of in my imagination.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 83%]


    Yet, there was no change in my percentage of winning. Though Kang Hyun-Sung was right, it seemed this information wasn¡¯t useful for the performance.


    <em>¡®But an idol who doesn¡¯t want to be loved? How does that make sense?</em>¡¯ Perhaps, there was something wrong with me from the core. ¡®No, <em>I shouldn¡¯t think of this too deeply.¡¯</em> The more I thought about this, my group¡¯s percentage of winning could drop below 83%.


    ¡°Nevertheless, I am working hard to be an idol right now.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung replied.


    ¡°So, that must mean that I do want to be loved after all.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°If I really didn¡¯t want to be loved, wouldn¡¯t I have quit being an idol using all means possible?¡± I asked. However, since I did try to quit before¡­it was difficult for me to say more.


    ¡°Disliking something is a bigger emotion than you think, so it will be very hard for someone to keep forcing oneself to do something they dislike,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said.


    What he said made me think. If I really didn¡¯t want to be an idol, wouldn¡¯t I have thought of other methods to quit?


    <em>¡®Perhaps, I¡¯m not totally hopeless after all</em>?¡¯ a part of me also agreed with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s suggestion.


    ¡°But maybe it¡¯s not that you don¡¯t want to be loved but don¡¯t know how to be loved.¡±


    ¡°You are saying I don¡¯t know how to be loved?¡±


    ¡°Well, you should think about that yourself.¡±


    Instead of A or B, there was now a C option. Simultaneously, the number before me changed.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 84%]


    I looked at Kang Hyun-Sung with slight surprise.


    ¡°It seems my advice helped you,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung smiled faintly and got up. ¡°Let¡¯s go now.¡±


    To think that Kang Hyun-Sung actually helped me¨Che was a more useful person than I thought. Moreover, there was something that hung on my mind.


    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know how to be loved¡­¡¯</em> This was a personal problem that was hard for me to fix. Perhaps, I already knew about it but was purposefully ignoring it.


    <em>¡®How embarrassing.</em>¡¯ It felt as if my greatest weakness was exposed.


    <em>¡®But I should try solving it with this opportunity.¡¯ </em>And by just thinking positively, the percentage shot up.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 85%]


    ***


    After finishing breakfast with Kang Hyun-Sung, I returned to my dorm. Before heading to the studio, there were some things I needed to bring such as a rechargeable battery, earphones, and other daily necessities. By the time I returned, my members had already gotten up and were finished with their preparations to leave. It seemed they could all get up without me now.


    ¡°Where did you go ande back from?¡± Woon asked, seeing mee from the entrance door.


    ¡°I went on a morning walk,¡± I said, not wanting to reveal that I came back from meeting Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon~¡± Dong-Jun waved his hand at me lightly and fell on the sofa.


    ¡°Okay! Is everyone done getting ready?¡± Yeon-Hoon made the final inspection so that we could get moving.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you leaving with Senior Kang Hyun-Sung today?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s see each other at the studio.¡±


    ¡°All right.¡±


    ¡°How sad. It would¡¯ve been better for all of us to go together,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and hugged me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get first ce today!¡±


    ¡°First ce for sure!¡±


    ¡°Dance like you are going to capture all the audience¡¯s hearts!¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    My group members and I reaffirmed our hearts about the third-round performance. My group members left first and after I confirmed that I didn¡¯t miss anything, I also went outside. When I arrived at Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team¡¯s practice room, all the team members were ready to leave.


    ¡°If everyone is here, let¡¯s leave now.¡±


    ¡°Okay~¡±


    This team rented a minibus so that all nine of us could move together. After getting on the bus, we went to a salon in Gangnam, got our hair and makeup done, and headed to the studio set in Gyeonggi-do. My heart thumped now that we were going to the stage where <em>The Showcase 2</em>¡¯s third round would take ce.


    <em>¡®Today is the day.¡¯</em> It was the day that could decide the final winner of the show. If Siren got first ce, nobody knew who the final winner was, but if Only One became first ce, it was over like this.


    [Probability of Winning First ce: 85%]


    Though the percentage was still lower than my liking, I began my mind training. I didn¡¯t know how this topic of ¡®epting love¡¯ became such a difficult problem for me. But this was a hurdle that I needed to ovee and I couldn¡¯t sit still and do nothing.


    <em>¡®I need to ovee it,¡¯ </em>I thought.


    ***


    The day of <em>The Showcase 2</em>¡¯s shooting, people who won the lottery seats to watch the third-round performances gathered near the studio. It was because people weren¡¯t just waiting to be seated but were participating in the events happening near the area such as sharing unofficial goods or meeting people they had only talked to on social media sites. There was also some change with the audience from the first performances, and now, there were also some events ongoing for the Siren members.


    ¡ªPrincess Lee Woon is so pretty


    ¡ªI want to get Wolf Tae-Yoon¡­I hope I arrive before everyone else.


    It was because Siren gained quite some fans now though there was still a significant difference between the size of Only One¡¯s fandom and Siren¡¯s fandom.


    ¡ªAm I the only one who thinks Bong Tae-Yun dances like a robot?


    ¡ªBong Tae-Yoon has no charm. Don¡¯t understand why anyone would like him.


    ¡ªSeems like our guys are doing well, seeing that people are trying to drag them down.


    Their poprity grew to the point that people were fighting about them on social media sites even before the performance. And what Siren haters were highlighting the most was how Bong Tae-Yoon had no stage presence and no idol charm.


    This was the only fault that Siren haters had managed to find about the near-faultless Siren, and they dragged this point to its limits. Thus, there was a continuous scuffle happening between them and Siren fans. Thus, while people were treading over thin lines, the shooting for the third-round performances grew nearer.

 Chapter 96

    Chapter 96


    Park Soo-Chul, the main producer of <em>The Showcase 2</em>, looked at the stage as it was being set up. Watching the process of a setpletion was a normal routine for producers. A part of him felt that if the sets werepleted well, the day''s shooting would also go well. Although that wasn''t necessarily the case, everyone would be able to shoot with confidence if the sets were well done; on the other hand, if the stage was not set up well, they had to stay on alert and check for various things all over again.


    ¡°Are all the cast members here?¡±


    ¡°Yes, they¡¯ve all arrived, and we''ve put them in different waiting rooms by team.¡±


    ¡°I hope the shooting goes well today,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and turned his gaze back to the set again. Today¡¯s shooting was especially critical as it was an episode that could determine the direction of the show. As a result, they were putting more care into the set production process than usual.


    ¡°If Only One wins today, it¡¯s the final win, right?¡±


    ¡°The final stage will be like a farewell concert then.¡±


    ¡°The tension will suddenly be reduced at the end.¡±


    ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be helped, since we can¡¯t manipte the results.¡± Whether Only One won first ce or another group rose above¡ªthe main character of today¡¯spetition could be the main character of the program itself.


    As the producer in charge, Park Soo-Chul would edit in the direction that highlighted the main characters regardless of who they were, but¡­


    <em>¡®If possible, I hope it¡¯s a different team than Only One.¡¯ </em>Still, it would be good if a new group emerged to continue the show¡¯s poprity until the final stage. As for now¡ª


    ¡°Are the Siren guys doing well?¡± Siren was the most likely candidate to rise to the challenge.


    ¡°They do look good from the practice videos.¡±


    ¡°They<em> do</em> look good? You sound slightly unsure.¡±


    ¡°No, they¡¯re good. For real.¡±


    ¡°What, then there¡¯s nothing to worry about.¡±


    ¡°But Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team is really good too.¡±


    ¡°¡­In that case, it is a bit worrisome.¡± As the producer in charge, he couldn¡¯t cheer for Siren openly, but it couldn¡¯t be helped considering the current situation.


    ¡°Should I just change the finalpetition to a farewell concert?¡±


    ¡°Sir, let¡¯s wait and see for now.¡±


    ¡°Haa, yeah.¡±


    ¡°Sir, Bong Tae-Yoon is also in Kang Hyun¡¯s team. If both teams do well, it could help Siren.¡±


    ¡°¡­.Yeah, that¡¯s possible. Let¡¯s think positively.¡± Park Soo-Chul pulled out an e-cigarette from his pocket. ¡°I¡¯lle back after a smoke break.¡± He was going to get some nicotine to get rid of his worries when¡ª


    ¡°Producer!¡± From far away, a set production crew member rushed towards him. Park Soo-Chul, who was about to go outside with an e-cigarette in his mouth, stiffened and looked at his team member. Was there a problem with the set production? He couldn¡¯t believe they were getting jinxed at a critical time like this. He wondered if today was the day he had to reassess the entire set production.


    ¡°Sir, the set¡­came out super well.¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°I think we could end an hour earlier than expected! The production process went very smoothly today.¡±


    ¡°Hey, you scared me!¡±


    ¡°¡­Sir, what?¡±


    <em>Sigh.</em> ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing.¡±


    ¡°¡­Well, yes. Anyways, I think we can go into rehearsals an hour earlier than expected today.¡± After saying this with augh, the production crew member returned back to the set, and Park Soo-Chul was able to calm his surprised heart.


    But above all, he decided to focus on the most important part.


    <em>¡®The set came out well?¡¯</em> It was umon for a staff member to run to him and say that the set had turned out really well.


    <em>¡®Will something big happen today?¡¯</em> Although he knew it was just superstition, he strangely had a good feeling about today¡¯s stages.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start getting ready for the rehearsal. I¡¯lle back after a quick smoke break,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and moved to the smoking area. Was it because he had a good feeling about this? His steps were very light.


    * * *


    After arriving at the studio, I moved to the waiting room with Kang Hyun-Sung. The current situation in the waiting room followed the strict confidentiality we kept in previouspetition rounds. Visiting other team¡¯s waiting rooms was not allowed and watching the rehearsal of other teams was also forbidden. Until the main shoot, the performances of other teams were kept inplete secrecy. Of course, we had briefly seen the other performances during the training camp''s midterm checkup...


    <em>¡®But that¡¯s not everything.¡¯ </em>There was no team that would stop at that level, and above all, my members¡¯ team changed everything from the song, choreography, and concept, so it was more urate to say the rest of us had no information about their performance. However, the members of the team I was part of seemed to have no worries.


    ¡°Shall we warm up?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do onest check.¡±


    Although they were preparing for the performance, they showed no signs of nervousness. Perhaps, after practicing and honing their performance so hard, they were confident that they were going to give it their all. Furthermore, since the reactions to the rehearsal this morning were good, there was nothing more to worry about.


    <em>¡®Is Only One not too nervous because they already won first ce twice?¡¯ </em>Furthermore, in Only One¡¯s case, they might feel less burdened because they were leading the entirepetition show. Besides them, OnebyOne and Bleshu might have been less nervous because they¡¯ve already given up on winning first ce. As for me¡ª


    [Probability of winning first ce: 85%]


    I kept running simtions in my mind while staring at this probability. Although all the indicators were positive, I kept thinking negative thoughts. If we didn¡¯t win first ce today, all my future ns would get awry and be extremely troublesome to adjust.


    Of course, 85% was a high probability for us to win first ce, but I thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s dangerous.¡¯</em>


    85% was a dangerous number at such a critical time like this as with one mistake, the percentage could plummet. I needed to ideally raise it above 90%.


    <em>¡®Hmm.¡¯</em> But frankly, it was impossible to ovee the problem of ¡®not knowing how to be loved¡¯ with in effort, so going over 90% seemed like a too high hurdle for me to jump over.


    ¡°Um, Mr. Tae-Yoon¡­Are you okay?¡±


    Was it because I was staring intently at the percentage in the air for too long? Park Young-Ho worried about me.


    I nodded and answered, ¡°Ah, yes. I¡¯m all right.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be too nervous,¡± Only One¡¯s Kim Ju-Hyun said as he massaged my shoulders.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± I gently rxed my expression because I didn¡¯t want to ruin the good atmosphere.


    Then Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me and said, ¡°Are you hurt somewhere? What¡¯s wrong with your expression?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± He provoked me for no reason, and I returned to my usual expressionless face. Just in time¡ª


    ¡ªWe¡¯ll begin shooting! Please stand by for the first performance~


    One production crew walked around and said this to all the teams.


    ¡°It¡¯s already time to shoot?¡±


    ¡°Wow, that was fast.¡±


    ¡°I wonder what will happen today?¡±


    Each team member voiced their hopeful thoughts like this. On the other hand, I was still nervous.


    <em>¡®Let¡¯s take a deep breath.¡¯ </em>Kang Hyun-Sung kept ncing at me. I pressed my palm hard. I felt like my blood cirction was poor because I was so nervous.


    ¡°I¡¯ll turn on the TV~¡± One staff member turned on the TV to show the studio situation.


    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of people here already.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s really starting now.¡±


    The live video of the studio came up on the TV screen, and we saw that the studio was packed with people. This was the moment when we were able to visually realize again that this round¡¯spetition was finally starting. Soon after¡ª


    ¡ªHello viewers!


    ¡ªI¡¯median Kim Young-Jin, the host of <em>The Showcase 2.</em>


    ¡ªI¡¯m singer Nahyun.


    ¡ªNice to meet everyone~


    The two hosts walked to the center of the stage, and the shooting officially began. Then the hosts said their meaningless lines and the audience¡¯s appropriate reactions followed.


    ¡ªI¡¯ve heard that today¡¯spetition was set up differently from the previouspetitions. How was it done, Ms. Nahyun?


    ¡ªToday¡¯spetition theme is <Our Showcase>, and as the name indicates, it¡¯s a mission where you form a team and create your ¡®own¡¯ stage. Five groups were divided into three teams, and I¡¯ll reveal the members of those three teams now.


    The list of three teams appeared on the screen. Then I heard the audience murmuring amongst themselves. If I could hear their voices evening through the host¡¯s microphones, they must have created quite amotion inside the studio.


    <em>¡®Is it because the two members from OnebyOne left?¡¯</em> However, everyone must have expected that already as OnebyOne''s agency announced the suspension of the two members¡¯ activities on their website and SNS.


    <em>¡®Or is it because I¡¯m the only odd one out?¡¯</em> The audience might be making a lot of noise because I was the only one left out in a team centered around Siren and was stuck in the middle of Only One¡¯s team. Well, honestly, this was not the important part.


    <em>¡®I need to calm down.¡¯</em> I was more focused on calming my anxious heart. Although I had failed to make the probability of winning first ce above 90%, 85% was by no means a bad number. Worrying too much was poison instead.


    ¨CThen, let me now announce the first team that will perform.


    Kim Young-Jin said. The order of today¡¯s stage was randomly arranged by the production team. As a result, my team, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team, got to thest ending stage, and today¡¯s opening performance was¡­


    ¨CWoo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s team! Let¡¯s start now!


    It was the team that my group members were part of. I became even more nervous about my members¡¯ performance. I pressed down my palms, half in excitement and half in worry about what kind of performance they¡¯d prepared and how good it would be.


    ¡°Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon.¡± Then someone called me from the side.


    ¡°What?¡± I knew it was Kang Hyun-Sung without even turning around.


    ¡°Watch your members¡¯ performance and rx.¡±


    ¡°¡­What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Because even if you ruin the stage a bit, it might not be a big deal.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡± I couldn¡¯t understand him right away, but when my members¡¯ performance began¡ª


    <em>¡®¡­!¡¯</em> I understood what he was saying. I might not have been the one who raised the probability of winning first ce to 85%.


    <em>¡®Why are they so good¡­¡¯</em> As soon as I saw their stage, I realized again that my members were insanely talented.


    * * *


    After winning an audience spot in <em>The Showcase</em>, one Siren fan was shocked by seeing the team¡¯sposition members. Since she already knew that two members from OnebyOne were suspended, she wasn¡¯t surprised about that, but¡ª


    <em>¡®Why is only Tae-Yoon on a different team?¡¯</em> While all the members of Siren were gathered in one ce, only Bong Tae-Yoon was in apletely different team. For now, she tried not to give it too much thought. However, not everyone around her reacted the same.


    ¡°Honestly, won¡¯t Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team be better without Bong Tae-Yoon? That guy has no stage presence whatsoever.¡±


    ¡°Hey! Speak quietly.¡±


    ¡°Ah, my bad.¡±


    A few fans of other groups shit-talked on Bong Tae-Yoon.


    ¡°Our poor kids got stained by Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°You crazy bitch, stop that. Other people can hear.¡±


    The Siren fan, who had a particrly good ear, didn¡¯t feel good about hearing negativements about her bias. Of course, there weren¡¯t only badments about Bong Tae-Yoon.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t Bong Tae-Yoon the idea maker? Will his team be all right?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s watch their performance first.¡±


    ¡°Wow, everyone in team Kang Hyun-Sung is over 180cm!¡±


    ¡°They have great physicals.¡±


    ¡°Everyone in Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team is a visual.¡±


    There were also a lot of conversations that gave positive evaluations of Bong Tae-Yoon. But in this melting pot of mixed opinion, the Siren fan could be assured of one thing¡ª


    <em>¡®Tae-Yoon is the talk of the town.¡¯</em> It felt like Bong Tae-Yoon was more at the center of thispetition than she expected. She looked at the front, closing off her ears to the conversations around her. From now on, she nned to focus only on the stage, and she didn¡¯t want to dampen her excitement from hearing negative remarks. Before long, Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s team appeared with the host¡¯sments.


    ¨CWoo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s team! Let¡¯s start now!


    Her heart started beating hard because she could finally see the idols she had watched every day on screen in person for the first time. Members of Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s team came up one by one on stage. While the excitement and energy was rising¡ª


    <em>Ding.</em>


    The first note rang out. A refreshing electronic sound and sentimental piano sound resonated on stage.


    <em>¡®No way, they¡¯re going for the innocent, refreshing concept?¡¯</em> Her heart began to thump because the melody perfectly captured this exact concept. Then the stage light turned on, and the idols¡¯ outfits were finally revealed.


    <em>¡®Shirts and cks?¡¯ </em>Her heart began to beat fiercely. She intently stared at the stage, wondering what the exact concept was when¡ª


    ¡ªI think I¡¯ll miss you.


    ¡ªWherever we are, close your eyes


    ¡ªAnd remember the moments


    ¡ªThat filled up our hearts¡ª


    With Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s beautiful voice in the intro, he gave everyone a heart attack with his shocking visuals.


    <em>¡®Crazy, he¡¯s too handsome.¡¯ </em>Siren¡¯s fan gasped and closed her mouth. This was the moment when she thought her ears and eyes might go blind and deaf from sheer bliss.

 Chapter 97

    <h4>Chapter 97</h4>


    The audience looked at the stage with eager eyes. Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face was shining on the big screen, and even saying he was handsome a thousand times wouldn¡¯t be enough to describe his visuals. The Siren fan''s bias was Bong Tae-Yoon, but she had to admit how good-looking Woo Yeon-Hoon was. Woo Yeon-Hoon was more like her second bias, but she couldn¡¯t close her mouth in awe of his sublime beauty.


    ¡ªI think I¡¯ll miss you.


    ¡ªWherever we are, close your eyes


    ¡ªAnd remember the moments


    ¡ªThat filled up our hearts¡ª


    His sweet voice didn¡¯t seem to belong to the earthly realm. He sounded so clear and bright that she wondered if Woo Yeon-Hoon had turned on a tune just by himself. But eventually, Woo Yeon-Hoon backed away while Park Dong-Jun came out to the center.


    ¡ªFrom that time and that day


    ¡ªWhen every moment felt like a miracle


    ¡ªSince my youth, you...


    There was something about Park Dong-Jun¡¯s voice that enchanted listeners. It sounded normal at first but there was a firmness to his voice that allowed it to fit perfectly at any point of a song. Afterwards, the center changed and Lee Woon appeared at the front.


    ¡ªAs much as I waited


    ¡ªAnd my heart yearned


    ¡ªThere was so much I wanted to give you


    The official choreography came into the picture. Lee Woon extended out his hand toward the audience sentimentally. Then, his team members came out from behind as if the wind blew and made a V-formation. Because the formation changed in an instant and they stomped forward, it looked as if they had made a big jump. Simultaneously, the drum beat intensified, and Do-Seung¡¯s fast rap followed.


    ¡ªI lingered around you the whole time¡ª


    ¡ªI alwayscked the courage¡ª


    ¡ªBut I couldn¡¯t forget your bright face¡ª


    As the rap continued with the rising beat, the song reached the bridge part. With the quickening beat, the audience became more immersed in the performance.


    ¡ªFrom that day,


    ¡ªIf only I could reach you


    Han Do-Young and Yoo Ji-Hyuk from the team alliance came out at the center and performed a pair choreography.


    ¡ªI will gather these feelings


    ¡ªAnd all these memories


    ¡ªInto one ce and pass it to you


    The melody became more varied and fuller as if they were reaching the climax of the song, and a burst of sounds echoed throughout the studio. Then, came the voice.


    ¡ªI love you¡ª


    Yeon-Hoon came out to the center and sang a high note with all he had. Though everyone was aware that Yeon-Hoon was good at singing, they didn¡¯t know his exact skill level. Thus, there had been people who wanted to gauge the depths of his singing skills when Yeon-Hoon continued.


    ¡ªI love you¡ª


    ¡ªIn this moment¡ª


    ¡ªIf I could¡¯ve said everything¡ª


    <i>¡®This is insane.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®Crazy.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®What did I just hear?¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®...This is crazy.¡¯</i>


    Yeon-Hoon sang a series of high notes that made not just fans but everyone else in the audience gape in shock.


    ¡ªI put all my heart


    ¡ªAnd my true feelings


    ¡ªIn one ce


    ¡ªAnd I will surely tell you...


    In the middle of the chorus, Lee Woon and Park Dong-Jun came out and said a line each and continued the song. And while people were left senseless by the whirlingbination of voices and beats, the stage instantly went still again, and Yeon-Hoon quietly walked to the center and said with a sorrowful face.


    ¡ªI love you.


    ¡°Kyaaaaah!¡±


    ¡°Whaaat!¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoooon!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    The audience burst into a cheer and apuse at once. The Siren fans in the audience became certain after seeing all this.


    <i>¡®Today, our guys will win first ce! For sure, first ce!¡±</i>


    There was nothing that could beat this performance. She thought the concept would end with innocence but they added the sorrowfulness of first love on top of that, making it a hit that a K-pop fan couldn¡¯t dislike.


    <i>¡®My heart hurts!¡¯ </i>A part of her heart genuinely ached with the performance. But she ignored the pain so that she could see even a bit more of the performance and engrave it in her mind. She felt as if she could give up her heart for this moment right now.


    ***


    Producer Park Soo-Chul looked at the scene before him with his mouth gaping. It was because the audience¡¯s response to Yeon-Hoon¡¯s team¡¯s performance had been the greatest he had seen so far in this show. Though he saw many cool stage sets that made people¡¯s eyes pop out in shock or perfectly in-sync choreography that made people exim, it was the first time he saw someone giving his audience the chills with just his high notes.


    <i>¡®This is a first.¡¯ </i>There were many people who were good at singing and gave their audience goosebumps with their vocals. But Yeon-Hoon hade out at just the perfect timing and atmosphere to burst out his high notes as if he was interacting with the audience. With all these factorsbined, the audience felt a thrill they had never experienced before and their response was dramatic. And it wasn¡¯t like Yeon-Hoon stopped his high note after just one time.


    ¡ªI love you¡ª


    ¡ªIn this moment¡ª


    ¡ªIf I could¡¯ve said everything¡ª


    He poured out high notes that were even a bit higher than the one he first shot out.


    ¡°Was Yeon-Hoon always this good at singing?¡±


    ¡°...We are also shocked¡±


    ¡°Unbelievable...¡±


    They couldn¡¯t help but exim in shock. Reaching this pitch seemed to even strain Yeon-Hoon as veins popped out of his neck and his face turned red. But that made him look all the more sincere as if he was pouring out all the feelings he had been hiding until now. Yet, things didn¡¯t even end at the high notes; the true highlight was when Yeon-Hoon walked more towards the front, made a mournful expression, and softly recited the words at the end.


    ¡ªI love you.


    ¡°Kyaaaah!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Urgggggh!¡±


    Seeing the audience burst into screams instead of cheers, Park Soo-Chul celebrated. ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± Though he couldn¡¯t be certain whether Siren would get first in the third-round performance or not, he thought they had at least retrieved the greatest moment of the show.


    ***


    I watched my members¡¯ performance in a daze. Not just me but everyone in the waiting room was in the same state. It was like we were all enchanted. When my members first told me their concept, I honestly was a bit worried. I thought it would be hard to make an impact with an innocent concept. But after seeing them, I instantly realized that I had been a fool.


    There had been nothing for me to worry about, and I was the stupid one. There was no way Do-Seung didn¡¯t know what I knew. He was someone who had a good mind and eye for music and performance. And there was no way Woon would¡¯ve given a pass to a song that wouldn¡¯t have been worth creating a choreography for; he was someone who always thought about the entire performance.


    In the first ce, my members were people who did more than their own keep without me. They basically did the work of a hundred people each, and I realized how foolish I was to have worried about people like them.


    <i>¡®This is embarrassing.¡¯</i> I was truly ashamed of myself. Combining concepts such as innocent and sorrowfulness was the natural and obvious mix. <i>¡®But creating a performance with such a set form really highlights their natural talents.¡¯</i> I was impressed by how perfectly they managed to showcase this redone form. The most memorable part was, of course, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s ry of high notes.


    ¡°That was mad!¡±


    ¡°My gosh! How many octaves did he go?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Yeon-Hoon is crazy...¡±


    All my team members in the waiting room expressed their shock, and I weakly copsed onto a sofa nearby. There were only points to admire about this performance.


    <i>¡®And isn¡¯t this my first time?¡¯ </i>I thought. It was my first time seeing my members¡¯ performance from an outsider¡¯s point of view. Because I had always stood on the same stage as them, I forgot how talented these guys were. I looked at my group¡¯s performance with warm feelings and felt proud of them.


    ¡°How is it?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked. I answered without pulling my eyes away from the monitor.


    ¡°It¡¯s really good.¡± In front of something like this, there were no proper words to describe it. I wanted to focus on the performance a bit more again when Kang Hyun-Sung kept talking to me.


    ¡°Is that all?¡± he asked.


    I was beginning to feel a surge of annoyance, but he continued like he had something to teach me. ¡°Look at them more closely. Observe their expressions and dance lines and the audience¡¯s cheer.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung whispered in my ear so that the other team members couldn¡¯t hear him.


    ¡®...<i>It¡¯s different.¡¯</i> Following what he said, I began to see different points. Before, I thought my group members just did a good job, like a fan admiring their favorite group¡¯s performance.


    <i>¡®But they changed ording to the audience¡¯s cheer.¡¯ </i>There was a flow that I noticed from their performance. The more the audience cheered them on, their song, dance, and expressions livened up.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it different?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked me again.


    ¡°...It is.¡± I slowly nodded.


    ¡°Why do you think that is?¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°Ponder about it deeply.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said and moved away from me. I looked up at the monitor with a slightly calmer heart. After Kang Hyun-Sung talked to me, I looked at the monitor with a more analytical mind instead of just enjoying the show. The members¡¯ general condition changed depending on the audience¡¯s response; it was as if they were breathing as one entity with the audience. And to answer Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s question of why that was...


    <i>¡®I need to know how it¡¯s possible for them to breathe with the audience.¡¯ </i>Another question popped into my mind. Though they were making sorrowful expressions for the performance, my members looked bright. Rather than their expressions being bright, it was their faces that seemed to shine, as if light wasing out of them.


    <i>¡®Maybe it¡¯s because they know how to respond to the love the audience is giving them</i>.¡¯ This was my current problem. I didn¡¯t know how to ept love, and in contrast, my members were responding to the audience¡¯s cheer with their performance and sucking in their love and attention like a sponge.


    <i>¡®If I recall how I acted, I basically blocked them out.¡¯ </i>I didn¡¯t recognize or focus on the attention I was getting because I was too focused on just doing my dance moves. This was tied to the advice Do-Seung gave to me in thest performance.


    <i>¡®I still don¡¯t know how to enjoy performing.¡¯</i> I wasn¡¯t happy on stage and I thought that was because I didn¡¯t trust myself yet.


    <i>¡®But perhaps, it was because I wasn¡¯t used to this kind of cheer and attention.¡¯</i> This could be an internal problem that had to do with me as an individual. Thus, I tried to do some mind control. I didn¡¯t have to be a person who was used to getting loved since that was unreachable. But for strategic purposes and to protect my members, I had to be someone who could ept the cheer and attentioning from my audience, at least on the stage.


    <i>¡®Let¡¯s try this.</i>¡¯ It would be hard to cast aside my past selfpletely. But in this stage that I was going up soon¡ªand in just these five minutes of my life...


    <i>¡®I can do it.¡¯</i> Just like my members who hyped up the audience, I might be able to do the same as them. Thanks to my members, I might have reached the perfect answer I needed to find from an abstract problem of ¡®being loved¡¯, and our group¡¯s probability of winning rose again after staying stagnant for a while.


    [Probability of Winning first ce: 86%]


    ¡ªKyaaaaah


    ¡ªWooooow


    It was then, my members¡¯ performance ended with cheers.

 Chapter 98

    <h4>Chapter 98</h4>


    The Siren fan, who came to the studio as an audience member today, was in aplete daze. She had been in this state since she watched Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s team¡¯s performance. Even when the hosts came out and started saying their lines, her mind was reying the previous stage over and over.


    <i>¡®That was crazy! Yeon-Hoon is insane! No, everyone is insane!¡¯ </i>She now understood why people said regardless of whether they had a bias or not, there was always another member that caught their eyes on stage.


    <i>¡®How can he be human? That¡¯s just crazy.¡¯</i>


    If someone surpassed an ordinary level of singing and reached an incredible high degree of mastery in their singing technique, just listening to them bewitched all listeners. Furthermore, Woo Yeon-Hoon had a face that oozed out charm even if he stood still like a poster board as there was no one handsome as him among the fourth generation male idols. It was shocking that someone as handsome as him could even sing at that level.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m amazed.¡¯ </i>She was amazed at Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s skill as a fellow human. Then just in time¡ª


    ¡°Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s team members, pleasee out for a moment and make a final appeal before the voting!¡±


    Siren¡¯s fan now began to fall into deep thought. Although it was great to be part of the audience, the only drawback was that she now had to rank everyone. As the host said, Woo Yeon-Hoon team members stood in line on the stage and passed the microphones around to give their final pitch to the audience before the voting process. But rather than urging them to give them a high ranking, it felt like they were just saying their thoughts about the performance. This entire scene felt like it came straight out of <i>Select Your Idols</i> in made ways, so it triggered PTSD for many idol fans but¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s nice to see their faces while they¡¯re standing still.¡¯</i> There were clear positives as well.


    ¡°It was so nice to be able to aplish a new challenge with my new team members on today¡¯s stage. And please...give me a good ranking...haha...This is Han Do-Young of Bleshu!¡±


    ¡°It was fun to make a great performance with Bleshu members today! Please vote favorably for me! Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Please give me a high ranking!¡±


    ¡°Thank you for cheering us today!¡±


    ¡°If you give me an A-rank...I would give you my infinite gratitude. Haha.¡±


    The team members of Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s team each gave their thoughts on stage and encouraged the voters to give them high rankings. However, no one was used to making appeals like this, so they all seemed a bit embarrassed. However, in the eyes of Siren¡¯s fans, even this looked cute. Since they showed a great performance, anything they did looked good. However, the Siren fan had one dilemma.


    <i>¡®I just want to give them all As.¡¯</i> Since everyone worked hard on stage, she didn¡¯t want to rank them as A or B. Unless someone got a free ride on a group project, everyone normally got the same grade. After thinking about it, she reached a consensus between her fan sentiment and objectivity and decided to give only Siren members As. While an onlooker could question her objectivity for giving only Siren members A, even outsiders would be somewhat convinced by her decision.


    <i>¡®Honestly, my idols really did a great job.¡¯</i> Not only Woo Yeon-Hoon but the other Siren members did more than their share. Lee Woon¡¯s dancing was so sharp that she thought her eyes might pop out from watching him. Kang Do-Seung¡¯s rap was clean without overdoing it, so it was pleasant to listen to. When the song became a bit t or the middle part became shaky, Park Dong-Jun appeared without fail and made the song more enjoyable with his memorable vocals. They all gave performances good enough to earn an A. After ranking everyone like this, the Siren fan began to suddenly worry about Bong Tae-Yoon, who went to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m worried about...Tae-Yoon.¡¯</i> She was worried that he might be feeling too much pressure after his members gave such a great performance. Whenever she watched him on the show, he seemed to feel a lot of pressure on every stage.


    <i>¡®Hmm...¡¯ </i>Furthermore, everyone was criticizing him forcking charisma and stage presence. Since he went to another team to perform, she was worried whether he would be able to ovee this pressure well.


    <i>¡®Let¡¯s wait.¡¯</i> However, there was nothing she could do except trust that Tae-Yoon prepared well and waited for his performance. The Siren fan quietly stared at the stage. Just in time, Luminin¡¯s Choi Soo-Hyuk¡¯s team started their stage.


    ¡°Next is a team built around Luminin! I¡¯ll be back after their performance!¡±


    The Siren fan focused on Luminin¡¯s stage.


    * * *


    At the back of the stage, there was a secret space set up for the panel of experts that Park Soo-Chul recruited. They were experts who were invited to select the MVPs for each performance on this thirdpetition. Before Luminin¡¯s stage began, the experts, who consisted of vocal trainers, choreographers, and well-known producers, beganmenting on Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s team¡¯s performance.


    ¡°Wow, Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s vocals. He¡¯s already better at singing than me. Haha, this is awkward.¡± This was the vocal trainer¡¯s evaluation.


    ¡°Lee Woon¡¯s choreography was extraordinary too. They said that Lee Woon nned this choreography right? There are parts that are better than even most professional dancers...¡± This was the professional choreographer¡¯s evaluation.


    ¡°This song was written by a member named Kang Do-Seung? I thought it was definitely arranged by a professional song producer and thought they must have used quite a lot of money...¡± This was the song producer¡¯s assessment.


    Although Woo Yeon-Hoon was the clear MVP among the audience, the debate over the MVP was not easily decided among professionals from different fields.


    ¡°But by the way, wasn¡¯t Mr. Park Dong-Jun also really cute?¡± One male choreographer remarked. He was a different choreographer from the person whoplimented Lee Woon¡¯s dance. He added, ¡°Ah, I¡¯m just saying he¡¯s cute. Haha. But can¡¯t you get MVP for cuteness too?¡± It was more of a fan¡¯s opinion than an expert opinion. Peopleughed at his remarks, but the choreographer kept insisting that ¡®cuteness was also an ability.¡¯


    Like this, the MVP position was heading toward a four-way race, but in the end, they couldn¡¯t reach a consensus. A total of five experts of the advisory group decided to vote fairly to determine the MVP and focused on Luminin¡¯s performance.


    However, before Luminin¡¯s performance started, one vocal trainer said, ¡°I heard that everyone in Siren is good, and it really was true.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s still one person who hasn¡¯t performed yet.¡±


    ¡°Oh, really?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a member named Bong Tae-Yoon, and he¡¯s the <i>maknae</i>.¡±


    This was the first time Bong Tae-Yoon was mentioned among the panel of experts. However, these experts were also in the idol industry, so even if not as much as agencies, they also monitored the responses of the show as well.


    ¡°Ah, they have the <i>maknae</i> left.¡±


    ¡°Haha.¡±


    They have all read feedback like ¡®Bong Tae-Yoon has no rizz, Bong Tae-Yoon sucks on stage¡¯ and variousments like that. Furthermore, in the Siren performances they searched for, Bong Tae-Yoon gave a slightly tense performancepared to the other members. Of course, there were many instances where he showed great facial expressions or movements, so it was difficult to say he was unskilled. Furthermore, it was just that the older members were too great, and in terms of ability, Bong Tae-Yoon was far superior to other members from different groups. However, one thing was clear.


    <i>¡®I guess he¡¯s a member who¡¯s not good at performing on stagepared to the other members.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®He¡¯s the maknae, so he still has a lot of room for growth.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®Let¡¯s not hastily judge and keep on watching.¡¯</i>


    The experts were not expecting much from Bong Tae-Yoon.


    * * *


    After my members¡¯ performance waspletely over and theirmentaries to ask the audience to vote highly of them was over, Luminin¡¯s performance began. Since we had to perform right after Luminin, we had no leisure to watch their performance.


    ¡°There¡¯s no problem with the outfits, right?¡±


    ¡°Yep!¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir~¡±


    We checked our outfits again.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget this detail when doing the choreography.¡±


    We checked important points in the choreography.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do well!¡±


    ¡°Fighting!¡±


    We raised our fighting spirit. Just in time, we got an order to be on standby.


    ¡°Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team, please be on standby.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do well!¡±


    ¡°Yess!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s show everything we¡¯ve prepared!¡±


    Each person went out of the waiting room while cheering. I also made a firm resolve.


    <i>¡®Let¡¯s do well.¡¯</i> And while thinking this, I once again nced at the probability of winning first ce in the corner of my eyes.


    [Probability of winning first ce: 86%]


    Frankly, it was not the percentage I wanted. But there was no point in worrying about it. I made a firm resolve, and I nned not to check the percentage anymore as it was most important to do what I could do currently to the best of my ability.


    <i>¡®Just for about five minutes, I need to perform like the members. Be natural on stage.¡¯</i> I nned to emte a little bit of my members that I saw on stage.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m a younger guy. I¡¯m experiencing my first love. I am cu...te.¡¯ </i>However, while listing out the series of concepts I had to do today, I felt a strong sense of rejection from my whole body.


    <i>¡®No, I¡¯m a professional. I can do it.¡¯ </i>I needed to fully ept today¡¯s concept, since I was the center of today¡¯s performance. I knew that people would curse at me for having no charm and being ipetent and bad on stage, but I could ignore it.


    <i>¡®There¡¯s no need for me to listen to them.¡¯</i>


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡± At that moment, I heard a familiar voice behind me.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon?¡± It was Yeon-Hoon, but it was not just him.


    <i>¡®They¡¯re all here?¡¯</i> All the members were standing in the hallway. Originally, different teams never met each other before their performance, but today, it seemed as if our direction ovepped. The production crew also seemed a bit taken away for a while, but since we were about to go on stage anyway, it seemed they decided to gloss over it.


    ¡°Your performance will start soon, right?¡±


    ¡°Are you all right?¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s your condition?¡±


    ¡°Are you less nervous today?¡±


    My members were worried about me as soon as they saw me. They bombarded me with all kinds of questions and asked about my situation. It felt strange that they looked so professional on stage but they were so friendly outside of the stage.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll do well,¡± I said to the members with a small smile. Usually, when I smiled, the members asked me what was up with my expression, but they didn¡¯t do it this one time.


    ¡°I believe in you.¡±


    ¡°Good luck.¡±


    ¡°You can do it, Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    They all encouraged me instead.


    ¡°Everyone good luck!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll pray for all of you to do well on stage!¡±


    The members also gave encouragement to others on Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team, and they nodded and epted the encouragement. Then my members tapped me on the shoulder and looked at me with concern. I said goodbye to them by nodding without saying anything. My members didn¡¯t take their eyes off me until the very moment they left. In particr, Yeon-Hoon looked at me with concern until the very end. I made a more resolute face to inspire their trust. Then Yeon-Hoon looked at me for a long time and after barely managing to turn around, he returned to the waiting room with the others.


    ¡°Please wait behind the stage now!¡± Our team also moved to the back of the stage just in time.


    <i>¡®Hmm.¡¯</i> While moving to the back of the stage, I recalled the way my members looked at me. I hadn¡¯t realized it when they were with me, but after being apart from them for a while, I really missed them. The topic of ¡®not knowing how to be loved¡¯ greatly bothered me the whole day, but perhaps that wasn¡¯t the case.


    <i>¡®Maybe not.¡¯</i> I might be someone who was already getting loved a lot and also knew how to reciprocate it. I might be making a white lie to myself to do better on stage, but my confidence rose a little.


    <i>¡®I can do it.¡¯ </i>At the same time¡ª


    [Probability of winning first ce: 87%]


    <i>¡®...!¡¯ </i>The probability suddenly rose. It seemed as if the white lie I just recited to myself seemed to have helped. I thought this was a good sign just before our performance.


    ¡°Please prepare for the performance!¡±


    I pulled myself together and moved to the stage.


    * * *


    The Siren fan was ncing in the direction of the backstage after watching Luminin¡¯s stage. She felt sorry for Luminin, but she couldn¡¯t help looking in that direction while knowing that her bias was back there. Just in time, Luminin¡¯s team asked the audience for high rankings, and the stage she had been looking forward to was about to begin.


    ¡°Let¡¯s now watch the performance from Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team!¡±


    The studio went dark, and someone came up on the dark stage. Her eyes hadn¡¯t adapted to the dark yet, so she could only see a blurry figure and couldn¡¯t make out who it was. However, after her eyes got used to it, and the moment she could see the silhouette¡ª


    <i>sh-!</i>


    The lights came on and the stage was revealed. She quickly looked for her bias on stage, and instinctively, she looked for him at the very end of the formation. However, he wasn¡¯t over there.


    <i>¡®Where is he?¡¯ </i>Instead, he was...


    <i>¡®The center?¡¯ </i>Bong Tae-Yoon was standing in the center of the formation. The Siren fan was so shocked that she was about to yelp, but she stared harder at the stage instead. She was so surprised that Bong Tae-Yoon was the center that there was one thing she missed.


    <i>¡®The outfit is...?¡¯ </i>The outfit was also unusual.<i> ¡®It¡¯s a school uniform?¡¯</i>


    Bong Tae-Yoon was wearing a high school uniform. He was wearing a loose white uniform shirt, navy pants, and sneakers. His bangs were naturally styled.


    <i>¡®Crazy!¡¯ </i>It was a fact that she often forgot, but Bong Tae-Yoon was 19 years old, and he was at the age where he looked the best in school uniforms. The Siren fan got two consecutive shock punches by the fact that Bong Tae-Yoon was the center and he was also wearing a school uniform.


    <i>Ding¡ª</i>


    Then, a refreshing and bright melody came out.


    <i>¡®Isn¡¯t this <Never Mind>?¡¯ </i>And within the first second,<i> </i>she already began to immersepletely in the performance.

 Chapter 99

    <h4>Chapter 99</h4>


    Siren¡¯s fan felt her heart thump frantically with Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s appearance. It waspletely unexpected that he would appear in a school uniform to perform ¡°<i>Never Mind.</i>¡± She didn¡¯t expect him to do something cute and refreshing at all.


    But regardless of her thumping heart, she was also worried.<i> ¡®Will he be able to do a good job?¡¯</i>


    The Tae-Yoon she knew wasn¡¯t the type of member who showcased his capabilities and charm on stage. He seemed more skilled in being the idea-maker behind the stage and was a good fit to be Siren¡¯s producer in the future.


    ¡®<i>But a center...?</i>¡¯ Though she was a fan¡ªno, perhaps, more because she was a fan, she began to worry about Tae-Yoon. Eventually, the melody began toe out, but it was before the first verse. She stared intently at Tae-Yoon. It didn¡¯t matter whether he did a good job or not since she was happy just watching him like this. Thus, she decided to cast her worries away and just try to enjoy the show.


    <i>¡®...Huh?¡¯</i> At that moment, she thought his eyes met hers. It wasn¡¯t her misunderstanding. His eyes surely met hers, and he smiled at her. Then, he moved his shoulders up and down ording to the beat.


    ¡®...!¡¯ This was beyond what she expected. ¡®<i>...So cute!¡¯</i>


    He was smiling cutely and innocently.


    <i>¡®Really cute!¡¯</i> With what just happened, she felt her worriespletely disappear.


    ***


    This had never happened to me before. It was true that I still couldn¡¯t shake off my feeling of wariness that my group¡¯s probability of winning was still stuck at 87%. Though I tried to hypnotize myself that I could do well, I knew there was a possibility that I wouldn¡¯t be able to. But as I got up the stage, inhaled deeply, and met the audience¡¯s eyes as the lights turned on, my worries gradually disappeared.


    <i>¡®...It will be all right.¡¯</i> It was sort of a trick I learned from the second-round performance, but I tended to calm down when meeting another person¡¯s eyes. Yet, perhaps, it was because I had heard so much about love since morning; something felt different this time.


    <i>¡®...Hm? Is she my fan?¡¯ </i>I saw my audience¡¯s eyes much more clearly than before. Then, when I met one of the audience¡¯s eyes, I thought she was my fan for no clear basis at all. Thus, I stared at that person more intently. The more I looked into her eyes, my nervousness disappeared. My self-doubt, which constantly asked, ¡®<i>Can I do this?</i>¡¯ changed to <i>¡®I can do this. Why wouldn¡¯t I be able to?</i>¡¯ A change stirred inside my heart, and I checked the percentages again.


    [Probability of Winning First ce: 90%]


    <i>¡®...!¡¯ </i>The percentage that had been going up continuously finally reached 90%. That gave me the edge to boost my confidence, and I was certain that I would do well in today¡¯s performance.


    ¡ªIn this current moment~


    ¡ªMaybe I was waiting for you~


    ¡ªHoping to meet you one day,


    ¡ªThe meeting between you and me!


    After saying the first verse, I began the choreography that I had been practicing to death for the past two weeks.


    ¡ªIn the exploding SPOTLIGHT


    ¡ªYou are my SHINING STAR


    ¡ªWe finally meet


    ¡ªThis is our FIRST SHOT!


    My body feltpletely light, and my expression looked more natural without me even forcing it. I felt it then. The audience¡¯s response that I was feeling right now was clearly different from before. Perhaps, I was imagining it, but it really felt different.


    ¡ªDon¡¯t¡ªDon¡¯t¡ªDon¡¯t¡ªDon¡¯t¡ª


    ¡ªDon¡¯t hesitate any longer


    ¡ªNow Now Now Now


    I continued the performance more brightly and excitedly. Without even actively trying to, I perfectly followed the performance¡¯s concept and did my best.


    And I thought, <i>¡®This is fun...!¡¯</i>


    ***


    Tae-Yoon¡¯s fan watched the stage in amazement, unable to close her mouth. She wondered if this was the Bong Tae-Yoon she knew. She didn¡¯t know until then that her bias was capable of making such expressions and dancing like this.


    <i>¡®There¡¯s a reason why he became the center!¡¯</i> She had wondered why Tae-Yoon was ced as the center position, but she was now certain that it was all for a good reason. Initially, she had thought the only reason for his position was that he was the youngest member of the show and fitted a school uniform the most.


    <i>¡®But he really looks so refreshing.¡¯</i> She felt light-hearted now. She didn¡¯t know who had nned this performance or who had given this concept to Tae-Yoon, but she thanked the person a hundred times in her mind. <i>¡®Thank you. Oh, thank you so much...!¡¯</i>


    Though other teammates now took the center position, her eyes only stayed focused on Bong Tae-Yoon. And even when she saw Kang Hyun-Sung dance in the center or heard Young-Ho raise the pitch of his voice or Si-Woon hit all the highest notes, her eyes were only fixated on Tae-Yoon.


    <i>¡®Tae-Yoon!¡¯ </i>she thought. Then, in the final chorus loop, Tae-Yoon came out to the center again.


    ¡ªNEVER MIND~ That blue sky


    ¡ªI¡¯ll run to hold them all!


    ¡ªSwoosh! I¡¯ll hold the


    ¡ªrising cloud in my arms and¡ª


    ¡°Kyaaaaah!¡±


    ¡°Ahhh!¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    Tae-Yoon perfectly executed the choreography of the song¡¯s highlight area, the chorus. In the chorus, all nine members¡¯ voices mixed vibrantly and rang across the studio. The song¡¯s refreshing nature and in-sync choreography drew out loud cheers from the audience.


    ¡ªNEVER MIND~ I will run towards you


    ¡ªWhile staying awake these long nights


    ¡ªI will give you all the moments


    ¡ªI used while waiting for you


    It was a performance that seemed to have filled the sweetness and heartache of a first lover to the brim. The school uniform shirt that flowed every time they moved¡ªthe naturally moving hairstyle¡ªand, above all, the bright and refreshing smiles they had on their faces stayedpletely loyal to the concept. The song passed over the first verse and second verse and moved towards the outro. Tae-Yoon¡¯s fan thought there was nothing more she could hope for and was more than satisfied with the performance when the chorus started.


    ¡ªNEVER MIND~


    ¡ªNEVER MIND That blue sky~


    The chorus began to repeat like an EDM song that was building up for the highlight. As the melodies ovepped, it made its listeners feel more tense. And because of the members who stopped moving and were standing still above the stage at thest dance move, the tenseness increased further. Siren members began to think the performance wasing to an end when the lines repeated.


    ¡ªI¡¯ll run to hold them all!


    The chorus repeated.


    ¡ªNEVER MIND! I will run to you


    ¡ªAnd give you all these feelings


    Then, once more.


    ¡ªNEVER MIND!


    Then, for the third time.


    ¡ªNEVER MIND!


    And the fourth time.


    <i>Pop!</i>


    Then, finally, for the fifth time, a firework exploded and flower petals began to fall. On top of the stage where flower petals flew, members began to dance freely and move across the stage. It was as if they were in a festival, and the audiences¡¯ hearts with heart-warming feelings. Tae-Yoon made eye contact with his fan, who was approaching the stage, and continued his dance. Tae-Yoon¡¯s fan felt out of breath when she saw Tae-Yoon move closer to the audience.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s so cool!¡¯ </i>A handsome guy was dancing his hardest and was doing such a good job of it at the same time. She wanted to remember this image clearly in her head. But Tae-Yoon moved to the center of the stage again and the chorus melody continued.


    ¡ªI won¡¯t forget you.


    ¡ªAll the firsts we tried


    ¡ªEven if time passed


    ¡ªI will always be by your side


    This was the final part.


    ¡ªNEVER MIND~


    ¡ªNEVER MIND~


    ¡ªNEVER MIND...


    The chorus gradually quietened and the stage seemed to have gone mute when Tae-Yoon at the center raised his head and spoke in a low voice, a line that wasn¡¯t in the original song.


    ¡ªYou are my everything.


    <i>Thud¡ª</i>


    Simultaneously, the stage became still, and the audience burst into screams.


    ¡°That was crazy!¡±


    ¡°Ahhh!¡±


    ¡°Amazing!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Kyaaaah!¡±


    ***


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team¡¯s performance ended. The main producer, Park Soo-Chul, and the second writer in line, Kim Min-Young looked at the stage in a daze.


    ¡°Ahhh!¡±


    ¡°Amazing!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Kyaaaah!¡±


    The studio was ringing with the screamsing from the audience. It was normal for audiences to scream after a performance, but something felt different about this cheer. It felt so real, as if it really came from the bottom of their hearts, and the entire studio seemed to ring.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon. Was he always this cute...?¡± Park Soo-Chul asked.


    ¡°...No,¡± Kim Min-Young replied firmly. The producers, of course, knew that Tae-Yoon wasn¡¯t a cute character. Though he was the youngest of Siren, in terms of personality and face, the <i>maknae</i> role fitted Yeon-Hoon or Dong-Jun much more.


    ¡°Wow, he is kind of amazing.¡±


    ¡°The audience¡¯s response is really great.¡±


    ¡°Isn''t it a bit hot here?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± Park Soo-Chul felt that the studio¡¯s temperature seemed to have gone up slightly. The audience¡¯s temperature must have gone up as the show progressed, but it was much hotter than the time Luminin performed.


    <i>¡®It really is much hotter.¡¯ </i>This also meant that the audience reacted harder than before.


    ¡°Ha. It¡¯s my first time feeling how well a group is doing by the temperature.¡±


    ¡°I know right?¡±


    It was more painful to get hit by an unexpected punch than a punch one was expecting. This performance was like that. Though people hadbeled Tae-Yoon as having no idol charm and stage presence, he had shown the opposite of that today.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon is good at performing.¡± Whether he intended it or not, Tae-Yoon had overturned their opinions of him.


    ¡°Thank you for your performance, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team. Thest chorus part made me feel like I was part of a festival and was very memorable. What did you think, Ms. Nahyun?¡±


    ¡°I also enjoyed the show just like I was part of the audience. It feels as if the end part keeps circling my ears.¡±


    The hosts started theirmentaries. Park Soo-Chul thought he had already gotten all the scenes he needed from this round when the host announced, ¡°Okay, now let¡¯s give time to each of the members to appeal to the audience! Please tell us how you felt about your performance and why the audience should vote for you!¡±


    Tae-Yoon raised the mike first, ¡°First of all, I was able to enjoy this performance because it was a concept I had never tried before.¡± This was nothing special. He showed just the right amount of out-of-breath, cool appearance so it was impressive, but it was still nothing special. Park Soo-Chul originally expected nothing much of this appeal time anyway. It was just a time for fans to see more of their biases and interact with them.


    ¡°And in my hope that I will receive a high score...¡± But then, Tae-Yoon made an unexpected blow as he said, ¡°...Please choose me, <i>nuna</i>[1].¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°...!¡±


    ¡°I want to get first ce, please.¡± For the first time ever, Tae-Yoon was leveraging his young age.


    ¡°Ahhh!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yooon!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡±


    The effect of it was truly astounding. What followed wasn¡¯t even a cheer or scream but a roar as it shook up the entire studio.


    1. What a younger boy or man calls an older woman ?

 Chapter 100

    <h4>Chapter 100</h4>


    Noises that sounded like shouts, screams, or roars began bursting out from the studio. It was only then that I fully realized what I had done.


    <i>¡®Ah...crazy.¡¯ </i>I think I went crazy for a second and became too immersed in the concept. I couldn¡¯t believe I said<i> nuna</i>. I had never called anyone <i>nuna</i> in my life. I had no female acquaintances, and that term was too cringy for me. But...


    <i>¡®I¡¯m crazy...¡¯ </i>I was shocked that I acted cute in a public setting like this and said <i>nuna</i>. I felt like my face might explode from embarrassment. I thought something had gone wrong with my head a second ago.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon! Wow, I had no idea your personality was like this, Mr. Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°You said <i>nuna</i>, how cute. Hahaha!¡± The two hosts burst into genuineughter for the first time during today¡¯s shooting. In particr, Nahyunughed so loudly that her face turned bright red. Kim Young-Jin opened his eyes wide as if he was really shocked.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°<i>Nuna!</i>¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yooooon!¡±


    The audience was still roaring, and I bowed my head low. I had no courage to look at the audience anymore.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, your ears are bing almost ck, not even red anymore.¡±


    ¡°Hah, for real. Hahaha!¡±


    The two hosts didn¡¯t stop teasing me until the end. They talked about the ¡®<i>nuna</i> fiasco¡¯ for a while, and after clearing the scene, we were finally able to move on to the next team member''s appeal to the audience for high rankings andmentaries about the performance.


    ¡°Ah, well, Mr. Tae-Yoon did something so incredible before I took the microphone that I feel a bit pressured. Haha.¡±


    However, my name was included in everyone¡¯smentary. Even Kang Hyun-Sung was not an exception. ¡°I don¡¯t have Mr. Tae-Yoon¡¯s cuteness, but I did my best, so please vote kindly for me,¡± he said while looking at me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s now finish thementaries and start voting! Audiences in the studio, please give each member their appropriate ranks!¡±


    It was now time for the audience to vote.


    ¡°Thank you for your support!¡±


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    ¡°I love you!¡±


    We went down the stage after saying goodbye for thest time. And the moment we went down the stage, that was when it started.


    <i>¡°Nuna?¡±</i>


    <i>¡°Nunnnna?¡±</i>


    <i>¡°Nunnanunna?¡±</i>


    <i>¡°Nununana~¡±</i>


    All the team members made fun of me as if they had nned it.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you call me <i>hyung</i>?¡± Even Kang Hyun-Sung made fun of me with a mocking voice.


    I just answered all their taunts with silence, and I wished I could kill myself five minutes ago if I could. While I was finally rxing after the fuss behind the stage¡ª


    [Thanks to your better-than-anticipated performance, the mission¡¯s progress speed has increased.]


    [You are showing signs of reaching the mission¡¯s turning point.]


    <i>¡®...What?¡¯</i> Out of nowhere, the system rang out and uttered strange notices. Since that seemed important, I wanted to listen to it again, but¡ª


    ¡°We will now head out for a group interview~¡±


    I didn¡¯t have more time to think due to the production team¡¯s remarks.


    * * *


    After finishing the team interview, the joint team finally disbanded. Since we had grown quite attached thest two weeks, Only One members and OnebyOne members were sad about separating.


    ¡°It¡¯s been a lot of fun, thest 2 weeks.¡±


    ¡°I wonder if I¡¯ve ever practiced so hard in my life.¡±


    ¡°Everyone did a great job!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s all get together and eat BBQ together!¡±


    ¡°That sounds great~¡±


    I stood calmly during this warm farewell moment and kept my head down. The reason for that was...


    ¡°<i>Mr. Bongnuna</i>, you will alsoe when we eat dinner together, right?¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡± I was constantly teased whenever I raised my head. Like this, the interview time was over.


    ¡°Great job!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    We all separated. Though we had been separated into different waiting rooms by teams, we were now back to our original groups. In a way, things were finally back to normal. I stood in the waiting room, which said, ¡®Siren.¡¯ When I opened the door and went in¡ª


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°<i>Nuna? Nuna?</i>¡±


    ...As expected, my members went all out on ridiculing me.


    ¡°<i>Nuna?</i> Did you say <i>nuna</i>, Tae-Yoon?<i> Nuna</i>?¡± Dong-Jun spun around me and repeated <i>nuna</i> repeatedly like a sound speaker.


    ¡°I was really surprised. I never thought Tae-Yoon would do that,¡± Woon killed me even further by saying this in a serious voice.


    ¡°Wow, you were really serious about being an idol. I give you my full respect.¡± Do-Seung put a dagger in my heart byuding my efforts and making an awed expression.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Say <i>nuna</i> one more time! I had no idea you could do that. It¡¯s because I¡¯m so proud of you, so please do it one more time.¡± I was not sure whether Yeon-Hoon was making fun of me or not, but he requested an encore for me to say <i>nuna</i> again.


    Since I dug this hole myself, I had to ept it, and I thought responding in silence was the best answer to all of their mockery. When I didn¡¯t respond, it seemed the members also gave up on teasing me, and the conversation flowed in a different direction.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, your performance has improved a lot,¡± Woon said first.


    ¡°Yeah, right. I was surprised. Your dancing and use of facial expressions and everything in general have gotten a lot better,¡± Do-Seung seriouslyplimented me.


    ¡°I guess you learned a lot from the other team?¡± Dong-Jun sat next to me and intently looked at me.


    ¡°I learned a lot.¡±


    ¡°What did you learn?¡±


    ¡°...That even if you think you are at your limit, you can always push yourself to do more.¡±


    ¡°...What the hell have you been doing?¡± Dong-Jun now looked at me with a shocked expression.


    Frankly, I also thought my performance ability had significantly improved. Besides Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s Spartan training methods, it was also because I had to really work hard this time.


    Furthermore, since I could see our group''s probability of winning change in real-time, I had to concentrate more than usual and did better.


    <i>¡®Also, being on stage is fun.¡¯ </i>For the first time since I joined thispetition, I realized that the stage was a fun ce. Although the topic of love remained an unanswered question for me, I thought,<i> ¡®I think I can be different on stage.¡¯</i>


    At least while I was on the stage, I felt that I could forget the past. To put it simply, I felt like I became more of an idol now. It felt a bit cheesy to say this about myself, but that was what I felt. I turned my eyes and looked at Yeon-Hoon, and he smiled brightly at me. I thought this many times before, but he really was like an idol in many ways.


    ¡°We can win first ce this time, right?¡± Yeon-Hoon said as he looked lost in thought for a while, and the atmosphere in the waiting room immediately became heavy.


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°First ce.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm.¡±


    Everyone seemed to be lost in thought.


    ¡°Only One was so good.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Senior Kang Hyun-Sung is such a good dancer.¡±


    I was on the same stage, so I couldn¡¯t watch him well but the members must have seen him better through the monitor screen.


    ¡°Whenever Senior Hyun-Sunges out, the cheers are no joke.¡±


    ¡°Mr. Young-Ho¡¯s skills also improved even further in that short time.¡±


    ¡°It definitely feels like everyone in Only One is good overall.¡±


    They all seemed to feel overwhelmed by Only One¡¯s stage. However, as someone from a different team than my members, I could confidently say, ¡°Your performance was great too.¡±


    In fact, it didn¡¯t feel like their performance fell behind Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team at all. But above all, I could see the probability of winning first ce. I thought the probability would stop increasing right before the stage, but the probability went up during the stage. Moreover, it went up after the performance, and even now¡ª


    <i>¡®It went up again.¡¯</i> It just went up another 1%. While my members were nervous, I wasn¡¯t nervous at all. I said, ¡°We will win first ce.¡±


    Just in time, the production crew walked around the waiting room and said, ¡°We will now announce the ranking and MVP of each team!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Pwehh.¡±


    ¡°Whatever the result is, let¡¯s ept it.¡±


    Everyone looked determined since if Only One won today, the final first ce in <i>The Showcase 2 </i>would no longer be feasible for us.


    However, I rubbed my members¡¯ shoulders and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±


    We all went up on stage together.


    * * *


    When we went up the stage, the audience and studio had already been cleared out, and there were only the two hosts and other group members on stage. Everyone seemed to have developed stronger friendships through this joint mission as we all greeted each other and smiled without awkwardness.


    Then we all stood on stage in groups, and by the time the setting wasplete, Kim Young-Jin said, ¡°We will now begin announcing the ranking ceremony for <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s thirdpetition.¡± He continued, ¡°I¡¯m sure all of you must have spent a hard time preparing this joint performance over the past two weeks, right?¡±


    ¡°I heard that you all prepared for this one performance every day while staying together. You¡¯ve all worked incredibly hard.¡± Although it sounded like written lines, perhaps because of the hardships we¡¯ve experienced during the past week, everyone¡¯s eyes were getting a bit moist.


    ¡°However, the world ofpetition is cold. Just now, the total score of each member for each performance has been calcted, and the average score of that total score has been summarized by each group.¡±


    People, who were about to be sentimental, immediately regained their senses and concentrated hard on the host¡¯s next words.


    ¡°From what I¡¯ve heard, if Only One wins again in thispetition, they will be the final winner. Is that right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±


    The host raised the tension by pointing out facts that everyone here already knew once more.


    ¡°Will the final first ce of<i> The Showcase 2</i> be born here today, or another new rising star will rise to the challenge? While we are eagerly waiting for the results¡ª,¡± Kim Young-Jin looked around and said, ¡°From now on, I¡¯ll announce the ranking starting from 5th ce.¡± He said in a more determined voice than before.


    The atmosphere was tense, and fifth ce went to¡ª


    ¡°It¡¯s a group that had a lot of issues while preparing for this round. It¡¯s OnebyOne.¡±


    Unfortunately, it was OnebyOne.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Hmph.¡±


    OnebyOne members seemed like they were about to cry for a moment but nodded and looked towards the camera.


    ¡°Thank you...!¡±


    ¡°We will work harder.¡±


    Then fourth ce was announced right away.


    ¡°Fourth ce is Luminin!¡± As expected, Luminin was in fourth ce.


    ¡°Third ce is Bleshu.¡±


    Bleshu was a group that got separated into many teams but still showed great performances on their respective stages. Bleshu came in third, and it was the same pattern that had been going on since the firstpetition. Once again, Only One and we were the ones fighting for first ce. Perhaps because they would win the final championship if they just won this round, Only One members looked visibly nervous. They had looked rxed on stage, but they now looked nervous before the announcement. I briefly made eye contact with Kang Hyun-Sung.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s fine though.¡¯ </i>Strangely enough, Kang Hyun-Seung¡¯s face looked nk. On the other hand, my members were¡ª


    ¡°Ahhhhh.¡±


    ¡°Pweh.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s calm down.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm.¡±


    They were all extremely nervous. Even Dong-Jun, who was always rxed, looked pale.


    ¡°In today¡¯s joint mission, the long-awaited number one is...¡± The host stopped breathing before saying the final winner and scanned the surroundings to increase the tension. This moment¡¯s pause was so nerve-wracking that sighs burst out everywhere.


    When the tension seemed at its highest, he eximed, ¡°Finally, this team was able to be the sole winner!¡± The host said a description that seemed to refer to us, and then he said, ¡°It¡¯s Siren! Congrattions!¡± He finally called our name.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Ohh!¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°Aghhh! Argh! Ahhhhh!¡±


    The members all went crazy.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Tae-Yoooon! Tae-Yoon!¡±


    Was it because Kim Young-Jin kept ying with our feelings so hard about who the winner was? Everyone reacted more intensely than usual. This was the first time that we won first ce alone.


    ¡°Everyone did a great job.¡± On the other hand, I was calm, unlike my members. The reason for that was¡ª


    [Probability of winning first ce: 98%]


    The probability that hovered around 95% immediately after the stage rose to 97% at my<i> nuna</i> remark and then rose again to 98% while I chatted with the members in the waiting room. How could we not win first ce with this probability? If we lost, the system would have been deceiving me all along. Thus, for me, I felt like I was receiving a report card just as I expected.


    ¡°Only One unfortunately got second ce this time. Nevertheless, you were able to obtain a high score, so I hope you don¡¯t feel too discouraged.¡± The host finished saying his lines with thisment.


    Until then, the members could not hide their excitement.


    ¡°Hmmph!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re first ce...!¡±


    <i>Sigh. </i>The members could not hide their excitement. In particr, Yeon-Hoon was already crying. Since he cried so often, I wasn¡¯t even surprised. Woon was also tearing up with Yeon-Hoon. But the real surprise was¡ª


    ¡°...You¡¯re crying?¡±


    ¡°Be quiet...¡±


    Even Do-Seung was crying. He wasn¡¯t sobbing, but tears formed around his eyes, so he seemed like he would burst into tears if anyone just tapped him. Only Dong-Jun and I didn¡¯t cry and enjoyed this moment. Just in time, the final score was posted on the back screen.


    <i>¡®What, there¡¯s only a 1-point difference between us and Only One.¡¯ </i>Seeing that there was only one point difference between Only One and us, I got goosebumps for a moment. I briefly made eye contact with Kang Hyun-Sung, and he was smiling softly as if he had expected this result. When I was also getting goosebumps from that image¡ª


    [Mission sess. Siren has won first ce in the third round ofpetition.]


    The system¡¯s voice rang in my ear.


    [Reward has been received.]


    Then, it immediately moved on to thepensation part without dy.


    [A part of the regression¡¯s secret will be revealed to you.]


    With that sentence,


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    For a brief moment, my world¡¯s time came to a standstill.

 Chapter 101

    <h4>Chapter 101</h4>


    My world¡¯s time came to a standstill. The crying members, the hosts who continued their lines, and the staff who watched the stage from above froze in ce and didn¡¯t move. Even the dust in the air was locked into ce.


    [A part of the regression¡¯s secret will be revealed to you.]


    [Be prepared for iing shock.]


    [Part of this timeline will crumble.]


    The system rang loudly to warn me and told me to prepare myself. I wondered what this regression¡¯s secret would be and stayed alert to witness the next scene clearly.


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    A semi-transparent current appeared in front of me, and a video began to y. It was the same way I had seen the future with my Precognitive Vision. I looked at the video and checked the video¡¯s background.


    ¡®<i>A concert stage?¡¯ </i>This was unexpected. What was this? I thought the system was going to reveal the secret behind my regression. I looked at the video more carefully for now. There were my group members, Only One members, OnebyOne members, Luminin members, and Bleshu members on top of the stage.


    <i>¡®Is this The Showcase 2 shooting set?</i>¡¯ I wondered. That seemed to be the case. <i>The Showcase</i> set seemed to be the only likely ce where all these teams would gather. It was then that two words came to my mind.


    <i>¡®Final stage?¡¯ </i>That kind of formation and set seemed only befitting of the final stage.


    <i>¡®But why is OnebyOne¡¯s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon still there?</i>¡¯ I wondered and realized that there was something strange about this stage. First of all, there were two members of OnebyOne who should¡¯ve dropped from the stage after a big scuffle and suffered injuries. Things didn¡¯t make sense from that point.


    And as I wondered about this, I recalled, <i>¡®The system said a part of the worldline will crumble.¡¯</i>


    Perhaps, what I was seeing wasn¡¯t a future of my world, and there was a high possibility the system was showing me a future of a different world. That seemed to be the most likely and reasonable guess. Then, another question popped into my head.


    <i>¡®But how is this the regression¡¯s secret?¡¯ </i>I didn¡¯t understand how another world¡¯s future could be revealing the secret behind my regression. Shouldn¡¯t it be a world that had little to do with me?


    ¡ªThe<i> Showcase 2</i>¡¯s final winner is¡ª


    ¡ªOnly One! Congrattions!


    The next scene showed Only One bing the final winners of the other world¡¯s future. I was angry at the Tae-Yoon from that world for losing first ce to Only One when I heard the system¡¯s voice again.


    [Mission failed. You failed to win in <i>The Showcase 2</i>.]


    [Penalty for failing: Death of member Bong Tae-Yoon.]


    [Penalty will be immediately carried out.]


    The system wasn¡¯t talking to me but to someone else from another world, and I was simply a witness. But the problem was that¡ª


    <i>¡®I will die? That¡¯s the penalty for failing the mission?¡¯ I</i> thought I would naturally be the regressor of this world too. And before I could recover from this shock, I saw myself from the video copse to the ground.


    ¡ªTae-Yoon!


    People murmured, and my group members surrounded me in surprise. However, one person was hugging me and crying out loud.


    ¡ªBong Tae-Yoon!


    <i>¡®Do-Seung...?¡¯ </i>All sorts of questions popped into my head, but the system announced the end of the video.


    [Recovering worldline.]


    [Reward for sessfully aplishing mission has been received.]


    [The speed of your world returns to normal.]


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    The stopped time began to run its course again and dust frozen in the air floated once more. The producers moved, people talked around me, and the world regained its vibrancy.


    ¡°Congrattions, Siren!¡±


    ¡°Now we won¡¯t be able to tell who will be the final winners until the very end,¡± the hosts began to say theirmentaries again.


    ¡°Haaa. Tae-Yoon...You worked so hard...¡± Yeon-Hoon hugged me while crying.


    ¡°Congrattions, Mr. Tae-Yoon,¡±


    ¡°Congrattions!¡±


    Surprisingly, Only One members also congratted us for our first ce with cheerful expressions.


    <i>¡®Ah.¡¯ </i>But I couldn¡¯t focus on what was happening around me. Fortunately, it seemed people just thought I was too shocked that we got first ce, and I was spacing out.


    I looked so out of it that even Kang Hyun-Sung asked me, ¡°Are you that happy?¡±


    But that wasn¡¯t it<i>. ¡®Do-Seung was also a regressor?¡¯</i> This was the important part. My head was in a mess. It wasn¡¯t even that shocking that I witnessed my own death. I couldn¡¯t erase the image of my members witnessing my death and Do-Seung copsing to his knees and screaming from my mind.


    ¡°Ah.¡± I felt dizzy and needed something to grab on.


    ¡°...Hey, are you okay?¡± Someone then approached me to support me.


    ¡°...Do-Seung?¡± Why did it have to be Do-Seung of all people? I couldn¡¯t bear to see his face properly right now. I chewed my lips and turned my head.


    Perhaps, he thought I was about to cry, and Do-Seung smiled and said teasingly, ¡°Why? Does winning make you that emotional?¡±


    ¡°...Yes, it does.¡± This was the best excuse I could make right now. I moved away from Do-Seung and stood upright. I breathed in and out and tried to calm down.


    ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s hear what the winners have to say! Mr. Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    ¡°...Ah, yes! Pweh, give me a moment please.¡± Yeon-Hoon took the mike as the representative of our group. Yeon-Hoon spoke brightly while looking at the camera, ¡°Thank you so much for giving us the highest assessment among the many great performances that were performed today. We will continue to try to improve and progress for our fans and the audience. Thank you.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon said the standard lines expected from the winner. After the hosts and other groups made their apuse, the host announced the third round¡¯s MVP.


    ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s go to our next event¡ªannouncing today¡¯s MVP!¡±


    I calmed my heart. Though it was difficult, I was in the middle of a shoot and couldn¡¯t crumble here.


    <i>¡®Get it together,¡¯ </i>I told myself.


    I only had the final performance remaining after this. With just one more step, we could be the winners of the show. I couldn¡¯t fall here. Thus, I resolved my heart and looked forward again. The MVP was also an important part of today¡¯s shooting. I didn¡¯t know what kind of reward they would give out since it didn¡¯t exist in my past life, but normally, the MVP just got more screen time.


    <i>¡®There¡¯s nothing bad about getting the MVP title. It only has positives.¡¯</i>


    ¡°But before we announce who the MVP is, let us introduce the prizes first. Ms. Nahyun, could you present the prizes?¡±


    ¡°Yes. There will be a total of three prizes given to the member chosen as MVP today. The first prize is ess to a five-star hotel¡¯s suite room to rest.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°Awesome.¡±


    ¡°The second is receiving support for a live broadcast for the MVP tomunicate with his fans!¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The final prize is an opportunity to personallymunicate with the fans on social media sites!¡±


    ¡°Wow~¡±


    ¡°Amazing!¡±


    Everyone reacted in surprise for the show, but honestly, the only thing that could be considered a prize among these rewards was the hotel suite room. Thetter two were only helpful in marketing the program.


    No, since that hotel suite room was probably given through advertisement deals, even that couldn¡¯t be counted as a privilege. But if I thought like this, there was no proper reward so I decided to stop thinking about it. And honestly, these were all things good to receive.


    ¡°Furthermore, these privileges won¡¯t just be given to the MVP member but the group the MVP members are a part of!¡±


    People¡¯s faces brightened hearing this. This was the good part about <i>The Showcase</i>. When they said they would give something, they shared it with everyone in the group instead of one person.


    ¡°Okay then, is it time to announce the MVP who will take all these privileges? Let¡¯s first see who the MVP for Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s team is,¡± the host, Kim Young-Jin said and stopped. It was a ssic way of drawing out people¡¯s anticipation. ¡°The MVP is someone who carried this performance to new heights and filled the audience¡¯s ears and eyes with joy. Mr. Woo Yeon-Hoon! Congrattions!¡±


    ¡°Whaaat? Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Wooow!¡±


    As expected, Yeon-Hoon was the MVP of his team.


    ¡°The judges¡¯ment said that you dominated the stage, and your voice was seamless. How wonderful~¡±


    Yeon-Hoon seemed to be surprised by the fact he got MVP and jumped up and down in glee. The hosts looked at him affectionately, and thanks to Yeon-Hoon, we would be able to lodge in a hotel and do a live broadcast tomunicate with our fans.


    ¡°I look forward to it.¡±


    ¡°Ahh.¡±


    ¡°I wonder what the hotel suite room will look like.¡± My other group members didn¡¯t appear regretful that they hadn¡¯t received the MVP title in the slightest and seemed to only look forward to sharing the MVP¡¯s privileges. The announcement for the MVPs continued and in Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team, Kang Hyun-Sung received the MVP title. It seemed my group members had hoped for me to get the title and looked a bit disappointed.


    ¡°It was close.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know right?¡±


    But I didn¡¯t feel any sense of disappointment. Kang Hyun-Sung objectively did the best job on the stage and was the one who led the team. He only received the prize he should get.


    ¡°These are the judges¡¯ments. Kang Hyun-Sung the Great¡ªthere¡¯s a reason why Kang Hyun-Sung is as famous as he is. As expected, it was a high-quality performance.¡± It was a slightly cringyment. ¡°Ah, there¡¯s one more line. P.S. Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon is the honorary MVP for his cuteness.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    It felt like I got suddenly pped while standing. I couldn¡¯t believe I was chosen as honorary MVP of all things. I couldn¡¯t raise my head out of embarrassment, and the studio burst intoughter. Afterward, Luminin¡¯s MVP was announced and surprisingly, a member of OnebyOne instead of Luminin got the MVP title.


    ¡°Luminin¡¯s MVP is OnebyOne¡¯s Mr. Yoon Gyong-Jun!¡±


    ¡°Congrattions!¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i> ¡°Me? Why?¡± Though every other team¡¯s MVP was from the members of the central group that made up the team, this team was the only one that was different. Though Luminin members slightly failed to control their expressions for a bit, they quickly smiled brightly again. Yoon Gyong-Jun appeared to find it hard to believe what he just won and looked teary. He was welling up with so much emotion that he even said some lines that he shouldn¡¯t say on broadcast.


    ¡°We...went through some tough times internally within the group while preparing for this performance...I also had some personal issues happening, but...¡±


    People couldn¡¯t stop him because he was crying so much while making his remarks. I thought producer Park Soo-Chul would edit it well anyway. If he couldn¡¯t, he didn¡¯t deserve to have the main producer title. Thus, the announcement of the MVPs ended like that.


    ¡°A lot of tears were shed today.¡±


    ¡°Certainly.¡±


    The hosts said their ending lines and the shooting seemed toe to a close. Yet, there was a big event still remaining.


    ¡°Okay, now this is thest event everyone has been eagerly waiting for.¡±


    ¡°From now on, it¡¯s the final fourth-round performance. I will now reveal the mission for the final performance.¡±


    The mood of the studio, which had been high with all the announcements of MVPs, dropped significantly again. This was thest mission. Whether they won or not, everyone would want to do a good job. A tense feeling circled around the set.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t the final performance happening at a concert hall instead of a studio set?¡± Nahyun asked.


    ¡°Yes, it is as you say. A concert hall is a ce that will allow them tomunicate with their audience more directly. And thus, the theme of this stage is...!¡± the host, Kim Young-Jin, raised people¡¯s anticipation with a dramatic pause and continued, ¡°The <i>New Showcase!</i> The theme is a ¡®new¡¯ stage!¡±


    As soon as I heard the theme¡¯s name, ¡®The New Showcase,¡¯ I came to a realization.


    ¡°You all need to prepare a creative and original performance that has never been seen before in this world until now!¡±


    This was the mission that was given in the third-round performance in my past life.


    ¡°An original stage?¡±


    ¡°Ohh!¡±


    My group members looked at each other with sparkling eyes. Since all we had been doing were original performances until now, it was the perfect mission for us. And with it, we could showcase our imaginations and creativity with no limits.


    <i>¡®We can be the final winners...¡¯ </i>It was as if the producers had prepped for us to be the show¡¯s winners. We had all the reasons to exceed this mission.


    [You¡¯ve reached the mission¡¯s turning point.]


    <i>¡®...Huh?¡¯</i> A system¡¯s voice that I had never heard before dug into my ears then. No, I thought I heard it sometime before today, but that wasn¡¯t the important part. I needed to focus on the content, and I wondered what it meant that I reached the mission¡¯s turning point.


    [It is now possible for you to change your final mission of ¡®reaching 100,000 sales in the first week of album release¡¯.]


    [Upon epting the change, you will have the opportunity to meet with the first regressor.]


    [Upon rejecting the change, you will continue with the original mission.]


    The content of the system¡¯s messages was rming.


    <i>¡®Change of mission?¡¯</i> Now that I reached the mission¡¯s turning point, it appeared I could change the missions given to me, and this time, I could change the mission of reaching 100,000 sales in the first week of releasing an album. I thought I didn¡¯t need to change the mission since I was progressing well into it.


    <i>¡®...But a meeting with the first regressor...?¡¯</i>


    This wasn¡¯t a reward that I could easily pass by.

 Chapter 102

    <h4>Chapter 102</h4>


    [You¡¯ve reached the mission¡¯s turning point.]


    [It is now possible for you to change your final mission of ¡®reaching 100,000 sales in the first week of album release¡¯.]


    [Upon epting the change, you will have the opportunity to meet with the first regressor.]


    [Upon rejecting the change, you will continue with the original mission.]


    My mind became muddled with numerous thoughts. What did it mean by the mission¡¯s turning point, but above all¡ª


    <i>¡®A meeting with the first regressor...?¡¯</i> Thepensation for epting the change was huge. Of course, there were too many things I didn¡¯t know to properly judge whether this reward was big or small. However, from my deduction, I thought the first regressor was probably Do-Seung. After all, it was Do-Seung who hugged me and cried in the parallel world that I saw through the regression¡¯s secret.


    While the others were flustered, not knowing what was happening, Do-Seung was the only one who was crying his heart out. Thus, this probably meant that he knew that me from another world died due to the system¡¯s failure penalty. In other words, there was a very high possibility that Do-Seung was the first regressor.


    <i>¡®A meeting with Do-Seung from another world?¡¯</i> If I thought of it like this, it was quite an enticing reward. By meeting the first regressor, I could dig up more information about the system and gain valuable information that I needed for the missions.


    Moreover, I wanted to ask him various questions like what kind of life he¡¯d lived, what he had gone through, and how he was doing. While my goal was to exchange information about clearing missions as a fellow regressor, I was also genuinely curious about Do-Seung from another world.


    <i>¡®I¡¯ve never experienced a loss following the system¡¯s orders.¡¯</i> While the system felt like a viin at first, it all came back as profits if I just followed its order. However, I couldn¡¯t choose this option right now, as the shooting was about toe to an end.


    One of the hosts said, ¡°We look forward to seeing original performances where five groups will show their creativity in the uing finalpetition!¡±


    I decided to answer the system¡¯s voice againter and focus on the shooting for now.


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll end the third round of <i>The Showcase 2 </i>with this.¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    After we finished shooting the closingment, the production crew said, ¡°Everyone besides Siren can go home now~¡±


    Other groups disappeared off the stage except us, and it was obvious why we were the only ones left behind.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon! Please give us a good order!¡±


    ¡°Please consider the friendship we have built over the past two weeks as Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s team...haha.¡±


    It was because we now had to decide the order of the performances for the final performance. People made their pleas onest time before leaving the stage. My members and I sent them off with a warm smile. Soon, all the groups left, and even the hosts left. Then, once the name tags and order numbers were set on the stage, the members became excited and put our name tags for the ending stage without hesitation.


    ¡°Let¡¯s put ours in the ending stage!¡±


    ¡°Yeeeeesss!¡±


    I could feel how fervently they wanted to do the ending performance. Even though we were simply attaching our name tags, I felt a strong sense of excitement.


    ¡°We¡¯re doing the final ending!¡±


    ¡°Really...I¡¯m really d we won first ce.¡±


    ¡°Dude, why am I getting emotional?¡±


    The members seemed to think they¡¯d already achieved enough just because we got the final ending performance. However, it was not over yet.


    ¡°Let¡¯s choose the order of the other group now.¡± It was good that we were doing the ending performance. It was basically an established rule that the ones who received the authority to decide the group order always put their group in the ending performance.


    However, our next action was just as important; we needed to keep the other groups in check while not incurring criticism. Thus, we needed to look reasonably fair while giving us the spotlight at the same time.


    Frankly, in order to achieve both of these goals, I thought, ¡®<i>We need to do something about Only One.¡¯</i> Only One was the main problem. If we put them right before us, it could get dangerous for us. Depending on the quality of their stage, we could look worse inparison.


    However, if we put them in the middle instead, we would get insulted to the heavens by Only One¡¯s fans.


    <i>¡®We¡¯ll get heaps of insults.¡¯ </i>In the end, I thought, <i>¡®Is it here again?¡¯</i> The only order I could assign to Only One was the opening performance.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we put Only One for the opening?¡±


    My members seemed to have the same thoughts as me.


    ¡°Hmm, yeah.¡±


    ¡°I think they could raise the energy as soon as they start performing.¡±


    ¡°Since they always wanted the ending or opening.¡±


    Everyone agreed with my opinion as it was true that Only One liked the ending or opening performance. Whether they decorated the grand finale or cut down the other group¡¯s morale from the very beginning, it was impossible to do without skills. After deciding on Only One¡¯s order, the rest was easy. Bleshu was number two, third was OnebyOne, and fourth was Luminin.


    After we finished setting the order, the production team approached us and retrieved the order board. ¡°This is your final decision, right?¡±


    We were able to quickly decide the order of the groups without much trouble.


    ¡°Then Siren, you can go home now.¡±


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your hard work!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    The members and I bowed to the production team and left the studio. After we changed into our normal clothes, we approached Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, who were waiting for us in the parking lot. The two of them smiled as soon as we approached them.


    ¡°Congrattions on winning first ce!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve worked really hard!¡±


    The two were happy that we won first alone as they were not usually this hyper. Their usual energy was that of a sried worker who had to work all day and night-so, basically a living corpse.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to both of you. I mean it.¡±


    The members also thanked Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon and got into the vehicle. I didn¡¯t know if it was because we won first ce alone, but the atmosphere was good the entire time.


    ¡°What do you think will be good for our original performance?¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°Shall we think about it tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Let¡¯s just enjoy ourselves today~¡±


    On the car ride back home, the members were more in favor of forgetting the burden of the next mission and enjoying the joy of their celebration for the rest of the day. Since we won first ce, I didn¡¯t want to start working right away either. Moreover, they were also the type of people who would work hard on their own.


    Dong-Jun suggested, ¡°Then shall we order chicken, pizza, and m hotpot~¡±


    However, Do-Seung sharply said, ¡°No, you can¡¯t do that, Park Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°What, why?¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t go up on the final stage while being chubby.¡±


    Dong-Jun¡¯s appetite needed to be stopped. Do-Seung took Dong-Jun¡¯s phone and erased the delivery application.


    ¡°Wow, you¡¯re crossing the line.¡±


    ¡°You should be thankful that I¡¯m helping your diet like this.¡±


    ¡°But we won first ce alone...,¡± Dong-Jun said with disappointment but secretly installed the delivery application again. However, he was caught by Do-Seung, and it was erased again. I began to think that it might be faster for Do-Seung to throw Dong-Jun¡¯s phone out of the car when¡ª


    [You¡¯ve reached the mission¡¯s turning point.]


    [It is now possible for you to change your final mission of ¡®reaching 100,000 sales in the first week of album release¡¯.]


    [Upon epting the change, you will have the opportunity to meet with the first regressor.]


    [Upon rejecting the change, you will continue with the original mission.]


    <i>Sigh...</i>


    The system kept urging me to make my decision. I had been rxing while watching the members scuffle for a while, but the system gave me a headache again.


    I pressed my throbbing head and thought,<i> ¡®I can¡¯t choose right now.¡¯</i>


    How could I choose, not knowing what would happen in the car? I thought I should at least choose after reaching the dorm and turned my gaze outside the window.


    <i>¡®Shall I ept it or not?¡¯</i> I had a headache. If I didn¡¯t ept it, I would lose the chance to meet the first regressor, but if I epted it, I had no idea what the mission would change to. While the members continued to scuffle and chat in the car, I sat in the back seat and continued to worry alone.


    * * *


    The inside of Only One¡¯s van was especially quiet today. Was it because they were disappointed in not getting first ce? No, it was all because Only One¡¯s manager began talking while driving the van back to their dorm. TH Entertainment, which Only One belonged to, was the epitome of apany with bad management.


    Although it had a few A-ss celebrities due to the CEO¡¯s good connections, thepany did not have a proper system to foster and grow debuting idols. Moreover, the CEO was excessively greedy and expanded his business too far, and as a result, TH was also famous for scolding, pushing, and treating their trainees harshly every day.


    It was to the extent that when Kang Hyun-Sung debuted as Yours after <i>Select Your Idol</i>, many fans urged him to terminate his exclusive contract with TH Entertainment and debut solo. However, terminating a contract was a long and tough road, and Kang Hyun-Sung was forced to return to TH Entertainment in the end.


    However, Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t just stand still and signed up to appear on <i>The Showcase 2</i> with the debut group he met at TH Entertainment. Of course, he did this on his own without notifying thepany and because of this, there was still bad blood with him and the agency.


    On the agency side, they wanted Only One not to win the final championship so they wouldn¡¯t transfer to a joint contract, but Kang Hyun-Sung argued that they should win first ce no matter now that they joined the show.


    ¡°Since you guys didn¡¯t win first ce this time, let¡¯s finish this show by narrowly ranking second in the final round.¡± This was the manager¡¯s position.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it on my own.¡± This was Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s position.


    ¡°A contract transfer to a joint contract? Everyone knows that¡¯s just a fucking trick to steal promising idols. Hyun-Sung, think about the agency¡¯s side. You should give back to the agency for all the training you¡¯ve received so far.¡±


    ¡°All of the promotional expenses for <i>The Showcase</i> have been paid with my own money.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you paid the activity fees at your own expense, but the training fee is different. Everyone¡¯s been practicing at the agency for years.¡±


    ¡°Ha, seriously. Training fees?¡±


    When Kang Hyun-Sung red at him, the manager¡¯s voice shrank for a moment. ¡°...Well, it wasn¡¯t a great training environment but...¡±


    ¡°Please be quiet. The other members need to get some rest.¡± With this, the winner of this verbal fighting match was Kang Hyun-Sung.


    The manager shut his mouth and concentrated on driving. However, he red back at Kang Hyun-Sung through the back mirror instead. The way they looked at each other showed clear hostility. Now that it has be like this, Kang Hyun-Sung firmly decided once again that he could never debut in TH Entertainment.


    * * *


    We came back to our dorm.


    ¡°Aghhhh~¡±


    ¡°Sighhh.¡±


    ¡°Wow, I¡¯m tired.¡±


    The members spread out on the living room couch and made groaning noises. I had forgotten about it until now because of the joy of winning first ce, but we had woken up from dawn to work and came back home only at night. In terms of working hours, we must have worked about 16 hours just today. We worked twice as much as ordinary office workers, so of course, it was natural that we were exhausted.


    ¡°Let¡¯s all go to bed early today and see each other in the morning.¡±


    ¡°Since we have to prepare for the final stage starting tomorrow, let¡¯s all write down one idea tonight~¡±


    ¡°Yes~¡±


    We all quickly went into our rooms.


    ¡°...Can I wash up first?¡± Woon took off his clothes after entering the room and asked. Usually, it was very rare for him to take off his clothes outside the bathroom, so I thought he really must want to quickly wash up and sleep.


    ¡°Yes, wash up first. I¡¯lly the nket down.¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much. I¡¯ll buy you coffee tomorrow.¡±


    While Woon took a shower, Iid the nket on the ground. In the meantime¡ª


    [You¡¯ve reached the mission¡¯s turning point.]


    [It is now possible for you to change your final mission of ¡®reaching 100,000 sales in the first week of album release¡¯.]


    [Upon epting the change, you will have the opportunity to meet with the first regressor.]


    [Upon rejecting the change, you will continue with the original mission.]


    <i>¡®Ha, are you kidding me? They¡¯re seriously pestering me.¡¯</i> This damn system kept repeating the same lines again and again. It was an rm at this point. When Iid the nket and finished organizing the room, Woon came out after taking a shower.


    I said, ¡°You go to bed first. I¡¯ll take a shower and go to bed.¡±


    ¡°Thank you...¡± As soon as he said this, hey on the nket as if he was fainting and immediately closed his eyes. I turned off the light so he could sleepfortably. I finished showering as quietly as possible, changed my clothes, and came back to my room. When I checked up on Woon, he was already asleep.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s really sleeping.¡¯</i> I opened the door carefully so as not to wake him up. When I came out of the living room, all the lights in the living room were turned off. I stood in the middle of the living room and tried to see whether I heard anyone else.


    <i>¡®Everyone¡¯s sleeping.¡¯ </i>Judging by how I couldn¡¯t hear any loud sound, everyone seemed to be fast asleep. I was finally relieved and sat on the sofa. I didn¡¯t know what would happen after I made my choice, so I thought it would be safer for me to be in a soft ce.


    [You¡¯ve reached the mission¡¯s turning point.]


    [It is now possible for you to change your final mission of ¡®reaching 100,000 sales in the first week of album release¡¯.]


    [Upon epting the change, you will have the opportunity to meet with the first regressor.]


    [Upon rejecting the change, you will continue with the original mission.]


    Then, the system rm went off just in time again. I had pondered whether to ept or reject this message the whole time I was in the car. The conclusion at the end was¡ª


    <i>¡®ept.¡¯ </i>It was to ept it. The system had never requested things from me for no reason so far. When time passed and I looked back, I realized that following the system¡¯s direction was often the best direction.


    There was probably a good reason why the system wanted to change the mission now. This was the conclusion I made based on past experiences and reasoning rather than simply because I wanted to meet the first regressor. As soon as I said ept¡ª


    [The mission has changed.]


    [The mission of ¡®reaching 100,000 sales in the first week of album release¡¯ has been changed.]


    [A new mission has been delivered.]


    [Be the final winner of <i>The Showcase 2</i>.]


    The mission changed immediately.


    <i>¡®Final winner?¡¯ </i>But the change in mission was a bit of a mystery to me. Since I thought they were changing the mission, I thought the mission might change to reaching 200,000 sales instead of 100,000 sales. Rather than an increase in difficulty, it felt like the timing of the mission¡¯s sess had been elerated.


    [Your reward will now be given.]


    [Meeting with the first regressor will begin.]


    [The worldline will copse.]


    [Please prepare for iing shock.]


    My long-awaited reward¡ªto meet with the first regressor¡ªwas finally about to begin.

 Chapter 103

    <h4>Chapter 103</h4>


    [Your reward will now be given.]


    [Meeting with the first regressor will begin.]


    [The wordline will copse.]


    [Please prepare for iing shock.]


    I held my breath. I didn¡¯t know what would happen from now on, and only the system¡¯s frantically ringing voice warned me about the uing change. I didn¡¯t know whether someone would drop from the air, shoot up from the ground, or appear in front of me; it was all unknown.


    <i>Creak.</i>


    I heard the door open from the front. It came from the room where Do-Seung and Yeon-Hoon were sleeping.


    ¡°Ah...¡± This wasn¡¯t good. Perhaps, my members wereing out to go to the bathroom, but I needed to settle the situation before the regressor appeared.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...?¡± Soon, I saw Do-Seung stare intently at me after getting out of his room in pajamas.


    ¡°Ah...¡± It was then I realized how I was supposed to meet the first regressor. The regressor didn¡¯t shoot up from the ground or drop from the sky; instead, he possessed his body from this world.


    <i>¡®...Didn¡¯t something like this happen before?</i>¡¯ I thought and remembered Yeon-Hoon in a simr state in the past.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon...¡± Do-Seung walked towards me, and I stared at him. His eyes widened and the ends of his fingers trembled. Each and every step he took looked pained and strained. Anyone could see that he was stunned by this whole situation. Do-Seung nced at me from top to bottom and then hugged me so tightly that I almost suffocated.


    ¡°Ah...¡± Though I had a good guess on why he was acting this way, I simply patted Do-Seung¡¯s back wordlessly. I would¡¯ve also trembled in shock if I was in the same position as him. He had seen me die as a penalty for failing the system¡¯s mission, but I was now standing before him alive. It didn¡¯t matter whether I was the Tae-Yoon from his world. He would simply be surprised by the fact that I was alive and moving. I felt Do-Seung¡¯s body tremble slightly and lightly pat his back.


    ¡°...Are you okay, Do-Seung?¡±


    ¡°Haaa....¡± Do-Seung moved away after hugging me for a while. Then, we sat in front of each other and looked at one another. There had never been a reason for Do-Seung and me to hug each other for so long like this or stare into each other¡¯s eyes so tearfully.


    ¡°Do you feel...better now?¡± I cautiously asked. The reason why I wanted to receive the reward of meeting the first regressor was to have a conversation with him. I wanted to know what kind of life he lived and what his regression was like. And above all, I wanted to know if...he was even a little happy as a result.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...¡± Do-Seung wiped his eyes again as he looked at me and said, ¡°...Everyone died.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°...After I failed the first mission, everyone died in the end,¡± he said and hung his head low. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Tae-Yoon...¡± After apologizing to me, Do-Seung began to whimper softly. I stared at Do-Seung without saying anything. There wasn¡¯t much I could say to ease the great sadness that was tormenting him, and I hugged him quietly. Do-Seung also swallowed back his tears in my arms.


    But I was shocked.<i> ¡®So, does everyone die in the end if I fail the first mission...?¡¯</i> That seemed to be the case if I considered everything Do-Seung said. Perhaps, that was only expected. If one of us died, I doubted my members, and I would be able to keep our sanity. We wouldn¡¯t be able to do any of our activities or practices and evenplete our daily lives anymore. We would probably be floundering aimlessly in shock, not knowing where to go from then on.


    But the system would have no consideration for us, and even as we struggled to grapple from the shock of failing thest mission, it would give us another mission with a different member¡¯s life on the line. And aplishing the system¡¯s mission in a state where our bodies and hearts were in tatters would be naturally impossible.


    <i>¡®...Yeah, It won¡¯t make sense.¡¯ </i>Do-Seung¡¯s words hit me more strongly after thinking about this. He said everyone died. That also meant that he failed all the missions after the first one, and as a result, all the members died. There was no way his heart was in one piece after going through all that.


    ¡°It will be all right, Do-Seung...¡± I knew that my words wouldn¡¯t change anything, but this was the best that I could offer to him right now.


    ¡°Do-Seung, are you really all¡ª¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon,¡± Do-Seung cut me off and told me, ¡°You mustn¡¯t fail the mission.¡± He grabbed my arm tightly so that his fingers dug into my skin, ¡°You must use all means possible...evenmit a crime if you have to, but you must seed...¡± He spoke each word with great force. The weight of his words felt differenting from someone who had gone through the worst.


    ¡°Ah...¡± This wasn¡¯t the time for me to lower my guard. I had been too calm when I needed to be more desperate and urgent.


    ¡°...Do-Seung, let me ask you some questions. Is that all right?¡± I asked.


    Do-Seung nodded.


    ¡°At what time point did you regress? Did you regress after living for a couple of years after the car crash? Or did you regress right after the car crash?¡± I needed to know how this system and world operated.


    ¡°...I regressed right after the car crash. I lost consciousness after the crash and when I woke up, it was the day before we went traveling.¡±


    ¡°Did you hear the system¡¯s voice then?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What was the first mission you received?¡±


    ¡°It was to win <i>The Showcase 2</i>.¡±


    ¡°Did the system offer you a turning point or anything like that?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Do-Seung calmly answered all my questions. He had regressed right after the car crash while I regressed five years after that incident. That meant Do-Seung regressed without having seen the future.


    <i>¡®It must have naturally been harder for him to seed in the mission then.¡¯</i> It would¡¯ve been a miracle that Siren was able to join <i>The Showcase 2 </i>in his worldline, and simultaneously, that made me think that Do-Seung might have even less information than me. I knew all the way to the future in five years but Do-Seung didn¡¯t. Thus, it seemed it was better for me to ask him about the system than the future.


    ¡°After you failed the first mission, how does the second missione up?¡±


    ¡°The second mission changes ording to your situation. For me, the second mission was to debut in half a year and reach 50,000 sales in the first week.¡±


    ¡°And did you...?¡±


    ¡°Yeah...even though Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna worked really hard, it didn¡¯t work out in the end.¡±


    ¡°<i>Haaa</i>.¡±


    50,000 sales in the first week could be considered a lower count, but it was almost an impossibility in an agency like WD Entertainment. They probably released their album without any marketing, investment, or preparation beforehand. Above all, all the Siren members would¡¯ve been greatly shaken up from the death of Tae-Yoon in his worldline. They probably wouldn¡¯t have been able to do a proper job.


    There was a brief silence before I cautiously opened my mouth. ¡°This could be a difficult question for you to answer...but because it¡¯s really important, I will ask you.¡±


    I knew it wouldn¡¯t be easy for Do-Seung to hear this question, but since I had to know the answer, I hardened my heart and asked, ¡°When I died, did I gradually die from a heart stop or did all my physical abilities halt in a supernatural way?¡±


    This question would probably be very difficult for Do-Seung to answer, but I needed to know in the hope of finding the system¡¯s weak point in the case that I failed the first mission. At that time, perhaps, I could aim for a second chance. Do-Seung¡¯s eyes began to waver. It seemed he was trying to recall a memory he had been repressing, and I grabbed his hand tightly.


    After some time, he managed to utter, ¡°You died slowly as your heart stopped. It seemed the system couldn¡¯tpletely ignore the rules of nature...¡± Do-Seung replied weakly and sighed. The inside of my heart churned because I felt like I had done something I shouldn¡¯t have done. But this was too important to skip, and I was d to know the answer to my question. Thus, I simply hugged Do-Seung tighter.


    [Recovering worldline.]


    [Your meeting with the first regressor will end soon.]


    The system¡¯s rm rang again, and I felt a strong sense of urgency. Thus, I asked myst questions. ¡°What were the special abilities you received from the system? Insight? Precognitive Vision? Or is there something else?¡± I wanted to know if there were other abilities the system gave.


    ¡°...Special abilities?¡± Do-Seung looked like he had no idea what I was talking about.


    ¡°...What about surprise missions? How often did theye up?¡±


    ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡±


    Before he could finish, Do-Seung¡¯s body fell limp like a doll with its thread cut off.


    [Worldline has been sessfully recovered.]


    [Your meeting with the first regressor is over.]


    The system¡¯s voice told me.


    ¡°Ah...¡± I stared at the view in front of me nkly. I didn¡¯t expect our meeting to end so soon. Most of all, I felt a great sense of regret and self-hate rush toward me soon afterward.


    <i>¡®I can¡¯t believe it...¡¯ </i>Thest words I said to Do-Seung weren¡¯t encouragement, telling him that he went through so much and he did his best. Instead, I just asked him what special abilities he received and what surprise missions he got. I was the worst. My n was to listen to his story and talk, but because I felt afraid after hearing that I needed to seed in the mission at all costs, I had used all that precious time selfishly.


    ¡°<i>Haaa....</i>¡± I couldn¡¯t calm my heart with the wave of emotions. I tried to get a grip and recover my rationality again. I needed to organize the information I just got. Even when one of us died from a failed mission, we didn¡¯t die immediately because of thew of nature. If I prepared some things in advance, perhaps, I could aim for a second chance. And if I failed my mission, a second mission simr to the first situation appeared.


    <i>¡®Furthermore, it looked like Do-Seung had no idea about special abilities, turning points, or surprised missions.¡¯</i> This was important information. This meant that Do-Seung and my regression were simr but clearly had different parts.


    <i>¡®But how was he supposed to aplish these crazy missions without special privileges?</i>¡¯ I thought immediately. There were so many instances where I would¡¯ve failed without Precognitive Vision or Insight. On this dark night, my thoughts became deeper, my concerns grew, and my emotions became more frantic.


    ¡°...I should end things here.¡± But I decided to stop thinking for today. I already generally organized the information I retrieved today, and I could think about the restter. I needed to prioritize maintaining my body in optimum condition right now. I nned to move Do-Seung back to his room and also go to sleep. Thus, I was wondering how I could move this big mass when I suddenly heard the door open from the back.


    <i>Creak.</i>


    ¡°...Are you still not asleep yet, Tae-Yoon? Haha.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Dong-Jun slipped out of the room.


    <i>¡®...The heck?¡¯ </i>I thought everyone was asleep but perhaps, Dong-Jun could¡¯ve heard the conversation I shared with Do-Seung just now.

 Chapter 104

    <h4>Chapter 104</h4>


    I awkwardly met Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes. Numerous thoughts crossed my mind. Did he hear the conversation I had with Do-Seung? If he did, how much did he hear? All of it? Or just a fraction of it? What was he thinking right now? Did he think it was strange? Or since we were conversing about a topic he had no knowledge about, would he not think too much about it?


    While all kinds of thoughts raced through my head, Dong-Jun said something that should havee out of my mouth first instead, ¡°...Um, it¡¯s a secret, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡± What secret was he talking about? And above all, why did Dong-June out sote at night? It was only then did I realize this fact, and I looked at him, wondering what he was hiding.


    ¡°...!¡±


    ¡°...!¡±


    Then I saw it. The application on Dong-Jun¡¯s phone screen.


    <i>¡®Delivery app...?¡¯</i> Since Do-Seung stopped him from ordering food, he had ordered delivery food while everyone was asleep.


    ¡°Dong-Jun, did you just¡ª¡±


    ¡°...Want to eat together?¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°...?¡± I understood that he was struggling with suppressing his appetite, but we had something more importanting up. I said in a slight tone of rebuke, ¡°But we¡¯re in the finals now.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why I n to eat it and run for 30 minutes...¡±


    ¡°Then how are you going to manage your condition?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t sleep a lot usu¡ª"


    ¡°...But don¡¯t you have a hard time getting up in the morning?¡±


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, I¡¯m really sorry, but the delivery driver is right in front of the house. If the delivery driver pushes the button, all the members will wake up, and it¡¯s over for us,¡± Dong-Jun urgently said as he looked at his phone screen.


    ¡°It¡¯s not us but just <i>you</i>.¡±


    ¡°Please do me this one huge favor.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t help you eat ate night sna¡ª" As soon as I said that¡ª


    <i>Ding.</i>


    The bell rang. Dong-Jun jumped in front of the inte like a track runner and pressed the front door open button. He cut off the sound before it continued to prevent waking the other members with the doorbell sound.


    Dong-Jun looked at me for a moment and said, ¡°You can¡¯t stop me anymore, Tae-Yoon. There¡¯s only one option. Eat together, or let me eat alone.¡±


    <i>Sigh....</i>


    ¡°I¡¯m going to eat no matter what. Even if I get beaten up to death by Kang Do-Seung, I¡¯m still going to eat.¡± Looking at his determined resolve, I thought nothing could stop him now. However, considering our schedule so far, I could sympathize with him.


    <i>¡®Dong-Jun is also quite the glutton.¡¯ </i>It was already a miracle that Dong-Jun, who liked to eat and ate a lot even from an ordinary man¡¯s perspective, suppressed his appetite so well so far.


    ¡°All right, go ahead and eat.¡±


    ¡°For real?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± If I stopped him further, I thought he might binge eat from stress.


    ¡°By the way, why is Kang Do-Seung sleeping on the ground like that...?¡± Dong-Jun asked while seeing Do-Seung lying on the floor of the living room. I wondered how I could exin this. The easiest answer was¡ª


    ¡°He must have sleepwalked.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I read that there¡¯s a corrtion between stress and sleepwalking.¡±


    ¡°...Really?¡± I just med it all on stress as everyone knew that Do-Seung was stressed out these days. Of course, this alone wasn¡¯t good enough of an answer. However, there was nothing more I could do, and I just had to insist on my innocence like this. Moreover, even if the other party thought it was doubtful, if Dong-Jun saw how calm and collected I was about it, he woulde to believe it.


    ¡°...Should I go to the hospital with Do-Seung?¡± Sure enough, Dong-Jun believed my lie. ¡°Anyways, let¡¯s put him inside the room for now because he might wake up while we¡¯re eating.¡±


    When we were about to move Do-Seung to our room¡ª


    <i>Knock, knock.</i>


    The delivery driver knocked on the front door, and Dong-Jun¡¯s face beamed. He quickly ran to the front door and asked the driver to leave it at the door. When he heard the delivery driver leave the food behind¡ª


    <i>Swoosh.</i>


    He quickly opened the door and brought the food inside.


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat, Tae-Yoon!¡± Dong-Jun said in an excited voice. But¡ª


    ¡°...What...eat?¡± However, Do-Seung, who had copsed after being possessed, slowly got up.


    Dong-Jun, who was overjoyed after receiving the delivery food, immediately froze. I also moved away from Do-Seung, slightly terrified of what may unfold. However, Do-Seung slowly got up from his seat and looked around with a nk expression. He looked like he couldn¡¯t understand why he was out in the living room. But most importantly¡ª


    ¡°You ordered...ate-night snack?¡± Dong-Jun had ordered food past midnight. Do-Seung pushed away his confusion as to why he was out in the living room and red at Dong-Jun.


    ¡°Ah, damn it. I should have left it in my room and ate it there.¡± Dong-Jun must have also realized it was over for him, put his food down on the table, and stared at Do-Seung.


    Was it because he thought he was finished? Even though he was caught, Dong-Jun acted shamelessly and said, ¡°Do-Seung, I¡¯ll say this in advance. I¡¯m going to eat m hot pot even if I¡¯m going to die today.¡±


    Dong-Jun¡¯s appetite had already exceeded his sanity, and Do-Seung also seemed not to be fully awake yet, seeing that he was still quietly listening to Dong-Jun¡¯s provocation. Usually, Do-Seung would have carried Dong-Jun and spun him one full circle around in the air as punishment.


    ¡°...Why is it m hot pot of all food...that¡¯s spicy food. Your stomach is going to be upset.¡± However, Do-Seung¡¯s reaction was much weaker than expected; he usually stopped Dong-Jun from ordering food as if his life was dependent on it. However, now that Dong-Jun had done the deed and ordered the food, he was rather calm. I thought it might be because he was still not fully awake, but¡ª


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat together.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Do-Seung said let¡¯s eat together; even though he was the most serious about taking care of his body than anyone else.


    While Dong-Jun and I were frozen because of how surprised we were by this unexpected development, Do-Seung said, ¡°If Dong-Jun is ordering sote at night, he¡¯s at a level where we can¡¯t stop him anymore. Rather than letting him overeat, we should just eat all together.¡± It was a rather reasonable statement, and he seemed to share the same thought as me.


    ¡°But I¡¯ve never eaten m. I only heard it was spicy.¡± However, there was one problem¨Cthis was Do-Seung¡¯s first time eating m hot pot.


    Dong-Jun smirked and said, ¡°Try it today, and let¡¯s see what your condition is like.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°...What condition?¡±


    ¡°Addiction builds up slowly over time.¡±


    Like this, deep in the night, the three of us shared ate-night snack.


    ¡°...Ah, crazy.¡± Do-Seung fell deep for Dong-Jun¡¯s m hot pot. ¡°...Why did I only find out about this now?¡±


    I almost choked while seeing Do-Seung, who looked like he was seriously contemting his life choices while eating m hot pot.


    Dong-Jun said, ¡°You¡¯re a natural m lover, showing such a reaction like this from the first try.¡±


    ¡°No, ah. I¡¯m in trouble. I have to add 30 more minutes of cardio tomorrow.¡± Even while saying this, Do-Seung didn¡¯t stop moving his chopsticks.


    Then, while eating, Dong-Jun asked, ¡°Oh yeah, but what were you guys talking about earlier?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    I asked because I was surprised, but Do-Seung seemed genuinely confused.


    ¡°I mean, you guys were talking about special abilities or whatnot earlier. Do you guys y a phone game together?¡±


    I was startled that he mentioned the word ¡®abilities,¡¯ and Do-Seung still looked like he had no idea what Dong-Jun was talking about.


    Do-Seung said first, ¡°What the heck are you talking about? I don¡¯t know what you are saying.¡±


    ¡°...I also don¡¯t know what you¡¯re saying.¡± I decided to lie and go along with Do-Seung.


    ¡°...Come on, don¡¯t y around. I¡¯m sure I heard it.¡± Dong-Jun¡¯s face became white as sheets. Then he put down his chopsticks and rubbed his arm as if he had goosebumps and said, ¡°...Then what did I hear?¡±


    Do-Seung said, ¡°Was it a ghost?¡±


    I backed him up. ¡°It must be a ghost.¡±


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t say something that¡¯ll devalue this house!¡± I didn¡¯t know if he was scared of ghosts or the house price falling, but regardless of what it was, it was my first time seeing Dong-Jun¡¯s scared expression.


    ¡°Ah, but why was I sleeping in the living room?¡± At the same time, Do-Seung asked.


    I was able to deal with this question more resolutely than before. ¡°Oh, I think you sleepwalked. I came out of the living room and was using my phone, and you suddenly came out and fell.¡±


    ¡°...Me? I did that?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I should go to the hospital after the show is over.¡±


    ¡°...Well, let¡¯s all get a medical checkup togetherter.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we should.¡±


    Like that, Dong-Jun mistakenly thought that a ghost lived in the house, and Do-Seung mistakenly thought he had a sleepwalking problem. I felt sorry for Dong-Jun and Dong-Seung for my lies, but through their misunderstandings, I was able to sessfully hide my secret.


    * * *


    If I consider the fact that we sleptte after eatingte at night, everyone woke up early this morning since we woke up at 7 am. It was like any morning except that my face was a little bit more puffy than usual. However, the real problem was¡ª


    ¡°Wow, did the three of you share ate-night snack without us yesterday?¡± Woon saw the m hot pot container in the trash can and was disappointed that he was not included in the party.


    ¡°I like m hotpot too! Why did you guys eat without me!¡± And Yeon-Hoon was upset.


    Well, there was nothing we could do except to repeatedly say we were sorry.


    I said, ¡°Let¡¯s eat together next time. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    We ate a simple breakfast of bread and gathered in the living room with the table spread out. Today was March 25. It was the day when episode 4 of <i>The Showcase 2</i> aired, and it was also the first day of preparation for the final stage. However, Episode 4 of <i>The Showcase 2 </i>was something we had to worry about in the evening, and our morning would be upied with talks about the final stage.


    ¡°I know it¡¯s going to be hard to prepare for the final performance right after practicing for thest performance until yesterday, but let¡¯s stay focused and do it.¡± The meeting was led byposer Do-Seung.


    We had a brainstorming meeting where each person said a concept they wanted to do.


    ¡°Since we¡¯re Siren, should we do an ocean concept song?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s still spring, so isn¡¯t that a bit early?¡±


    ¡°And we did a simr ocean theme in the introductory performance.¡±


    ¡°Shall we finally do a sexy concept this time then?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, isn¡¯t the hook too weak for a sexy concept?¡±


    ¡°Refreshing concept?¡±


    ¡°We already did that.¡±


    ¡°Innocent concept?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s simr.¡±


    ¡°Horror?¡±


    ¡°During spring?¡±


    ¡°Suit concept?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s too dark.¡±


    Although it was a brainstorming meeting, it felt like a concept battle match where we took turns throwing keywords, and theposer, Do-Seung, smacked our ideas down. However, he was so firm about shooting them down that all of our fighting spirit increased, and we began throwing any ideas at random.


    ¡°Tiger!¡±


    ¡°What the heck is a tiger concept, Don-Jun? Think before you talk, you punk.¡±


    ¡°Shall we do rabbit?¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, since Dong-Jun said tiger, you just said rabbit without thinking about it, right?


    ¡°What about we wear preppy outfits and do a high-teen concept?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the best idea so far, but I don¡¯t feel a strong pull towards it.¡±


    ¡°What about hip-hop?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to just rap by myself.¡±


    ¡°Turtle!¡±


    ¡°I said not to spit out any idea on your mind, Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°Dragon King!¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, why are you following Dong-Jun too? You want us to retell the ¡®Rabbit¡¯s Liver¡¯[1] folktale?¡±


    I watched the members¡¯ meeting, which was quickly turning into a quarrel, and quietly said, ¡°Everyone, this is a stage where we have to make our original performance, right?¡±


    Frankly, ever since thest mission came out, my heart had been racing. Although I had developed my self-identity as an idol to some extent and was starting to realize the joy of performing, I still identified myself as a novelist deep in my heart.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we make a performance that would lead to our debut?¡±


    ¡°Lead to our debut?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe there woulde a time when I would say this. I remembered the old days, so I tried to suppress my excitement and said, ¡°Shall we make our own universe all together?¡±


    The time when novelists were the most happy¡ªit was when they were creating their own world.


    1. Famous folk tale about a dragon king who had to eat a rabbit¡¯s liver to recover from his sickness. ?

 Chapter 105

    Chapter 105


    ¡°Should we make our own universe?¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Universe?¡±


    ¡°What? Why does Tae-Yoon look so excited?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe this wasing out of my mouth. It was rare for me to be so excited about something, and my heart thumped in anticipation. I hadn''t even drunk my morning coffee yet, but my heart was thumping fiercely. Perhaps, there was a stimnt in the bread I ate this morning, and I continued.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t having our own universe storyline help us write the lyrics and think about the concepts for our songs? It will make things more efficient.¡± Thus, I began my passionate presentation to my members on why we needed to create a Siren universe. ¡°It will give us the general direction of our future albums, and whenever we discuss album concepts, we will have a basic guideline to follow.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t just because I liked having concepts and following them that I was suggesting this. Having our own universe as an idol group was useful in many ways, and there was a reason why many other producers created their own universe storylines before beginning their work.


    ¡°There¡¯s a reason why universe storylines are one of the leading trends in the idol market right now,¡± I exined.


    A universe storyline not only decided on the project¡¯s overall tone and theme, but it also acted like apass to help groups stay focused on their original goal without losing direction. It was also the goal that the main characters needed to reach at the end of their project. In other words, creating a universe storyline was the process of connecting a project¡¯s beginning to end.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s simr toying the foundation toplete a big project,¡± I said. Thus, a storyline was only necessary to create a result that exceeded a certain standard. In apany, it would be the same as creating a business n in the very beginning or a college student making the table of contents on the very first page of their PowerPoint notes. A universe storyline was something that couldn¡¯t be missed at all costs.


    Perhaps, I sounded too excited that Do-Seung stared at me in genuine surprise.


    ¡°...What¡¯s up with you today?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you sick?¡± Woon said worriedly and ced his hand on my forehead. I felt a bit awkward because it felt like I was the only one excited about this.


    ¡°...No, I¡¯m perfectly fine,¡± I said while pulling Woon¡¯s hand off me. I felt a bit regretful that my group members didn¡¯t realize the importance of this step and creating our own universe. I didn¡¯t want to make any mistakes at this crucial time.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s make a Siren universe!¡±


    ¡°...!¡±


    It was then that Yeon-Hoon wrote ¡®Siren Universe¡¯ in big letters on the paper. ¡°I think it¡¯s a good idea after hearing what Tae-Yoon said.¡± It appeared only Yeon-Hoon was convinced after hearing my speech.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like we will stop working after<em>The Showcase 2</em>is over.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°I think it might be a good idea to look at things more long-term and create our own universe.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s as you say.¡±


    ¡°Plus, if we show a little peek of our universe storyline in the final performance, we could get more attention after we officially debut,¡± Yeon-Hoon said, and I looked at him in slight surprise. I had never seen him think so hard, but Yeon-Hoon was even exining parts that I missed because I had been too focused on creating a universe.


    ¡°But don''t most songs created with a universe in mind have excessive concepts and exaggerated lyrics?¡± Do-Seung said, clearly showing some resistance to the universe''s idea.


    It was as he said. There were plenty of examples of idol groups who had their own universe or concept swallow up their performances. Though I liked even those performances, I knew that there were many who also didn¡¯t.


    Thus, I answered, ¡°Then we can just make ours not like that.¡±


    ¡°You can do that?¡±


    ¡°There are many people who don¡¯t.¡± As I said, there were many conceptual songs and lyrics that sounded so normal that they made listeners wonder if they were really based on a universe. After I named some specific examples, Do-Seung looked quite surprised.


    ¡°...That¡¯s interesting,¡± he said.


    Yet, as expected, there were more rebuttals.


    ¡°But shouldn¡¯t we leave the story-making to a professional? Will it be all right for us toe up with it ourselves?¡± The second rebuttal was about the professionalism of the creation. In reality, there were people whose sole jobs were to create universes for groups. Those people worked in bigpanies and earned good pay, so we couldn¡¯t afford them in the first ce.


    <em>¡®However, it¡¯s a bit awkward for me to say that I can write one.¡¯</em>It was so obvious that I appeared like an amateur with no professional background in writing to my members. Thus, I wondered how I was going to convince them when Yeon-Hoon supported me again.


    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t Tae-Yoone up with a universe storyline first, and then, we can see whether we will go through with it or scrap it,¡± Yeon-Hoon continued, ¡°Tae-Yoon is good at writing lyrics. Let¡¯s trust him, guys~¡±


    I looked at Yeon-Hoon, touched.


    ¡°Will you be able to do a good job?¡± Do-Seung asked me again.


    ¡°Won¡¯t it take time away from your practice?¡± Woon asked worriedly.


    ¡°I can do it,¡± I said in a firm and calm voice.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. Why don¡¯t we trust him? See how confident he is and how much he wants to do it~¡± Dong-Jun also supported me in the end.


    ¡°Okay. You make the Siren Universe and then we can talk about what concept we would have for the final performance,¡± Do-Seung confirmed as the team¡¯s song producer. Then, he asked, ¡°What¡¯s the deadline you could finish your work by? I can¡¯t give you much time because I also have to write our song. Hm...Could you do it by this week¡¯s Sunday at least...?¡±


    ¡°I will make one by tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    I answered confidently to Do-Seung¡¯s question about the timeline. Truthfully, I could finish writing in three hours because I already had a blueprint for our group¡¯s universe in my head. I just had to write them down. Since I regressed to this timeline and gained my senses, I have been creating the general outline for this as an ex-novelist.


    ¡°I will try to create something by tomorrow morning, so let¡¯s talk again then,¡± I said.


    ¡°...Okay, I understand.¡±


    ¡°You sure are passionate.¡±


    ¡°If I knew you were this intent on doing it, I would¡¯ve made you do it a long time ago.¡±


    Thus, the meeting about creating our universe ended and we moved to our next topic of conversation.


    ¡°How should we practice today?¡±


    ¡°Should we just do some warm-ups?¡±


    ¡°Loosen up your bodies and necks. Though we don¡¯t have our lyrics or universe yet, let¡¯s try to think of the general mood of our performance~¡±


    And thus, we nned our schedule for the rest of the day. Then, we got up changed into our training wear, and headed downstairs to the apartment¡¯s training room.


    ***


    The next day after<em>The Showcase</em>shooting, WD Entertainment¡¯s Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna were able to enjoy a rare break. Of course, this break time would onlyst until the afternoon, and they would soon have to return to their stress schedules since another episode of<em>The Showcase</em>would air soon.


    ¡°Should we have a cup of coffee?¡± Seung-Yeon asked.


    ¡°Ah, I have a lot of gift codes. Let¡¯s use that,¡± Hyuna answered.


    ¡°All right.¡±


    This was the most leisurely time they had all week. And after drinking their morning coffee, they decided to dive into their work. Most of their work involved Siren, and since Siren was gathering quite the attention in the idol market, they were receiving some coboration andmercial requests. Yet, since there was none that could help the Siren¡¯s image, they had been refusing them. Thus, day by day, they were increasing their skill of refusing kindly.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to be a pro at refusing at this rate.¡±


    ¡°Same.¡±


    ¡°But if Siren is already getting this many requests, I wonder how the really famous people are doing. I bet their mailboxes are exploding.¡±


    ¡°Since media tforms are getting more diverse and there are smaller inte programs now, I suppose that¡¯s the case.¡±


    ¡°Or is it because Siren still seems easy to reach that people are trying to contact them?¡±


    ¡°Ah, that could also be the case.¡±


    Since their main job was Siren, most of Seung-Yeon¡¯s and Hyuna¡¯s conversations centered around the group. Yet, between their conversations, there was a topic that appeared repeatedly.


    ¡°...What if those guys really win<em>The Showcase 2</em>at this rate?¡± It was about the possibility of Siren winning the show.


    Truthfully, when they first heard that Siren was going on<em>The Showcase</em>, they doubted Siren would verse well against other groups and theirpanies who backed them. But seeing how things were progressing, their victory didn¡¯t appear to be an impossibility.


    ¡°Honestly, I think those guys might do it.¡±


    ¡°I know right?¡±


    ¡°Not just because they are our group but from an objective point of view or aplete outsider, I think there¡¯s a good chance.¡±


    ¡°Yes, they are also the best-looking!¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And they have the best skills!¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no reason why they can''t win.¡±


    Seung-Yeon and Hyuna smiled to find out that they had the same thoughts. Then, like they always did when they talked about Siren winning the show, Hyuna asked the follow-up question about their future.


    ¡°What are you going to do when that happens, Ms. Seung-Yeon?¡±


    ¡°I will quit this job and find a new ce to work at.¡±


    ¡°Well, I will probably do the same...Though the Jaeil Company says that they will work jointly with us, I doubt they will make new hires.¡±


    It was most ideal for them to transfer to a jointpany with the Jaeil Company but they knew that was unlikely. They would have to remain in WD Entertainment or quit. And there was no point in them remaining in WD Entertainment without Siren.


    ¡°But won¡¯t Yoon Tae-Hyung and the bosses make a huge fuss if Siren leaves?¡±


    ¡°Because they had absolutely no interest in them, they might actually be d to hear that Siren is leaving.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, the bosses could act like that, but would Yoon Tae-Hyung react the same?¡±


    ¡°Hm...¡±


    Yoon Tae-Hyung was WD Entertainment¡¯s head manager who had neglected Siren the whole time. He didn¡¯t evene to work today even though it was way past the starting time. The only reason why he had been keeping Siren under his authority was to give the bosses a reason for his sry.


    The Siren was simply proof that he wasn¡¯t just fooling around and was managing a business, and the bosses of thepany simply epted Yoon Tae-Hyung¡¯s reasonings because they were just wealthy people who lived off royalties and real estate and weren¡¯t the type to care about the details like that. They didn¡¯t have much interest in business and were only interested in enjoying the rest of their lives. Thus, they only had to be concerned about Yoon Tae-Hyung.


    ¡°Would he be willing to let go of Siren though? He would have to gather trainees and create a whole group again. There¡¯s no way that man would do anything that bothersome.¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s not like he has a choice if the Jaeil Group takes them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true...¡±


    The influence that Jaeil Group had in the entertainment industry was enormous. Thus, it was only proper and natural that they would have to give up the group to thepany.


    <em>Creak.</em>


    Then, the office door opened and Yoon Tae-Hyung appeared.


    ¡°What? Why is everyone already here...? Aren¡¯t you guys even tired in the morning?¡±


    It was 11 am then. Seung-Yeon and Hyuna rose in surprise to see Yoon Tae-Hyung appear to work earlier than they expected.


    ¡°Good morning, sir.¡±


    ¡°Hello, sir.¡±


    Yoon Tae-Hyung shrugged off their greetings andy on the office sofa in the corner. Then he said, ¡°I am going to sleep, so tell me when you think the bosses areing.¡±


    ¡°...Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°...All right.¡±


    They thought this man would just kill time until he went home again like usual when he suddenly announced, ¡°Let¡¯s have a meeting today. It has been a while since we had one.¡±


    ¡°...Sorry?¡±


    The two looked at Yoon Tae-Hyung in shock to hear words they had never expected.


    ¡°Those Siren guys...got too big. We need to decide what we should do with them. Let¡¯s talk about them,¡± Yoon Tae-Hyun said.


    ¡°...Ah.¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    Seung-Yeong and Hyuna¡¯s faces turned sour.

 Chapter 106

    Chapter 106


    We finished our morning meeting, and our practice continued till the afternoon. Since our universe hadn¡¯t been formed yet, we didn¡¯t officially begin practice but lightly warmed up our body. We practiced the moves of famous choreographies or found themes that we thought we could use for the final stage and made a choreography that went well with it. The practice continued in a light atmosphere without too much pressure.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop here for today!¡±


    ¡°Thanks everyone for your hard work~¡±


    Since the practice wasn¡¯t too tough, everyone was able to leave the practice room in a refreshing state today.


    In the evening, we returned to our dorm and watched the fourth episode of<em>The Showcase 2.</em>Since we were now getting used to reading the inte reactions after the broadcast, the members and I both didn¡¯t feel as nervous as we did when we watched the first episode of<em>The Showcase 2.</em>


    ¡°Only One really got most of the screen time today.¡±


    ¡°I mean, they<em>did</em>win the secondpetition.¡±


    However, one unfortunate aspect was that the content of today¡¯s episode was centered on Only One....


    <em>¡®Well, it¡¯s what I expected.¡¯</em>Since Only One won first ce in the second round ofpetition, it was a natural urrence. The build-up, which set Only One as arrogant, slightlycent winners, finally yed out to their full effect in this episode; the producers edited Only One as if they were reborn amid criticism from viewers and became stronger than before. In particr, the climax of this narrative was when Park Young-Ho burst into tears.


    ¡ªHmph, um...


    ¡ªHuh?


    ¡ªMr. Young-Ho?


    ¡ªHahaha, Mr. Young-Ho must be really happy.


    ¡ªWhat a heartwarming sight.


    It was a heart-wrenching scene just by itself, but¡ª


    ¡ªI was so, so sorry to my members...But now that we¡¯re getting a first ce like this...hmph!


    The production crew inserted a scene where Park Young-Ho made a mistake in the firstpetition and then inserted the interview scene after. Like this, it felt just like a scene from a drama. A full course growth narrative wasid out in abundance. And the funny thing was¡ª


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, why are you crying again?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s so sad...¡± Yeon-Hoon cried after seeing that. If my memory served right, I remembered Yeon-Hoon crying at the scene as well. And sure enough, the camera also caught Yeon-Hoon crying while watching Only One. Seeing that it was a close-up shot, producer Park Soo-Chul must have also thought that was quite funny. If I assessed the inte reaction, Only One fans, who have been suffering from ¡¯s evil editing, were finally revived again.


    ¡ªEveryone did so great. I¡¯m bawling right now.


    ¡ªGeez, where are those fucking people whoined about Only One¡¯s personality and whatnot?


    ¡ªAh, I feel so much better


    ¡ªShit, where are all the folks who cursed Only One to flop? lol


    ¡ªI think Kang Hyun-Sung is seriously crazy; how the hell did he reinterpret Walya with narcissism?


    Reply: It¡¯s also insane that they changed all of Siren¡¯s orientalism into Western medieval style. Yesssss


    Reply: I¡¯m watching this a hundred times now (Kang Hyun-Sung falling from terrace.gif)


    Reply: This is also crazy (Kang Hyun-Sung grabbing his neck behind Park Young-Ho.gif)


    Reply: Pls, I¡¯ll die for you;


    As if they had been waiting for their moment all along, all the social media feeds were filled with content about Only One. Of course, this might also be because I followed all the fandom ounts of<em>The Showcase 2</em>¡¯s groups to see transparent responses on the spot.


    <em>¡®But there¡¯s definitely a lot more traffic than usual.¡¯</em>Park Soo-Chul¡¯s big picture seemed to have worked perfectly. If Only One, the overwhelming powerhouse, was portrayed as the sole winner from the very beginning, their story wouldn''t have a feeling of catharsis like now. However, there was one part that surprised me.


    ¡ªAh, look at how soft our sweet peach boy is aw. I feel bad for saying this but he¡¯s so cute when crying


    ¡ªWoo Yeon-Hoon so precious aww


    ¡ªWho¡¯s the man crying over there? I¡¯m desperate


    Reply: That man is the main vocalist of Siren and our cutie-pie leader Woo Yeon-Hoon...If you like this man, please vote for the final stage of<em>The Showcase 2</em>on April 8


    Reply: Please also check out our cutie-pie¡¯s boyfriend and #1 criminal for stealing hearts, Bong Tae-Yoon...


    <em>¡®Responses towards us are also favorable.¡¯</em>Although the producer made a choice to only highlight Only One in this episode, they didn¡¯t go in the direction of making us look worse. Looking at Park Soo-Chul¡¯s directing style so far, he always uplifted someone while putting down another person. However, he shed light on Only One¡¯s growth and improvement while uplifting Siren together.


    <em>¡®Is he trying to create a healthy rivalry between us?¡¯</em>The ones that always got the most attention and views were a fierce and intense rivalry. I had no idea that Park Soo-Chul would edit the show like this.


    <em>¡®Does he have a specific narrative in mind?¡¯</em>He must have judged that uplifting us both would be more beneficial than putting one group down. Anyway, if I summarized our team''s reactions, most people were amazed by the quality of our performance.


    ¡ªThis is Light¡¯s <Traitor>?


    Reply: This is self-produced?


    Reply: This is from a small entertainment agency?


    Reply: This is from a group that hasn¡¯t debuted yet?


    ¡ªWow, those are the outfits that Tae-Yoon made himself?


    Reply: Yeah, fucking insane


    Reply: How bad is WD that they pick out outfits like this? What would have happened without Bong Tae-Yoon?


    Reply: Wow, but it¡¯s really amazing that theybined it with<em>hanbok</em>


    Half of the reactions were insults towards WD Entertainment because of the messed-up outfits, and half were shocked that I was able to save the outfits. Frankly, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to remake the outfits if it wasn''t for Insight.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s really interesting to see it on the show though.¡¯</em>I didn¡¯t know what state I was in when I used Insight, and the only way to check it was through a screen like this. However, I didn¡¯t expect to look like aplete madman.


    ¡ªWhenever they are in an urgent situation like this, he shows something unbelievable.


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t he a real genius?


    ¡ªI think we need to add Bong Tae-Yoon to the list of talents from other industries that the music industry took away


    In my perspective, I looked like a madman, but others thought I looked like a genius. It was all thanks to the system anyway, but at the same time, it didn¡¯t hurt to look like a genius to others.


    ¡ªWhen this scene came out, I eximed from the bottom of my heart (scene where altar copses.gif)


    ¡ªKang Do-Seung going up alone is making me too emotional


    ¡ªWhy does Woo Yeon-Hoo look so innocent and pure even when he is falling?


    ¡ªEveryone, please pay attention to how good Dong-Jun¡¯s voice is too. There¡¯s nothing this puppy can¡¯t do.


    Although we didn¡¯t win first ce, it was fortunate that our fans enjoyed the performance as well. I was worried that our upward trend would slow down before the third and finalpetition, but it seemed as if we maintained our status quo. Moreover, it seemed as if we also maintained our fanbase so that the gap between Only One and us did not widen, and the inflow of new fans seemed to have increased quite a bit as well. Our fandom was slowly being organized into arge group as well. Although it was still somewhat smaller than Only One, it didn¡¯t feelcking to them anymore.


    <em>¡®By the time we get to the final, it might be well worth a try to win the whole show.¡¯</em>Frankly, only Kang Hyun-Sung was famous in Only One, and the rest of the members were not very well known. Thus, excluding Kang Hyun-Sung, we were overall better off than Only One.


    <em>¡®We might really have a good chance.¡¯</em>There were still many opportunities in the future, so the final victory was usible.


    ¡°Today¡¯s episode was fun too~¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Only One did a great job.¡±


    ¡°I think Senior Hyun-Sung really is good at dancing.¡±


    ¡°Come on~ Woon, I think you dance better~¡±


    The members began to talk amongst themselves like this. Since this episode ended without viinizing anyone, it was possible for us to show rxed reactions like this.


    <em>¡®The Only One members are probably in a festive mood right now.¡¯</em>I thought they might be all dancing in joy right now since the build-up they¡¯ve built up so far had reached its climax in this episode.


    <em>¡®But I can¡¯t imagine Kang Hyun-Sung dancing in joy.¡¯</em>I quickly erased the image forming in my mind because of how unpleasant it was.


    ¡ªAn exciting twist!


    ¡ªPepc Lime! A refreshing taste!


    I closed theptop instead of watching the advertisement. The other members also began to get up one by one as they saw enough.


    ¡°What should we do now?¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Shall we practice more?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to the gym. Is there anyone who wants to go with me?¡±


    Normally, we would have all gone to practice, but we had free time because we hadn¡¯t decided on a final song yet. Do-Seung said he was going to the gym, and Woon said he was going to practice his dancing more. Dong-Jun tried to sneak into his room, but¡ª


    Do-Seung stopped him. ¡°Park Dong-Jun,e out.¡±


    ¡°Ah, why?¡±


    ¡°You have to atone for eating m hotpot yesterday.¡±


    ¡°What, I¡¯ve already digested it all from the practice this morn¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, it hasn¡¯t. We have to burn extra calories.¡±


    Do-Seung grabbed Dong-Jun and headed to the gym.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, do you want to practice with me?¡±


    ¡°Should I?¡±


    And Yeon-Hoon went to dance practice with Woon.


    ¡°I¡¯ll build our universe at home,¡± I said while holding theptop.


    ¡°See youter, Tae-Yoon~¡±


    ¡°I¡¯lle back alive, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be a baby, Park Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°See you at night, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    The members each said their greetings and left the dorm. Left alone in the quiet living room, I took a deep breath and turned on myptop.


    <em>¡®...How long has it been?¡¯</em>I stared nkly at the<em>Ha</em>* screen that came up on myptop screen. [1]


    I¡¯ve been continuously working on lyrics, but I¡¯ve done most of them with my phone¡¯s Notepad app. It has been a really long time since I turned on<em>Ha</em>to write. I calmly unraveled the stories I organized in my head. Since I was writing an idol¡¯s universe, not a web novel, I needed to write a different story than what I usually wrote. However, interesting stories all shared a simr style. I eventually wrote down a story that mixed web novel-style developments so that fans could enjoy and follow along.


    As I typed, I suddenly thought,<em>¡®Why did this storye to mind right after my regression?¡¯</em>


    Immediately after my regression, I thought of Siren¡¯s universe as if someone had ordered me to. However, I didn¡¯t think deeply about this, and it was more urgent to write down what was in my head right now. After writing for a long time¡ª


    ¡°I should take a break.¡± I stopped typing after seeing that nearly two hours had passed already. Since I¡¯ve written down everything in my head, I thought I needed to get a breather for now and rest.


    ¡°Pwehh.¡± I got up and did some stretching and got a ss of water. When I was about to type to wrap up my work¡ª


    <em>¡®Hmm?¡¯</em>


    <em>Ziiing-</em>


    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>


    My ability suddenly began to show signs of activating. My entire world paused for a moment, and a haze began to appear in front of me.


    <em>sh!</em>


    A translucent screen rose through the haze.


    <em>¡®Precognitive Vision?¡¯</em>I realized that these were signs of Precognitive Vision being activated, but I wondered why it was activated so suddenly.


    I was annoyed that it broke my flow while I was in the middle of writing, but I thought,<em>¡®...Let¡¯s see for now.¡¯</em>Since the system always showed me important or useful scenes, I decided to watch the Precognitive Vision for now.


    <em>¡®...Hmm?¡¯</em>The Precognitive Vision so far had shown me future scenes where I was included, but this time, I was nowhere to be seen. Instead, three people were standing together.


    <em>¡®Ms. Seung-Young, Ms. Hyuna, and Team Leader Yoon Tae-Hyun?¡¯</em>


    They were the administrative staff at WD Entertainment. However, the problem wasn¡¯t that the screen left me out.


    ¡ªIf they win, I¡¯ll tell Jaeil Group to transfer us directly to the jointpany.


    ¡ªBut sir...that¡¯s not the right thing to do.


    ¡ªIn their perspective, if we decide to cut the settlement rate, they¡¯d be all for it. If we just get 10 percent more of the settlement rate, it would easily surpass all three of our sries.


    ¡ªI know that, but...this is immoral...


    ¡ª...Are you two doing charity work now? Why can¡¯t you get on board with me?


    The real problem was the conversation that these three were having.


    To sum up their conversation¨C<em>¡®Is Yoon Tae-Hyung, that bastard, trying to rip off our settlement rate and change his job?¡¯</em>In short, he was trying to stab us in the back and fill his belly. As soon as I heard him, my blood boiled.


    <em>Whooosh¡ª!</em>


    The Precognitive Vision stopped, and the world returned to its original pace. After I saved the universe file I was working on, I immediately picked up my phone.


    <em>Sighh.</em>


    This was a problem that I thought I needed to address at least once, but it came sooner than I expected. I thought I should really prepare myself while I still had the chance.

 Chapter 107

    Chapter 107


    I raised my phone and searched through my contact list. Yoon Tae-Hyung was the true viin of WD Entertainment and someone I nned to deal with in the future, so this vision wasn¡¯t anything of a surprise. From an ordinary person¡¯s perspective, he was someone whocked morals and had no consideration for others. Of course, it was natural for people to prioritize themselves above others, but that had its limits.


    <em>¡®Yoon Tae-Hyung is someone...who knows no limits.¡¯</em>This was a guy who would push someone else off a cliff just to avoid getting a paper cut. Thus, it was only expected that a guy like that would use our settlement rate for his gain. No, he probably did much less than he would¡¯ve normally done but held back because a bigpany was in the picture.


    <em>¡®I need to prepare from now on.¡¯</em>I couldn¡¯t keep working with a person like that and needed to get rid of him somehow. I stopped scrolling on top of a number that popped up on my phone screen. This was the number that I received when I first entered WD Entertainment.


    ¡ªWD Entertainment¡¯s boss Kim Dong-Hyun


    This number belonged to one of the three bosses of WD Entertainment. When I first arrived at thispany and was writing the contract, I remembered saving this number as thepany¡¯s representative. But instead of him, I called someone else.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to call you at such ate hour, Ms. Seung-Yeon. Could I talk to you for a bit if that¡¯s all right with you?¡±


    ¡ª...Ah, Mr. Tae-Yoon? What happened?


    Seung-Yeon sounded quite surprised, as if she hadn¡¯t expected me to call her at this time.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to bother you when you got off work. But I have something to urgently ask you,¡± I said, and after a pause, I asked, ¡°Could I ask if you have recently had a meeting with Yoon Tae-Hyung about us?¡±


    I knew I might appear rude, but I couldn¡¯t back out from this. I didn¡¯t want to stand by and watch as my members and I lost all the money we worked so hard for. It couldn¡¯t be helped if Ms. Seung-Yeon tried to hide the information from me. Then, I needed to try contacting Ms. Hyuna immediately afterwards.


    <em>¡®And if even Ms. Hyuna hides information from me, I would have to contact the boss.¡¯</em>There was no other way than that. But I knew how genuine these two were about us, and thus, I prayed that Ms. Seung-Yeon would be honest with me. Perhaps, my prayer worked because she hesitated before slowly opening her mouth.


    ¡ª...Yes. We just had a meeting today.<em>Haha.</em>


    ¡ª...We talked about what we would do if the Siren won<em>The Showcase 2</em>.


    ¡°What about after that?¡±


    ¡ªSince this was our first meeting and Mr. Yoon was still suffering heavily from a hangover, we couldn¡¯t talk for long. We just discussed¡ªno, Mr. Yoon just one-sidedly told us his thoughts and stance to us.


    ¡°What was his stance?¡±


    ¡ª...<em>Haa</em>, it¡¯s so embarrassing that I don¡¯t even want to say it, but...he nned to ask the Jaeil Company to guarantee our employment using Siren members as hostages.


    I nodded after hearing this. It appeared Yoon Tae-Hyung didn¡¯t bring up the topic of settlement rate and so on yet. He would probably bring that up in ater meeting. I finished organizing the situation generally in my head. It seemed as expected, Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon weren¡¯t in agreement with Yoon Tae-Hyung. That seemed to be the case in the future I saw with my Precognitive Vision, but I felt more reassured after confirming it in person.


    ¡°Ms. Seung-Yeon, could you perhaps, help me a bit?¡±


    ¡ªSorry?


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s nothing much, but....¡± And then, I made all sorts of requests to Ms. Seung-Yeon.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t manager Yoon Tae-Hyun going to always act the same even in the future?¡±


    ¡ªYes, that¡¯s true.


    ¡°Then, could you gather evidence of that?¡±


    ¡ªHa, yes, I got it.


    ¡°Thank you so much for offering to help us again.¡±


    ¡ªNo, there¡¯s no need. It¡¯s only natural. I will work on fulfilling your requests one by one.


    ¡°Yes, thank you so much.¡±


    ¡ªOkay, let¡¯s talk again.


    And by the time I was done with the call, I heard the door lock release.


    <em>Diiriri-ring¡ª</em>


    The door lock opened, and all my group members returned.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon~¡±


    ¡°How were you?¡±


    ¡°Did you write anything? Do you need more time?¡±


    ¡°I will never eat m hot pot again...I will never eat m hot pot at night ever again...¡±


    It appeared they had all met in front of the house and entered together. I smile slightly, seeing them. Then, they gathered at the sofa, circled me, and asked:


    ¡°What were you doing?¡±


    ¡°How is your writing going?¡±


    ¡°Are you hungry?¡±


    I answered, ¡°Yes, nothing much happened. The writing is going well.¡±


    ¡°You sure are working hard.¡±


    ¡°Will we be able to see it tomorrow morning?¡±


    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    I said, purposefully acting calm. I thought I should keep the information about Yoon Tae-Hyung to myself since it didn¡¯t seem necessary to tell them right now.


    <em>¡®I should be the only person knowing about it for now,¡¯</em>I thought.


    ***


    After her phone call with Tea-Yoon, Seung-Yeon stared at her phone nkly for a while. Tae-Yoon was the youngest of the group, but at times like this, he certainly didn¡¯t seem like it.


    ¡°On second thought, there¡¯s not a single part about him that seems like a<em>maknae</em>,¡± she murmured.


    ¡°Hm.¡± But she didn¡¯t expect him to be so direct with her about this issue. In the first ce, she and Hyuna had been nning to tell the Siren members about the current situation because they thought the idea of using the Sirens as hostages to get a better deal with the Jaeilpany was unreasonable.


    They didn¡¯t know what exactly Yoon Tae-Hyung was nning to do, but there was no way he would make a deal that would help the Sirens. Thus, they knew it would be the Siren members who would be negatively impacted by the situation and wanted to do something about it. Yet, they didn¡¯t know what they could do besides sharing with them information about the current situation.


    <em>¡®...Does he have something in mind?¡¯</em>she thought about her call with Tae-Yoon. Tae-Yoon seemed like he had a n, but she didn¡¯t know what it was. Instead of thinking more about it, she contacted Hyuna and told her about the conversation with Tae-Yoon.


    ¡ªReally? Mr. Tae-Yoon suddenly asked you that?


    ¡°Yes, I was really surprised.¡±


    ¡ªFor now, we should prepare what he asked us to do. It seems like he has some kind of n in mind.


    ¡°Yes, we should.¡±


    Then, after exchanging some jokes with Hyuna, Seung-Yeon ended the call. The room filled with silence again and Seung-Yeon contemted hard. She had majored in design for college and joined WD Entertainment¡¯s design team as a member. Yet, her first task in thispany was to support idols and act as their manager.


    At first, she had decided to do her best to fulfill a moral obligation, and then, she continued because it was regretful to let such great talents as Siren go to waste. But as time passed, she found herself cheering for the Siren much more than she expected.


    ¡°...I really want them to do well,¡± she said out loud. She didn¡¯t even want a transfer to a new jointpany. She just wanted Siren to do well as much as they suffered. Then, she thought she could genuinely cheer on the Siren as a simple fan.


    ***


    The next morning, I showed my group members the universe storyline I hadpleted. It was a file Ipleted after two hours of working while my group members were asleep.


    ¡°Basically, each member has their own original story.¡± I handed a clump of paper with the content of the storyline to each of my members.


    ¡°Did you really write this on your own alone...?¡±


    ¡°You really did this by yourself?¡±


    My members seemed stunned by the amount of content I producedst night.


    ¡°This is thirty pages, Tae-Yoon...¡±


    ¡°How could anyone write thirty pages overnight...¡±


    ¡°This is so much. Even if you just have to type the same words again and again, it would be a lot.¡±


    I admitted that it was quite arge amount considering that I created it in one night, but it wasn¡¯t an impossibility. After all, thirty pages was an amount that college students could seed in creating if they were on an extremely tight deadline.


    ¡°For now, could you read this first?¡± While flipping through each page, I exined my storyline from the general outline to the small details. Then, I got to the original stories of each member. My members first looked at me in surprise, wondering if they had to go this far, but as they listened further, they looked like they were quite enjoying my story.


    ¡°Oh...¡±


    ¡°This is...interesting...¡±


    ¡°I think if we use this idea for a performance, it will be cool.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, especially, turned teary while reading the papers.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t...this a bit sad...?¡±


    Of course, he was overreacting a bit, but the general mood of my storyline was rather gloomy.


    ¡°Since the story is set in a post-apocalypse world, the genre has to be a bit sad,¡± I replied.


    The universe that I set up for the Siren was in a post-apocalypse world, but notpletely. There was a web-novel feeling to it, and I also ced a lot of mythical and fantasy elements to the story.


    ¡°Then, since we have the storyline now, we need to create the song. What kind of mood are you expecting it to be?¡± Do-Seung then asked.


    ¡°This is the first song and performance to introduce the universe storyline,¡± I calmly answered while looking at my members.


    ¡°I think it would be good to go with a refreshing fantasy feeling with themes like ¡®new beginning¡¯ and ¡®first chapter¡¯.¡±


    ¡°A refreshing fantasy?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t focus so much on the ¡®fantasy¡¯ aspect but on how this is supposed to be the first or beginning performance.¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯m getting what direction you want to go in, but I think it will be clearer after I see your lyrics.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I came up with the lyrics.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    As Do-Seung looked at me in shock, I pulled out the paper with the lyrics and handed it to him.


    ¡°I had some time left over after creating the universe storyline, so I made a rough draft of the lyrics. I can edit it ording to the song you make and tweak things like word count and vocabry.¡±


    Do-Seung looked at the lyrics nkly and tapped the table with his fingers. It seemed he was trying toe up with a rhythm ording to the lyrics.


    ¡°...It¡¯s good?¡± It seemed he hade up with a general picture inside his head and spoke, almost relieved.


    ¡°I also want to look at it!¡±


    ¡°Me too!¡±


    ¡°What does it say?¡±


    Dong-Jun, Yeon-Hoon, and Woon all gathered around the lyric pages. I backed away slightly and assessed my members¡¯ faces. Then, everyone nced at the lyrics and made quite bright expressions.


    ¡°The song title is good.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°It really feels like the beginning of something.¡±


    That was their one-linementaries. The song title I came up with this time was<em>¡®<Hello, World!></em>¡¯ Anyone interested even a bit inputers would be familiar with the line, but it was also fitting for a song title.


    ¡°Then, should I create a song ording to the lyrics?¡± Do-Seung asked.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do that.¡±


    Other members agreed. That was how our first universe song and final performance<em><Hello, World!></em>was decided.


    ***


    Park Soo-Chul returned to<em>The Showcase 2</em>¡¯s production management¡¯s office, looking very worn-out and tired after editing episode 5. All energy was sucked out of him every time during the editing period.


    ¡°Are you all right, Mr. Park Soo-Chul?¡±


    ¡°I have no energy left, my eyes feel dry, and all my joints are aching.¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s normal.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    It was also very normal for them to have all sorts of physical ailments during the editing period. Park Soo-Chul ripped the tops of a bunch of instant coffee packages and mixed them inside his tumbler. It was then writer Kim Min-Young clutched Park Soo-Chul¡¯s shoulders.


    ¡°But Mr. Soo-Chul, how about we make a bet before you go?¡±


    ¡°A bet?¡±


    ¡°Yes, there¡¯s a bet we are making for fun,¡± Kim Min-Young said and handed him a sketchbook paper.


    ¡ªBet on the final winner of<em>The Showcase 2</em>


    ...These were the letters written in the sketchbook.


    ¡°Who do you think will win the show?¡±


    ¡°Who currently has more bets?¡±


    ¡°Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°I never bet on the winning team.¡±


    ¡°Ha, seriously?¡± Kim Min-Young snorted and then began to count who received more votes between Only One and Siren. Then, soon afterward, she said in shock, ¡°No one...is in the lead.¡±


    Both Siren and Only One had the same number of votes, and hearing this, Park Soo-Chul¡¯s expression turned serious.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s up to you to decide the winning team,¡± Kim Min-Young said.


    ¡°Hm. Then...¡± Park Soo-Chul slowly moved his hand between Siren and Only One. After hovering still for a while, his hand pointed at one ce.


    ¡°That¡¯s surprising,¡± Kim Min-Young said.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    His fingernded on Only One.

 Chapter 108

    Chapter 108


    After writing our universe and lyrics, the work proceeded quickly. Do-Seung was extremely fast and quick-handed amongposers. As the concept and lyrics became clear, there was nothing stopping him from making the song anymore. It was to the extent that he showed us the rough prototype in the morning of the same day.


    ¡°Since <New Beginning> is the concept, I¡¯ve mixed a lot of these refreshing electronic sounds.¡±


    ¡°It sounds nice.¡±


    ¡°The chord progression is designed to be light in general without being too heavy.¡±


    Although it was a prototype, the highlights were close to thepleted version, so we could practice straight away. As soon as he heard the prototype version, Woon immediately began to draft what kind of performance he wanted to make.


    ¡°Hmm. I think it would be cool if the movements are big and change frequently since the song itself is light and cheerful.¡±


    ¡°Change quickly¡­and often¡­?¡± Yeon-Hoon, who was the weakest dancer in our group, looked slightly scared. Honestly, I would have also been scared in the past, but¡ª


    <em>¡®Seriously, hooray for Insight.¡¯</em>Thanks to the ability given by the system, I¡¯ve escaped stiff dancing a while ago. Since I¡¯ve used Insight so frequently, my dancing skills have also improved considerably. Now, the weakest dancer in the group was Yeon-Hoon, not me.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to make the choreography so that I can at least sing, right¡­?¡±


    ¡°Of course, don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°Thank goodness.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll be able to sing it somehow.¡±


    ¡°¡­You¡¯re seriously making me nervous.¡±


    While Yeon-Hoon and Woon conversed about adjusting the difficulty level of the choreography¨C


    ¡°All the<em>hyungs</em>are so busy~¡± I stepped back with Dong-Jun and watched the situation unfold. Dong-Jun was flicking through pages while looking at his phone screen. Frankly, I was a bit worried about Dong-Jun recently.


    <em>¡®I hope he doesn¡¯t feel left out.¡¯</em>The other members all had one thing they were good at, and I was in charge of writing the lyrics these days. I worried that Dong-Jun might feel left out or inferior because he was the only one who didn¡¯t have a special role, but¡ª


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, lend me your ear for a bit.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Dong-Jun suddenly told me to lend an ear and then said, ¡°¡­Should we go out early this morning and order chicken?¡±


    ¡­As expected, he was not the type to wallow in sadness or put himself down for something like this.


    I cried out, ¡°Do-Seung!¡±


    Dong-Jun cried out, ¡°Huh? Whaat? Bong Tae-Yoon! How can you do this to me!¡±


    I called Do-Seung without hesitation, but Do-Seung, who was in the middle of writing songs in his room, did not hear my cry.


    Dong-Junined, ¡°What if Do-Seung heard!¡±


    ¡°Fried chicken is crossing the line.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m never going¡­to buy you ate-night snack ever again¡­¡±


    While Dong-Jun looked at me with betrayal¡ª


    <em>Squeak.</em>


    The door suddenly opened, and Do-Seung came out, massaging his neck muscles. ¡°Did anyone call for me?¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    While Dong-Jun closed his mouth and dug himself deeper into the corner of the sofa, I answered him calmly, ¡°Ah, I called you.¡±


    Then I continued, ¡°Well, I was thinking about extending the bridge part a bit more in the song. Since it¡¯s the final, I think it would be nice to have a section that really pops out in the middle.¡± I talked about the length of the song¡¯s bridge part, not Dong-Jun¡¯s chicken.


    ¡°Ah, yeah. I¡¯ll try lengthening it.¡± Do-Seung nodded as if my suggestion was an easy fix and went back into the room. When Do-Seung went back inside, Dong-Jun looked up and tapped me on the shoulder.


    Heined, ¡°You¡¯re so mean.¡±


    I thought Dong-Jun must have had a very difficult time yesterday with Do-Seung in the gym as he was usually not the type to be scared of Do-Seung. And that¡¯s how we spent all morning and afternoon working together on the song. Since both Do-Seung and Woon worked fast, we were able to get a rough sketch of the performance to start matching our choreography together.


    ¡°Shall we go down and start practicing together?¡± Do-Seung had lightly sung a guide recording to the melody and even finished recording it. We followed the guide recording with Do-Seung¡¯s voice and performed the choreography that Woon made one by one.


    ¡°I made it really difficult first, so l can lower the difficulty level depending on how we do.¡±


    We continued our usual practice while listening to the guide recording, memorized the choreography, and made adjustments to any difficult parts or areas that were not feasible. However, there was one problem.


    ¡°Wow, but this choreography¡­I think it¡¯s the hardest one yet.¡± Even Dong-Jun, who hardly everined about being tired during practice, said this. There was nothing difficult about the choreography itself. However, the problem was that choreography was the fastest we¡¯ve ever done.


    ¡°Why is it so fast?¡±


    ¡°Because I thought we could really liven up the beat if we moved this fast.¡±


    ¡°We can do it! Let¡¯s all focus and match our choreography one more time!¡± Yeon-Hoon encouraged the members falling behind and continued to practice the choreography.


    * * *


    Like this, the first day of practice ended. On the second day, we started setting up and arranging the apaniment. On the third day, we divided our parts and recorded our singing. On the fourth day, the choreography was finalized to thepleted music. On the fifth day¡ª


    ¡°Woooow!¡±


    ¡°We did it!¡±


    ¡°Wow, I¡¯m so tired!¡±


    We tried singing live with the finished music and the choreography. Overall, it was a sess, but the problem was that everyone copsed to the ground as soon as we went through one round. There was no shortcut now; all we could do was repeat training like crazy.


    ¡°Huff, puff.¡±


    ¡°Pwehhh.¡±


    ¡°M-my lungs¡­hurt¡­¡± I looked at the members on the ground and pulled them up one by one. One useful thing I learned from Kang Hyun-Sung in thestpetition was that it was possible for humans to go beyond their limits if they were pushed hard enough.


    I told them, ¡°I heard that if you¡¯re having a hard time, it gets a little easier next time if you take one more step past your limit.¡±


    The membersy on the floor of the practice room and didn¡¯t budge, but then¡ª


    ¡°¡­Let¡¯s do it.¡±


    ¡°¡­We can do it!¡±


    ¡°Ackkkk!¡±


    They all began to get up one by one and continue practicing.


    ¡°Think of it as high-intensity cardio! And let¡¯s do our best!¡± Yeon-Hoon shouted and encouraged the members with a strange slogan.


    ¡°High-intensity cardio!¡±


    ¡°High-intensity cardio!¡±


    ¡°Diet!¡±


    The members chanted their strange slogan and burned with enthusiasm. Truthfully, it really was high-intensity cardio. I emptied my brain and danced to the music. After practicing till our bones ached again on the fifth day¡ª


    ¡°Haaaa.¡±


    ¡°I think we got more or less the basic formation down now.¡±


    ¡°Pwehhh.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s so hard to get the formation down¡­¡±


    The members and I sat against the wall of the practice room and looked nkly into the air with soulless eyes. Then¡ª


    <em>Zing¡ª</em>


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s phone suddenly vibrated.


    ¡°¡­A text¡­arrived.¡± Yeon-Hoon murmured in a nk voice and checked his phone screen. In cases where only the leader got texts, it was usually a broadcast announcement.


    The rest of the members and I wondered what kind of announcement it was and looked at Yeon-Hoon¡¯s phone. We hoped it was nothing much; something like a spam message. Everyone looked at Yeon-Hoon with desperate eyes, afraid to say anything.


    ¡°¡­Ahhhh¡­.Noooo¡­.¡± As soon as Yeon-Hoon saw the text, he fell on his stomach on the floor with a groan.


    ¡°¡­What is it?¡± I picked up Yeon-Hoon¡¯s phone and checked the contents.


    <em>Sighh¡­</em>¡°¡­Ah damn it¡­¡± Then, I was able to empathize with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s painfully.


    ¡°Why is it that you guys are acting like that?¡±


    ¡°Did something bad happen¡­?¡± Do-Seung and Woon approached us. Then the two saw the text, and their eyes widened.


    ¡°Ah, crazy.¡±


    ¡°No way¡­.¡±


    There was only one reason why we were all reacting so strongly.


    ¡°Why¡­are they filming amercial now¡­?¡±


    ¡°No! How can they tell us this just two days before the shooting!¡±


    The Pepc¡¯smercial shooting rights, which we won in the mini-game before, were starting soon of all days. Usually, people would be d to shoot amercial, and it was the same for us. However, the reason why we were allmenting was because first, themercial shooting was on April 1st but they gave us a heads-up today, on March 30th. Secondly¡ª


    ¡°When are we going to practice?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just do more now.¡±


    <em>Sigh¡­.</em>


    We would have to break the practice flow for our final performance¡ªa performance we had to pay the most attention to out of all the performances we''ve done so far.


    ¡°We¡¯re not the only ones suffering, though.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I just got a call from Bleshu Do-Young, and he said they have to leave for Jeju Ind the day after tomorrow instead of practicing.¡±


    ¡°Are the special perks we earned from the mini-game all starting now?¡±


    ¡°Geez¡­how terrible.¡±


    We all knew that the production crew never considered our time or convenience, but even then, I thought,<em>¡®This is too much.¡¯</em>


    They went over the line, considering that they did this near the final performance. However, there was nothing we could do.


    ¡°Let¡¯s make sure to learn the choreography so well today that we can do it even as soon as we wake up.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s do a bit more.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    We had no choice but to follow the production crew¡¯s schedule. I had already squeezed out thest remaining bit of strength I had in my body, but I thought,<em>¡®I might have to squeeze till the veryst drop.¡¯</em>


    I had a strong premonition that we would overwork ourselves today. Like this, the practice, which I thought was finally over, began again on the fifth day.


    * * *


    After the hellish fifth day of practice ended, the even more hellish practice on the sixth day ended.


    And on April 1st, the morning of themercial shooting began. After increasing the amount of practice by 1.5 times for two days in preparation for themercial shooting day, I felt like my whole body would crumble. Nevertheless, rather thanin about the schedule and show how tired we were, we needed to gather ourst remaining strength and do well on the shooting.


    ¡°No matter how hard it is, let¡¯s not show how tired we are. Let¡¯s pull through and do a good job.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡±


    The members and I woke up at dawn and went to the underground parking lot to meet Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna.


    ¡°We¡¯re heading to the salon~¡±


    ¡°Everyone got the script for themercial shooting today and read over it, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Yes~¡±


    ¡°And everyone checked that there was a live event in the middle of themercial shooting, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we did!¡±


    ¡°Yes, I did it~¡±


    While heading to the salon to get our makeup done for the shooting, Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon briefly went over the Pepcmercial. Honestly, we already got the shooting schedule, script, concept, and everything else over email, but since there was no harm in listening to the information one more time, I listened carefully to them.


    ¡°For themercial shoot, I heard you just have to listen to the directors well, so I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything to worry about,¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon said. Then she made a troubled expression and said, ¡°But the real problem is this¡­¡±


    With a pause, Ms. Seung-Yeon revealed what she was most worried about. ¡°It¡¯s that the Pepc promotion event will be done live. But I¡¯m sure you guys will do a great job, right?¡±


    Themercial we had to shoot was a serious concern, but the real dilemma was the live broadcast that began in the middle of today¡¯smercial shoot.


    ¡°When you go live, you have to think one more time before you say something.¡±


    ¡°Um, these are recent sensitive topics that Hyuna and I came up with yesterday and any vocabry that could be controversial. Please read through the list at least once.¡±


    The members and I read the materials prepared by Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon.


    ¡°Wow, I¡¯m so touched¡­¡± Yeon-Hoon was very moved that they went out of their way to make this guide for us.


    <em>¡®Both of them are good at their jobs now.¡¯</em>Frankly, it was quite surprising for me too. It felt like they were also growing better in their jobs, just like us. However, I pushed away unnecessary thoughts and emotions and focused on reading the materials. The materials were clearly well-organized. I memorized what I shouldn''t do on a live broadcast and ran a simtion of worst-case scenarios when¡ª


    [A surprise mission.]


    <em>¡®¡­Ah.¡¯</em>


    It had been a really long time since I¡¯ve received a surprise mission. However, when I stayed still to check out what they¡¯ve given me this time¡ª


    [Record a higher number of retweets than OnlyOne on Bluebird on today¡¯s live.]


    [Upon sess, control of Insight will increase]


    [Upon failure, control of Insight will be retrieved.]

 Chapter 109

    Chapter 109


    [Record a higher number of retweets than OnlyOne on Bluebird on today¡¯s live.]


    [Upon sess, control of Insight will increase.]


    [Upon failure, control of Insight will be retrieved.]


    I listened to the system¡¯s exnation of the new surprise mission again. It was to reach a higher number of retweets than Only One.


    <em>¡®This is driving me crazy.¡¯</em>I didn¡¯t know what kind of standard the system used to trigger a mission, but sometimes, it gave me a simple mission to hide inside a bathroom or gave me a very difficult one like this one to record a higher number of retweets than Only One. On days when<em>The Showcase 2</em>aired, there were times when Only One and Siren reached Bluebird¡¯s trending feeds thanks to the influence that the program held.


    <em>¡®But has there ever been a time when we beat Only One in retweets?¡¯</em>Only One was always ahead of us in that regard. There were some points of the program airing time when we filled up the social media pages more than them, but those times had only been momentary. As time passed, Only One always advanced ahead in the count of retweets and feeds talking about them. This was because of the difference between how well-known we werepared to Only One, regardless of who the show was backing.


    Though there was a lot of protests and drama about him, Kang Hyun-Sung had been a cast of the show,<em>Select Your Idol,</em>and one of the main members of the top-tier idol group,<em>Yours</em>. Though<em>Yours</em>had only been a one-year term group, the influence they had on the idol market was nothing to scoff at.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s only expected we will be losing to Only One.¡¯</em>It was already a miracle that we had closed our gaps to this extent. Of course, this wasn¡¯t the important point, but this:


    <em>¡®It was to record a higher number of retweets than Only One.¡¯</em>


    ¡°Hm...¡± I raised my phone, and after getting into the V-Live app, I checked<em>The Showcase</em>channel. The announcement on the channel was simple.


    [Only One and Siren members visit the Pepc shooting site?!]


    [Ask Only One and Siren questions you are curious about!]


    [#Curious_About_OnlyOne]


    [#Ask_What_You_Are_Curious_About_to_Siren]


    The announcements simply stated that Only One and Siren would being to amercial shooting site and asked viewers toe up with questions they were curious about. That was all besides some information about the expected live time and sponsors that weren¡¯t important to me.


    <em>¡®They say to ask what you are curious about but don¡¯t tell us the main content.¡¯</em>


    Perhaps, the main content could be just us reading the audience¡¯s questions and answering them, but I highly doubted that would be all there was to it. This was an event funded and supported by Pepc. I knew there was no way this job would be as convenient as answering questions.


    <em>¡®This isplicated</em>.¡¯ I didn¡¯t know what I could do to record a higher number of retweets than Only One.


    <em>¡®Do I just have to wait until then?¡¯</em>However, for some strange reason, I felt confident about this mission. We were both going toe out on a live show and after experiencing both our team¡¯s atmosphere and Only One¡¯s team¡¯s, I was certain that our group would do better.


    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know how to say this, but our members are a bit...more interesting.¡¯</em>Only One was funny too but our members had more character to them. And in a live show where having memorable character traits and quick reflexes mattered the most, we had the advantage.


    <em>¡®We could be in the lead then.¡¯</em>


    It was then, we arrived in front of the salon and got off the car.


    ¡°Ahhhh.¡±


    ¡°Urgggh!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so tired.¡±


    ¡°Haaa.¡±


    My members groaned as they walked up to the salon. It was then my phone vibrated.


    <em>¡®What?</em>¡¯ I wondered who was contacting me so early in the morning and saw that it was Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡ªLet¡¯s do well in today¡¯s shooting.


    ¡°...?¡± I was so perplexed by his message that I ced my phone back into my pocket and didn¡¯t answer. If I met him in personter, I supposed I could say that I was too busy to read his message in the morning.


    ***


    Only One was getting their hair and makeup done at the salon. Perhaps, it was because they had been working hard thest week but everyone was dozing off while receiving their treatments.


    ¡°Ah! I¡¯m sorry!¡±


    <em>Gasp!</em>"I¡¯m so sorry. I didn¡¯t realize I was sleeping.¡±


    The Only One members apologized, thinking the work wasn¡¯t going well because of them, but all the salon staff responded to them kindly.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine~¡±


    ¡°We all know how tired you all are~¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s easy to feel sleepy when someone is touching your hair.¡±


    The only one who didn¡¯t fall asleep and was checking his phone was Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡°Are you waiting to hear back from someone?¡± His personal makeup artist asked, and Kang Hyun-Sung replied sinctly, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°What kind of shooting did you say today was?¡±


    ¡°It was the Pepcmercial.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you also do thatst year when you were part of ¡®Yours¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°That was so nice. It was so vibrant and felt just like the summer.¡±


    ¡°Did it?¡±


    ¡°My friend bought a whole box of Pepc to gather all the Yours¡¯ photo cards.¡±


    ¡°Please thank her for me,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said and smiled ndly. Then, he thought to himself about how there were more people who still thought of him as part of Yours member rather than Only One. The topic of the conversation kept going in that direction too.


    <em>¡®Yours...¡¯</em>But for Kang Hyun-Sung, he didn¡¯t have much of a pleasant memory surrounding the Yours. Personally, he wanted Only One to establish itself as fast as possible so that he didn¡¯t have to hear that group¡¯s name mentioned again.


    It was then, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s phone vibrated. He raised his phone and checked the message.


    ¡°Ha.¡± For the first time, his lips curved upwards, and he smiled.


    ¡°Did something happen?¡± his makeup artist asked.


    ¡°No,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked and ced his phone down again. His phone screen had Tae-Yoon¡¯s brief and blunt reply.


    ¡ªYes.


    Tae-Yoon''s message was rude and unfriendly, but it made his expectations rise for the uing shooting. Then, he told the makeup artist, ¡°Thismercial will be better than when I was at Yours.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ***


    After getting our hair and makeup done, we changed into our shooting outfits. We had to change on the spot because the shooting staff warned us that there would be no suitable ce for us to change our clothes, as today¡¯s shooting would take ce outdoors and using the public bathroom brought up major concerns.


    I looked at the outfits we were given.


    ¡°Wow, it has been a while since I wore school uniforms!¡±


    ¡°It makes me feel kind of awkward.¡±


    ¡°Come on~ It hasn¡¯t been that long~¡±


    They were high school uniforms that had a warm beige color. It also seemed to be custom-made by the mark embedded on top of the shirt.


    ¡°Does it say,<em>¡®Siren High School?</em>¡¯¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°How cute.¡±


    ¡°Did everyone put on their name tags?¡±


    ¡°Yes~¡±


    We stuck the stic name tags on our chests. It felt strange for all of us to get in the car while wearing school uniforms. Though I never went to the same high school as them, it almost felt like we were going on a school field trip altogether. It seemed I wasn¡¯t the only one who got this feeling because Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna also remarked after seeing us, ¡°Wow! You all look like high schoolers like this.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think it makes us look like their parents?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! Yes, it feels like we are sending our kids to school.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon seemed to be in a good mood because he liked his uniform and kept taking selfies. Dong-Jun also seemed to have gotten mentally younger with his clothes and suddenly started ying a phone game he usually didn¡¯t y. Woon calmly sat and looked outside the car window and Do-Seung also ced his chin over his hand and looked outside.


    <em>¡®I can imagine what they were like in high school,</em>¡¯ I thought. There was a saying that when people saw an item filled with memories, they momentarily returned to that time. Though this was clearly not the school uniforms they had worn while they were in high school, it must have been enough to make them recall those days. But for me, I didn¡¯t have many memories of high school. I rarely went to high school though I passed my GED.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t it feel like we are going on a trip to y rather than to shoot amercial?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked excitedly.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°It feels like we are going on a pic.¡±


    ¡°The shooting scene makes it even more like it,¡± the others responded.


    Finally, Ms. Seung-Yeon announced our arrival. ¡°Here it is~ We have arrived!¡±


    We all got out of the car. Ourmercial shooting site was an amusement park located in Gyeonggi-do: Evend.


    ¡°Wow, it has been so long since I came to Evend.¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°This is really ¡®<em>The Land of Fantasy¡¯</em>.¡±


    After we got out of the car, we saw the shooting staff gathered at the center. In the middle, there were the Only One members including Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡°Wee everyone!¡± One of the staff who came to meet us greeted us. ¡°You can join Only One there! Here are your mikes!¡±


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    We followed the producers¡¯ instructions and moved to the shooting site with our mikes attached to our clothes. Ms. Seung-Yeong and Ms. Hyuna slowly waved their hands like parents sending their kids to school.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go~¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s shoot thismercial~¡±


    ¡°Okay~¡±


    My members and I lightly walked to the site.


    ¡°Hello!¡±


    ¡°Hello~¡±


    ¡°Hello.¡±


    We bowed and greeted each of the staff. And among them, we saw producer Park Soo-Chul and another middle-aged man, who was the director of today¡¯smercial. It appeared many people in management roles gathered because this was a coborationmercial with Pepc and<em>The Showcase</em>.


    ¡°You guys have a beige uniform,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said as he abruptly approached us I was surprised to see him suddenlyment on our clothes without a greeting.


    Thus, I first created a distance between us and replied. ¡°Ah, yes. Ours are a beige color. I see that yours is navy.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we are all navy.¡± Then, I saw the rest of the Only One members who were wearing navy uniforms join us.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon! As expected, the school uniform suits you!¡± Park Young-Ho approached us and looked delighted to see me.


    ¡°As expected of a current high schooler.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t go to high school though.¡±


    ¡°Ah, how awkward...<em>heehee.</em>¡±


    Only One¡¯s Kim Ju-Hyun also approached us and acted friendly with me. Other members of Only One named Lee Chul-Woon and Kim Si-Woon also appeared happy to see me and greeted me.


    ¡°I guess there are some clothes that fit certain ages better.¡±


    ¡°Rather than our uniform, beige color feels more like spring.¡±


    I soon found myself surrounded by Only One members. I thought this whenever I saw them but,<em>¡®...Why in the world do these guys like me?¡¯</em>


    I didn¡¯t understand why Only One always treated me so well though I didn¡¯t do anything much for them.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, were you saying ¡®hi¡¯ to Only One?¡± Dong-Jun smiled at me and walked closer to my side.


    ¡°Ah, hello!¡±


    ¡°Hello~¡±


    And following Dong-Jun, Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, and Woon all gathered at my side.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    <em>¡®What why is everyone gathering around me?¡¯</em>I thought. It felt like I was the bridge between the two groups. There hadn¡¯t been much interaction between Only One and Siren so far. On media sites, they always ced us two groups as rivals so it had been hard for us to develop a proper rtionship.


    Yeon-Hoon said, ¡°Hello senior!¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung replied, ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to be so formal.¡±


    ¡°But... you are my senior.¡±


    ¡°We are the same age though.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we are.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just be friends.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    Yet, from today onwards, they seemed to be developing a friendship. Still, I didn¡¯t know why they were conversing with me in the center.


    ¡°Wow, Mr. Do-Seung, your pecs are insane.¡±


    ¡°Heh, you noticed?¡±


    ¡°What exercises do you do and how many sets?¡±


    ¡°Ah, I usually do a lot of bench press but I alternate between heavy dumbbells and barbells. I have this program...¡±


    Only One Kim Ju-Hyun and Do-Seung were building their bond as gym bros.


    ¡°Huh? We are the same age?¡±


    ¡°Ohh~ Samesies~¡±


    Only One¡¯s Park Young-Ho and Dong-Jun were quickly bing closer because they were the same age. I liked how they were all bing closer but still,<em>¡®Why are they cing me at the center...!¡¯</em>


    It felt as if I had be a totem pole. Did a site of friendship form if I was ced at the center? Whatever the reason was, I wanted it to stop when themercial director shouted in a bright voice.


    ¡ª<em>Ah</em>, ah. Mike test. Can everyone hear me?


    ¡°Oh, looks like the shooting will start.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk againter.¡±


    I felt like I could finally breathe again after the friendship hangout ended, and then the producer continued.


    ¡ªAh, it¡¯s good to see you all developing bonds by talking to each other.


    ¡ªToday¡¯s shooting was supposed to show two groups of high schoolers ying around in the amusement park, but I think we can make a change now.


    Hearing this, I began to feel a foreboding feeling.


    ¡ªHow about we mix the two groups, Only One and Siren for this shooting?


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°That sounds so fun!¡±


    And that was how the entire ce changed to a site of friendship.


    ¡°Haaaa.¡± I felt a wave of weariness flood over me but in contrast, everyone else smiled brightly.


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Sounds good!¡±


    ¡°<em>Oh yaay!</em>¡±

 Chapter 110

    <h4>Chapter 110</h4>


    As <i>The Showcase 2¡¯</i>s main producer, Park Soo-Chul, followed Only One and Siren to themercial shoot. Frankly, although it was an advertisement shoot, there was nothing very special about it except for the live broadcast in the middle.


    Other than that, it was only a month-longmercial anyway. Moreover, the background was also at the amusement park, which was a typical background used in advertisements, and even the outfits were basic. He thought he could just waste his time idly here and leave but¡ª


    ¡°Wow, Only One looks really cool in school uniforms.¡±


    ¡°Siren also looks really great in uniforms~¡±


    After seeing Only One and Siren members appearing in uniforms again, he thought,<i> ¡®This is better than I thought?</i>¡¯ He thought that thismercial might not just be a video of handsome guys wearing pretty clothes and doing pretty things but something more. Furthermore¡ª


    ¡°Hello, senior!¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so formal and call me senior.¡±


    ¡°But sir...you are my senior.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re the same age.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just be friends.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    Looking at those two groups socializing, Park Soo-Chul even made a suggestion to the advertisement director and said, ¡°Um, director, why don¡¯t you mix Siren and Only One together instead of filming them separately? Let¡¯s just keep thisposition as it is right now.¡±


    At first, Park Soo-Chul thought thismercial shooting would be a light-hearted and funmercial of handsome kids socializing with each other, but his mind changed aftering to the scene.


    <i>¡®If they do a good job, this could go viral.</i>¡¯ Park Soo-Chul thought that although clich¨¦, if "really" handsome guys formed "real" friendships, it could be a "really" fun video.


    * * *


    When the production team said our groups were going to be mixed, my members and Only One both looked ted; I had no idea how my members had been suppressing their excitement until now when they wanted to socialize this badly. Usually, when men our age met, they established hierarchies amongst each other or yed a strange war of nerves, but¡ª


    <i>¡®How should I say it?¡¯ </i>They were pure and simple people. Just in time, the staff told us how to organize ourselves.


    ¡ªWe have to finish shooting exactly in the morning before the theme park opens! So please decide on the group you want as soon as possible! You can form two groups of three and a group of four!


    I thought we should all get together to organize the groups, but I thought,<i> ¡®Why does it seem like the groups have already been formed?¡¯</i>


    People were gathered in the sameposition they were socializing just before. Do-Seung was with Kim Ju-Hyun from Only One, and Kim Si-Woon was also next to them. Woon and Dong-Jun were together, and Lee Chul-Woon and Park Young-Ho were next to them. As for me...


    ¡°Shall the three of us be in a group?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°...Haha.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung, Yeon-Hoon, and I were together. Like this, all the groups were decided in a jiffy.


    ¡ªDid you hear today¡¯smercial concept?


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡ªWe¡¯ll assign you a ride, so you can go there and film. While you¡¯re on the ride, shoot with this action camera.


    Today¡¯smercial concept was a spring pic. We had to take a video with the camera equipment they prepared for us while enjoying our ride, and the staff took shots of us moving around. Then, the director and staff would edit the films with their professional skills and turn them into advertisements. Up to this point, I wondered how this was supposed to be a Pepc¡¯smercial when all we did was y around. The reason for this was soon revealed.


    ¡ªTake this Pepc¡¯s headband


    All the props we were going to wear today were embedded with Pepc¡¯s logo.


    ¡ªTake this Pepc too.


    All the drinks we were going to drink were Pepc and¡ª


    ¡ªThe only rides we are going to ride are rides with Pepc''s mark. We can¡¯t go to the other ones because we haven¡¯t rented the other ces.


    All the rides we were going to ride have been changed to Pepc¡¯s version.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s like they¡¯re marking their territories.¡¯ </i>Since it was their own money anyway, it was not my ce to talk, but I thought it was a bitughable.


    ¡ªThen we will now be choosing the rides.


    It was now time to assign each group to a ride. I thought this might be the biggest problem in today¡¯s shooting...


    <i>¡®Is there a ride that¡¯s a bit morefortable?¡¯</i> They hadn¡¯t told us which ride we were going to be on yet. They only told us that we were going to go on a ride and y. I hoped we would get on easy rides like a safari or a carousel.


    ¡ªTwist of hell


    ¡ªSoul escaping vertical fall!


    ¡ªSwoosh on the waterfall!


    ...These were the names of the rides. Just by their names, I had no clue what kind of rides they were. The director must have also realized this as he wrote down the type of ride next to the name of the rides.


    ¡ªTwist of hell (Viking)


    ¡ªSoul escaping vertical fall! (Rollercoaster)


    ¡ªSwoosh on the waterfall! (Flume Ride)


    ....This was not a very helpful piece of information. While I was worried if we could shoot well, Kang Hyun-Sung and Yeon-Hoon were exchanging conversations like this:


    Yeon-Hoon said, ¡°They all seem fun, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Was it because I was standing still without saying anything? Kang Hyun-Sung asked, ¡°Does it not look fun to you, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon also asked, ¡°It doesn¡¯t look fun, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°...No, it looks fun,¡± I said while forcing back my tears. If I had to be honest, I was not good at riding amusement park rides.


    <i>¡®Will I be able to film well?¡¯</i> Just in time, the time for deciding the amusement park continued.


    ¡ªNow, we¡¯re going to decide which one to ride. Which one does your group want to ride?


    It was hard for me to decide which one to ride because they were all difficult.


    ¡°We want viking!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll take the flume ride!¡±


    However, the previous two groups quickly took the other two rides, and the only one left was...


    ¡°Damn it...¡± It was the rollercoaster. I thought that since things ended up like this, I should just grit through it once and get over it but¡ª


    ¡ªEven if you choose one ride, don¡¯t feel too sad because you¡¯re all going to take turns riding everything.


    ...Those were the very words I had wanted to hear the least.


    * * *


    <i>Creaaak.</i>


    <i>Thud.</i>


    <i>Creakkk.</i>


    <i>Thud.</i>


    The roller coaster slowly went up, and my soul was already halfway escaping my body. Honestly, I had a lot of thoughts on my mind while moving to ride on<i> ¡®Soul escaping vertical fall!¡¯.</i> It was about whether I could do well on today¡¯s shooting. Considering that this was a Pepc''smercial, the keywords I should be embodying were refreshing and thrilling.


    <i>¡®But I¡¯m the only one who looks like I¡¯m in a horror movie.¡¯</i>


    I tried to change my expressions but¡ª


    <i>Creakkk.</i>


    <i>Thud.</i>


    Every time the rollercoaster climbed the rail slowly to the top, I couldn¡¯t control my expression at all.


    <i>¡®...Let¡¯s think of it as a brief out-of-body experience.¡¯ </i>This kind of forceful, extreme stress seemed highly likely to have a bad effect on my cardiovascr system. Furthermore, if an ident urred by mistake, I could immediately die. Didn¡¯t roller coaster deaths actually happen pretty often as well? My hand holding the safety bar tightened a bit more. When the roller coaster was about to reach its peak, I made a firm resolve. All pain eventually passed. I also resolutely epted this fact with the mindset that this pain, too, would eventually pass when¡ª


    <i>Squeeze.</i>


    Yeon-Hoon held my hand tight. I was about to be moved by his thoughtful gesture, but¡ª


    ¡°This is going to be so fun, Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ...He was just excited. When I felt a small sense of betrayal¡ª


    <i>Whooosh!</i>


    The rollercoaster immediately dropped, just like that.


    ¡°Kyahhhhhhh!¡± Yeon-Hoon screamed.


    ¡°Ah, ah, ah.¡± I didn¡¯t even have the energy to scream, so all I did was repeatedly close and open my mouth. Was Kang Hyun-Sung bad at going on rides too? I couldn¡¯t hear any screams or sounds from him.


    However, at that moment, he said, ¡°...It¡¯s fun?¡¯ This crazy guy didn¡¯t scream even when he was excited.


    Like this, the ¡®Soul Escaping Vertical Fall!¡¯ with three passengers on board ran vigorously on the rail. Yet, the rollercoaster was just the beginning, and themercial shooting did not stop.


    ¡°Kyahhhhh~¡±


    ¡°Ah...ah, ah....¡±


    ¡°...Are you okay?¡±


    After moving on to the viking ride and experiencing my body joints all twist up¡ª


    ¡°Ohhhhh~¡±


    ¡°Ahah...¡±


    ¡°...Hm.¡±


    I was sprayed all over from the flume ride. Since every ride was dangerous, I felt like I crossed death¡¯s door each and every time. But what could I do? It was amercial shoot, so I had no choice but to get in and get out. However, one fortunate aspect was that the staff members who took the videos had bright expressions. I was worried that I didn¡¯t give out a refreshing and exciting feeling because I was not good at riding on amusement rides.


    <i>¡®...What is it that they like?¡¯</i> They must have gotten a few useful shots by their standards.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, you¡¯re really okay, right?¡± Then Yeon-Hoon looked at me and asked. Even Yeon-Hoon now realized that I was not good at riding on amusement rides. Well, it was not surprising as I froze up whenever I got on a ride.


    ¡°Shall we take a short break?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said, pointing to the corner bench. Then, the staff handed over the c and churros as if they had been waiting for us.


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat that and get a cut!¡± The three of us sat on the bench and ate churros and drank Pepc. However, we didn¡¯t ¡®just¡¯ eat it.


    ¡°Make your expression brighter!¡±


    ¡°Look happier!¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try feeding each other~¡±


    They gave us a lot of different orders. However, the most difficult thing was¡ª


    <i>¡®What, we have to feed each other?¡¯</i> It was this order. I clenched my teeth and only stared at Yeon-Hoon but¡ª


    <i>Push</i>.


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s churros squeezed in through. The atmosphere would turn strange if I rejected his offer so after taking a bite of it, I immediately gave Yeon-Hoon my churros.


    Yeon-Hoon took a big bite of the churros I gave him and then said, ¡°It¡¯s delicious~¡± He gave a good reaction even though no one asked him to; no, this was not a forced reaction but a genuine one.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, did you not like the churros I gave you?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked for a reaction from me too.


    ¡°Wow, ah. So good. Haha.¡±


    I tried to suppress my expression from bing stiff and reacted, but Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°You don¡¯t mean it.¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    Then he just forcefully stuffed the rest of the churros into my mouth.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Thinking this was funny, Yeon-Hoon burst intoughter.


    I munched on the churros and red at Kang Hyun-Sung for a moment. Well, I was d the atmosphere was good anyway. Lastly, we got a shot of us drinking c, and our filming disguised as break time, ended.


    ¡°We got all the scenes worth filming from here.¡±


    After this, they shot a scene of the three of us running around the amusement park. Another scene of us drinking Pepc while eating something like c with popcorn chicken. After taking more selfies in front of the rides¡ª


    ¡°It¡¯s almost time for the amusement park to open.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s finish up now!¡±


    The filming of the amusement park, which was the morning shoot, was finallypleted. We gathered again at the entrance of the amusement park where we gathered before the shooting began.


    ¡°What the.¡±


    ¡°Haha!¡±


    ¡°Dong-Jun, what¡¯s up with your hair!¡±


    Was it because everyone went through a crazy shooting? Dong-Jun¡¯s hair was aplete mess, Do-Seung¡¯s school uniform was slightly torn, and Woon lookedpletely out of it. All the Only One members weren¡¯t in normal conditions either. Maybe our group yed the calmest.


    ¡ªAh, mic test. Did all of your shootings go well?


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡ªWe¡¯re now all going to move to the set and shoot the school ss scene~


    The director said this right on cue. Today¡¯s shooting schedule was to go to the amusement park in the morning, go to the set, and shoot the school scene in the afternoon. In the actual advertisement, we would be going to the amusement park after studying at school, but due to the special nature of the location, the filming n had to be inevitably set up like this.


    ¡°Aghhhh~¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a set, but it feels weird that I have to go to school.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know.¡±


    Everyone seemed to have gotten close during this shooting and were at ease talking to each other. Then, at that moment¡ª


    ¡ªAnd I¡¯ll now deliver the main contents of today¡¯s live broadcast.


    The director said.


    I revitalized my dying eyes and looked at themercial director again. He was now going to present the main content of the live broadcast. Perhaps, today¡¯s fate was dependent on that content. The unexpected mission was to beat Only One with retweets in a live broadcast. I tried to concentrate and listen.


    ¡ªToday¡¯s live show is ¡®Cooking¡¯!


    Something much more normal than I expected came out.


    <i>¡®Cooking?¡¯</i> Was there a connection between cooking and Pepc?


    I wondered why it was cooking of all things.


    ¡ªBut, you must cook a dish that uses Pepc!


    Suddenly, the difficulty level rose exponentially.


    <i>¡®Cooking with c?¡¯</i> I didn¡¯t know if I was just being a worrywart, but I felt a strong feeling that this would not be an easy task either.


    <i>¡®Isn¡¯t this cooking too bizarre?¡¯ </i>Then the director said another sentence that confirmed my thoughts about today¡¯s challenge as bizarre cooking.


    ¡ªBut you have to use c as the main ingredient, not as a side.


    Instead of adding c to the meal like a hamburger set, we needed to use c as the main ingredient. While I received a mission to beat Only One with the amount of retweets, it was a cooking mission of all things.


    <i>¡®Hmm.¡¯</i> All kinds of thoughts ran through my head. <i>¡®Should I make jjimdak</i>[1]<i>?</i> That¡¯s toomon.¡¯


    I had trouble thinking of a meal because nothing seemed to quite fit when¡ª


    <i>Tap.</i>


    Do-Seung clutched my shoulder. ¡°Cooking with...c?¡±


    <i>¡®What the?¡±</i>


    He looked at me with great excitement. When I wondered why, he asked me, ¡°Tae-Yoon, have you tried c fruit punch?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°Fruit punch made with c. It''s a special fruit punch that my family makes.¡±


    ...There must be a bizarre food that only Do-Seung¡¯s family liked.


    1. Korean-style steamed chicken with marinated vegetables. ?

 Chapter 111

    <h4>Chapter 111</h4>


    A fruit punch made with c? I never heard of such a thing, but Do-Seung looked more serious than he had ever been.


    <i>¡®No, rather than serious, he looks sort of crazy.¡¯</i>


    There was a strange madness in his pupils, as he continued, ¡°Everyone thinks it''s bizzarre when they first hear c fruit punch, but it¡¯s no joke if you actually eat it. This is great. If I reveal this to the public today, it could increase people¡¯s awareness of it.¡±


    <i>¡®What? Do-Seung is more serious about this than I thought.¡¯</i> In the first ce, what was so great about c fruit punch that he was this obsessive about it? Do-Seung wasn¡¯t the type to get so fixated on something besides music.


    <i>¡®Is music and c fruit punch on the same level?¡¯ </i>In Do-Seung¡¯s world, I thought these two might be on the same level of importance. I was about to increase my distance from him a bit as I got scared.


    Then I realized, <i>¡®Ah, this is it.</i>¡¯ I got a mission for Siren to get a higher retweet count than Only One. This was the person that could put us in the lead. Thus, I replied, ¡°C fruit punch sounds good.¡±


    ¡°Right?¡±


    ¡°I think it will be good to do this in a broadcast.¡±


    ¡°I can finally show it...¡± Do-Seung¡¯s face filled with anticipation and excitement. Then, I gathered my group members and told them what I just talked about with Do-Seung.


    ¡°Huh? What kind of weirdbination is that?¡± Dong-Jun responded.


    ¡°Ah, hahah...¡± Yeon-Hoon said.


    ¡°Are you serious...?¡± Woon asked.


    ¡°I am serious, and it¡¯s not a weirdbination of foods but a dish I¡¯m confident about,¡± Do-Seung said with firm determination that didn¡¯t waver. And as we discussed our dish, the staff began to withdraw one by one and announced:


    ¡ªWe will head to the studio now.


    Thus, we decided to halt our conversation momentarily to move to the car. But as soon as we got in the car, Do-Seung resumed his previous enthusiasm with the c fruit punch.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do it! Do it! Let¡¯s make the c fruit punch!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Do-Seung. We will go along with your idea.¡±


    ¡°Haa. I¡¯ve never seen you this passionate, Do-Seung.¡±


    My group members had no choice but to agree, and our cooking menu became finalized as c fruit punch.


    ***


    When we arrived at the studio, our activities became much more like an ordinarymercial shooting than when we were at the amusement park. The story of thismercial was that Siren and Only One high schoolers skipped school to go to the amusement park. Thus, our shooting set was decorated to look like a ssroom, and we were instructed to look out of the window, appear bored, and act like we were studying. We were also given individual characters to act out.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, you are a tough-looking student who just looks out the window instead of paying attention to the lesson. Do you understand what your concept is?¡±


    ¡°...Uh, yes?¡±


    ¡°And Mr. Do-Seung is a jock who just sleeps in the back of the ssroom all day long.¡±


    ¡°Me?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Dong-Jun is a character who sits in the middle of the ssroom and just ys and doodles on his textbook.¡±


    ¡°Wow! That¡¯s exactly how I used to be at school!¡±


    ¡°Mr. Yeon-Hoon is a studious character who wants to pay attention in ss very much, but his attention keeps getting stolen away by the window. And unable to win over his desire to just y, he leads his friends to skip school.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the one who leads? Yay!¡±


    ¡°Lastly, Mr. Woon is the ss president. He¡¯s a character who wears circr sses and fervently takes notes in the front of the ssroom. But he forcefully gets dragged out of the ssroom to the amusement park to y.¡±


    ¡°I was actually the ss president before. How cool.¡±


    It seemed the shooting staff had done a good job deciphering our characters. But I didn¡¯t know why I was supposed to be sort of the ss delinquent. I had lived a life far apart from that. After I changed my outfit and hair ording to my character, othersmented, ¡°Wow, Tae-Yoon! I¡¯m not sure I should say this, but...¡±


    ¡°Just say it.¡±


    ¡°You really look like a school delinquent!¡±


    ¡°...Haha.¡±


    I had to admit that I really looked like a delinquent. Then, we each shot themercial ording to our characters.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon! Look more rebellious! That¡¯s right! Good job~¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything but sit.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay from the first take!¡±


    Starting from me, the shooting progressed smoothly and fast.


    ¡°Mr. Do-Seung! Just sleep with your head over your arms and slowly raise your head.¡±


    ¡°All right.¡±


    ¡°Ohhh! That¡¯s good~¡±


    I didn¡¯t know whether the director didn¡¯t have much expectations about the final results or we were just that good, but the shooting progressed fast, and we continuously got positive feedback.


    ¡°Mr. Yeon-Hoon, sit there bright-eyed and nce at the window! Good! Yes! You look so good.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes~¡±


    Yeon-Hoon also got an ¡®okay¡¯ on the first take.


    ¡°Mr. Woon, please look like you are studying hard! Write in your notebook and look at the board! Okay!¡±


    ¡°Mr. Dong-Jun, you sure are good at doodling~ You look like a honed expert?¡±


    Woon and Dong-Jun also got an ¡®okay¡¯ on the first take. Then, we took a full shot of all of us sitting in the ssroom, a shot of us chit-chatting during break time, a cut of Yeon-Hoon grabbing Woon¡¯s wrist and dragging him out, and a cut of all of us running out of the corridor with our bags. Because all the scenes were shot so fast, I thought the director was doing a shoddy job. Yet, when we saw the shot scenes, we could tell that it was a high-quality work.


    ¡°This is so good!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It looks like some teen drama.¡±


    ¡°...It came out so well.¡±


    I realized then that the director was very skilled at his job, but I supposed it was expected from a man picked by a bigpany such as PepC. There was no way PepC would¡¯ve just gotten anybody to film theirmercial. Then, we filmed more scenes that weren¡¯t in the original draft.


    ¡°At this crossroad, Only One students and Siren students meet each other at this cross section like destiny!¡±


    Since we shot scenes of us ying in the amusement park together, we needed to take a leading-up cut scene like this. Thus, we filmed a scene of Only One and us staring at each other at a crossroads between us. I recalled seeing a simr scene from a movie showing two groups of gangsters going on a turf war.


    In the movie, the two groups began fighting when they met in the middle of the crossroad, but unlike them, Yeon-Hoon from our team and Only One¡¯s Park Young-Ho came out and exchanged these greetings.


    ¡°Should we go to the amusement park?¡±


    ¡°Shall we?¡±


    Because the two fit their lines well, the script didn¡¯t sound cringy. Then Only One and we filmed a scene of us riding in a vige bus and running towards the amusement park.


    ¡°Good work~¡±


    ¡°You all did so much~¡±


    And that was how ourmercial shooting came to an end at 3 p.m. Though we did start shooting early at sunrise, everything progressed so smoothly that we were able to finish much earlier than expected. Soon, the shooting staff in charge of us left, and the director also departed after saying that he had a fun time working with us. Yet, Only One, a few staff from <i>The Showcase,</i> and our group remained on the site to prepare for the live broadcast at 4 pm.


    ¡°Okay~ There¡¯s one hour left before the live broadcast~ Can everyone be prepared!¡±


    <i>¡°Haaa.¡±</i> For some reason, only Do-Seung seemed particrly nervous as the staff told us, ¡°If you write down the ingredients you need for your dish, we will go buy them~¡±


    Nevertheless, my group members and I gathered at a corner to create a list of ingredients we needed. We made our list in secret from Only One since we had to cook this food on live broadcast, and a rivalry formed between our two groups.


    ¡°We should buy this amount of watermelon,¡± I said. Thus, I began to also write ingredients that could be good to use for a fruit punch, but it was hard to say they were unnecessary.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°I think we will also need this.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    And after we finisheding up with our list, we handed it to the producer.


    ¡°...Are you serious about this?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°...Okay, then, we will follow it.¡± The producer who epted our list appeared very flustered.


    ***


    At 4 p.m., a Siren fan logged into V-Live ording to the designated time. Today was the day when Only One and Siren would broadcast their live show, and this was her first time seeing Siren¡¯s live show. It was because Siren was a new group that had recently appeared in the media and hadn¡¯t even debuted yet, so they didn¡¯t even have their own V-Live channel.


    Furthermore, they didn¡¯t have any social media ounts besides thepany¡¯s official one. Thus, there wasn¡¯t much content and pictures for fans to keep themselves upied with. A live broadcast that captured theirmercial schedule in this situation was like rain trickling during a drought.


    <i>¡®I wonder what concept they will shoot themercial?</i>¡¯ she wondered. Everyone knew that today was the day of themercial filming. Thus, Siren members would probably shoot the live broadcast with the clothes they had been wearing for themercial, and with the clothes the members were wearing, she could probably guess the general feeling of themercial.


    Siren¡¯s fan was curious about everything from one to ten. Finally, the anticipated time arrived, and people began to enter the live broadcast one by one. Right before the broadcast started, there were about 20,000 people watching.


    <i>¡®That¡¯s quite a lot?¡¯ </i>Siren¡¯s fan thought. Perhaps, it was natural since the program was doing well, but it was still surprising since the program¡¯s concept was showcasing ¡®failing idols.¡¯ The number of viewers soon increased to 30,000.


    ¡°Oh...¡± She eximed shortly while looking at the phone screen. ¡°Maybe they can reach 100,000 if everything works out.¡± She was about to be shocked by the numbers when she recalled how first-tier idols who were popr overseas often had several million people watching their live social media broadcasts.


    <i>¡®Maybe this is a low count considering that they have Kang Hyun-Sung.¡¯</i> She tried to calm her heart and looked at the screen.


    <i>Tick</i>. ¡°Huh?¡± She wondered when the official show would start when the ck curtain on the screen disappeared, and the show started.


    ¡ªKyaaaah


    ¡ªHello


    ¡ªHi


    ¡ªHey guys


    ¡ªWow this is happening


    ¡ªSo handsome


    ¡ªPlease say hello guys


    ¡ªHi from Brazil


    ¡ªI say hello. Peru loves you all


    The chatbox filled withments and quickly moved down. Hearts exploded and Siren¡¯s fan also quickly typed and shot out hearts. Simultaneously, she watched Siren on the video screen.


    ¡°Oh, school uniforms?¡± she said aloud. She had wondered what the Siren members would be wearing and noticed that they were wearing beige uniforms while Only One wore navy-colored uniforms. She didn¡¯t know who the shooting director was but she wanted to show her sincere gratitude to them.


    ¡ªTae-Yoon looks so good in a uniform *sob, sob*


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon looks totally like a sweetie pie *sob*


    ¡ªDo-Seunggg


    ¡ªPark Dong-Jun what happened


    ¡ªWooooon


    ¡ªPrincess is in a uniform *sob*


    ¡ªOMG SO CUTE


    ¡ªWOONI MY PRINCE


    ¡ªDong Jun. Person you are. Is cute.


    Siren¡¯s fans poured out their appreciation of seeing their idols in a school uniform. But besides their uniforms, there was another thing that caught fans¡¯ eye as the idols greeted them.


    ¡ªHello everyone! d to meet you all.


    ¡ªSAY YES! Hello! We are Siren!


    ¡ªBE YOUR ONLY ONE, hello, we are Only One!


    <i>¡®An apron?¡¯</i> Siren¡¯s fan noticed that all the members were wearing aprons. <i>¡®And why are only Siren members wearing work gloves?¡¯ </i>she wondered.<i> </i>Siren members looked like butchers in Majang-dong, but seeing their aprons, it seemed clear they were going to make some cooking content.


    ¡ªOkay! The content we prepared is cooking!


    ¡ªWe are going to cook using Pepc and are going to try each other ''s food!


    Park Dong-Jun and Kim Ju-Hyun came out as the broadcast¡¯s hosts and introduced the content of the show.


    <i>¡®But why those work gloves?¡¯ </i>Siren¡¯s fan still wondered. And this confusion only grew as the broadcast continued.


    ¡ªWhat kind of food is Only One nning to make?


    ¡ªWe are going to make the ssic c food¡ªsteamed c chicken.


    ¡ªOhh


    ¡ªThat sounds delicious


    ¡ªWhat food is Siren going to make?


    ¡ªWe are going to make something quite controversial.


    ¡ªAh, what is it? It makes me curious.


    ¡ª...Ah, well, it¡¯s c fruit punch. Haha


    Siren¡¯s fan filled with more questions when she heard the menu.


    ¡ªC fruit punch?


    ¡ª??


    ¡ªWhat kind of strangebination is that?


    ¡ª???

 Chapter 112

    <h4>Chapter 112</h4>


    I looked at the six watermelons that were dragged out of the cart. Frankly, Do-Seung had never made 20 servings of fruit punch before, so he had made a rough estimate and asked for six watermelons. There were about 20 people remaining at the site, including Only One and us. I thought that everyone at this site would be able to eat till they were stuffed. The sight of watermelons being dragged out of the cart must have been quite a sight, as we got strong reactions from Only One.


    ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    ¡°How did you get watermelons in spring?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon...?¡±


    ¡°Haa...¡±


    Even Kang Hyun-Sung, who rarely reacted much, looked at the watermelon and me with shock. Park Young-Ho¡¯s eyes widened so much that it almost looked like they would pop out of their saucers, and all the other Only One members looked stunned. Then they secretly hid the white chicken on their cutting board.


    <i>¡®...We won in terms of visuals.¡¯</i> When I asked for a list of ingredients, I purposely asked for six watermelons.


    <i>¡®A fruit punch has a weaker impact than cooking chicken during the cooking process.¡¯ </i>We had to be ahead of Only One in the number of retweets in today¡¯s mission. We couldn¡¯t miss a chance to get buzz in any one section. Thus, that was why I had purposely aimed to bring in shock value. Since it was difficult to have a fun cooking process for fruit punch, I thought I should fight with quantity. However, in hindsight, I thought bringing six watermelons on a cart might have been overkill.


    Nevertheless, I sessfully aplished my goal to shock viewers. Yeon-Hoon was biting his lips with his head down, and Woon, looking troubled, was staring at the watermelons with his hand covering his mouth. Dong-Jun let out a hollowugh as if he found this entire situation ridiculous. However, there was one person¡ªDo-Seung¡ªwho looked eager and ready to jump in.


    ¡°I¡¯m happy that I will be feeding everyone here today a unique dish that my family enjoys.¡± At Do-Seung¡¯s words, the chat box blew up.


    I sneaked forward and checked the chat.


    ¡ªThis is not some bizarre food disguised as home cooking?


    Most of thements were like this. On the other hand, Do-Seung¡¯s fans responded positively.


    ¡ªOur ck cat is so cute aw


    ¡ªDo-Seung, were you this type of character?


    ¡ªaww if Do-Seung gives it to me, I¡¯ll dly ept even c fruit punch


    Regardless of people¡¯s reactions, I was sure that we were controlling the bigger share of the chat rooms, and people were talking much more about us than about Only One.


    Then Do-Seung must have read thements as he said with a rather serious face, ¡°C fruit punch is really good. If I make this at my house, we will eat all six of these in just two days.¡± He said this with a really sincere expression. ¡°Furthermore, it¡¯s even made with zero c, so the calorie is significantly lower than a normal fruit punch.¡±


    I wondered how I would be able to stop such a c fruit punch fanatic. No, I wondered how someone who usually only cared about exercise, music, and disciplining Park Dong-Jun could be so obsessed with c fruit punch.


    I said, ¡°Then, we¡¯ll start cooking now.¡±


    Like this, while Only One made <i>jjimdak</i>, we started making c fruit punch for 20 people.


    * * *


    Siren¡¯s fan looked at the screen with a mesmerized expression and eventually rolled on the bed whileughing her socks off. When she first heard that Siren was going to do a V-live broadcast, she hadn¡¯t expected that she would burst outughing like this. Usually, the charm of these live broadcasts was to see her idols¡¯ faces and listen to their daily conversations about what happened today. She had thought there would be nothing tough about except the joy of seeing their faces, but¡ª


    ¡°Six huge watermelons...this is crazy, guys.¡± Sheughed so hard that her stomach felt weak.


    ¡ªThen, we¡¯ll start cooking now.


    Bong Tae-Yoon said and started a full-fledged watermelon dismantling show. The five Siren members all put watermelons on the cutting board and held their knives up.


    ¡ªGuys, be careful because it¡¯s dangerous.


    Woo Yeon-Hoon told the members to be careful so they wouldn¡¯t hurt themselves, but¡ª


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon, be careful!


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon looks so cute in an apron aww


    ¡ªI can¡¯t believe our sweet peach is cutting a watermelon! No way!


    ¡ªOur softie is going to cut watermelon aww


    Frankly, Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s knife-holding form looked the most awkward among all the members.


    ¡°Ah, so cute...¡± The Siren fan unwittingly pressed the capture button on her phone. Woo Yeon-Hoon looked unbearably cute as he awkwardly held his knife while wearing an apron on top of his school uniform. However, a big event broke out right away; it was such a ridiculous sight that she immediately forgot about Yeon-Hoon¡¯s cuteness and shifted her focus to another member.


    ¡ªWe have to put the watermelon in thisrge rubber basin.


    ¡°Pffff!¡± It was all because Bong Tae-Yoon brought a humongous rubber basin that was usually used to make huge portions of kimchi.


    ¡ªcrazy hahahahahahaha


    ¡ªwtf Tae-Yoon


    ¡ªWho makes fruit punch in a rubber basin lol


    ¡ªI think Yeon-Hoon can even go in there and take a bath.


    ¡ªah that will be cute


    The viewers¡¯ reaction went crazy once again when Bong Tae-Yoon brought out tools that seemed totally unfitting of fruit punches. As the live broadcast heavily leaned towards Siren, it almost felt like Only One was being neglected. However, even Only One was more interested in the c fruit punch than their steamed chicken.


    ¡ªAll we have to do now is put the chicken that we washed into a clean pot, add the c, and boil it down...wait, is that a rubber basin? Oh my gosh...


    Kim Ju-Hyun, who was in charge of cooking in Only One, stopped cooking in the middle to look at Siren¡¯s rubber basin. And the strange sight did not end with just the rubber basin.


    ¡ªLet¡¯s wash the watermelon~


    ¡ªDon¡¯t hurt your hands!


    ¡ªBe careful, careful~


    Five Siren members stood in a line, holding the watermelons and slicing them out.


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t this a watermelon-slicing factory?


    ¡ªWho cuts this much watermelon?


    ¡ªNo way haha these guys haha


    Was it because there was so much watermelon? The red flesh of the watermelons was getting too much exposure on the screen.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s not summer yet, right?


    ¡ªWho the hell makes and eats fruit punch in the spring? Lol


    ¡ªLook at how the rubber basin is filled with watermelons haha


    The watermelon even filled up the rubber basin, which I thought we would never manage to fill up. While everyone couldn¡¯t hold back theirughter at the strange sight¡ª


    ¡ªAh, it looks so delicious.


    Only one person¡ªKang Do-Seung¡ªwas whetting his appetite to try the c fruit punch.


    ¡ªPlease stop Do-Seung


    ¡ªI really had no idea Siren had these types of personalities


    ¡ªOur idols are sea fairies...but they turned out to be people crazy about fruit punch...


    ¡ªHow much is...their monthly food bills, our precious babies??


    When people thought all the funny parts were over and were beginning to get sick of seeing the Siren members making so much fruit punch¡ª


    ¡ªLet¡¯s now get to thest highlight part.


    Bong Tae-Yoon suddenly said this.


    ¡ªWhat? There are more shocking parts?


    ¡ªThere¡¯s a highlight?


    ¡ªWhy is there a highlight for making fruit punch, Tae-Yoon...


    People were wondering what the hell he was talking about when¡ª


    ¡ªCs and mentos make a golden pair.


    Bong Tae-Yoon opened the lid of Pepc, put a huge amount of mentos in it, quickly dropped the c in the rubber basin, and ran away. Soon enough¡ª


    ¡ªSwoooooosh!


    The c sored through the air. Since the rubber basin was so big, the c beautifully poured out from between the watermelons without anything spilling to the ground. The size of the c fountain was so big and beautiful that everyone present in the scene stood still and looked at it in awe.


    ¡ªFuck it really was the highlight hahaha


    ¡ªI thought he opened up a champagne bottle haha


    ¡ªLook at Yeon-Hoon crouched down on the ground in surprise aww


    ¡ªIt¡¯s my first time seeing our Hyun-Sung so surprised lol


    ¡ªhahaha wait hahahaha<i> oppa</i> looks so aloof and cold but acts like a clown hahaha


    Like this, the cooking process of the c fruit punch reached almost its end. While the energy was at its peak from Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s mentos c, Do-Seung, the c fruit punch ambassador, walked out by himself and said in a calm voice.


    ¡ªNow we just have to add the cocktail fruits and the ice and stir them together.


    ¡ªDon¡¯t pretend like it¡¯s a normal meal now lol


    ¡ªI think our idols are crazy


    ¡ªWow, our ck cat Do-Seung was actually crazy


    ¡ªI can¡¯t imagine what a c fruit punch will taste like...


    After all that fuss, the cooking of this c punch was finally finished, and just in time¡ª


    ¡ªUm, we also finished our c<i> jjimdak</i>. Haha.


    Only One also finished their <i>jjimdak</i>. One of the broadcast staff members captured the two dishes on one screen to show the finished dishes well, but...


    ¡ªThe braised chicken is too small!!


    ¡ªThe difference in portions between the two groups is almost twenty times??


    ¡ªThis is insane


    ¡ªSiren is insane. Do you like c fruit punch that much?


    The normal-sized steamed chicken of Only One lost its luster in front of the c fruit punch in the rubber basin. What followed next was tasting time.


    ¡ªAh, the chicken has been seasoned really well.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s good!


    ¡ªI wish I had a bowl of rice.


    Only One¡¯s braised chicken was well received by everyone. The next tasting menu was c fruit punch.


    ¡ªWill that be good?


    ¡ªHow does it taste??


    ¡ªIs it good??


    People wondered if the c punch would be delicious, and someone showed an intense reaction to satiate their curiosity.


    ¡ªNo, look at that, wow.


    Only One¡¯s Kim Ju-Hyun took a bowl of c fruit punch and ate it and his whole body shook.


    ¡ªWhat, it¡¯s that good??


    ¡ªJu-Hyun, you like it that much?


    ¡ªWhat hahahahahaha Is that really good?


    Kang Do-Seung sat in front of the camera, grabbed a c fruit punch, and seriously dived into a <i>mukbang*</i> with 100% sincerity. [1]


    ¡ªIn this menu, this c¡¯s carbonation has a taste that cider can¡¯t ever imitate.


    ¡ªThe vor of c permeates between the watermelon pulp...


    ¡ªThebination of carbonated soda popping in your mouth with water is...


    ¡ªMake sure to make this at home. I swear, it¡¯s definitely worth it.


    The chat window turned upside down once again as he closed his eyes and seriously savored the c fruit punch.


    ¡ªhahahahahaha isn¡¯t he seriously crazy hahahaha


    ¡ªplease stop this c fruit punch madman


    ¡ªour cool cat was actually a c fruit punch fanatic


    Afterward, there was a scene where the Siren members put the c fruit punch in a bowl and passed it to all the staff. The camera didn¡¯t capture the staff eating, but the sounds from outside the screen were clearly audible.


    ¡ªWow, this is really good...!


    ¡ªThis is amazing?


    At these reactions, people began typing away again.


    ¡ªThis isn¡¯t a prank video, right?


    ¡ªI think I¡¯m trapped in a c fruit punch universe


    ¡ªI should try making it once.


    After that, there was a one-hour-long broadcast where the Siren and Only One members chatted with the viewers while eating. The setting was different from when cooking, as the production staff brought chairs and held one tablet per team to speed up reading the chat. Both teams continued to safely broadcast live without making any controversial remarks.


    ¡ªThest person to get up in the morning is¡ª


    ¡ªIt¡¯s Park Dong-Jun without question.


    ¡ª...Yeah, that¡¯s right.


    ¡ªI guess there¡¯s no such thing as privacy here.


    ¡ªJu-Hyun usually cooks breakfast or Hyun-Sung sometimes gets us sandwiches after his jogs early in the morning.


    Each team released TMIs that usually came up on live broadcasts. By the time we talked about all the things that we could talk about, the broadcast was over.


    ¡ªSee you next time~


    ¡ªBye~


    ¡ªIt was fun!


    ¡°Wow, that was really fun.¡± It was only then that Siren¡¯s fans took their eyes off the screen and looked at the ceiling. Because she had been so focused on the screen, her eyes were blurry. She habitually entered Bluebird and checked how much today¡¯s v-live was talked about today. She hoped that Siren¡¯s fans would increase through this V-live today.


    ¡ªReal-time ranking


    ¡ª1. Kang Do-Seung c fruit punch. 12, 646 tweets


    ¡ª2. Siren Fruit Punch 10,426 tweets


    ¡ª3. Kang Hyun-Sung in uniform 9,879 tweets


    Bluebird¡¯s real-time ranking was filled with topics about today¡¯s live broadcast.


    * * *


    The live broadcast was over. I did everything to grab people¡¯s attention like putting mentos in cs and bringing the rubber basin. Thanks to those efforts, we took all the share of the chat window throughout the cooking process; we ate up the V-live to the point where I felt a bit sorry for Only One. Of course, when we were reading the chat in the second half, we lost our monopolization of views to Only One, but it was not a situation where we were pushed back either. Perhaps thanks to all of my efforts¡ª


    [Mission sess.]


    [Reward will be given.]


    [Control over Insight has increased.]


    With the mission¡¯s sess, my control of Insight has been strengthened.


    [Please beware as there may be temporary pain.]


    As before, the pain began.


    1. Eating show ?

 Chapter 113

    <h4>Chapter 113</h4>


    [Mission sess.]


    [Reward will be given.]


    [Control over Insight has increased.]


    [Please beware as there may be temporary pain.]


    As it had always been, my reward was followed by a piercing pain, and I braced myself. I thought I would be used to this pain by now, but...that wasn¡¯t the case.


    <i>¡®Hmph!¡¯</i> It hurt as much as when I first got the Insight ability. At that time, it felt as if a nervous system that I hadn''t been aware of was punctured with holes, but now, it felt as if that punctured path was getting shed all around. Fortunately, I had prepared myself beforehand, and I lowered my head not to show how pained I was and bit my lips. I held onto anything next to me and endured. I was grateful that the broadcast was over, as it would¡¯ve caused a huge fuss otherwise. Everyone in the chat box would¡¯ve been asking if I was crying and so on otherwise.


    <i>Sigh.</i> I slowly breathed in and exhaled. The pain subsided gradually and the sensation that felt as if my body was getting shed disappeared.


    ¡°<i>Haaa.</i>¡± I breathed in and out once more and the pain dispersed.


    ¡°Please let go of my arm now, Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    I looked up and saw Kang Hyun-Sung talking to me. It was then I realized that what I had grabbed to endure the pain was Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s arm of all things.


    <i>¡®I can¡¯t believe it...¡¯</i> I thought.


    ¡°My blood isn¡¯t circting,¡± he told me.


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry.¡± I loosened my grip and pulled away. After feeling that each of my fingers was stiff, I realized that I must have grabbed Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s arm extremely tightly. Yet, Kang Hyun-Sung remained calm without much change of expression. I didn¡¯t know whether he was numb to pain or he endured it, but I was about to apologize when Kang Hyun-Sung asked.


    ¡°Are you feeling sick?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked first.


    ¡°...No.¡±


    ¡°You seemed to be in pain.¡±


    ¡°...No, I just be like this sometimes when my blood pressure is low,¡± I just made up any excuse that came to my mind. There was no better excuse than low blood pressure for a perfectly fine person to suddenly falter and grab a nearby person¡¯s arms.


    ¡°You should monitor your blood pressure well. It can be seriouster.¡±


    ¡°...Yes, thank you.¡± I had nned to apologize, but the conversation ended with Kang Hyun-Sung expressing his worries about me.


    ¡°Good job on your live broadcast~¡±


    ¡°Good job~¡±


    Then while cleaning up the site, the<i> Showcase</i> staff announced, ¡°Episode 5 is going to air today so please watch it at that time~¡±


    Hearing this, I realized, ¡®<i>Oh yeah. Today was episode 5¡¯s release date.¡¯</i> I had been so focused on the shooting that I forgot about it. The current time was 5:30 p.m.


    <i>¡®There¡¯s only thirty minutes left until the show airs.¡¯ </i>Half an hour was an ambiguous time to do anything. The shooting site today took ce in Gyeonggi-go and it would be difficult to arrive at our lodging ce in such a short time whatever we did.


    <i>¡®I guess we should watch it on our way to our ce in the car,¡¯</i> I thought and also packed my belongings.


    ¡°Should we watch the episode altogether?¡± Yeon-Hoon then suddenly proposed.


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Sounds good!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡±


    ¡°Since we don¡¯t have any more things on our schedule, wouldn¡¯t it be good for all of us to watch it together?¡± Yeon-Hoon said and all the Only One members and my group members agreed. I thought Do-Seung wouldn¡¯t like stuff like this, but he seemed to be looking forward to it too.


    <i>¡®What?</i>¡¯ Everyone appeared so eager to make friends that I wondered how they had been able to hold back until now.


    ¡°Since there isn¡¯t enough time before the episode airs, should we watch it together here?¡± Yeon-Hoon suggested.


    ¡°But don¡¯t we have to empty out this shooting site?¡± I asked. Our shooting site was set up to look like a ssroom. It was only right for us to clear the area when our time of use was over.


    It was then, Park Soo-Chul suddenly approached us and asked, ¡°Are you all going to watch the show together here?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes! I thought it would be good since we are all here!¡±


    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you all use this space to watch and go? Since I reserved this space until night-time 12 am, it will be fine.¡±


    ¡°Really? Thank you!¡±


    ¡°No problem~ I hope you all have fun~¡± Park Soo-Chul said and left, leaving a ce for all of us to watch the show together.


    ¡°This is great. Don¡¯t you think so, Tae-Yoon?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked me with a bright smile on his face, and I replied after a pause. ¡°...Yes, it¡¯s nice.¡±


    I thought I could watch the showfortably on my way back home, but it appeared I had no choice but to ufortably watch it here. I could be more ufortable because of the show¡¯s content or because of this entire environment where we would all have to watch the show together.


    <i>¡®It feels like everyone wants to make friends except for me,</i>¡¯ I thought. Though I wasn¡¯t pleased with the situation, I didn¡¯t want to ruin the mood just because of me.


    And thus, we went to get permission from Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna first.


    ¡°So, you all want to see the episode here together?¡±


    ¡°Of course, you can~ Then, we will go eat somewhere nearby ande back. Do you want us to buy you guys anything?¡±


    ¡°No, we will just find things to eat ourselves.¡±


    ¡°We will contact you both right after the show ends!¡±


    We got our permission without many problems. But when the Only One members went to their manager to ask if they could stay to watch the show, they got quite a different response.


    ¡°Ah, I said no! Why do I have to repeat myself! Why do you guys have to annoy me so much?¡±


    Unlike us, who easily got permission, the Only One members heard quite an earful from their manager.


    <i>¡®Are they fighting?¡¯ </i>Park Young-Ho, who went to ask the manager as the representative of the group, seemed to be just getting one-sidedly scolded. Though my members and I were shocked by the loud scolding, the one who seemed to be the most upset was Only One. They were probably surprised to hear their request get denied after thinking it would easily get epted.


    ¡°I will go to check the situation,¡± Kang Hyung-Sung said.


    Kang Hyun-Sung clearly received different treatment. The manager, who had been sitting cross-legged, stood up straight, but his eyes looked more hostile than before.


    ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked.


    ¡°I already told you all that we needed to return to the dormitory after the shooting is over. Why aren¡¯t you following the schedule?¡±


    ¡°Is returning to our rooms also part of the schedule? And will it be such a big problem for us to return after seeing the new episode?¡±


    ¡°Haa...Can¡¯t you guys just not do it when I tell you ¡®no¡¯?¡±


    ¡°If you aren¡¯t satisfied with the situation, you can leave first.¡±


    ¡°Then, what happens if you guys get into an ident or something? Are you going to take responsibility? Hm? Will you?¡±


    I wondered why the two¡¯s rtionship appeared so strained, and the manager¡¯s eyes were full of aggression as if he was brimming with pent-up anger. Kang Hyun-Sung spoke calmly, but his atmosphere was also cold, and he appeared clearly angry.


    ¡°Yes, I will take responsibility. I will also give you the taxi fee. You can leave after giving us the car keys.¡±


    ¡°No, how can I just trust you?¡±


    ¡°Then, what is it that you want?¡±


    ¡°I want all of us to leave by car. That was the n in the first ce.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s 5:30 p.m., right? ording to the original schedule, the shooting was supposed to end at 8 p.m. If we are perfectly going ording to schedule, we shouldn¡¯t leave right now.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because we came up with a long time frame with dys in mind.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I suggested you to leave first. I will give you the taxi fee.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not the problem.¡±


    The two¡¯s rtionship clearly didn¡¯t seem normal between a manager and a singer. It was as if they were wary of each other and wanted to get into a fight. I wondered why they were acting like this when Only One had the final performance soon, and they should be supporting each other more than ever.


    <i>¡®Ah, that¡¯s right. Their situation is different from ours.</i>¡¯ I immediately understood why the manager was behaving like this. If Only One won <i>The Showcase 2</i>, theirpany will change from TH Entertainment into a jointpany. From TH Entertainment¡¯s position, they probably didn¡¯t want Only One to win the show and were probably talking amongst themselves about what they could do to prevent that scenario.


    Yet, since the Only One members seemed to have no intention of giving up the first spot, thepany was probably angry at them; and as a result, Kang Hyun-Sung and the manager must have gone through some conflict over time. Though I understood the manager¡¯s position, this was going too far.


    <i>¡®Even if that was the case, there¡¯s no need for the manager to show this kind of attitude. He¡¯s crossing the line,¡¯</i> I thought. <i>¡®He¡¯s just releasing his stress on them. This is a problem with his personality.¡¯</i>


    ¡°Ah, let¡¯s just go. Quickly get in the car,¡± The manager said while taking the car keys and leaving the shooting set. With the car key in the manager¡¯s hands, there was no choice but Only One to follow the manager¡¯s words. Of course, there was still the option of returning to their ce by riding a taxi but that would ce them in unnecessary danger. If I were in the same situation as Kang Hyun-Sung, I would¡¯ve been angry by the situation too. Maybe I would¡¯ve cursed too if no one was looking.


    <i>¡®But I guess he has to endure.¡¯</i> One couldn¡¯t just live ording to their emotions. Kang Hyun-Sung stared at the manager, who was leaving for a bit and then, walked back toward us.


    ¡°Unfortunately, it seems like we can¡¯t watch the show together. Good work on today¡¯s shooting. Hope you guys have a safe trip back home,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung told us.


    <i>Tap.</i> He was about to leave when I grabbed Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s arm without meaning to.


    ¡°...What are you doing?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me astounded.


    ¡°Ah.¡± Even I didn¡¯t know why I was acting like this. I was the one who thought it was bothersome to watch the show altogether and felt ufortable by the situation. But now that Only One was leaving, I wanted to hold them back.


    <i>¡®Maybe I am feeling a sense of camaraderie with them,¡¯ </i>I thought. Perhaps, I empathized with their situation of being stuck in a badpany too.


    In the end, I said, ¡°I forgot to say I''m sorry for grabbing you. Be careful on your way back.¡± Then, I let go of his arm. Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me strangely and took the rest of his members to the car. Thus, only us, Ms. Seung-Yeon, and Ms. Hyuna remained on the site.


    ¡°Wow, that was really scary.¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon was the first to speak.


    ¡°Yes, I didn¡¯t know there were still people who worked like that these days,¡± Ms. Hyuna said.


    ¡°So scary...¡±


    ¡°I suppose even Only One has their problems.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not easy.¡±


    ¡°That was frightening.¡±


    My members alsomented after Only One left.


    ¡°Then, should we also head back to our ce?¡±


    ¡°We can watch the show on our way with ourptops.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good~¡±


    Thus, we got in the car with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna. Only One seemed to have already left as their car was gone from the parking lot. And on our way back, I kept thinking about TH Entertainment.


    <i>¡®Even in the future, I only heard bad news about thepany.¡¯</i> Frankly, I had no reason to worry about Only One since my members¡¯ lives were on the line right now, and I had no leisure to care for others.


    <i>¡®....But their future could change with my interference.¡¯</i> Originally, Only One was <i>The Showcase¡¯s</i> winner but now, it was unclear who would be the final winner. If we won the show, Only One would have to remain in TH Entertainment, and Only One¡¯s future would change dramatically from the original future. My heart grew heavy, but my group members turned on theirptops and went into an OTT site.


    ¡°Did you turn on yourputer?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I connected it to the hotspot.¡±


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s watch it~¡±


    I also turned my head in the direction of theptop screen. It was slightly over 6 p.m. now. Themercials had already ended, and the show was about to start.


    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±


    ¡°I wonder how we will appear this time.¡±


    My members and I focused on the screen.


    <i>¡®Only One...hm,¡¯ </i>but even then, I wondered what would happen to Only One if we won.

 Chapter 114

    Chapter 114


    I thought about what would happen to Only One if we won. First of all, they wouldnt be able to gain the initial poprity they had before my regression.


    <em>They would have to walk a very long and difficult road. </em>Initial poprity for idols varied a lot depending on the agencys reputation but also depended a lot on the amount of investment they got in areas such as promotional expenses, album order fees, and production costs. If the agency saved money in any of these areas, it was most obvious in the album portion.


    In the world before I regressed, the reason why Only Ones debut album could sell more than 300,000 copies was because it was a product worth buying from the consumers perspective. However, the change in the initial debut album would probably be just one of the numerous changes that would ur due to my intervention.


    I was sure that many things would change- not just the initial debut album sales. Only One wouldnt be as sessful as they were before and wouldnt be able to enjoy life as luxuriously as they did before my regressions. My thoughts were about to continue, but


    <em>Stop.</em> I cut them off. This was not the time to worry about Only One. Even if Only One failed to win, their very lives were not at stake.


    <em>I need to win this show. </em>I had nowhere to step back, at least to protect Do-Seung. I remembered what Do-Seung from another world said to me.


    <em>I have to seed in the mission no matter what, at all costs </em>Even if I used cheap and dirty tricks, I needed to seed. My heart couldnt grow weak just because of my inner conscience, which had no clear shape or form. I strengthened my resolve and leaned my head forward.


    Episode 5 of <em>The Showcase 2</em> was starting. What they were going to air today was the thirdpetition, and it was thepetition we won.


    <em>We would definitely be the main characters.</em> Since Only One became the main character after winning the secondpetition in the previous episode, it was time for us to take back the main character role once again. And sure enough


    Oh!


    Wow!


    Tae-Yoons performance is so refreshing even after seeing it again.


    We were definitely the main characters in this episode.


    * * *


    Before the fifth episode of <em>The Showcase 2</em> aired, many heated conversations took ce on the inte. Only One and Sirens fandom was growing to be around the same size. Only One had Kang Hyun-Sung, who had more public recognition than everyone else by far, but the size of the core fandoms made up of dedicated fans was around the same size for both groups. Perhaps due to this factor, there were a lot of organized hatements about each group from the other party.


    Geez, I think Siren fans who say Woo Yeon-who is good at singing are seriously capping


    Am I the only one who thinks its sooo obvious that theyre so heavily filtered?


    Bong TY loooves women; hes like a dead fish usually but when he moves next to Nahyun, he suddenlyes alive


    Ah its so freaking hrious that they argue that Park Dong J is a vocalist, but hes bad at singing so he just dances and stays in the back


    Isnt this song giarized? It sounds simr to this song.


    There was no concrete evidence behind the maliciousments haters from each fandom were spreading about the other party. However, it was a fact that the two groups werepeting to win the final show. Furthermore, they were performing with a simr fandom size for the show, and the current public opinion could significantly determine the future of each group. As a result of all theseplex factors, there was evidence that a couple of malicious fans were showing signs of organized hate against their rival group.


    Whats wrong with these f**kers?


    Just move on and dont hate our idols for no reason


    Wow, our guys have really seeded now that theyre getting hate


    Wait, do you seriously think Only One can win if you act like this?


    Yeon-Hoon cant singhaha


    So much yapping about giarism because the chorus oveps a tiny bit


    However, Siren fans also moved systematically to block and address rumors attached to Siren.


    Ah, screw you. So who is in your idol group besides Kang Hyun-Sung?


    You guys at least know all our idols names  I dont know anyone except for Kang Hyun-Sung


    Reply: FR if not for Kang Hyun-Sung, they have nothing


    Rather, they attacked Only Ones fandom back. However, Only One and Siren showed no significant activities that could be open for criticism by both groups. Furthermore, all of these activities were carried out in the dark under secret ounts, so most of the consumers were unaware that such activities were happening.


    Like this, while an intense war of nerves between the two groups urred in the dark, episode 5 of <em>The Showcase 2</em> aired. The first start of episode 5 was to summarize the previous episodehow Only One won the secondpetition and how the secondpetition went. Peoples reaction to this poured out.


    Ah, Young-Ho crying is seriously my tear trigger.


    aww Only One, lets only walk on smooth and even paths pls


    The Only One fans reminisced about the previous performance.


    Our guys were really good too


    Please let them win first ce today (fingers crossed)


    Sirens fans had high hopes for the performance this round, and the following scene was the announcement of the third round of missions. People watched this scene with great interest. The third-roundpetition mission was already spoiled by those who were in the audience, but people only knew for sure once they saw it with their own eyes.


    No, it really is a joint mission fuck~


    Ah, just let them do their own thing


    Its not a special performance but the main performance is an alliance?


    So damn ridiculous


    Two different reactions poured out about the joint mission. One side questioned why the show was doing such a ridiculous and unnecessary mission. This side was mostly made up of heavy consumers, who had a high degree of loyalty to one group. However, other consumers, who didnt have a high degree of loyalty to one group and were mostly just interested in the show, weed this mission.


    Wow, am I finally going to see Kang Hyun-Sung and Bong Tae-Yoon together? Crazy


    Our country ppl really love mixing things here like bibimbap lol


    Its already getting interesting fr


    People who were tired of the set atmosphere for each group and performance thought that the joint mission was a nice change. The next scene was when Kang Hyun-Sung forced Bong Tae-Yoon into his team, and the reactions to that were as follows:


    What hahaha why is Kang Hyun-Sung so obsessed with Bong Tae-Yoon?


    hahahaha it became a Tae-Yoon team w/out Tae-Yoon haha


    whats with the producers and hosts who allowed this lol


    he looks like he lost his country (Bong Tae-Yoons soul leaving his body after losing rock-paper-scissors.gif)


    So spill the tea, whats their rtionship?


    The light consumers of the program seemed to enjoy theedy created by the program.


    Ah damn it, Ive been skipping Siren cause that Bong whatev has no charm or charisma whatsoever


    Hyun-Sung, my man, please get to your senses


    Ah, why the hell is he doing that?


    Did the producers make him do that? It doesnt make any sense


    However, the heavy consumers reacted badly to this situation.


    What, is there a problem with Kang Hyun-Sungs personality?


    Damn Tae-Yoon seems seriously pissed


    If I stepped forward to perform with the members and worked hard to gather them all but someone just pulled that shit on me, Ill be he mad too


    No, this is just too damn unreasonable. Why the heck is he doing this?


    Sirens fans used Kang Hyun-Sung of trolling, and Only One fans criticized Bong Tae-Yoon for hisck of talent. However, regardless of these reactions, the broadcast continued. Each team was divided into three, and there were scenes of them practicing. They also showed scenes where members said their ideas one by one and began forming their stage. The notable scenes during this process were Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joons trolling. However, in the show, they were edited as suffering from poor conditions rather than outright trolling.


    Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon are the ones who quit the program, right?


    Reply: yeah, they quit in the middle cause they couldnt handle it anymore


    How on earth can theye up with such a bizarre idea?


    Reply: ites up in the show that they werent feeling well


    Although they were losers who caused trouble for others while trying to lead the performance and quit after fighting each other, they were portrayed somewhat differently on the show. It was because the conflict between the show''s participants was not very beneficial to the overall storyline, and if the production crew released Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joons trolling as it was, it would cause a bad controversy instead of a hot buzz.


    In the broadcast, they were portrayed as slightly dumb side characters 1 and 2, who gave out weird ideas because their condition and mentality werent good. Scenes, where they sighed deeply and said they werent usually like this in interviews, helped support this narrative. Of course, the interviews they used werepletely taken out of context. The editing repeated that Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon were in a bad mental state or condition throughout the broadcast.


    Damn, they just left because they went through a mental breakdown


    But its understandable in a survival program


    Onebyone is over at this rate


    How can they perform with only three members?


    The production crew seeded in giving a reasonable exnation for Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joons departure, which actually happened out of the blue. In the process, the scene where Bong-Tae-Yoon roasted them with facts waspletely edited out.


    On the other hand, if one picked a few of the main scenes that were highlighted in the training camp, the first one would bethe opening scene when Siren overslept and was the only one in shabby practice clothes.


    Why is only Sirens outfit 100% real lol


    did they reallye out straight from bed?


    hahaha they really overslept and only had time to wash their faces lol


    But because they all have good proportions, they still look cool


    wait haha dont put our guys next to Only One noooo they went all out in their outfits


    And another highlight scene was when Kang Hyun-Sung stood at the center and performed during the midterm checkup.


    Hyun-Sung is the center?


    Hyun-Sung is acting cutesy?


    Ah noooIm swooning


    Why does Hyun-Sung look so seductive when making a cute expression? Is that normal?


    Reply: Beep. Thats normal


    Cute sexyI think Ive opened my eyes to a new world?


    Yet, in the end, two other scenes drew the most attention.


    What lol why is Bong Tae-Yoon so good at random y dance haha


    There are times when he honestly looks possessed and its seriously insane


    Is he really a madman hahaha whaaaaat


    I think I might throw up fromughing too muchseriously, pls stop


    First was Bong Tae-Yoons Random y Dance.


    That''s crazy, are these two a match made in heaven?


    Those two got 18 by themselves?


    They didnt n it beforehand, right?


    And the second was Kang Hyun-Sung and Bong Tae-Yoons One Voice.


    lol there was a reason why Kang Hyun-Sung was obsessed with getting Bong Tae-Yoon as a team member haha


    Reply: he was driven by instincts


    Reply: but even then, Tae-Yoon has no stage presence


    Reply: Fuck get out of here. No need for useless hate


    These scenes were the ones that received the most attention. The practice scenes that came out afterward passed by quickly, and it moved on to the day of thepetition. In a way, the main event was thepetition scene, but there were too many scenes that could be called highlights in the training camp.


    At this rate, thepetition might be boring inparison.


    Ah, but todays episode was legendary lol


    I keep thinking of Bong Tae-Yoons random y dance


    So naturally, people had no choice but to worry about the performances while looking forward to it at the same time, as the production crew might have focused too much on the beginning of the episode. However, Park Soo-Chul and the other production crew were professionals, and they wouldnt make such an amateurish mistake. As if to prove that all the viewers concerns were unfounded, the real high point of the episode was thepetition. No, to be more urate, it was with Bong Tae-Yoon<em> after</em> thepetition.

 Chapter 115

    Chapter 115


    <em>The Showcase</em> producers, including Park Soo-Chul, monitored the episode while sitting in the broadcast meeting room. Since this was thest episode before the final performance, they needed to all look at the responses together. Furthermore, they had nned a special two-hour episode before the finals. The part they were currently watching was when the idols were beginning their training camp with their new team members.


    The responses are good.


    Really?


    Though theres a variety of responses in the end, I think it would all lead to the show getting attention.


    Thats good.


    It felt as if they were really riding on the high tide with this episode, but they werent satisfied by just this. It was clear that there was no other survival program that amassed this level of poprity at this time, but they wanted this show to be more than just a popr survival program early in the year. They wanted it to be memorable as one of the greatest variety programs of this entire year. And for them to achieve that, they still needed to amass more attention. Park Soo-Chul looked at the screen while rubbing his palms.


    Let me see how much more traffic we would get today.


    We need todays episode to do well so that people wont say that we are losing steam towards the final.


    We would only be able to tellter.


    Park Soo-Chul and the other producers stared at the screen half-expectantly and half-worriedly. After some time passed and the episode ended, Kim Min-Young and the other writers in the group quickly surveyed the inte to amass peoples responses. It didnt take long for them to gauge the general response, and seeing this, Park Soo-Chul said, It became viral.


    Yes.


    That night, <em>The Showcase 2</em>s producers quietly dwelled on their massive sess.


    ***


    Even from the beginning of episode 5, clips that couldve been considered the highlight of an episode yed one after the other before the performances. Yet, at this point, many were concerned.


    First of all, viewers worried that because all the best parts were focused on the beginning of the episode, thetter part would be looser and more boring. Second, public sentiments could grow sour because the set-up of the team alliances was already one that Siren and Only One fans werent pleased about, and anything could rile them up in their sensitive states. Lastly, there was concern that the shows momentum toward the finals could break if the quality of the third-round performances was weak.


    With a single misstep, a program that was doing well could break down at its highlight. Yet, these concerns began to be washed away as the team-alliance performances began, and the team centered around Sirens group started first. From the very beginning, the screen was zoomed into Yeon-Hoons face and made the fans scream.


    His face isnt real


    I literally screamed while watching this.


    Yeon-Hoon is killing it


    This guy is seriously crazy


    Is he a peach or a human? *sob*


    Yet, the performance went far beyond just having visuals but also showcased each of the members charms.


    Did Kang Do-Seung write the song again?


    Reply: Yes and Lee Woon also came up with the choreography


    How could guys like them be in WD Entertainment?


    Are they really from a smallpany?


    As they had been throughout thepetition, people were surprised by the quality of Sirens self-produced performance.


    Park Dong-Juns voice is so good.


    Dong-Jun, my cute puppy :(


    Lee Woons dancing is seriously no joke


    Do-Seung stands out as the only tough-looking guy


    Reply: I know its so true lol


    But the most notable moment of the performance was, unarguably, Woo Yeon-Hoon singing the high notes at the highlight of the song.


    ?? Did you all hear Yeon-Hoon sing the high note?


    Yeon-Hoon went so high


    What the hell?


    I got out of my chair in shock


    What is this kid?


    Was he always this good at singing?


    Haha what happened to those haters who kept dragging Yeon-Hoon for not being good at singing?


    Though Yeon-Hoon was remembered as a member good at singing, people didnt know exactly how good he was. Nobody knew how high he could go, and most people had supposed that his singing would be just average among idol groups main vocals.


    I literally got chills while listening :0


    I thought there were ultrasoundsing out of his mouth


    What other main vocalist belts out high notes like that


    Wow, I think theres something heart-wrenching and exciting about Yeon-Hoons voice alone


    Now, many people were certain that Yeon-Hoons singing abilities were well above average main vocalists. Thus, this group was able to wash away many peoples concerns about <em>The Showcase 2</em>s fifth episode. But of course, there was a low point after a high, and Luminin''s team marked one of the shows lower points.


    So, who are these guys again?


    Reply: You are the worst hahaha


    I watched every episode of this show but it feels as if I have never seen these guys every time


    They are just normal bad


    Because this was a team alliance made up of the least popr members, they attracted harsh and colder responses. Furthermore, there was nothing unique about the performance and no skills that could make up for it.


    At the same time, the performance wasnt so shockingly bad that it left a memorable impression, so people quickly forgot their existence after it was over. It was to the point that even while Luminins team was performing, the social media feed was talking more about Sirens team. Then, as Luminins team came near the end, peoples attention shifted from Siren to the next team.


    Ah, so where is Bong Tae-Yoon


    Give us Hyung-Sung. I cant wait any longer


    They all wondered what Only Ones team would do. Only One fans had been shouting for this team toe out since the beginning of the episode and personal fans of Tae-Yoon or Sirens fans were asking where Tae-Yoon was after the first performance was over. Since the size of these fans was much higher than Luminins teams fans, social media pages only filled up with conversation about them. Thus, Luminins team''s performance ended without garnering much attention.


    They are finallying out


    I just finished preparing myself


    These are the guys to watch out for. Everyone who came out before cant evenpare! They are seriously crazy!


    Reply: Did you even watch the other teams performances?


    Reply: No, they are just crazy.


    Reply: What lol


    All sorts of tense responses poured out of social media feeds.


    Everyone who went to watch this performance keeps raving about Tae-Yoon


    Damn, how well did he do?


    Because I looked forward to it so much, Im going to curse it if its bad


    Reply: What the hell is wrong with you?


    Because this had been the performance so many audiences who had gone to see the show raved about, people were most curious about it. Of course, there were some who still made snide remarks.


    Is it true that Tae-Yoon has no charisma?


    Reply: I saw him in real life, and he has no stage presence or charm


    Fans who fuss over Tae-Yoon is trying to make something out of nothing


    But in the end, the majority of thements said otherwise, and as peoples attention reached its peak, the performance of Only Ones team began.


    School uniform?


    Damn, is Tae-Yoon in the center?


    Ha, this is it.


    Is this really Bong Tae-Yoon?


    Yet, the performance was shocking from beginning to end. Bong Tae-Yoon, who had been criticized for having no stage presence, was now standing on stage like apletely different person. He wore clothes fitting his age and made a cute smile, as he entered the beginning of the famous and refreshing song, "Never Mind".


    And because the Tae-Yoon that was currently on stage was so different from what the audience had seen before in previous performances, people forgot to type for a moment. Their responses were even more intense than when the camera zoomed into Yeon-Hoons face at the beginning of the performance.


    Ohh Tae-Yoon is killing me


    Lets all see each other at Cheongju women''s prison.


    Tae-Yoon please get a divorce


    I cant believe he is neen. What about our marriage?


    It gives me so much thrill when he smiles at the camera


    Ah, my heart aches


    People showed the most intense reaction they had ever given. Since the team alliance was centered around Only One, viewers naturally thought that the Only One members would get highlighted the most, but the people who showed the most intense responses came from Bong Tae-Yoons fandom.


    Tae-Yoon also does seriously hard dance moveshe really makes me want to marry


    Tae-Yoon is really like a wolfplease just marry me


    Of course, a lot of responses still came from Kang Hyun-Sungs fans and Only Ones entire fandom.


    See Hyun-Sung dancing (sob, sob)


    It really makes a difference when a person leads the practice and bnces everything out from the center


    However, the responses werent as heated because Only One and Kang Hyun-Sung had always done a good job while Tae-Yoon was suddenly showing a good performance after a series of bad ones. Yet, they didnt realize the fifth episodes highlight hadnt evene out yet.


    It was the part that Park Soo-Chul had carefully edited so that it came right at the perfect moment. It was the part when the performance ended, and everyone was handed a mike to promote themselves. Tae-Yoon seemed to think for a moment after taking the mike and then, he spat out the legendary phrase, <em>Please pick me nuna. </em>These words were followed by not just a scream but a roar from the audience.


    hahahahaha


    Look at how genuine the audiences responses are


    I can feel how happy they are by just the sound hahaha


    People seemed tough at this part the most, and it also created a great wave of responses.


    Please pick me nuna. Ahhh Please pick me nuna. Ahhh Please pick me nuna


    Hes like a character from a light novel


    Haathis is killing meI cant believe hes just neen


    I only heard about it from the rumors but hes truly evil


    Even people who had been watching the show casually became very invested in Tae-Yoon. Soon afterward, the ranking was decided.


    Siren is first ce?


    Wow, they finally did it


    They seeded in achieving the impossible


    Please pick me nuna Ahhh


    Reply: Gather your senses now haha


    People were overjoyed that Siren finally managed to get sole first ce and the responses were especially passionateing from the Sirens fandom side.


    Everyone, really great work!!!!


    They finally got first ce alone!!!


    I have so much to say but I will hold myself back congrattions guys!!


    Because Siren had narrowly missed first ce until now, everyone was exuberant about Sirens ranking. Sirens fans celebrated Sirens winning as if they were the ones who achieved first ce. Then afterward, the MVP of each team was announced, and then, around the time the episode was about to end, a line passed through the screen.


    We will see you all next week with a live broadcast of the final performances.


    It was a line that announced thest round of <em>The Showcase 2</em>s survival program. With it, episode 5 came to an end.

 Chapter 116

    Chapter 116


    Episode 5 of The <em>Showcase 2</em> ended. We were sitting in the dorm and watching TV together. Weve just finished the show, and if I summarized my review of it in one line, it would be


    <em>As expected, we are the main characters.</em> The episode was edited just as I expected. If I had oneint, it was that


    <em>Why did they emphasize the part I said nuna so much?'' </em>Park Soo-Chul, that bastard, sneakily emphasized my <em>nuna</em> part. People who watched it without much thought would just gloss over it, but anyone who directed or was in broadcasting would know his intentions. He lowered the surrounding sound and focused the screen to more clearly convey my pick me, <em>nuna</em> line.


    Mr. Bong <em>nuna</em>, how does it feel to be the real star of todays show?


    Stop it, Dong-Jun.


    Whats wrong Mr. Bong <em>nuna</em>? Isnt it great to be the main star, Mr. Bong <em>nuna</em>?


    The members kept making fun of me, and Dong-Jun kept calling me Mr. Bong <em>nuna</em>.


    Tae-Yoon! The aftermath of your<em> nuna</em>ment is no joke! Bluebird is going crazy right now! Yeon-Hoon, oblivious to how embarrassed I was, kept pushing Bluebirds feed to my face.


    Tae-Yoon, this is really good. Dont be so embarrassed. Woon sincerely consoled me, but I strangely felt more hurt. As for Do-Seung


    Wow, you really went all out that day. I feel this more now that Im watching it on the showYoure seriously tough. I didnt know exactly why, but he was admiring me.


    I sighed and said, This is painful.


    Theres nothing to be feel bad about! This is really amazing. Yeon-Hoon once again pushed the phone screen to my face as I was lowering my head down andmenting my circumstances. I tried not to see it, but I couldnt help seeing what was in front of my eyes.


    1-Bong Tae-Yoon 25,670 tweets


    ?


    Youre number one in the real-time rankings!


    What, why? What was happening to this country? I couldnt believe I was getting such a crazy reaction just because I said <em>nuna</em> once. I didnt know if the members were trying to tease me or really liked the reaction we got. Perhaps it was both.


    <em>I shouldnt have children.</em> I felt too ashamed to show this dark piece of history to my children, and I felt like my dignity as a father would plummet to the ground if they found out about this.


    <em>Sighhhh.</em>


    Why are you sighing? This is great for us~


    Even while my insides were burning into ashes, the members were smiling in glee. I thought I shouldnt react so strongly anymore. I lost myposure for a while and reacted excessively, so the members jumped at the chance and teased me with greater enthusiasm. I returned to my usual self and pretended to be calm.


    Ah, what? Its over? The first one to lose interest after I became calm was Dong-Jun. What did he mean by its over? I felt betrayed that he knew I was suffering yet still incessantly teased me. Thus, I endured the <em>nuna</em> teasing for a while, and before long, the members began to lose interest and get up one by one.


    Shall we clean up now? Woon got up first.


    Yeah, lets do that~


    Yeah. Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung also got up.


    For a second, I thought they might go to sleep like this, but that wasnt the case.


    Everyone, get changed ande down to the practice room~


    Yes~


    It was time for the final performance soon. We had to practice even if it took all night.


    * * *


    The Only One members, including Kang Hyun-Sung, were sitting in the living room of their dorm and watching the TV screen. Although the show was over, no one got up prematurely. There was only one reason for their behaviorit was because Siren became the main character of this episode.


    Pwehhh.


    Siren must be in a festive mood.


    I think they must be on a roll because they won first ce before the final.


    Before, everyone except for Kang Hyun-Sung were not deadset on winning first ce. However, after practicing with Kang Hyun-Sung and being gradually influenced by him, everyone was now willing to risk their lives to win first ce.


    Since Siren did a good job, I can understand why they won first ce, but we also did really well, Park Young-Ho said and swallowed the rest of his words in disappointment. He hadnt felt this disappointed on the day of thepetition, but now that they were heading to the finals, he couldnt help but feel regretful.


    While everyone was staring at the screen in sour disappointment, Kang Hyun-Sung turned off the TV screen and said, Theres nothing we can do about it. Lets stop thinking about this. Then he said, Lets go practice instead of wallowing in disappointment.


    Yes, sir!


    Haaa.


    Lets go practice~


    The Only One members got up from their seats and started getting ready to go practice. While the Only One members were changing into practice clothes, Kang Hyun-Sung took out a document envelope from the bookshelf in his room.


    TH Entertainment Artist Exclusive Contract


    It was an exclusive contract signed with TH Entertainment.


    Kang Hyun-Sung opened the document envelope and read the relevant uses one by one. He read the parts rted to the settlement fee and the contract maintenance period. After that, he read the agencys responsibilities and the legal repercussions they would face if they failed toply with them.


    When he first signed this contract, he believed that the person in charge was simply following the industrys standard contract; he was gullible and inexperienced enough to fall for those words then. However, after signing several contracts and experiencing what the industry was like directly, many parts of this contract caught his eye now, and he realized they were far from the norm.


    Hmm. Kang Hyun-Sung put the contract back into the envelope. Just in time, the Only One members finished changing their clothes. Kang Hyun-Sung also left his room after changing his clothes.


    * * *


    Our practice continued in preparation for the final performance. We had to make sure that the final performance was absolutely perfect this time. We kept having discussions about the song, choreography, and concept, and if we found even a slight improvement, we did not make excuses about running out of time and actively revised our n. Thus, every day was a struggle, and every day was a war against time. Moreover, though this was an obvious thing to say, we couldnt be tight on budget for the final performance.


    Dont worry about that!


    Well get the money no matter what!


    In response, Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon confidently reassured us and told us they would do the best they could. However, we were also well aware that there were realistic limitations to what we could receive from the agency.


    Thus, Yeon-Hoon was the first to suggest using his own money. This is the money I saved from all the holiday allowances I got since I was young! Dont worry about using it because I''ve never considered that as part of my assets.


    Although it was quite a lot of money for it to have been simply holiday allowances he had saved up since he was young, we couldnt reject his offer. After that, Do-Seung, Woon, and even I all pinched in a bit. The one who gave the biggest amount was


    Dont feel pressured~ I have a lot of money~ As expected, it was Dong-Jun. Thus, we secured a budget that was 2.5 timesrger than the performance budget weve been using so far. It was to the extent that Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were surprised and flustered by the amount of money weve collected so far. This was how serious we were about the final performance, and how much we were betting everything on this performance.


    Lets not spare any money on clothes or anything.


    I feel bad for not doing more, everyone


    Ill make sure to prepare thoroughlyso you guys wont becking anything this time.


    We wont waste a single penny.


    From costumes to props, we nned not to go cheap on anything. Time continued to pass like this and practice continued. We pushed ourselves to the limit so that even sleeping 4 hours a day was sleeping a lot. Eventually, our song and choreography werepleted, and even the costumes, concepts, and everything was decided.


    Like that, April 6th arrived. As of now, there were two days left before the final performance, which was scheduled for April 8th. We had just finished our afternoon practice and had a short break while leaning against the wall of the practice room.


    However, our break times were 10 minutes at most, and 10 minutes was only enough time to drink a ss of water. Since we were reaching our physical limit, everyone was just focused on resting without saying anything. It was because if we didnt rest properly for even 1 minute of the 10 minutes, it would affect the three-hour practice that followed.


    <em>Ziiing</em>


    Yeon-Hoons phone vibrated. We all turned our heads towards Yeon-Hoon without saying anything.


    <em>Sighh.</em> Ill check it guys, Yeon-Hoon said and picked up his phone. Frankly, everyone knew who contacted him. If Yeon-Hoon got a message in the middle of the day, there was a 90% chance it was from the broadcasting station. Judging by the timing, I was sure that it was


    Its the MVP perk, hahaIll take a screenshot and post it on the group chat. Its a text that tells me the location of the hotel and meeting time.


    <em>Sighhh.</em>


    Got it.


    Ill check it


    Sure enough, it was the hotel suite amodation that we received as the MVP perk during the thirdpetition. It was a reward that included a live broadcast and mention party (MP) event where we mentioned the fans tweets by replying to their questions. Hotels, live broadcasts, and MP were all nice, but the reason why we were so annoyed right now was that we didnt have enough time to practice.


    <em>Why the heck are they taking away practice time before the finals?</em> Although it was a perk that I wasnt super happy about in the first ce, it was a mere annoyance now.


    <em>Haa, so annoying. </em>Of course, since it was a reward we received during thepetition, it was natural for us to use it before thepetition was over. If so, I thought they would make us do it at the time that would raise the most buzz possible.


    <em>But I never expected them to call us the very day before thepetition.</em> I had hoped with all my heart that my prediction would be wrong this time.


    <em>Those bastards.</em> I swore and calmed myself down.


    One good thing is that they are going to reserve a practice room near the hotel. They said we can practice there ande to the hotel when we do a live broadcast or the MP.


    Wow, hahaha It seemed as if these production viins at least had a bit of conscience as they reserved a practice room near the hotel.


    <em>This is a relief.</em> It was an extremely small improvement that people, who were otherwise, totally inconsiderate of our schedules, did for us.


    Well, lets practice today and tomorrow as much as we can guys.


    Yes!


    Haaa...


    Lets raise our energy! Lets go!


    We turned on the music again and moved our bodies. Perhaps because weve been dancing nonstop while sacrificing our sleeping and eating time for the past few days


    <em>This ispossible? </em>Even without thinking, I reached the point where my body instinctively moved as soon as we heard the song. Yeah, this was good enough.


    <em>It would be okay to shorten the practice time for just one day</em>


    I was relieved for now.


    * * *


    The next day arrived. It was the day we had to go to the hotel and get the MVP perks. On this day, we woke up at 5 a.m. and practiced again because Woon suggested squeezing in a bit of practice time before heading to the hotel.


    Thinking that we had to practice again in the studio that the production staff reserved for us near the hotel, I thought, <em>This amount should be pretty good.</em>


    I thought we could practice enough not to be ashamed of the day before the finalpetition. After we finished practicing early in the morning and took a shower, we packed up and went down to the parking lot.


    Was it because it was the day before the final? Even though weve been practicing without sleeping properly for a few days,<em> Why dont I feel tired?</em>


    My condition was fine. I knew that my body was intentionally using all of its strength since I was under extreme stress; I thought that maybe everyone would fall sick after thepetition was over. However


    We wont be able to go to the practice room right away, right?


    Ah, the hotel. They should let us go after thepetition


    All of the members, including me, were anxious to practice more, even after overworking ourselves.


    <em>If we dont win after working this hard, the world has abandoned us then. </em>I sat in the car heading to the hotel and looked at the window of the car. I wondered how far Only One, our only serious rival, would have finished preparing for their stage by now. Considering Kang Hyun-Sungs personality, they probably practiced a simr amount of time as ours. Assuming that our practice amount was simr, the objective possibility of winning between us and Only One was


    <em>Its us. </em>Ours was higher. It wasnt that Only One was bad, and it wasnt because I was especially good. It was because my members were just straight-out talented, and our individual skills were greater than Only One''s. However, I had no idea how the performance would carry out until the final day, and there were always many external variables to consider in broadcasting. Therefore, I didnt lower my guard and stayed focused.


    <em>Ziiing</em>


    The phone vibrated.


    <em>Whats this?</em> I wondered who contacted me.


    Do you have time tonight?


    I opened my phone and saw that I got a very suspicious messagefrom Kang Hyun-Sung.

 Chapter 117

    Chapter 117


    Producer Park Soo-Chul surveyed the practice room and the hotel. Since the practice room wasnt sponsored, he didnt need to mind it much, but the hotel was part of a PPL deal. Thus, he needed to pay more attention to the location of the camera and the lights. Truthfully, he wasnt the type to put more care into shooting just because something was sponsored. He just did what he usually did and pretended to check up on theposition and whatnot for show.


    Please put great care into this hotel shooting~ The investment made in this hotel is no joke. Yet, the manager in charge of sponsorship deals for the production of the program had been clinging to his side and pestering him all day long on how he needed to do a good job.


    He wouldve done a good job anyway if left alone, and this pestering only made him unwilling to shoot the product cement. But Park Soo-Chul knew he couldnt do a shoddy job since this was his work, and it was true that the programs budget significantly widened thanks to this hotelmercial.


    <em>I should just go along with him. </em>Thus, it was worth listening to all the managers badgering.


    I think the bed sheets are slightly tilted here. Could you hold onto this~? Themercial manager went around the room wondering if there was any nook and canny he could nitpick about. Everything was fine up to this point, and all the managers actions could be excused as a man very passionate about his job. Yet, when this passion went overboard, a person could easily be a nuisance.


    But are you really sure you cant show the hotels logo for a bit when Siren and Only One do their live broadcast? Thats so disappointing, themercial manager asked and continued, When idols do their live broadcast, they usually have ten and hundred-thousands ofments rushing in from social media sites. I think it will have a really goodmercial effect if they also show the hotel logo


    I already said we cant, Park Soo-Chul said firmly like he didnt want to hear more. It wasmon formercial managers to ask for their products to be shown more, so he exined calmly, I told you we couldnt do that because it could put the cast members at risk. If people can pinpoint which hotel they are at and trespass into the site, are you going to take responsibility? The day before the final performance?


    All right. I just wanted to ask.


    I will show what hotel they stayed at and what they did while they were here in another special episode. I guarantee that you will be satisfied with the results so that you will think its money well spent. After Park Soo-Chul exined further, themercial manager backed away a bit.


    Okay. You will send us the special episode so that we can confirm it before it airs, right?


    Yes. Dont worry.


    Park Soo-Chul thought the conversation was over at this point when themercial manager spoke again, Ah, there is something else that I also want to ask, but this is a personal question rather than a work-rted one.


    Yes, what is it this time?


    Who do you think will win this show?


    Park Soo-Chul didnt answer and kept his lips sealed. It wasnt because it was a difficult question to answer but because he had heard it so many times.


    I think I heard someone ask me that question already a hundred times today.


    So, what did you answer every time?


    Are you curious?


    Are you confident that you will get it right?


    I am. This is the program I made.


    Ohh~ Themercial manager approached closer to hear him with eager eyes when Park Soo-Chul answered ndly, Only One.


    Really?


    Yes.


    <em>Why</em> Only One?


    Why? Are you a fan of Siren or something? Park Soo-Chul asked.


    No, thats not it. I was just wondering why you sounded so certain.


    Ah, its not for some big reason.


    Then, for what reason?


    I usually ce my vote on the losing team in bets like this.


    Doesnt that mean you think Siren has a higher possibility of winning?


    Thats true.


    Themercial manager made a surprised face upon hearing this. The main producers choice was Only One, but the winning team was Siren.


    In the end, Park Soo-Chuls words could be interpreted like this:


    Arent you just saying that you dont know who will win in the end?


    Hahaha! Park Soo-Chul simplyughed in response and gave no other answer.


    ***


    In the morning, at 9 am, we arrived at the hotel where our live broadcast and MP would begin. Perhaps, because it was a benefit of winning MVP for thest rounds performance, they didnt give us just any cheap prize.


    <em>No wonder they call this a special benefit.</em> Though it wasnt one of the most famous hotels in the nation, it was still a five-star hotel increasing in poprity among the young generation; and the exterior of the ce was much trendier and more artistic than other hotels. Yet, our minds were upied by other matters.


    How far is this ce from the practice room?


    About 10 minutes by walking.


    Haa. Thats good.


    What a relief.


    Thats enough for us to go back and forth.


    The only thing on our minds was practicing. Our current situation was the same as a family going on a vacation right before the entrance exams; no, in some ways, it was worse since this event was bigger than the entrance exams it was the final performance of <em>The Showcase 2</em>.


    <em>Haaa.</em> I sighed while looking up at the hotel. If I couldnt escape this, I thought I should enjoy it. But it was true that this event was more bothersome than not. As we stood in the lobby, waiting for <em>The Showcase 2</em> staff, the camera director and writer approached us at the perfect time.


    We are attaching your mikes now!


    You guys came here earlier than we expected.


    Then, with our mikes on, we waited for the staff. The youngest writer walked towards the hotel lobby and brought us the card keys.


    This is the card key. We will send you information about using subsidiary facilities through textter.


    We didnt have to go to the front desk to get more information and moved right to the 24th floor. I had been anxious and annoyed when I first came to the hotel, but now that I was finally on the elevator, I began to look forward to how the hotels suite room would look like.


    This is kind of exciting, isnt it? Dong-Juns words broke all of the tenseness we were feeling, and my members expressions instantly rxed. Their minds had been full of thoughts about practice, but it seemed they thought this could be a great breath of fresh air.


    It really makes you excited now that we are here.


    Its my first time using a suite room.


    Yes, we should try to enjoy ourselves now that we are here.


    Eventually, the elevator stopped at the 24th floor, and we went inside the room written on the card key. I opened the door and went inside, and everyone couldnt close their mouths.


    ?


    What?


    Oh my gosh.


    Wow.


    Even a born-rich person like Dong-Jun stiffened for a bit at the sight. I didnt know whether it was for the show, but the curtain was wide open when we entered, and the overwhelming view of downtown Seoul greeted us.


    The view is insane!


    Furthermore, there was a giant living room, a spacious king-size bed, and two single beds for two more people to sleep on. Continuing on, there was a giant tub, sofa, and tables that looked very high quality, and every other piece of furniture seemed to show the peak of capitalism. I was aware that a suite room included a living room and bedroom, but this was way above my expectations.


    <em>But this is why money is so great</em> Not all hotels were the same.


    This is a really nice suite room among hotel suite rooms Even Dong-Jun reaffirmed the fact that this was one of the nicest hotel suite rooms. It was amazing that our first suite room experience would be so high standard.


    <em>It just unnecessarily raised our standards, </em>I thought about how we would be disappointed when going to other hotels from now on.


    This ce is great for taking selfies! Yeon-Hoon had already gotten in front of the window to take selfies.


    The bed is so soft. Do-Seung checked the softness of the bed.


    The smell is so nice! Woon sniffed the faint fragrance wafting across the room.


    What''s there for room service? As expected, Dong-Jun was interested in food the most.


    Hey!


    Ah! I didnt order anything! I just want to see what''s on it! Yet, Dong-Jun was soon scolded by Do-Seung. And while we all admired the hotel room in our own ways, all five of our cell phones rang. This meant that there was a notice that we all needed to check. Thus, we all stopped what we were doing to check the phone and saw that there wasnt much to the messages content.


    We have to do MP from 3 p.m. in individual order, and our live broadcast at 7 p.m.


    Each team only does MP for 1 hour?


    How long were you nning to do the MP?


    I thought around five hours sounded good.


    Oh


    Todays ''mention party'' took ce in <em>The Showcase 2</em>s Bluebird ount. OnebyOne would do their MP from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., Only One from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., and we would do ours from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. After 7 p.m., we would begin our live broadcast.


    We had already gone over potential issues,nguage choice, and other factors we should be careful about in MP or live broadcasts from Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna. It seemed like we wouldnt have any problems if we kept those rules.


    Then, should we head to the practice room after unloading our stuff?


    Yes~


    Lets go~


    Lets practice~


    It seemed everyones excitement died down after seeing the messages. Thus, we quickly organized our area and moved to go to the practice room. I also unloaded my belongings and followed my members outside. Since the live broadcast started from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., we still had seven more hours to practice.


    <em>I suppose it will be all right,</em> I thought. It was a good amount of practice since we couldnt go too overboard right before the final performance. I was rehearsing the movements inside my head when we met Only One in the hallway.


    Oh?


    Wow!


    Hello!


    Did you juste in?


    My members shared a friendly greeting with Only One.


    Ah, yes, we just arrived.


    Did you all finish your room tour?


    Yes! We are going to practice now.


    I see. Good luck with your practice!


    Good luck!


    Perhaps, it was because they had quickly gotten close to Only One from thestmercial shooting, but my members and Only One all exchanged greetings very naturally. I was the one who felt out of ce.


    <em>I didnt reply to the text message.</em> I felt especially ufortable because I still hadnt replied to Kang Hyun-Sungs text. And as expected, Kang Hyun-Sung kept staring at me, but it wasnt like I didnt reply on purpose. I just missed my chance after reading it. At this point, I regretted seeing the message in the first ce.


    Reply, Mr. Tae-Yoon.


    ?


    Reply?


    What is he talking about?


    And to my surprise, this crazy guy brought it up in front of other people.


    Yes, I will do that, I replied. Then, the Only One members said, Lets see each other at night time then, and moved to their rooms. Then, my group members asked me out of curiosity.


    What <em>reply</em>?


    Did you talk about something with Senior Hyun-Sung?


    Its nothing. We just say hi sometimes, I replied quickly and looked around. My group members epted the response, and I nned to send my reply while waiting in the elevator. I nned to say no to his invitation to meet upter since I had to go to practice and manage my condition. As a result, I had no time to meet up with him.


    <em>What? </em>But it was then I noticed that I got another message from Kang Hyun-Sung. It seemed he sent it while I wasnt looking at my phone.


    I have something to tell you, soe out tonight.


    <em>What does he mean?</em>


    This was suspicious. I didnt know whether he was trying to trick me or really had something to tell me. I felt conflicted, but the only answer I could type was:


    Okay. I will be there.

 Chapter 118

    Chapter 118


    <em>I have something to tell you, soe out tonight </em>I kept thinking about the text Kang Hyun-Sung sent me as I went down the elevator. It was a sentence that felt fishy at first nce. Moreover, since I received this text on the day before the final performance, I couldnt help but feel more suspicious about it.


    <em>What the hells up with this dude? </em>Considering the stories I heard from himst night while we were inside the jacuzzi before, Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to have a connection inside <em>The Showcase 2</em>. However, rather than an unfair connection that reeked of corruption, it seemed more like a connection he made while working in showbiz. Anyway, I was sure that he had more information than the other contestants, and if it was to the extent that he was calling me on the day before the final


    <em>Does he have something to tell me? </em>It might be to deliver information like before.


    <em>Theres no particr informationIm curious about. </em>I had already watched this show in the future. I already roughly knew the history and behind-the-scenes of this show, and I probably had more information than Kang Hyun-Sung. But even then


    <em>I should go out. </em>Since I didnt know what he had to say, I thought it was only right that I should head out. However, I had an ominous feeling that Kang Hyun-Sung might be trying to give me false information.


    <em>What if hes lying?</em> However, there was no reason for Kang Hyun-Sung to deceive me, but above all, I thought,<em> He doesnt have that kind of personality.</em>


    He was not the type of person to stoop that low. While I thought random thoughts like this and followed the members, I reached the hotel lobby.


    I think they told us to wait here?


    Didnt Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna say theyll be here?


    Huh? Theyre bringing the car here.


    A van was approaching the entrance of the parking lot. It was an old van we always rode on.


    Lets hurry up and get on~


    We drove to the practice room.


    <em>As for Kang Hyun-Sung, Ill think about itter.</em> I didnt think I needed to think more about this for now.


    * * *


    We moved to the practice room prepared by the production crew by car. Since it took only 10 minutes to walk, we arrived at the location in two minutes by car. I heard that each team got a different practice room to keep our performances a secret. Thus, this meant that there could be some differences in the practice rooms conditions among groups.


    Wow! Ohhh!


    Its amazing!


    Looking at our rooms, I thought that our practice room was at least above average even though we hadnt checked the quality of the other groups practice rooms. It was a practice room of a simr quality to the private practice room used by Kang Hyun-Sung, which I had visited before. The members forgot that they had to practice and busily looked around the practice room for a while.


    Lets practice now, guys.


    However, they soon calmed down and started practicing. Truthfully, it wasnt a difficult practice. All we did was connect the sound source prepared by Do-Seung to the speaker in the practice room and repeat it nonstop. We had been practicing like this every single day for the past few days. In the past, we did stretching and whatnot before practicing, but now, we even cut that part out and began practicing right away.


    Since we were doing such repetitive practice, it was natural to end up being sloppy in our movements as we were already doing it dozens, hundred times more anyway. I couldnt help but think, wouldnt it be okay to do thisfortably just one time, since we just have to do well on stage, but


    Tae-Yoon, put some sharpness to your leg movement!


    Donng-Jun! I told you to swing your arms bigger!


    Dont lose focus! One! Two! Three!


    Focus at the end!


    Woon didnt allow a single ounce of sloppiness in our movements. Even while performing or practicing, I couldnt afford to lose focus. Although I had improved my dance skills by using Insight, I had just improved my base skills, and it didnt create a talent that Icked.


    <em>Just how talented is he?</em> Even while making perfect movements, Woon could even check the others movements.


    10 minutes of rest~


    Ahhhh!


    Wow, I thought my lungs were about to burst just now.


    Im going to faint before I even get on stage at this rate.


    After a long time of frantic choreography, we only got a 10-minute break. We leaned against the wall of the practice room and breathed heavily, and gradually, the breathing rate became constant. When our red faces returned to usual, and I looked at the clock


    Its already 3 oclock? I remembereding into the practice room at 10 am, so this meant that wed already practiced for 5 hours. Now that I thought we didnt have much time left to practice, my body automatically gained strength.


    I didn''t think I could possibly work harder, but then I thought<em>, No, I can do more.</em> Even during this 10-minute break, I could check my movement little by little while looking in the mirror.


    Then, Do-Seung looked at his phone and said, Wow, OnebyOne has started their MP.


    Really?


    Lets check it out.


    With dying expressions, Woon and Yeon-Hoon slowly crawled to the ce where Do-Seung was.


    Hmph!


    I want to see.


    The three huddled together and looked at Do-Seung''s phone screen. Instead of trying to join them, I looked in the mirror and checked my movements little by little. Dong-Jun was also just breathing heavily with his legs stretched out on the floor. However, the three gave a strong response that caught our attention.


    Whaaat!


    What the?


    Wow! Awesome!


    The members began eximing while looking at the phone. I was wondering why they would react like this in an MP. I wondered if they were answeringments in a very unique way, but I didnt think they would react this strongly because the method was unique.


    In the end, I stopped checking my movements and walked towards them. Did something happen?


    Dong-Jun also wriggled and rolled towards the other members. Then all five of us huddled in front of Do-Seungs phone, and I was able to find out the reason why they were all shocked.


    [Hello, everyone.


    We are The Showcases cuties, OnebyOne!


    If you have any questions for us,


    Please ask us anything!!<3


    #Ask_anything_OnebyOne


    #The_Showcase #


    #THE_SHOWCASE #OnebyOne #KyungJun #JinYoung#SangHoon


    From this point on, it was an announcement that was nothing out of the ordinary. However, thements that fans wrote


    <em>Whats with the speed! </em>The fans were asking questions to OnebyOne at a ridiculous speed, but what was more surprising was


    Are OnebyOne preparing for a shorthand typists license?


    They type so fast.


    Wow


    OnebyOne was responding quickly to countless mentions at an unbelievable speed. Of course, since it was a minority versus majority fight, it took longer for OnebyOne to reply than for people to ask questions. However, they were still replying at an amazing speed. Furthermore, it didnt feel like they were giving a hasty and thoughtless answer either.


    Please tell us todays TMI!


    [#Kyungjun] I actually like bread with raisins! But I think Im the only one who likes this :*(


    They put in selfies from time to time, their way of speaking was kind and caring, and they carefully answered each of the fans questions. Of course, they obviously had to do this unless they wanted to destroy their fandom on the eve before the final.


    No, even if it wasnt the day before the final performance, I thought, <em>Of course, they have to be nice. </em>This was an artist and fan rtionship; being kind was the default.


    Despite that, I still thought, <em>Its amazing that they can write like that at this speed.</em> I could clearly see that they were trying to answer as many people as possible. <em>We need to do at least this much.</em>


    However, there was one thing that worried me. Since we were doing the MP with the same ount, we could see how many replies each group posted. Of course, the number of replies wasnt an absolute indicator of how much idols cared about their fans, but I thought, <em>I cant help but think about it though.</em>


    I couldnt help but feel that I wanted to give even one more reply than other groups. Sure enough


    Im going to make at least 500 replies! Yeon-Hoon passionately eximed.


    500 replies. I said, Your fingers will break then.


    They wont break!


    Im telling you, 500 is too much. How can you make 500 replies in an hour?


    I can do it if I try?


    Youre going to use 1 hour by yourself?


    Well, no, thats not it.


    I briefly calmed down Yeon-Hoon, who was too passionate. Then I made eye contact with the other members. After seeing this situation, I realized that practicing for the performance wasnt the only thing I had to worry about.


    <em>I should pay attention to both the MP and v-live. </em>Both MP and v-live were connected to the finalpetition. I thought I should be more passionate as well.


    Lets go through the choreography a few more times and get ready for the MP."


    Yes.


    Got it~


    We got back up for ourst practice session before our MP.


    Siren, you''re practicing right now, so I brought the phone for MP. Then, after practicing for about two more hours, the production team came in and gave us an ount and a phone for our mention party.


    Pwehh.


    We can do it!


    500 replies!


    My members and I sat in front of the phone with passionate determination.


    * * *


    A Siren Fan logged into Bluebird with her phone at around 5 p.m. Rumors of the mention party of <em>The Showcase 2,</em> which started impromptu, had already spread among fans like wildfire. It had spread so much that information about when each group would be hosting their MP had already been revealed to everyone. OnebyOne was at 3 p.m., Only One was at 4 p.m., and Siren was at 5 p.m.


    The Siren fan scrolled through the feed and watched how the MP was progressing before Siren began their MP.


    <em>Wow, theyre fast. Why is everyone so energetic?</em> Both Only One and OnebyOne were quickly and kindly replying to their fans. Looking at their replies, she began to worry a bit since if Siren made even the slightest mistake on their MP, they might be negativelypared to other groups. Each person had a different typing speed, and people took varying time to think about their replies. They might write fewer answers than other groups. The Siren fan waited for Sirens MP, hoping that they wouldnt get insulted for no reason before the eve of the final.


    [Hello, everyone.


    Were Siren, The official fairies of the sea in <em>The Showcase 2</em>!


    If you have any questions for us, please feel free to ask~~


    Well be waiting for you-!!! <3


    #Ask_Siren


    #The_Showcase #


    #THE_SHOWCASE #Siren #YeonHoon #Woon#DoSeung#DongJun#TaeYoon


    So far, this was a standard announcement for a mention party. When she scrolled underneath it, she thought,<em> Wow, how are so many people already asking questions?</em>


    There was already a long list of questions, even though it had only been five minutes since they started. Perhaps the leak of the different groups MP time on Bluebird had yed a critical role.


    Huh? But under those countlessments


    -[#YeonHoon] Yah, I think so too.  Todays weather was so, so nice today~hehe I think everyone will feel better if we all go outside and take a nice walk haha


    -[#YeonHoon] I had sd for lunch today  even though I wanted to eat meatsomeone said (its definitely not Kang Do-Seung) told me Ill get scolded if I dont eat sd  I should eat meat to gain strength, right? Please tell him that for me, everyone!!


    -[#YeonHoon] You got selected to watch the final performance? Congrattions-!! Lets see each other on stage tomorrow hehe Ill be waiting for you! :) (Yeon-Hoon_fighting_selfie)


    Siren was replying to them extremely fast. Frankly, she thought, <em>What the, How are they this fast?</em> It felt like they were replying to one almost every 10 seconds. In the case of long texts, it took a little longer, but it still ended in 30 seconds.


    -[#TaeYoon] For lunch today, I got chicken breast sd with oriental dressing and added cherry tomatoes.


    -[#TaeYoon] I read that meditating for about 10 minutes after waking up in the morning is part of the morning routine for sessful people, so I often carry it out into practice to take advantage of its long-term benefits.


    -[#TaeYoon] I share a room with Woon, but neither of us makes a big mess in the room, so wefortably share a room without much conflict arising.


    It seemed as if they set a rule to write three answers and alternate between each other. However, all the members typed extremely fast. At this rate, she thought, <em>Wont they really give about 200 replies at this rate?</em> OnebyOne seemed to have given about 70 answers, and she heard that OnlyOne wrote about 90 answers. Thus, Siren would be writing almost double the number of answers.


    The Siren fan wrote ament, wondering if they would also reply to herment.


    -Woon, what do you eat to dance so well?


    She hadnt had high hopes but


    -[#Woon] C fruit punch? Haha, jk. Honestly, Im not picky about food and eat everything well. Thank you for saying Im good at dancing. I think I gain a lot of strength from hearingments like this. Ill try to show an even cooler side of me in tomorrows performance. Please look forward to it!


    <em>Crazy! </em>She immediately got a reply, and the Siren fan froze with the phone clutched in her hand.


    Seriously, what''s up with these guys Her heart thumped fiercely and showed no signs of slowing down.

 Chapter 119

    <h4>Chapter 119</h4>


    While Siren¡¯s fan was squealing in excitement that she received a reply, posts with Siren hashtags continued to increase. No matter how fast Siren¡¯s typing speed was, the speed at which they replied couldn¡¯t beat the speed of the inpouringments. Still, the Siren members continued to reply to messages at a constant speed from the very beginning to the end.


    ¡ª[#Do-Seung] I focus on working out my chest when exercising. But since I can have a round shoulder if I only develop my chest, I do my back exercise the very next day. Hahaha


    ¡ª[#Dong-Jun] My favorite food is mtang! I originally liked steak the best, but I fell in love with it when I ate mtang for the first timest year. Hehe Buttro in mtang...? Hm...I suppose everyone can have different taste buds haha


    Even if one weren¡¯t a Siren fan, they would be able to easily recognize that Siren members were doing their best to reply to as manyments as possible by the speed of their replies. The total number of replies they made after an hour of MP was 120. Though the total number of replies fell far short of their original goal, many people were still shocked by their efforts.


    ¡ªDamn, why is Siren so serious about MP?


    ¡ªI have never seen any group reply to so many mentions


    ¡ªIs the whole group addicted to Bluebird?


    The fact that they made 120 mentions in an hour meant that they replied to at least twoments every minute. Furthermore, it was the highest count among all other groups.


    ¡ªThese guys are just crazy


    ¡ªThey must be too used to survival now ahaha


    ¡ªWhy are these guys evenpeting for things like this :(


    Because it was very impressionable that Siren made 120ments, Bluebird filled with stories about Siren for a while.


    After Tae-Yoon sat in the practice room and checked everything that had happened, he turned off his phone and thought, ¡®<i>Ah, my fingers are going to break.¡¯ </i>That day, Tae-Yoon realized that it was possible to get muscle aches in fingers from overstraining.


    ***


    After the MP, my group members copsed with their phones on top of their palms.


    ¡°Ha, I gave it my all.¡±


    ¡°My fingers hurt so much.¡±


    ¡°I think electromaic waves really circte through the human body. The ends of my finger are jittering.¡±


    Because they had been so hyper-focused while doing MP for an hour, they seemed to have lost all their energy. I also massaged my fatigued fingers and sat besides them. I didn¡¯t know how they felt, but as for me, I started MP with the intention of making more replies than any other group.


    But as I began to reply to the mentions, I felt a strong feeling that I couldn¡¯t reply sloppily to any of them. Thus, rather than trying to make as many replies as possible, I changed my mindset to reply to as many <i>people </i>as possible. Thanks to this mindset, we were able to get more mentions than any other group.


    <i>¡®...This is fun.</i>¡¯ Though it was my first timemunicating with fans online, I thought it was quite enjoyable. There were many questions that made me wonder why anyone would be curious of such a thing, but at the same time, it made me realize how much they liked us and that they would be curious about such trivial things. And because we were replying to questions in an environment where everyone was supportive and encouraging, it felt like a healing experience.


    ''<i>Where else will I get attention like this?¡¯</i> I wondered. My tense nerves due to the uing final performance seemed to have softened a bit. We were still recovering from the MP when the practice door opened.


    <i>Creak.</i>


    ¡°Are you all done with practice?¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came inside. ¡°It¡¯s about time for the live broadcast now. You all have to hurry up because you can¡¯t do the broadcast in your present conditions and have to get your makeup and hair done.¡±


    ¡°We only have an hour left. Why don¡¯t you all move back to the hotel, and after you guys take a shower, you can change into your outfits and get your makeup done.¡±


    That made me realize we couldn¡¯t be resting here like this. In one hour, we would have to do our live broadcast.


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Everyone, get up!¡±


    Everyone got up simultaneously. Then, we quickly took our belongings and got into the car. All day long, we practiced, did MP, and would have to do a live broadcast now. It really wasn¡¯t an easy day, but for some reason...I felt fine. It seemed I was surprisingly well suited to the idol schedule.


    ***


    <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s staff, including Park Soo-Chul, visited the concert hall where the final performances would take ce. This ce could hold a total of 5,000 people, and though this number sounded smallpared to the concert halls first-tier idols rented, it would probably feel immense for the casts of <i>The Showcase 2</i>.


    ¡°Will they feel intimidated by this size?¡±


    ¡°Come on~ If they can¡¯t perform at this level, they aren¡¯t idols.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    Yet, since they were all idols in the end, the staff thought the cast would be able to ovee this new challenge. Furthermore, it wasn¡¯t like 5,000 people were reallying to watch. Since this content was more like a broadcast show than a concert, they had decreased their audience count to 3,000 to ensure safe distance and install heavy equipment. There would probably be no majors problems.


    ¡°Did you install all the camera devices properly?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s done.¡±


    ¡°And did you prepare the LED ording to each group and all the special effects?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Is the directoring tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Yes, he¡¯sing."


    ¡°Haa, seriously. That old boomer ising? He should just rest on days like this. He just likes the attention anding out on cameras.¡±


    ¡°Well, what can we do when he says he¡¯sing?¡±


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    Park Soo-Chul pressed his temples by habit.


    ¡°Anyways, good luck on the organization. Report to me if there¡¯s anything out of the ordinary, and I will move to the hotel. I will have to observe the situation there.¡± Park Soo-Chul turned his feet and was about to escape when he was called back again.


    ¡°Ah, Producer Park Soo-Chul, you know how we said we would start a reality program after the finals?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, what about it?¡±


    ¡°Are we really going to start immediately afterwards?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we have to. We might even have to go almostpletely live at this rate.¡±


    ¡°But what if thepany from the winning team doesn¡¯t cooperate?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°Well, you know the two teams who have the highest possibility of winning both don¡¯te from reliablepanies.¡±


    ¡°The winning team is naturally going to move to a jointpany ording to the contract. Is there anything they could do to stop that from happening?¡±


    ¡°They could try to resist stubbornly and say they changed their minds or something.¡±


    ¡°That will...be really bothersome.¡±


    ¡°Then, what do we do?¡±


    ¡°If that happens...¡± Park Soo-Chul seemed to ponder about this a bit and said, ¡°We would have to fight at court, and their debut process would get quite messy."


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    Park Soo-Chul headed outside while sighing and saying, ¡°I¡¯m really going now.¡±


    ¡°Yes, have a safe drive.¡±


    Park Soo-Chul moved back to the hotel and thought about what theposition writer told him.


    ¡°TH Entertainment or WD Entertainment...hm...¡± It definitely appeared that things could get a bit messy after the finals.


    ***


    The live broadcast we did in our hotel rooms ended. Each team utilized Utube Live to do their live broadcast while turning off the mization option.


    <i>¡®Overall, it was ordinary.¡¯</i> It was a broadcast that ended without anything that could turn into a big issue. Because we couldn¡¯t leak the name and location of the hotel we were staying, we did our live broadcast with the curtains hiding the windows. Fortunately, the broadcast ended safely without any idental leak of confidential information.


    ¡°It was my first time seeing Yeon-Hoon go off-pitch.¡±


    ¡°...Don¡¯t make fun of me...!¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t. I was just surprised.¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    The only notable part was that Yeon-Hoon went off-pitch while singing live and seemed to have felt a great amount of embarrassment because he had only shown a perfect performance until now. The situation was funnier because it happened not in the middle of the song but right when he started his song.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, the clip of you going off-pitch is already circting around~¡±


    ¡°Ahhh! No!¡±


    Dong-Jun kept reying Yeon-Hoon¡¯s video.


    [A!!!! s we go...]


    [Ah?]


    [Pft!]


    [Hahaha!]


    Yeon-Hoon going off-pitch on the first note rang across the hotel lounge.


    ¡°Dong-Jun...you are so...mean...¡± Yeon-Hoon put his face down over his arms and pretended to cry.


    ¡°But the responses are so good~¡±


    ¡°...Really?¡±


    On the phone screen that Dong-Jun showed, there were quite many responses that were positive.


    ¡ªhahaha, Yeon-Hoon so cute haha


    ¡ªHe looks sooo shocked


    ¡ªOur soft peach is surprised


    The majority said that Yeon-Hoon was cute or funny.


    ¡°Just enjoy the situation~¡±


    ¡°Haaa...okay...¡±


    That was how our chat about Yeon-Hoon ended. It was then Do-Seung interrupted our conversation.


    ¡°What are we going to do now? Are we going to sleep immediately or practice a bit more?¡± Do-Seung asked. Since the live broadcast had been one hour and thirty minutes long, the current time was 8:30 p.m. It was a strange time to go to sleep, eat dinner, or practice.


    It would be terrible if we got aches because we strained ourselves the day before the performance. Yeon-Hoon thought about this for a bit and said, ¡°Since we all came to a hotel, let¡¯s rest for now. We can do our final practice early in the morning tomorrow!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± The first one to respond that we won¡¯t have any more practice for the day was Dong-Jun, and he said, ¡°Then, I want to quickly wash myself!¡±


    It seemed Dong-Jun had been wanting to use the bathtub all along. It was understandable since there was nothing better than a warm bath to relieve one¡¯s fatigue. Do-Seung opened hisptop with his headset on, and Woon took out his sses andy on the bed with his phone.


    Yeon-Hoon said, ¡°I am going to sleep a bit. Please wake me up after thirty minutes,¡± and took a nap. That was how I remained in the suite''s living room all by myself. Of course, it wasn¡¯t like I had nothing to do.


    ¡ªPleasee down to the parking lot.


    I still had my promise to Kang Hyun-Sung to fulfill. After ncing at my members, I put on my mask and hat and carefully left the hotel room. ¡°Then, I will just go out for a walk around here.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be toote.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t go anywhere dangerous~¡±


    ¡°Please get <i>melona</i>* on your way back!¡± [1]


    ¡°Hey, Park Dong-Jun!¡±


    ¡°Ignore what I said about <i>melona</i>...¡±


    ¡°Okay, I will be back soon,¡± I told them.


    I shrugged off what my members said, walked outside the hotel room, and went down to the parking lot.


    <i>¡®What?¡¯</i> I stood in surprise when I saw that Kang Hyun-Sung was already waiting for me with his car. I had been worried about where we would go on my way down, but it seemed this guy nned to go on a drive with me.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you get in the car? We don¡¯t have anywhere to go anyways.¡±


    ¡°...Ah, I really don¡¯t want to.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    <i>¡®Ah...¡¯</i> Without intending to, I blurted out my true feelings.


    1. Popr ice cream name ?

 Chapter 120

    Chapter 120


    Um, I just said nonsense. I quickly made an excuse, but Kang Hyun-Sungs downcast eyes did not return to their original state.


    He said, Its not really pleasant for me to go on a drive with you either, but theres no other ce for us to go.


    Haha.


    Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me with an extremely ufortable expression and said, Get in. Then he went into the drivers seat. I opened the passenger door next to him and went inside. This vehicle was a rental car, as I noticed a Hieut* mark on the license te before getting inside. [1]


    Did you specifically rent a car to go on a drive with me today?


    I said theres no good ce for us to go.


    Yes, I got it. I put on the seatbelt without probing further.


    Kang Hyun-Sung softly pressed on the pedal, and the car rushed forward. I was surprised that he was quite a skilled driver. We didnt utter a single word during the entire time from when we got out of the hotel and entered the road.


    I couldn''t hear anything but the sound of electronic equipment vibrating, the tires on the wheels screeching and hitting against the floor, and the handles turning. I kept quiet because there was no reason for me to begin the conversation and Kang Hyun-Sung was the one who requested this meeting anyways.


    <em>Why isnt he saying anything? </em>But I couldnt help but be curious about what he had to say. Shouldnt he tell me what was on his mind if he called me out? However, Kang Hyun-Sung continued to drive without saying a single word.


    And the first thing he said was, Have you been to the Bugak Skyway?


    What?


    Well, its a famous scenic route.


    I havent been there, but do you want us to go there right now?


    Yes.


    Are we seriously going on a drive because we have nowhere to go?


    <em>''This bastard.''</em> No matter how much I thought about it, I couldnt erase the thought that I was being used so that Kang Hyun-Sung could enjoy a nice, scenic drive. If he didnt want to go alone, he should have brought his other members. Why did he have to bring <em>me</em>? Judging by his attitude, it didnt feel like he had anything really important to say to me either.


    I said, Whether its Bugak or Namak*, lets just go. [2]


    Like this, the car headed towards Bugak Skyway.


    * * *


    Before the car reached its destination, there was heavy traffic congestion in the middle. Kang Hyun-Sung and I sat in the car and went through a second round of silence at the stop light.


    Are you really not going to say anything? I asked first in frustration. Although Kang Hyung-Sung was the one who messaged me to meet to talk, I wondered why he wasnt spitting what was on his mind already. Was he trying to troll me or something? I thought that he should at leaste up with a usible lie if that was the case.


    However, Kang Hyun-Sung pretended to be rxed all by himself and replied, Were not in a hurry anyways.


    What do you mean we aren''t in a hurry? Were doing the finals tomorrow! I have to quickly listen to what you have to say and go back to sleep. This wasnt something he should say before the eve of the final.


    Hmm. Actually, its not a big deal honestly. Kang Hyun-Sung finally began to get to the main point.


    Not a big deal? How could he say that after calling me out and using up so much of my time? I thought that I had been taken advantage of as I predicted, but he said, I just want to let you know that we could be sued.


    What? He said it wasnt a big deal, but he just dropped a huge bomb. It was unclear who he was referring to by us. Did that us refer to Kang Hyun-Sung and me or Only One? I checked his reaction first.


    I dont think we would be able to avoid a legal battle no matter what happens with TH Entertainment.


    The us was referring to Only One.


    He continued, If we win, TH Entertainment will probably sue us for an unfair breach of contract.


    <em>Hmm, yeah, thats true.''</em> In fact, there was quite a bit of noise when Only One transferred their contract to a joint venture with Jaeil Group before my regression. There were a lot of talks about going to court or whatnot, but they suddenly reached a settlement andpleted negotiations in the end.


    And if we dont win, Im going to sue TH Entertainment.


    But what followed was quite a shock. I asked, Youre going to sue TH Entertainment yourself?


    Yes.


    This was a future that I didnt know about. No, this was only natural, as Only One won thiswsuit before my regression.


    I will terminate our exclusive contract with TH Entertainment no matter what it takes and move to anotherpany. I just stared nkly at Kang Hyun-Sung. Despite it being quite a heavy topic, Kang Hyun-Sungs expression was calm.


    But why are you telling me this? Suing was, of course, an important issue, but there was no reason for him to specifically tell me this information.


    I wondered why he went out of his way to set up this meeting when he said, Im telling you because this is not just applicable to us. If your group wins and transfers the contract to a joint contract with Jaeil group, WD Entertainment might also file a separateint.


    Our agency?


    Isnt itmon sense? But Im telling you now because if youre aware of it in advance, you can prepare for it. And take this.


    A business card?


    I met thiswyer while I was working for Yours, and they specialize in contract management in the entertainment industry. You can contact this number.


    Hmm. I now understood why Kang Hyun-Sung called me out. He wanted to tell me that since awsuit was going to happen to them, we should also be prepared ordingly. Moreover, he also wanted to introduce me to awyer while he was at it.


    <em>WD Entertainment suing</em> From what I knew about WD, I didnt think they would sue. And it was definitely not because they cared about us.


    <em>Suing is not just childs y, and theres no way people like them would do such a bothersome thing</em>. WD Entertainment was an embodiment ofziness who crawled to do the bare minimum. Furthermore, from what I saw in my Precognitive Vision, Yoon Tae-Hyung would try to make a deal instead of suing us. Of course, this was much more vicious and greedy than suing. Anyway, I wasnt too worried about the suing aspect, but even then, I didnt think it would hurt to keep this business card.


    I said, Thank you. Ill take good care of it.


    I have nothing more to say now. Since it was a sensitive issue, I wanted to talk to you directly about it, but it ended quickly, Kang Hyun-Sung said and then tried to turn the vehicle around.


    Lets just go to that Bugak Skyway or whatever and take a picture. However, since he went out of his way to rent a car, I thought it would be better for us to check out the famous scenic route.


    * * *


    Kang Hyun-Sung and I came back after taking pictures of the Bugak Skyway. If I gave my review, it was, <em>This is a famous scenic route? </em>It felt like a step away from the general publics usual preference.


    My ears rang while I went up the mountains, and the road was winding and twisty, so I got motion sickness, and the night view of Seoul after arriving at the destination was beautiful, but


    <em>Namsan Tower is better in all aspects.</em> I didnt think I would choose the Bugak Skyway when there was a better alternative. Kang Hyun-Sung also seemed disappointed as it was different from what he expected. After that, we didnt talk to each other at all the whole time during our ride back. Since we had already gone over all important conversations, meaningless chatter was unnecessary. After arriving at the hotel parking lot, I took off my seat belt and tried to get out of the car. But


    Are you confident about the final tomorrow? Kang Hyun-Sung asked.


    I put my butt back on the car seat while I was about to leave. Was I confident in the final? Our final song was <Hello, World>. Although I made the universe, the details of this song were created by all the members. If I was holding a song like this and said I thought I was going to lose, I wouldnt be giving justice to my members.


    I answered, Im confident.


    What about you? I asked Kang Hyun-Sung the same.


    Im confident, too, Kang Hyun-Sung also answered without any hesitation. Soon after, he even worried for me and said, If your group doesnt win, you should contact thewyer with the business card I gave you. He even added, If you contact me again after terminating your exclusive contract, Ill set up a separate meeting between you and thewyer.


    Are you worrying about me?


    You should just ept my offer while Im being generous.


    But Im nning to win, so I dont have to worry about that.


    Ha, geez.


    Senior, I also hope you prepare well for thewsuit and win.


    Are you worrying about me?


    You should ept it while Im being generous, I repeated his words and got out of the car. See you tomorrow.


    After saying goodbye to Kang Hyun-Sung like that, I went up to the hotel lobby. Since our conversation did notst long, not much time had passed and the drive was 2 hours in total.


    <em>Its too long for a walk though.</em> It was already 10:30. Since I came out at 8:30, this meant I took a two-hour walk. I wondered if the members were worried about me.


    <em>But I didntget a message? </em>No one sent a message to ask how I was doing. I felt a small sense of betrayal while heading up to the 24th floor in the elevator when


    <em>Ziiing</em>


    The phone vibrated in the meantime; it was a long vibration, which meant it was a phone call. Sure enough, when I checked my phone, I was right.


    Yeon-Hoon


    Yeah, there was no way they werent worried about me when I went on a two-hour walk. When I answered the phone with a happy heart, I was immediately met with disappointment.


    Tae-Yoon, if youre outside right now, can you check if theres a pharmacy open nearby?


    He didnt call me because he was worried but because he wanted me to run errands.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    I wasnt sure if they trusted me too much or if they were too unconcerned about safety precautions. Of course, it was very rare that something bad happened to a full-grown man walking around at night, but even then, I couldnt help but think, <em>Its strangely upsetting.</em>


    Pharmacy? Is anyone sick? However, I was quite surprised to hear the word pharmacy from him. It was the day before the final, and we couldnt afford to be sick.


    Ah, no, no ones sick. Its not like that at all.


    He didnt get right to the chase and talked in a roundabout way. I wondered what the problem was when he finally answered.


    Since everyone might be nervous tomorrow morning, I thought it might be a good idea to buy Cheongsimhwan* in advance. [3]


    Ah. Being nervous was a very normal reaction. No matter how much the members liked the stage and were good at it, even they got nervous on v-lives and final performances. Moreover, it was a concert hall filled with 5000 people.


    <em>Its the biggest stage weve ever stood on.</em> It was natural for us to feel intimidated by the size.


    I answered, I saw some pharmacies on the way, but none of them were open. I''ll buy them tomorrow morning.


    Haaaa. Yeah, I got it. But why arent you back yet? Isnt it reallyte now?


    Fortunately, Yeon-Hoon was a little worried about me.


    Im on my way up now. Just in time, the elevator door also opened. I opened the hotel room after getting out of the elevator. The members were huddled in the living room and looked at me in unison.


    Youre back?


    How was your walk?


    What about melona?


    Hey, Park Dong-Jun!


    <em>Whine</em>


    I automatically smiled, seeing their usual energetic selves and answered, I had a nice walk. But why are you guys all sitting here? Before I left, they were all scattered and enjoying personal time.


    Well, we were just nervous about tomorrows performance, so we were all sitting down and watching our old videos and pictures.


    Old videos and pictures?


    Yeah, were just going down the memoryne.


    I checked the pictures that Woon showed me. It was when I first joined WD Entertainment.


    Wow, I was shorter than Yeon-Hoon here. That had been the only time when I was shorter than Yeon-Hoon.


    Our Tae-Yoon was so cute back thennow hes gotten grossly big.


    That hurts.


    Im joking~


    Come and sit down here. Lets look at more pictures.


    Like this, we spent reminiscing while looking at old pictures for a little while without staying up toote.


    * * *


    The next morning dawned. I thought the five-star hotel certainly helped us get a good night''s sleep. It was five in the morning. Although weve slept for only five hours, I felt strangely refreshed and well-rested. I looked around the members while sitting on the bed. Normally, they would all be struggling to get up with their heads stuck on their pillows.


    <em>Yawnnn.</em>


    That was some good sleep.


    Ughhh~


    Wow, I feel so light.


    Everyone was already getting up. Yesterday, we had all fallen asleep together as we connected a king-sized bed and two single-sized beds together. We slept side by side in a line when we got into bed, but once we woke up, all our positions were messed up. Was it because it was our first time waking up at the same time? We looked at each other andughed like we were sharing a joke, and then


    Lets get ready. Everyone got up one by one. The current time was 5 a.m. There were about 13 hours left until the final stage.


    1. Rental cars in Korea have the Korean alphabet, Hieut (), on their license tes.


    2. In this case, bug/buk means north and nam means south, so hes saying whether its north or south or just any direction, lets just go.


    3. This pill means clear-mind pill, and its often taken to calm ones nerves in Korea.

 Chapter 121

    Chapter 121


    After getting up in the morning and going easy on practicing, I went out to eat breakfast with my members. Since it was the day of the finals, we didn¡¯t go overboard on our eating. After all, eating too much sodium could bloat our faces, and eating too many oily foods could upset our stomachs. Yet, since we wouldn¡¯t have enough energy to perform on an empty stomach, we controlled our diet.


    ¡°Park Dong-Jun, move away from the fried rice this instance.¡±


    ¡°¡­Haaa.¡±


    ¡­Except Dong-Jun, who almost failed. But because Do-Seung stuck closely to his side and checked up on him, Dong-Jun also filled his te with only light breakfast food, such as a bit of sd, fried egg, and Greek yogurt filled with nuts.


    ¡®I feel like I¡¯m taking a Utube V-log.¡¯ While looking at my food, I thought I should take an aesthetic food shot or something.


    ¡°The view here is really good. Let¡¯s all take a picture!¡± But unlike me, who just thought these things, Yeon-Hoon moved them to action. ¡°Everyonee here!¡±


    We all gathered in a circle around Yeon-Hoon, and with the city view behind us, we all took a selfie.


    ¡®If we have to make self-produced contentter on, he will do splendidly,¡¯ I noted. For Yeon-Hoon alone, I thought I should ask the producers to do more self-produced, informal shootings. After we finished our breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, and when we went down to the first floor, we saw Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna waiting for us.


    ¡°We just have to head to the concert hall now! All of you will get your outfits there, and since the ce has a spacious waiting room, I called all the make-up artists and hairdressers to join us there.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°It really feels like we are doing a concert now.¡±


    ¡°Hope we don¡¯t make any mistakes on live broadcast.¡±


    ¡°¡­I¡¯m so nervous.¡±


    My members, who had been able to keep their cool until now, appeared very nervous.


    ¡®It¡¯s only natural.¡¯ This wasn¡¯t just any performance but one that ced our future on the line. It was the day when we could be rewarded for the fruits of our efforts. It would¡¯ve been stranger if we were calm.


    ¡®I have to definitely seed in this mission¡­¡¯ And this day was especially nerve-wracking for me since I also had to fulfill a mission with Do-Seung¡¯s life on the line.


    ¡®I shouldn¡¯t make any mistakes.¡¯ I couldn¡¯t allow for the smallest mishap. Since all this nervousness could lead to mistakes, I calmed my heart and told myself, ¡®I can do well. I shouldn¡¯t get too nervous.¡¯ I pressed my palms and went inside the car. When we all got inside, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna also got into the driver and front passenger seat.


    ¡°Then, we will head there!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°Haaa.¡±


    That was how we headed towards the concert hall, where our final performance would take ce.


    ***


    On the day of The Showcase 2¡¯s final performance, people were gathering in front of a stadium that was famous for holding idol shows. The live broadcast would start at 6 p.m. but the current time was 12 p.m. Since the audience could only enter starting from 4p.m., the people waiting here hade to the ce much earlier than the scheduled time.


    ¡°Huh? They are sharing goods over there!¡±


    ¡°Ah, really?¡±


    ¡°Why is the line here so long?¡±


    ¡°What kind of line is this one?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just saw other people standing here...¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    They had all gathered early to participate in the idol culture of people sharing fan goods before the concert. People who only talked on Bluebird also met each other offline, and friends who started stanning the same idols together came out to y. There were also others who just purely wished for their singers to do well and shared all sorts of goods for free, and of course, some just came out early to decrease their wait time.


    All in all, people were already in front of the concert hall for various reasons and greeting each other. Among them, there was one Siren fan who was taking pictures with a bunch of goods inside her hand.


    ¡®This Wolf Tae-Yoon sticker is so cute¡­¡¯ she thought. Because she hade early in the morning, her arms were already heavy with goods. Though she felt bad to only receive things, she was still happy.


    ¡®Maybe I should also make something simple and share them next time,¡¯ she thought and took a picture of each of the goods and showed them off to her friends.


    ¨CWhat kind of master artist made that Wolf Tae-Yoon sticker?


    ¨CWhat! Haha The quality of Princess Woon¡¯s sticker card is so good!


    ¨CDo you have unofficial photo cards for each member?


    ¨CPuppy Dong-Jun sticker sooo cute!!


    ¨CWhy is Yeon-Hoon¡¯s elementary school picture included in the mix? Hahaha


    These were online friends she befriended on Bluebird, but recently, she met them offline a couple of times and got much closer. Though they all stanned Siren, unfortunately, she was the only one who won the lottery to watch the final performance. But because of howpetitive the spots for this live broadcast were, it was simply a miracle that she even got chosen.


    ¨CYou''re so lucky!


    ¨CEven if I didn¡¯t get chosen, I should¡¯ve just gone


    ¨CBut Mokpo to Seoul is a bit too far


    ¨CYeah that¡¯s true haha


    And as all her friends expressed how envious they were of her, she searched through Bluebird. She wanted to check if there was another sharing event and if possible, share some of these goods with her friends who were outside Seoul.


    ¡°They are giving out Only One goods there.¡±


    ¡°Ah, seriously?¡±


    ¡°Wow, the fouric strip of Hyun-Sung is so cute.¡±


    ¡°Did you make a church weekly with a print of Young-Ho¡¯s face?¡±


    ¡°Ah, as expected of a holy Christian.¡±


    While looking for Siren¡¯s goods, Siren¡¯s fan nced at Only One¡¯s section. Their lines were as long as Siren¡¯s booths. This was only natural as although Siren had quickly grown their fandom from the show, Only One had their cheat card, Kang Hyun-Sung.


    It really was impressive that Siren managed to increase their fan count in just a couple of months of broadcast. Thus, Siren¡¯s fan had been sure that Siren would win, seeing how many stations were sharing Siren¡¯s goods and how long the lines for them were. However, after she calmly scanned her surroundings once more, she realized she was sorely mistaken.


    ¡®Only One is also no joke.¡¯ The size of Siren and Only One¡¯s fandoms were almost equal. Though people always said it was unnecessary to worry about celebrities, Siren was a group to worry about. It was already well-known among Siren fans how terrible WD Entertainment was, and the Siren members were too capable to stay in apany like that. If theirpany just had the basics and more resources and capital, Siren would¡¯ve been a group that would¡¯ve seeded even without The Showcase program.


    Thus, she thought, ¡®Our guys really have to win.¡¯ They couldn¡¯t lose this chance, and she wanted to see Siren for a long time. But if Siren stayed in WD Entertainment, she wondered if they would even be able to debut, much less work for a long time. Siren¡¯s fan scrolled through her phone and went through all her contacts. She contacted friends besides the ones she made on Bluebird but friends from middle and high school and friends from college; furthermore, she contacted her mom, dad, and brother.


    ¡ªHeyheyheyhey don¡¯t forget to vote for Siren on live


    ¡ªCan you do a message vote for me please??


    ¡ªDad! Siren! Not Saren but Siren! You can¡¯t get it wrong, okay!


    She didn¡¯t know how much influence each vote could make, but she didn¡¯t want to give up like this and looked towards the concert hall desperately. She prayed to God, Buddha, and Ah that Siren would have good results.


    ***


    After we arrived at the concert hall, time seemed to pass several times faster. We were at first surprised by the size of the concert hall, but we didn¡¯t even have the time to process everything as we needed to do numerous rehearsals, especially for a live broadcast. First, we did the basic rehearsal to get used to the size of the stage.


    Afterward, we rehearsed with our costumes hanging lightly over our bodies. Then, we did another rehearsal in alignment with the camera movements. Then, another one to check if the mike, LED, and stage devices all operated properly. Finally, we stood still, standing on stage so that camera directors could organize their basic settings. It was a very hectic schedule.


    It felt even busier because we weren¡¯t the only ones who did our rehearsals, and the other four teams did the same thing as us. That was how our busy rehearsal that started before noon ended. Then, we were given time to rest a bit after returning to our waiting rooms. Other teams were probably getting on stage and doing their rehearsals right now.


    And as expected, I heard the staff call, ¡°Please get the next team on stage! Don¡¯te out to the hallways!¡±


    Like all other times, what the other groups prepared was a secret to us.


    ¡°Are the rehearsals all over?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s finish your makeup and hair.¡±


    Then, we sat in front of the mirrors and left the make-up artists and hairdressers to do their magic.


    ¡°Did everyone prepare well for the performance?¡±


    ¡°We did but¡­it still makes me nervous.¡±


    ¡°We practiced hard though.¡±


    ¡°Do you think we will be able to do a good job¡­?¡± one of my members asked his makeup artist.


    On the other hand, I didn¡¯t say anything and just stared at the mirror. We worked so hard for this performance that we even vomited at times. If someone told us we had to prepare for a performance like this again, I would want to run away, but I was confident in the quality of our performance. The only point that I was worried about was the only group that was considered ourpetition.


    ¡®I wonder how Only One prepared their performance.¡¯ Only one winner could be chosen for this program. We didn¡¯t need to simply do well but better than other teams.


    ¡®We need to do better than Only One.¡¯ I worried.


    ¡®¡­But why do I feel this?¡¯ Though I hoped that Only One would perform worse than us, I also didn¡¯t want them to bomb their performance. I wanted to win but also cheer on them at the same time.


    ¡°Haaa.¡± I signed and tried to organize my feelings.


    ¡°Are you worried about something?¡± my makeup artist asked me.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing,¡± I replied and waited for my makeup to be over.


    ¡°Okay! It¡¯s all done!¡±


    Ten minutester, all the work was done. I looked at the mirror and thought, ¡®Not bad.¡¯ With this, I wouldn¡¯t feel bad about standing on stage live in front of the cameras.


    ¡°The makeup looks really good today.¡±


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, you look really handsome.¡±


    I felt a bit embarrassed as my makeup artist and hairdresser kept hyping me up.


    ¡°Wow, Tae-Yoon¡­?¡±


    ¡°What happened today¡­?¡±


    ¡°Did you lose weight?¡±


    ¡°Are you doing more cardio by yourself?¡±


    My group members alsomented when they saw me.


    ¡®¡­What? Do I really look different today?¡¯ I wondered and looked at the mirror. I thought I didn¡¯t look extraordinarily better than usual and thought everyone was justplimenting me to make me feel better. Perhaps, it was because I stayed the most quiet but I was the first one to get my makeup and hair done. I waited until my group members finished and sat on the sofa in the back. I nned to surf the inte with my phone when I heard a zing.


    ¡®¡­Hm?¡¯ My ability that had been quiet the past few days suddenly became activated.


    ¡®Haa. Seriously, what is with this?¡¯ I didn¡¯t know why my ability always activated at important moments like this. I repressed my rising annoyance and tried to maintain my calm. Since Insight was within my control now, the only ability that activated on its own was Precognitive Vision.


    ¡®I am going to see the future again.¡¯ I prepared myself so that I wouldn¡¯t break down just before a performance. After inhaling deeply, I looked forward again.


    Whoosh!


    Time stopped, and a semi-transparent haze rose. I wondered what kind of future I would see when I heard a voice.


    ¡ªI''m well aware that Jaeil Group''s people in charge of the entertainment business areing here today. If our guys win, we could all be working together¡­so, would you be able to prepare a meeting for all of us to meet?


    ¡®This is crazy.¡¯ In my Precognitive Vision, WD Entertainment¡¯s greatest viin, Yoon Tae-Hyun, appeared.


    ¡ªDid youe here to request that?


    ¡ªOf course not. I also thought I should greet the main producer! Hahaha!


    ¡ªIt¡¯s my first time seeing you though the show started months ago.


    ¡ªI know I should¡¯vee more frequently, but I was swamped with work.


    ¡ªOh, do you have a lot of work to do?


    ¡ªHaha, yes well, I¡¯m a busy man!


    Yoon Tae-Hyun was talking to The Showcase 2¡¯s main producer, Park Soo-Chul.


    ¡ªWell, I will set up something if Siren wins the show. If you give us your card, we will contact you.


    ¡ªThank you!


    I stared intently at Yoon Tae-Hyung. Yoon Tae-Hyun didn¡¯t work, was bad at his job, and was a selfish andzy person, and now, he was already setting up the foundation to mooch off of us in the future.


    ¡®¡­This sly bastard.¡¯


    Whoosh! I felt a deep, boiling rage from my insides when the vision ended.

 Chapter 122

    <h4>Chapter 122</h4>


    The scene shown by Precognitive Vision ended.


    ¡°Ha, geez. Seriously...how ridiculous.¡± I was so infuriated by what I saw in the Precognitive Vision that I said my thoughts out loud.


    ¡°What? What, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°What did you say, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    The members, who were in the middle of getting their makeup done, turned their eyes toward the mirror in unison to check my condition through the mirror.


    ¡°Ah, no. I just saw something ridiculous while looking through Bluebird.¡± I responded awkwardly and quiackly made up an excuse.


    At the same time, I thought,<i> ¡®Yoon Tae-Hyung, that bastard...he¡¯s really crossing the line.¡¯ </i>Although the Precognitive Vision I saw just now showed a very short scene, it held quite a lot of information.


    First, the Precognitive Vision I just saw was something that would happen today since Yoon Tae-Hyung said that if we won today¡¯s stage, he would working together with Producer Park Soo Chul. And by today¡¯s win, he was referring to winning the final performance. The second piece of information was¡ª


    <i>¡®The people from Jaeil Group came here today.¡¯ </i>In other words, people from the Jaeil Group, who would lead the joint venture, woulde to the finalpetition. It was perhaps a natural order of events as it was the supervisors¡¯ job to be present in the initial setup when starting a new venture and proceeding with the business from there.


    <i>¡®But the problem is that¡¯s not really good news either.¡¯ </i>Since Jaeil Group came with its fair share of problems, I didn¡¯t wee their visit that much either. Before my regression, I remembered that Only One didn¡¯t receive great care even after they moved to a joint venture. Of course, the Jaeil Group did have a lot of money, but that was another issue.


    I decided to put those problems aside for now as the most important matter right now was¡ª


    <i>¡®What the hell should I do with Yoon Tae-Hyung?¡¯ </i>I wondered what was the best way to take him out. Even though I wanted to make my move now, the risk was too high.


    <i>¡®No, the live broadcast is just around the corner, and I might mess things up.¡¯</i>


    I had no idea what variables might ur.


    <i>¡®If that¡¯s the case, I should at least finish the show and make my move.¡¯</i> Furthermore, in the conversation that I saw in my Precognitive Vision, Park Soo-Chul and Yoon Tae-Hyung didn¡¯t decide on anything specific and weren¡¯t nning to do something right away. They were probably just getting to know each other, so I didn¡¯t think there was a need for me to be in a hurry, but...


    [A surprise mission.]


    ¡°What the hell...¡±


    ¡°What the h¡ªwhat?¡±


    ¡°Did you see something weird in Bluebird again, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Stop looking at things that might affect your mentality~¡±


    ...This damn system threw an unexpected mission at the worst possible time. The members began worrying about me, thinking that I saw something strange in Bluebird again. I responded to their concerns with a smile instead. Then, I listened carefully to the surprise mission the system threw at me. I desperately hoped that it was something I could do easily before the final performance, but¡ª


    [Stop Yoon Tae-Hyung and Park Soo-Chul from meeting.]


    [Upon sess, no reward.]


    [Upon failure, Insight will be taken away.]


    <i>¡®Damn it...¡¯ </i>It was not a mission that I could easily do, and there was no bnce between sess and failure either. <i>¡®There¡¯s no reward for sess and only penalty for failure?</i>¡¯


    This had never happened before. My mind was swirling with all kinds of thoughts. Not getting a reward was not important as it didn¡¯t matter to me whether I got a reward or not. However, it hung on my mind that an unusual situation like this had suddenly urred out of the blue. The fact that there was no reward for sess probably meant¡ª


    <i>¡®I have to just shut up and seed at all costs.¡¯ </i>It appeared I needed to address this critical issue if the system was going so far as to break the bnce of reward and punishment anding at me so brazenly like this. Well, I wondered if I ever had a choice from the beginning, but anyway, this meant that I needed to get to my feet and move without asking questions.


    <i>Sigh...</i>


    I had nned to take care of Yoon Tae-Hyung after the live broadcast. I looked at Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna.


    ¡°Um, could I talk to you both outside for a moment?¡±


    ¡°...Right now?¡±


    ¡°We won¡¯t be able to enter the hallway because the other teams are rehearsing.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an urgent matter. Would it be possible to make an exemption?¡±


    ¡°An urgent matter?¡±


    ¡°You know when I calledst time and asked you to do something for me before. I think this is a situation where I need both of your help.¡±


    ¡°...Ah.¡±


    ¡°...Oh.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s an urgent matter.¡±


    ¡°Please wait a moment.¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon cut off the conversation and went outside first. Then she soon came back again and said, ¡°Another group went up to the stage, so the production crew said we cane out for a bit.¡±


    She came back after getting permission to walk down the hallway.


    * * *


    I went outside with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on, Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon asked when we reached a hidden corner of the hallway.


    ¡°I think Mr. Yoon Tae-Hyung ising to the concert hall right now.¡± I immediately cut to the chase, since we didn¡¯t have much time.


    ¡°Mr. Yoon?¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t tell us anything like that.¡±


    ¡°But how do you know the head manager ising, Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡±


    Yeah, it was natural that they would ask questions like this, and I was now used to making up excuses. I replied, ¡°Producer Park Soo Chul told me that he has an appointment with WD¡¯s head manager today.¡± I decided to sell out Park Soo-Chul.


    ¡°Oh, really?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a surprise that the head manager ising to the scene...¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna believed my words without much doubt.


    ¡°But how is the head managering here rted to you needing the materials we promised you before?¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon then asked.


    My answer to that question was simple. ¡°It seems like they¡¯re going to meet in case we transfer to a joint venture.¡±


    ¡°...Really?¡±


    ¡°So I¡¯m asking you for the materials right now to prevent that from happening somehow.¡±


    <i>Sigh. </i>¡°Seriously, he¡¯s so awful. How can he always only think of himself?¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon didn''t say anything with a dark expression, and Ms. Hyuna clutched her forehead and poured out insults toward Yoon Tae-Hyung.


    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯d appreciate it if you could give me the materials I asked for before now.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all on our phones anyway, so it¡¯s not difficult to send them to you.¡±


    ¡°But frankly, these files are not critical evidence, so I don¡¯t know how effective they would be.¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna said while sending me the materials one by one.


    ¡°As you can see from the files, they¡¯re not very damaging evidence, so I¡¯m not sure how effective they will be...¡±


    ¡°It seems like he doesn¡¯t want to be fired because even while cking off constantly, he doesn¡¯t cross the line.¡±


    I checked the materials Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna gave me. These were the materials I had asked for over the phone on the night when I saw Yoon Tae-Hyung, Ms. Seung-Yeon, and Ms. Hyuna having a meeting together. I hadn¡¯t asked them for critical, top-secret files; in the first ce, I couldn¡¯t get them as Yoon Tae-Hyung was not the type of person to do something overambitious or high-flown.


    There was only one thing I wanted.


    ¡°These are the documents recording hismuting hours, and documents recording what he actually did.¡±


    ¡°These ones are video evidence, and these ones here are photo evidence.¡±


    ¡°I have quite a few recording files too. They¡¯re nothing really serious but just muttering of things like, ¡®I don¡¯t want to work, I want to steal thepany¡¯s money, and things like that.¡¯¡±


    The files they gave me were evidence of how little Yoon Tae-Hyung worked. Frankly, it looked quite childish now that all the materials were piled together as he did nothing to be called a crime. His actions were nowhere near to be called corruption. Perhaps because his own livelihood was the most important to him, he didn¡¯t do anything that would endanger it.


    <i>¡®But he really is an ass.¡¯</i>


    Not only was he an ass, but he did zero work as well. All he did at work wasy down and sleep, drink beer, y mobile games all day, and go back to sleep. Hismuting hours were a mess, and his work content was empty. After looking through the videos and recordings, he was a human being who had no will to work at all. People would ask what worth these materials would be, but they were valuable resources for me.


    I said, ¡°This is enough.¡±


    ¡°...Really?¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s a relief then.¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna seemed to still wonder whether these materials were useful.


    ¡°But what are you really going to do with this?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m also wondering about that. We¡¯ll help you more if we have anything to do.¡±


    It seemed as if they were worried about me as they even asked where I was going to use these materials. Honestly, I didn¡¯t have a big n either, and it was probably something that anyone could think of.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to expose that this man is trash through and through.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°...Expose?¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna asked, slightly flustered.


    ¡°Frankly, it¡¯s illegal to film a video without other people¡¯s permission, so we can get in trouble if you post it somewhere...¡¯


    It seemed as if they thought I would make it public, but I said, ¡°I¡¯m not nning to post this on social media.¡±


    ¡°Then who are you going to tell?¡±


    ¡°I haven''t carried out the n yet, but would you like to hear it?¡± I told them about the n I had been thinking about. It was not aplex or some kind of master n. In a way, it was a very one-dimensional n.


    ¡°Are you really going to do <i>that</i>?¡±


    <i>Sighh...</i>


    But sometimes, going simple worked the best. I replied, ¡°Yes, there¡¯s no side effect. We have to do it.¡± In particr, this kind of one-dimensional method worked better when dealing with office workers who usually kept their heads down. To be more precise, I was going to perform a one-dimensional act of throwing a ¡®fit¡¯.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go and stir up a huge fuss.¡± There were people who could only understand once someone went nuts on them.


    * * *


    It had been a while since Yoon Tae-Hyung of WD Entertainment wore a suit to work.


    ¡°I seriously don¡¯t want to work...¡± Of course, just because he dressed up didn¡¯t mean he could change his innate nature. He only looked formal and prepared on the outside, but on the inside, he was the same as ever. He checked his appearance again through the mirror and moved out of the office. The final stage of <i>The Showcase 2</i> was about an hour away. From the moment he opened his car¡¯s door, he felt a pique of annoyance.


    He murmured, ¡°Why do those punks make people tired by doing things no one asked them to do? Sheesh.¡± He had been livingfortably, doing nothing for years. Now that it came to this, he needed to pretend to work for a few months no matter how much he hated it.


    However, if there was night, there was also day. If he sessfully carried out his transfer to a joint venture, he might be able to start his new operation there. Just like before, he could leave the work to all the subordinates under him and only needed to be present and warm up his spot. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t be able to stayfortably as he did in WD Entertainment.


    ¡°But I would be able to raise my pay.¡± If he thought about the pay raise, it was not a losing game for him. Since it came down to this, he sincerely hoped that Siren would win the championship, as even he doubted his days of doing nothing at WD Entertainment and taking their money wouldst forever.


    The patience of his bosses would reach a boiling point, and when that time came, he would have to do something to prove himself. It might be better for him to take this opportunity to move to arge corporation and grab hold of a stronger rope. Since Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna were unexpectedly doing a good job, he thought he could make them work a bit more.


    He started the car¡¯s engine and pushed the gear lever to driving mode. Then, when he was about to softly press the gas pedal and get out of the parking lot¡ª


    <i>Ring¡ª</i>


    The phone bell rang. He wondered what type of call he would get at this hour, and at the same time, he had a bad feeling about this.


    <i>¡®...It¡¯s definitely trouble.¡¯ </i>This was a sensation that he felt when things didn¡¯t go his way, and thanks to honing his senses by earning a sry while ying hooky for 10 years, he trusted his senses quite a lot.


    ¨CSucker3(Kim Dong-Hyun CEO)


    It was a call from WD Entertainment¡¯s CEO Kim Dong-Hyun.


    ¡°...Fuck.¡± Yoon Tae-Hyung froze while holding the steering wheel. He hadn¡¯t frozen just because he got a call but because he had a bad feeling about this. If his senses were alerting him so furiously like this, it meant¡ª


    ¡°...I''m fucked.¡± It meant that today would be quite a challenge to get through.

 Chapter 123

    <h4>Chapter 123</h4>


    Yoon Tae-Hyung counted to ten inside his mind. He hoped that the call would end by then since that meant the call was for no big reason but to make some small talk.


    <i>Ring, ring</i>¡ª


    Yet the phone kept ringing with no signs of ending and continued to pressure him. And in the end, he was forced to reach for his phone.


    ¡°Hello, Mr. Kim! How are¡ª?¡±


    ¡ªMr. Yoon, are you in your office right now?


    Before Yoon Tae-Hyun could finish his sentence, Boss Kim Dong-Hyun cut him off.


    ¡°...Yes. I¡¯m in the office parking lot but...¡±


    ¡ªGet your ass down to the studio right now.


    ¡°...Sorry?¡±


    ¡ªI told you to get your ass down the studio. Did you not understand me?


    Yoon Tae-Hyun had never heard his boss talk so roughly and angrily before. He wondered what his boss was so mad about when he heard the following words.


    ¡ªMr. Yoon, how have you been managing thepany! I trusted you, but you made a whole mess of things! I can¡¯t believe I got a call and was ckmailed by some kid at this hour because of you!


    <i>¡®Ah...shit.¡¯</i> Yoon Tae-Hyung got a general grasp of his situation then. It seemed he was caught for not working after all this time. He didn¡¯t know exactly how this information was ryed to his boss, but he thought it wasn¡¯t toote for him to overturn things.


    ¡°...I apologize, sir. I will immediately head to your ce and exin everything.¡± The priority was to calm the boss first. The boss was probably not angry that Yoon Tae-Hyung didn¡¯t work;rather, it was probably because he made things bothersome for him. The bosses of WD Entertainment had a special standard of what constituted a person doing a good job at work, and that was to not make any bothersome work for them.


    Yoon Tae-Hyun moved his steering wheel and stepped on the gas pedal. He changed his destination from the concert hall to his boss, Kim Dong-Hyun¡¯s studio.


    Simultaneously, he thought, <i>¡®After this is over, I should visit some folks to seal their lips.¡¯ </i>Then, he began to scheme another n.


    ***


    ¡°Haaa,¡± I sat inside an equipment storage located in a corner of the concert hall and sighed. I pulled the phone away from my ears after a thirty-minute call and heard a notification.


    [Mission Sess.]


    [You blocked Yoon Tae-Hyung froming to the concert hall.]


    I looked up and stared at the system¡¯s messages hovering in the air. Though I pretended to be calm, it was difficult for me to feelpletely at ease. First of all, it was my first time ckmailing someone more than thirty years older than me, and this was a man I had never talked to before. Naturally, we got into a heated argument and I also heard curses and ckmail on my side.


    <i>¡®But I seeded in the mission.¡¯</i> It seemed everything was still flowing within my expectations. I looked down at my phone. My n to stop Yoon Tae-Hyung froming to the concert hall had been simple: it was just to tattle-tale to the boss that Yoon Tae-Hyung was doing a sloppy job in the workce.


    <i>¡®Of course, that¡¯s not all there was to ir since even the bosses are somewhat aware of that.¡¯ </i>Though they didn¡¯t meddle, the bosses probably also had a sense that Yoon Tae-Hyung wasn¡¯t doing his job properly. But since he didn¡¯t bother them, they probably just kept him in thepany.


    There was a high probability that they let him be since Yoon Tae-Hyung at least pretended to work and kept any problems from reaching them. Thus, this was the point that I leveraged. WD Entertainment¡¯s bosses were probably evenzier than Yoon Tae-Hyun, and the only way to make thesezy heads riled up was to make things bothersome for them.


    ¡ªThat is how terribly Mr. Yoon has been working until now.


    ¡ªording to our exclusive contract and under the use, ¡®<i>Company Responsibilities¡¯,</i> it is written that thepany will not spare human and material resources for the sessful debut of their artists.


    ¡ªThough the specific meaning of this line is debatable, it is still a written use in our contract.


    ¡ªBut if you look at the files I just sent you, it can be clearly seen that the use isn¡¯t followed in any way whether it be in terms of providing human or material resources.


    Without a pause in my words, I spewed out my arguments, and my boss, Kim Dong-Hyun, replied ordingly.


    ¡ªWhat? Who the hell are you!


    ¡ª...That guy has been working like this?


    ¡ªBut how dare such a young guy like you talk toyour elders so rudely!


    Kim Dong-Hyun responded very patronizingly and unprofessionally. It was then I realized that there was nothing I could gain from this ce, starting from Yoon Tae-Hyun and the bosses. Thus, I didn¡¯t hold back as I said the next lines.


    ¡ªI¡¯m going to sue WD Entrainment for breach of contract. I will make our exclusive contract null and publicize all the unfair and improper treatment we have received from thepany. Naturally, Kim Dong-Hyun erupted upon hearing this.


    ¡ªWhat? Sue? Ha, are you serious? You think you can sue me for something like this! This is a fight you can¡¯t win!


    He must have thought my deration was absurd and responded with disbelief. But I wasn¡¯t foolish enough to really think about winning thewsuit, and I was well aware that court cases didn¡¯t end overnight.


    ¡ªMy goal isn¡¯t to win this case. The important part is that I sued you.


    What I wanted was a good title for an article.


    ¡ªAnd while I am suing you and the court case is going on, things will be very bothersome for you.


    This was the crucial point. The greatest attack I could make on these people was to make things bothersome for them, and thus, I promised not to bother them if they did what I asked for.


    ¡ªFire manager Yoon Tae-Hyung. That¡¯s all I ask for.


    Soon afterward, Kim Dong-Hyun hung up the call on his end; and a minute afterwards, the system announced that I seeded in my mission. This likely meant that the boss summoned Yoon Tae-Hyung to his ce in a fit of anger. Though everything went as I expected, what I truly wanted was for the boss to fire Yoon Tae-Hyung.


    <i>¡®But there¡¯s no way that will happen.¡¯ </i>For these bosses who detested bothersome things above everything else, firing Yoon Tae-Hyung and hiring a new one would be a task too burdensome to do for them. They would probably try to fix the situation somehow and attempt to recycle the same guy. Thus, this was something I couldn¡¯t even hope for.


    <i>¡®So, now I will have to move to the next step.¡¯ </i>Even if Yoon Tae-Hyung wasn¡¯t fired, I had to make sure that he wouldn¡¯t be able to tread even a step into the Jaeil Group¡¯s jointpany. I needed to strike the iron while it was hot, and afternding a big blow on Yoon Tae-Hyung, I needed tond the final blow. In matters when people¡¯s lives and careers were on the line, I could find myself on the chopping block if I took a step toote.


    I was about to open the storage room and head outside when the door opened on its own.


    <i>Creak.</i> No, there was no way a door would open on its own.


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon are you here?¡± And as I expected, someone came inside.


    ¡°...Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    ¡°What are you doing here, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Ah, um. Well...¡± I couldn¡¯t quicklye up with the right word. I didn¡¯t know how to exin that I just called our boss Kim Dong-Hyun to ckmail him and tried toe up with a suitable excuse.


    <i>Zing¡ª</i>


    <i>¡®...What?¡¯</i> My surroundings suddenly showed signs of my abilities activating. The world¡¯s time momentarily stopped while pnly my mind stayed intact. In situations like this, it was usually my Precognitive Vision that popped out, but Yeon-Hoon spoke, ¡°...Did you block Yoon Tae-Hyung...?¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon addressed me during this time. Then, memories that had been staying inside the corner of my head popped up. When I first regressed, I got a call from Yeon-Hoon, and on the day I secured my Insight ability, Yeon-Hoon appeared to have be possessed by something. Lastly, the other world¡¯s Do-Seung possesed this world¡¯s Do-Seung to talk to me. Gathering all this information, I reached the most usible conclusion.


    ¡®<i>Perhaps...¡¯</i> I stared at Yeon-Hoon. I tried to use Insight towards Yeon-Hoon. I was able to use it much more smoothly than when I first received the ability since my control over it had increased by winning in thest performance.


    <i>Whoosh! </i>But my ability immediately bounced off.


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach closer.]


    It was a message I heard before.


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    Still, I used my Insight again.


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach closer.]


    My ability wore off again. I tried again with more resolve.


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approa...]


    The machine-like voice became cut off and a new figure seemed to float over Yeon-Hoon¡¯s body. I thought I would be able to see something if I used my Insight a bit more.


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    <i>Whoosh! </i>Yet, the effect bounced off again. I looked at Yeon-Hoon regretfully and asked Yeon-Hoon¡ªno, to another being disguising themselves as Yeon-Hoon, ¡°...Who are you?¡±


    The existence in front of me stared intently without saying anything.


    I warily tried to increase the distance between us when the existence asked me unexpectedly, ¡°...Can I try hugging you?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe it. I hesitated without saying anything, and the existence approached me and hugged me tightly. I couldn¡¯tprehend the situation at all. I thought he wasn¡¯t Yeon-Hoon, but was he...? My head was in a mess.


    ¡°...You did a good job blocking Yoon Tae-Hyun. Thank goodness,¡± the existence said and remarked, ¡°I will be going now. Be careful.¡±


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    Then, the existence left, leaving only Yeon-Hoon¡¯s body in my arms.


    <i>¡®Everything came back to normal.¡¯ </i>The world¡¯s time reverted and Yeon-Hoon in my arms was as he was before.


    ¡°Huh? What? Tae-Yoon?¡± Yeon-Hoon responded, looking very perplexed as to why he was in this ce and why he was in my arms.


    When Do-Seung¡¯s possession ended, he dropped to the floor like he was going back to sleep. It had been the same when Yeon-Hoon was also first possessed. I supposed the difference between those times and this time was that the previous possession happened in a state while they were asleep but this time, Yeon-Hoon was awake. There was no need for me to think too much about that.


    ¡°Why am I...hugging you...? Moreover, where is this ce? Ahhh...¡± Yeon-Hoon seemed to be so frightened by the situation that he screamed. ¡°What happened, Tae-Yoon...? I don¡¯t remember anything at all...¡±


    ¡°Um, I was making a call in this storage room when you suddenly came in. Haha,¡± I said.


    ¡°Really? I did?¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    ¡°What in the world...this is crazy, Tae-Yoon...I don¡¯t remember doing that at all...I think I am super stressed these days...¡±


    ¡°Haha...don¡¯t worry about it. Everyone goes through that from time to time.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go get a health exam right after all this is over...¡±


    ¡°Yeah...¡±


    I pulled Yeon-Hoon out of the storage room and dropped him off in front of the waiting room. I turned to move to another ce when Yeon-Hoon pulled me back.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t going toe inside? Are you going to the bathroom?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes, I just need to go to the bathroom a bit,¡± I calmly lied and moved. Of course, I wasn¡¯t heading towards the bathroom. I was going toplete thest step to screw Yoon Tae-Hyun over.


    ¡°I will be quick,¡± I said and walked the corridors. Since I made my call to Kim Dong-Hyun, it was time for me to talk to the next person¡ªthe one who would be able to make a sturdy barrier between us and Yoon Tae-Hyung.


    <i>''I wonder where producer Park Soo-Chul is right now.¡¯</i>

 Chapter 124

    Chapter 124


    Producer Park Soo-Chul sat in the waiting room of the production team and looked over the daily filming schedule. He had written the n himself and all the information was already stored inside his head, but he couldn¡¯t let go of this piece of paper.


    Live broadcast. The end of thepetition. The day when the final winner was decided. There were a lot of phrases that could describe today, and each phrase was heavy and critical for the show. Was it because he was too nervous? His neck felt stiff.


    ¡°Ahhh. I¡¯m dying. I want to quickly finish this and go to a sauna.¡± Park Soo-Chul said and briefly let go of the daily filming schedule. He rubbed his neck, massaged it, and stretched for a bit.


    ¡°It¡¯s all going to work out. Let¡¯s not worry.¡± He said self-affirmations outloud to get rid of his nervousness.


    Knock, knock, knock.


    Someone knocked outside. It was probably one of the writers or one of the on-the-scene set crew.


    ¡°Come in.¡± Park Soo-Chul stretched his neck and replied half-heartedly, and the person who came inside was¡ª


    ¡°Hello, Mr. Park.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    It was not a set crew or even a writer.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to tell you something. Would you be able to spare some of your time?¡± But it was Siren¡¯s maknae, Bong Tae-Yoon. There had never been a time when a cast member entered his space first; it was because he had never called anyone here and when someone tried to greet him here, he immediately sent them away.


    ¡°If you¡¯re here to say hello or ask for something, please just leave. I¡¯m not someone that great for you to greet me separately.¡± Thus, Park Soo-Chul responded in the same way as usual, but despite Park Soo-Chul¡¯s dismissal, Bong Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t move from his seat.


    ¡°I didn¡¯te here to greet you, but you are right about asking for a request.¡±


    ¡°¡­A request?¡± Park Soo-Chul straightened up and looked at Bong Tae-Yoon again. Usually, he would have refused right away, saying he didn¡¯t ept requests, but¡ª


    Sigh. ¡°¡­I¡¯ll hear you out first.¡± The person in front of him was from Siren, one of the main cast members of The Showcase 2. It was the day of the final performance. Since he had been doing well so far, Park Soo-Chul thought it would be okay to at least hear him out.


    ¡°Go ahead.¡± However, Park Soo-Chul couldn¡¯t help being flustered by the words that came out of Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s mouth next. Because¡ª


    ¡°You should take this to court instead of talking to me about this.¡± The whole conversation seemed beyond his authority.


    * * *


    I met with Park Soo-Chul and brought up what I wanted to say one by one. Originally, I hadn¡¯t intended to also visit Park Soo-Chul. The day I first learned about Yoon Tae-Hyung¡¯s n through Precognitive Vision, my n at that time was to call CEO Kim Dong-Hyun as I just did, and that was the extent of my n.


    However, Yoon Tae-Hyung moved faster than I expected, and as a result, I had no choice but to revise my previous n. ording to my conjecture, Yoon Tae-Hung would probably be called by the CEO and then return to his office; and after finding the whistleblower, he would try to aim for a second opportunity. Thus, it was only right for me to eliminate that second opportunity.


    ¡°Sir, when a joint venture is established with Jaeil Group, please help me rule out any intervention from a person named Yoon Tae-Hyung.¡± Therefore, I cut straight to the chase and asked Park Soo-Chul what I wanted.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t Yoon Tae-Hyung the head manager of your agency?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re asking me to exclude him? Doesn¡¯t he have to take the lead when transferring and establishing legal contracts?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Is there a reason why you¡¯re telling me this?¡±


    ¡°I have files that I can show you.¡± I quickly showed him the materials when he asked me why. Frankly, they were not evidence of any crime and were merely negligence, but I wasn¡¯t doing this because he didn¡¯t work a day or two¡ªno, more than a few days.


    ¡°The materials I¡¯ve shown you are worth about three weeks, and there hasn¡¯t been a single day he arrived at work in the morning for those weeks. He doesn¡¯t evene to work early in the afternoon but way past lunch.¡±


    So far, Producer Park Soo-Chul¡¯s face didn¡¯t look too fazed or surprised by the information as there weren¡¯t many people in the entertainment industry who came to work on time. Of course, in the case of Yoon Tae-Hyung, who did not run around the set, he should go to work on time.


    When Park Soo-Chul didn¡¯t show much reaction, I moved on to the next materials¡ªa picture of Yoon Tae-Hyung sleeping on the sofa, a picture of him ying games, and a video of him drinking beer. Evidence of negligence kepting out one after another.


    Even Park Soo-Chul looked quite surprised when he saw the picture of Yoon Tae-Hyung sleeping on thepany sofa as soon as he went to work. Park Soo-Chul frowned, seeing Yoon Tae-Hyung use thepany like his own living room.


    Then he said, ¡°Stop showing these to me.¡± He asked me to clear away the files and continued, ¡°First of all, I can clearly see that he doesn¡¯t work, but I can¡¯t help you out separately. The establishment of a joint venture and transfer of contracts are betweenpanies, and I don''t have the right to intervene.¡±


    Producer Park Soo-Chul sighed deeply and said, ¡°And you have to solve this within WD. Even if you tell me this, there¡¯s nothing I can do for you.¡±


    It seemed like he nned to draw a line, and it was only expected as the files I showed him weren¡¯t crimes.


    ¡°If Siren experienced a loss due to his negligence, you should go to the court and talk to him.¡± Park Soo-Chul was right, and I had expected this reaction from him.


    However, I was not over yet. ¡°I asked you to exclude Yoon Tae-Hyung from the joint venture earlier, but honestly, I¡¯m not here to ask you a big favor.¡± I didn¡¯t know Park Soo-Chul as a person too well, but I got a rough idea of what type of person he was while doing the broadcast together. He was fundamentally a person who tried to work hard only on his job, and he found anything besides that cumbersome and annoying.


    The reason why producer Park Soo-Chul wanted to reject my request and thought of this situation as bothersome was because he considered this work outside of his job. If so, then I needed to make him recognize the work rted to Yoon Tae-Hyung was ¡®rted¡¯ to his work.


    ¡°If we win, Yoon Tae-Hyung will likely make all The Showcase-rted schedules more difficult and tiring in the future.¡±


    ¡°The Showcase-rted schedule¡­?¡± Park Soo-Chul gave a stronger reaction than before. He asked, ¡°What¡¯s your basis?¡±


    ¡°Do you think that someone who didn¡¯t let us debut for years because he didn¡¯t want to create work for himself and drank beer at work would be cooperative?¡±


    ¡°¡­.That¡¯s true.¡± Park Soo-Chul was finally beginning to recognize that this problem was rted to him.


    ¡°He would be uninterested in not just The Showcase-rted schedules but all of our schedules. Since the person in charge ofmunication and being the middleman is like this, there¡¯s no way that work would be done properly.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you nned to continue The Showcase with a reality show of the winning team from today¡¯s final performance?¡±


    ¡°¡­How did you know that? That¡¯s confidential information.¡±


    ¡°I overheard the staff talking about it while passing by.¡± I appropriately rehashed the information I heard from Kang Hyun-Sung. ¡°I don''t know whether we¡¯ll win, but if we win, there would probably be a lot of problems during the reality show shooting because of him. Perhaps, it wouldn¡¯t be able to air on time.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°From my calctions, isn¡¯t the filming schedule tight right now? If someone who can¡¯t do their job ruins the schedule right now, won¡¯t you have to go on a break, sir? And put up something like a special instead.¡±


    ¡°¡­Ha.¡±


    ¡°So, sir, if you help me exclude Yoon Tae-Hyung from work rted to the joint venture, these problems won¡¯t happen.¡± At this point, Yoon Tae-Hyung¡¯s work ethic would not appear as an external matter but an internal matter that needed to be addressed inside The Showcase.


    Finally, I said, ¡°As I said earlier, I¡¯m not asking you to do anything big to help me exclude Yoon Tae-Hyung, sir.¡±


    ¡°¡­Then what is it?¡±


    ¡°Sir, people from the Jaeil Group are arriving today, right?¡±


    ¡°¡­How did you know that? That was also confidential.¡±


    ¡°¡­Ah, I also overheard that from the staff as well.¡±


    Sigh. ¡°I¡¯ll have to tell them to keep their mouths shut.¡±


    I suddenly felt sorry for the staff.


    ¡°All you have to do is tell them.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Tell them if they want to work as a joint venturepany, they should talk to WD Entertainment not through Yoon Tae-Hyung but directly with the CEO. And it would be even better if you let them know that Yoon Tae-Hyung¡¯s way of working is strange.¡±


    ¡°Then would things work out if they directly contacted the boss?¡±


    ¡°The CEO wouldn¡¯t act very assertively either.¡±


    ¡°¡­Just what kind of agency is WD Entertainment?¡±


    ¡°Still, if the Jaile Group gave them financialpensation or a stake from the joint venture in their favor, I think they would probably delegate the Jaeil Group with full power so that Jaeil Group can do all the bothersome work.¡±


    ¡°¡­Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t be 100 percent sure, but I think the odds are high.¡±


    Sighh.


    Park Soo-Chul sighed and said, ¡°All right. If all I have to do is tell the people at the Jaeil Group headquarters that, then I¡¯ll try.¡±


    He epted my request.


    ¡°But.¡± However, he put a condition next to it as he said, ¡°I¡¯ll only deliver the message if you win today as it would be all meaningless if Siren loses.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± I had expected this condition as a given.


    ¡°Then please go back now. The final stage is just around the corner, so you should go and practice more.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± I bowed to producer Park Soo-Chul and came out.


    * * *


    In the ce where Bong Tae-Yoon left, Park Soo-Chul, who had been simting today¡¯s schedule inside his mind, pped the papers on the table with a loud sound. Then he looked at where Bong Tae-Yoon left and fell into thought. He had thought a young guy like Bong Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t act like a child at all, but¡ª


    ¡®What the hell¡¯s with that punk?¡¯ He never thought Bong Tae-Yoon had such a shrewd side to him. He wondered if Bong Tae-Yoon really was his age. The way he acted just now seemed like a seasoned negotiator in his 30s.


    ¡®I¡¯ve seen all kinds of people, but I¡¯ve never seen anyone like that before.¡¯ He didn¡¯t know if it was good or bad that such a young child matured so fast.


    ¡®There are serious problems with the agency.¡¯ Park Soo-Chul was aware that there was something wrong with WD Entertainment. Since there weren¡¯t any major problems with Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna or the working-level officials, he expected the problems toe from the higher-ups.


    ¡®But I didn¡¯t expect it to be this bad.¡¯ It was far worse than his expectations, and it was an agency that didn¡¯t even seem like an agency. It was a toxic and crazy coboration where the higher-ups all held each other¡¯s back.


    ¡®But if Siren came up all the way here with an agency like this, how strong is their potential?¡¯ After knowing how awful theirpany was, his rating for Siren improved further. If they had an agency that properly supported them and pushed them forward, he thought they would make quite a pretty picture.


    ¡®Hmm.¡¯ Just in time, someone called him outside the door.


    ¡°Mr. Park, are you here?¡± It was an unfamiliar, middle-aged man¡¯s voice.


    Park Soo-Chul answered, ¡°Ah, Director, you¡¯ve arrived.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s been a while since Ist saw you. Shall we sit down and talk?¡± The man was the director of the entertainment business division of JI ENM, an affiliate of Jaeil Group. He was also nominated as the CEO of the joint venture between Jaeil Group and the winning team¡¯s agency.


    * * *


    Outside the concert hall where the final was being held, the fans of The Showcase 2, who had been giving out free goods and participating in offline meetings, were beginning to gather one by one towards the entrance of the concert hall.


    ¡°Please enter from here!¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t use the stairs, but just go straight!¡±


    ¡°There are stairs inside! Please use those stairs!¡±


    This was because entering the concert hall began at 4 pm. The fans knew that the actual broadcast didn¡¯t start until 6 pm, but¡ª


    ¡°Wow, why am I so nervous?¡±


    ¡°Please, Hyun-Sung. Let¡¯s win.¡±


    ¡°Please let our idols go to a bigpany. Ahhh¡­.¡±


    All of the people who began entering were in a state of anxiety as if the broadcast would start right away. The seats started to fill up one by one. As the air time approached, one could already feel the heat rising from the scene.


    ¡°I should have bought a telescope from outside.¡± Sigh.


    ¡°Wow, I can hardly see anything.¡±


    ¡°I have to step on the person in front of me to go to the bathroom¡­¡±


    ¡°Um, could I ask who you are cheering for today?¡±


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m, um, Only One.¡±


    ¡°¡­.I¡¯m cheering for Siren.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Would you like to eat this?¡±


    ¡°Ah, thank you.¡±


    While the scene was bing more and more like a concert hall, the back of the concert hall was also raising its energy to match the heat of the audience.


    ¡°We can do it! Don¡¯t be scared!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhhh!¡±


    ¡°We can do it, Siren!¡±


    The especially loud ce was the waiting room where Siren was. Was it because the live broadcast was now just two hours away?


    ¡°Guys, dust is flying so please sit down.¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhhhhhhhh!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not scared!¡±


    ¡°We can do a really great job!¡±


    ¡°Yesss~¡±


    All four members except Bong Tae-Yoon were having an adrenaline overdrive.

 Chapter 125

    Chapter 125


    I sat in the waiting room and watched my group members enter into a frenzy. As we encroached two hours before the start of the performance, my group members¡¯ conditions became more and more severe.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I don¡¯t feel anything. I feel wonderful. My condition is at its best,¡± Yeon-Hoon kept chanting the same words as he was trying to put a spell on himself that he was fine and was at his very best. His actions seemed to mimic small animals who puffed up their feathers to appear bigger and stronger.


    On one hand, Woon incessantly asked:


    ¡°We will do well, right?¡±


    ¡°We will do a great job. Don¡¯t you think so?¡±


    ¡°We are the best? Isn¡¯t that right?¡±


    ¡°¡­Yes, it¡¯s just as you say.¡±


    Woon appeared like he would throw himself out of the window the moment I said no to any of his questions. I was surprised to see a certain craziness re up inside his eyes, but I supposed it was this that allowed him to move so fiercely across the stage. He genuinely scared me a bit that I moved away from him.


    On the other hand, Do-Seung and Dong-Jun screamed to themselves.


    ¡°Ahhh! I can do it!¡±


    ¡°Can do it!¡±


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    ¡°Ohhhh!¡±


    They sounded like agitated orangutans as they kept shouting self-affirming lines at the top of their voices while wandering around the waiting room. Do-Seung had always been the person to scold Dong-Jun, but at times like this, they were two peas in a pod. I sighed seeing my group members. Because of how frantic they were acting, dust kept flying around the room and my heart hurt.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t like I waspletely fine either. My hands and feet kept aching and my stomach felt nauseous. Yet, all of the symptoms stayed internal, and I thought it was a hundred and a thousand times better than expelling my nervousness outwards as my group members did.


    ¡°I¡¯m okay. I¡¯m the best. I beat everyone. I''m super duper strong.¡±


    ¡°We are the best? Right? Riiight? Hm?¡±


    ¡°Ahrararararahh!¡±


    ¡°Ho! Ho! Ho!¡±


    I sighed, seeing my members look so anxious, but a faint smile appeared on my lips. My members had always appeared so calm before a performance before, so I felt a slight sense of camaraderie seeing how nervous they looked now. I also let them express their nervousness as they wished since this wasn¡¯t something that could be stopped anyway.


    ¡®But we need to¡­really win in this final performance.¡¯ I was determined. This was the greatest hurdle and mission that this damn system gave me, and I needed to seed at all costs. I stared at Do-Seung, who was jumping up and down with Dong-Jun now.


    Though it was hard to focus on anything serious while he was acting like this, I still thought to myself, ''I have to protect him.¡¯ I didn¡¯t want to miss this second opportunity I was given in vain.


    We needed to win this, and if we didn¡¯t¡ª ¡®¡­I can¡¯t stand still doing nothing.¡¯


    If the worst-case scenario urred, there was no need for me to be captured in the sadness of the moment. The system couldn¡¯tpletely supersede thew of nature, and I needed to aim for another chance.


    ¡°Haaa.¡± I inhaled and exhaled deeply to calm my nervousness.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Did you see this?¡± Perhaps, Yeon-Hoon got back some of his senses, and he stopped his self-affirmations to walk towards me with his phone in his hands. His phone screen showed our group¡¯s unofficial goods that had been exchanged by fans in front of the concert hall.


    ¡°People even made goods with my yearbook photo. Aren¡¯t they so cute?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked me.


    ¡°Yeah, that yearbook photo is cute.¡±


    ¡°Uh, I didn¡¯t mean that my yearbook photo was cute but my fans. But seeing how they are people who like me so much¡­doesn¡¯t it mean I¡¯m really that awesome?¡± But right after I thought Yeon-Hoon had gained back his senses, he seemed to revert right back and responded to his own question. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m the best. It¡¯s true. I¡¯m super good. No one can beat me.¡±


    And while Yeon-Hoon kept murmuring to himself, I also looked through Bluebird with my phone.


    ¡®We already have this many fans?¡¯ I was aware that our fandom had increased in size, but I didn¡¯t have a good sense of how big it got. This was because we weren¡¯t logged into apps that idolsmonly used, didn¡¯t sell any albums, or had a group concert yet. I was only able to assess our general poprity through Bluebird.


    ¡®But this isn¡¯t bad.¡¯ Though I didn¡¯t have the exact numbers, I didn¡¯t think our fan count would be so small, considering how many well-made goods wereing out.


    ¡®I should do well,¡¯ I thought to myself then, so that none of the people who came to see us think they wasted their time.


    ¡®Hm?¡¯ I noticed that many posts about Only One also came up on my feed.


    ¡®There are many goods for Only One too.¡¯ My thoughts naturally flowed to Only One. I wondered how much this team would¡¯ve prepared and what mindset they had leading up to this point.


    But in the end, I concluded, ¡®I should stop thinking about them and focus on us. It will just weaken my mentality.¡¯ I turned my head and looked at my group members. There was no need for me to be concerned about Only One. We just needed to be the main characters today.


    ***


    An hour left before the show, Only One¡¯s waiting room heated up with anticipation and nerves for the uing performance. Kang Hyun-Sung stopped thinking about Siren because he realized that it was meaningless to think of possible oues with another group in mind. He had been aware of this before, but he couldn¡¯t stop himself from thinking about Siren because he had the tendency to dwell deeper in his thoughts the more nervous he was.


    Yet, he was able to pull himself out of his thoughts this time because Park Young-Ho from asked, ¡°Are you all right?¡±


    His expression must have been very solemn for even the maknae of the team to ask him if he was all right.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung replied and smiled softly. Park Young-Ho seemed to feel relieved by Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s response as he also smiled and leaned his back on the sofa nearby.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think we will do really well in today¡¯s performance?¡± Park Young-Ho asked in a hopeful voice. ¡°We worked so, so hard.¡±


    As Young-Ho said, they had worked very hard for this¡ªto the point that even the spartan Kang Hyun-Sung worried whether his group mates would be able to keep up with the schedule. Yet, none of the members fell behind and kept up with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s pace.


    That was why Kang Hyun-Sung could respond, ¡°Yeah, we can do a good job.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Gasp! What did Hyun-Sung say just now?¡±


    ¡°Did he say that we would do a good job?¡±


    ¡°What in the world?¡±


    Hearing Kang Hyun-Sung cheer them on, all the Only One members stared at Hyun-Sung in shock.


    ¡°¡­Ha, seriously?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung smiled humorlessly and repeated, ¡°Yeah, I know we will do well.¡±


    ¡°Yeaaah!¡±


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Woop, woop!¡±


    As the Only One members cheered, the waiting room became chaotic. Kang Hyun-Sung smiled softly upon seeing them. He realized how much he had refrained fromplimenting himself and others then. At the same time, he told himself, ¡®¡­I have to do well at all costs.¡¯


    He wanted to win this show and move his group to a jointpany. He couldn¡¯t let these guys stay in a terriblepany like TH Entertainment. They were too talented and kind to wait hopelessly for who-knows-how-long for their next chance.


    ¡°Hm.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung inhaled and exhaled deeply. He thought he had stopped getting nervous before a performance after Select Your Idol, but his heart was pounding.


    ¡°Do you think our lyrics will be properly conveyed to our fans?¡± It was then that Park Young-Ho asked about their song¡¯s lyrics. They all had to stand on the stage with their original songs this time. Since Only One couldn¡¯t self-produce, they left the song-making to an external source. In the process of writing the lyrics, each of the members sent keywords to the lyricists, and coincidentally, all of their keywords had the words ¡®thank you'' in them/


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m sure it will reach them,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said. He was about to say that they needed to do a good job of rying their message properly out of habit but quickly changed his words.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡±


    ¡°Thank goodness.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung tapped the top of Park Young-Ho¡¯s head and looked at the mirror. The Only One members were sitting on the sofa with Kang Hyun-Sung at the center. Kang Hyun-Sung looked at his group through the mirror and said, ¡°Let¡¯s win this.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s win!¡±


    ¡°Yeahhh!¡±


    ¡°Ohhhhh!¡±


    They resolved their hearts for victory.


    ¡ªOnly One, please be on standby!


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    The Only One members got up one by one.


    ***


    Only One¡¯s fan gripped her hands tightly and looked at the stage with anticipation. She was a fan who had woken up from sunrise to ride on the train to Seoul. She hadn¡¯t liked Kang Hyun-Sung during his time at Select Your Idol but bafflingly fell for him in The Showcase 2 and came all the way to Seoul to see him.


    ¡°Please, please, let them win, please God.¡± But that long distance felt like nothing if she could see this stage. If Only One just won, she felt like she could go to even to the toughest parts of the world willingly to volunteer. She felt desperate to the point it pained her. Eventually, it became 6 p.m. and the concert hall lights changed. Broadcast equipment turned on, and lights came up on the LED screen.


    ¡°Ha!¡± Only One¡¯s fan held her breath and looked at the stage. Her spot was so bad that she couldn¡¯t even see the stage properly and had to rely on therge electric screen. Yet, her heart thumped from the sheer fact that she could see Only One as dots from a distance.


    ording to the information that BlueBird leaked, Only One would have the first opening performance. She was angry that her guys got the opening but thinking back on how Only One wanted either the ending or the opening, she quelled her emotions.


    ¡ªGrab the first chance in front of you.


    ¡ªHello, I¡¯m The Showcase 2 First Chance¡¯s host,edian Kim Young-Jin.


    ¡ªI¡¯m singer Nahyun. Wee to tonight¡¯s show!


    The two people who always came out in The Showcase 2 appeared. Kim Young-Jin and Nahyun walked out to the stage.


    ¡°Waaaaah!¡± Perhaps, it was expected. Even Kim Young-Jin, who had appeared like an ordinary businessman on TV, looked better in real life. His proportions were good, and he had distinct features.


    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s handsome,¡± Only One¡¯s fan thought.


    ¡ªThis is the day when The Showcase 2 finallyys down its curtains.


    ¡ªSo many tearful and happy moments happened until now, but today is the day that will mark the end of this magnificent story.


    The hosts continued their time-killingmentaries for the show and raised the audience¡¯s anticipation. Only One¡¯s fan waited anxiously when Only One woulde out.


    ¡ªThis is the team that will start the final performances with a bang.


    ¡ªThe team that had dered itself to be the only star in your hearts! Let¡¯s begin Only One¡¯s performance!


    ¡°Uh, Ahh! Ahhhh!¡± As soon as the introduction to Only One¡¯s performance came out, the stage¡¯s lights turned off. The stage turned so dark that she couldn¡¯t see anything besides the back of the head of the person in front of her.


    Click.


    Then, the lights turned on again, and Only One appeared on stage.


    ¡°Wow, waaaaaah!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh¡±


    Therge electronic disy captured glimpses of their general appearance and formation, and nothing looked even close to ordinary. Only One¡¯s fan¡¯s heart thumped rapidly.


    Ding¡ªa clear EDM base intro flowed in, and Kang Hyun-Sung walked to the center.


    ¡ªI hope there¡¯s no such thing as a sad ending


    ¡ªAt the end of the road that erupted between us


    ¡ªI will make sure no painful feelings can remain


    ¡ªIn the hearts that allowed us to walk together


    As the fan¡¯s eyes sparked open in excitement, Only One¡¯s performance officially began.

 Chapter 126

    Chapter 126


    Only One¡¯s performance officially began. Whileing out as the group¡¯s center, Kang Hyun-Sung thought that a concert hall with 5,000 people was much bigger than he expected. During his time in Yours, he had performed at a muchrger concert hall, but it didn¡¯t feel very big to him then. However, this concert hall with only 5,000 people¡ªno, probably only 3,000 people due to the broadcasting equipment¡ªfelt gigantic to him.


    His body began to stiffen from nerves, and he started the choreography after rxing his muscles and forcibly pushing his nerves back. The bass sound, which was like sshing water droplets, reverberated, and the Only One members stood in a circle around Kang Hyun-Sung and moved as if the hands of the clock were rotating. The moment when Kang Hyun-Sung lifted his hand above his head and swung it down in a straight line¡ª


    ¨CI hope there¡¯s no sad ending


    ¨CAt the end of this bridge between us


    ¨CSo that there are no hurt feelings


    ¨CIn our hearts through this journey


    The members, who had been turning in circles, bowed deeply, and Kang Hyun-Sung stood alone in the center. While seeing his members on the stage, Kang Hyun-Sung thought once more about why this stage had felt so big. Kang Hyun-Sung withdrew from the center, and Park Young-Ho took his ce and stepped in front of the stage.


    ¨CI¡¯ve been preparing this moment for a long time


    ¨CFor you who have been running endlessly


    Kang Hyun-Sung looked at Park Young-Ho in the center.


    ¨CInside our sped hands


    ¨CWe hold our dreams that we¡¯ve been holding onto


    ¨CWords are not enough


    ¨CTo express the feelings hidden behind my eyes


    Then he looked at Kim Ju-Hyun¡¯s performance, Kim Si-Woon¡¯s performance, and finally, Lee Chul-Woon¡¯s performance. Only then did he realize why the stage felt so big.


    ¨CYOU MAKE ME BLOOM


    ¨Cthanks to you


    Although Kang Hyun-Sung wanted to be an idol, he had no strong identity as a group member. From his perspective, he thought being an idol was a job where you had topete with others until the very moment he retired, and he thought he should inducepetition even among his group members.


    ¨CI BLOOM FOR YOU


    ¨Cfor you


    However, it was only now did he feel like he could understand what the bond of a group was like. Thus, that was why the stage felt so big. It was not a stage where only he had to do well, but he sincerely wished that all of his members with him would also do well. Although Kang Hyun-Sung was shaking internally, unlike his usual self, he was doing better on stage than ever before.


    ¨CALWAYS HERE ¨CWAITING FOR YOU


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s eyes moved towards the audience. This song was made with gratitude in mind. There were a lot of big and small incidents, but he was able to lead these members thanks to one driving force¡ªthe fans. And this song was created for his fans.


    ¨CNo matter what happens


    ¨CI¡¯ll always be by your side


    ¨CYOU MAKE ME BLOOM


    ¨CI¡¯m thest flower that you bloomed


    Like this, Only One¡¯s first original song, <FLOWER>, finished the first verse of the chorus.


    ***


    One of Only One¡¯s fans stared nkly at Kang Hyun-Sung on stage. The song passed the first chorus and continued onto the second verse. Generally speaking, she was just one of the many Only One fans here. However, if one dug a little deeper into her history, she was a bit more special than the usual fans here.


    ¨CThese feelings that I¡¯ve held for a long time


    ¨CAnd preciously cared for


    ¨Cthese feelings that bloomed between us sometimes


    ¨CFEEL SO BLUE


    ¨CSo that I¡¯ll fall endlessly


    She was one of the earliest fans who supported Kang Hyun-Sung and put his picture on her profile page, even at a time when no one was interested in him. Although being a fan of Kang Hyun-Sung was still not easy, being a fan of Kang Hyun-Sung at that time needed a tremendous amount of mental training and fortitude.


    Since he was not the producer¡¯s favorite, he was evil-edited on the show and was often criticized on Bluebird. Whenever that happened, she went around exining, engaging in online fights, and actively trying to create a fandom for him.


    On the other hand, it was fun to keep trying as Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fandom grew with each broadcast. No matter how much the producers tried to alienate him by evil editing, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s dancing was too noticeable, and people who fell in love with him grew one by one. Furthermore, his cool exterior was enough to tie fans steadfastly to his fandom.


    However, if anyone asked her if fangirling Kang Hyun-Sung was always enjoyable, she would say no. As hate often came with fame and Kang Hyun-Sung rose from a lower rank in Select Your Idol, maliciousments hating on him increased to a ridiculous amount. After sessfully debuting, the Only One fan thought Kang Hyun-Sung would finally be able to walk on a nice, smooth road, but because of various incidents, he had to go through another hell once again.


    However, even this was weak inparison to what wouldeter as after Yours disbanded, Kang Hyun-Sung went back to TH Entertainment and participated in a program where they gathered doomed or flopped idols. It was to the extent that even her friends called her Buddha for supporting him. However, she couldn¡¯t call herself Buddha because rather than staying calm and in peace, she suffered every time one of these incidents broke out.


    However, the reason why she still couldn¡¯t let go of Kang Hyun-Sung even then was because¡ª


    ¡ªIn that dizzying night


    ¡ªWhen I saw you


    e right up to me


    ¡ªMy heart LIGHT IT UP


    ¡ªLIKE RED


    The only person who made her heart beat like this every time they were on stage was Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡ªYOU MAKE ME BLOOM


    ¡ªThanks to you


    ¡ªI BLOOM FOR YOU


    ¡ªFor you


    The Only One fan nkly looked at Kang Hyun-Sung. Standing at the center of the song¡¯s chorus, Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to shine brighter than anyone else.


    ¡ªALWAYS HERE


    ¡ªWAITING FOR YOU


    Furthermore, the lyrics of the songs that the members were currently singing seemed to be written for fans.


    ¡®These lyrics¡ªit has got to be a song for fans¡­¡¯ It didn¡¯t matter whether or not Only One actually wrote the lyrics themselves; it was more important that they used the song for the final performance. This was a performance prepared for the fans who¡¯ve been by their side for a long time. While watching the stage, her heart ripped into millions of pieces and stabbed her in the chest.


    ¨CNo matter what happens


    ¨CI¡¯ll always be by your side


    ¨CYOU MAKE ME BLOOM


    ¨C¨CI¡¯m thest flower that you bloomed


    Only One¡¯s fans tried hard not to move her eyes from the stage. However, contrary to her efforts, her head kept dropping. She covered her mouth and tried to suppress her sobs. She didn¡¯t know whether these feelings wouldst a thousand or a hundred years. Perhaps, it might disappear the very next morning. However, at this very moment, she could say confidently from the bottom of her heart that she felt very d to be Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fan.


    ***


    Only One¡¯s performance ended. The members and I were sitting in the waiting room and silently watched the monitor screen.


    I had been curious about what kind of performance Only One brought, but after watching their performance, I thought, ¡®¡­I shouldn¡¯t have watched it.¡¯


    I wondered why I even watched their performance. I had expected them to do well in the final performance, and the Only One¡¯s final performance that I saw before I regressed had also been great. However, it certainly had not been up to the performance they showed just now; I could swear upon it. Before my regression, my thoughts about their performance were that they did well as they always did, but now¡­


    ¡®¡­They¡¯ve all grown exponentially.¡¯ They¡¯ve all done better than what I expected, and the performance they showed just now was a grand performance Only One showed at the peak of their career. Rather than just being good at dancing or expressions, it was a performance that highlighted their unity and strength as a team.


    ¡®But above all, he used a cheat key.¡¯ Kang Hyun-Sung used a cheat that only he could use in this show.


    ¡®He sold off his own story¡­¡¯ Kang Hyun-Sung must also know very well how hard it was for his fans as he¡¯d only walked a path that was emotionally and mentally draining for them. However, by using that to his advantage and performing a song like this for the final performance¡ª


    ¡®Hmm¡­¡¯ Only One¡¯s fans would obviously be invested, but even people who were not Only One fans would be moved by his story and be emotionally invested as well.


    As an example¡­


    ¡°Ahhh¡­Awwk¡­¡±


    ¡°Just cry, Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    ¡°Aww¡­No, I¡¯m not going to cry¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re just basically crying at that rate.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s crying faucet burst once again. Yeon-Hoon often got too invested in people¡¯s stories, but it was not to the extent that he would normally bawl after seeing another group¡¯s performance. Since we had to perform soon, we were all in a nervous and tense state. However, the story behind Only One¡¯s performance was so immersive that it was enough to even crumble our nerves for a bit. While Yeon-Hoon wiped his tears with his sleeves¡ª


    ¡°¡­Wow, they did really great.¡±


    ¡°¡­Amazing.¡±


    ¡°It was sad.¡±


    ¡°Only One¡­did a performance only they could do.¡±


    The members also said ament each. Regardless of whether Yeon-Hoon cried or not, we couldn¡¯t just be impressed about it.


    ¡°We also have to do well.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°Ah, it really isn¡¯t easy.¡±


    On the other hand, it would be stranger if weughed and joked around after ourpetitor brought their best performance by far.


    ¡°We can win, right¡­? Over that performance¡­?¡± Do-Seung asked in a careful tone.


    No one could confidently reply to the question. Thus, I answered for the members, ¡°Yes. We can win.¡± Honestly, I also wasn¡¯t confident that our performance would be better than Only One¡¯s performance.


    However, I needed to reassure my members. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We would do better.¡±


    Just like how my membersforted and encouraged me in the past performances, I needed to give confidence to them. ¡°Just keep in mind that we¡¯ll be the ones to bring the trophy home.¡±


    ¡°¡­Really?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll win?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    The members seemed to rx a bit at my buff. Yeah, I thought I did enough. The members would do the rest.


    ¡°Yeah, we can do it. Let¡¯s not get scared already.¡±


    ¡°Pweh¡­yeah¡­we¡¯re the best¡­!¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, at least say that after you wipe your tears!¡±


    ¡°¡­We¡¯re the best!¡± The members encouraged each other and pushed away their anxiety a bit.


    ¡°Let¡¯s focus on the next performance for now.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Bleshu is next, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±


    We all straightened our posture and stared at the monitor screen again.


    ***


    After Only One¡¯s performance ended, Only One members stood in a line and gave a short review of what they felt while shooting The Showcase 2. And sure enough, Only One fans from all sides were tearing up at their remarks.


    ¡®¡­This is dangerous.¡¯ A Siren fan, who happened to be surrounded by Only One fans from all sides, thought that things were not looking too bright. It wasn¡¯t because she saw Only One fans crying, but because even she, who never had an interest in Only One, thought the performance they showed just now was nothing short of amazing. She had no choice but to endure the sounds of people crying everywhere whenever the Only One members expressed their feelings on stage.


    At the same time, she prayed, ¡®Please let Siren do better.¡¯


    Although she sounded a bit like a psychopath, she wished that Only One fans, who were crying right now, would be shedding tears for a different reason.


    ¡®Please¡­let Siren win. God or anyone, please¡­¡¯ While sitting in the auditorium where the tide had turned towards Only One, the Siren fan desperately prayed for Siren to win.

 Chapter 127

    Chapter 127


    <em>The Showcase 2 First Chance</em>s final performance continued. I sat with my group members and watched the other teams performances on the monitor. The team toe after Only One was Bleshu. This was the team that always ced third right after us and Only One and was the team that treated us most kindly at the beginning of the show. The original song that Bleshu came up with was called<em> Bless You</em>.


    BLESS YOU


    No matter how rough and hard


    The path in front of us


    I JUST WISH THAT


    We will keep smiling as long as we are together


    Their performance felt much more natural and calmer than all the previous performances they had shown. Bleshu was a team that did better in songs that showcased the vocal lines, but it seemed they had skipped out on what they were best at because of all the pressure they felt to give a showy performance. Yet, they did what they wanted now and, as a result, showed their best performance.


    <em>How cool,</em> I thought to myself, but my members voiced their opinions out loud.


    Their song is so good.


    Bleshu has really nice voices.


    Woon and Yeon-Hoon said theirpliments wholeheartedly, and I realized once again that this was how kind peoplemunicated their thoughts. And when Bleshu gave their ending thoughts, people burst into tears.


    Thank you so much for giving us this great opportunity and please dont forget about us.


    Only the Bleshus leader cried in the beginning, but when he asked the audience not to forget them, the rest of the group also teared up. The concert hall filled with tears, and Yeon-Hoons eyes also became teary again.


    <em>Sniff, sniff</em>


    Here is a tissue. Be careful so that your makeup doesnt smudge.


    Urgggh


    The next group toe out was OnebyOne. This was the team that went through the most changes among all other groups in <em>The Showcase </em>since they went from a five-people group to a three-people group.


    <em>What?</em> Perhaps, Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon had been dragging the group down like shackles, but the rest of the OnebyOne members were now soaring.


    They werent all just vocal lines?


    Why are they so good at rapping?


    They are good at both rapping and singing?


    The three of them showed a splendid performance of singing and rapping. Their song title was <em>One and One</em>a bright, breezy song that was mixed with many light electronic sounds.


    One and One; the story left between us


    Let the story unravel before us


    And create exciting days as much as we have anticipated


    The concept was enjoyable and pure, and their outfits werent over-the-board but just cute. It really seemed like Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon had been really pulling their group down. OnebyOne members smiled more brightly than anyone else as they said the ending lines.


    I feel like we finally did what we wanted to do in thest performance.


    We have absolutely noregrets now.


    Thank you for the great time! We are so happy and grateful!


    Unlike Bleshus teary ending lines, OnebyOne appeared relieved andpletely refreshed. The next group in line was Luminin. Truthfully, I didnt have good feelings towards them. They had tantly made snidements at us before, and we never had the opportunity to get closer.


    But besides all that, I still had respect for them as fellow entertainers in the same business as us. I was sure that they must have also felt desperate like the other groups and felt disheartened to see Only One and us take all the spotlights. Though their attitude was poor, they were still nowhere near swines like Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon, so I had nosting ill feelings toward them.


    Luminins original song was <em>Lumen</em>. It meant light in Latin and it appeared to be a fan song they created in dedication to their fans.


    You came to me like light and stayed by my side


    You always lit up my heart brightly


    All of their lyrics seemed to indicate that, and though they didnt disy as much as showy moves as the previous performances, theck of it highlighted the song even more.


    Perhaps, it was because everyones song choices were above our expectations, Do-Seung said in a slightly shaky voice, Everyone picked out good songs.


    Among the five teams, we were the only ones who came up with our own song. The other teams had songs made by professionals, while ours was hand-made. It seemed Do-Seung was worried how his song wouldpare to theirs but I said, Its not you who should be worried but the song producers behind the other groups who should be.


    What do you mean?


    Though they gave good money to pros to write songs for them, you made a way better song than them on your own, I replied.


    Ha, seriously. I didnt know you knew how to tter people, Do-Seung said, but he appeared to be in a good mood as he stared at me with a slight smile. As Luminins performance gradually came to a close, the staff announced.


    Siren, please be on standby!


    Our waiting room instantly turned deadly silent. They froze in their spots and stayed sitting without doing anything.


    Haaa, I breathed in and out calmly.


    We can do it! Can do it! We are the best! Yeon-Hoon broke the silence, and he repeatedly announced that we were the best with no reason or backing whatsoever.


    We will do the best, right? Woon also began his incessant questions while Do-Seung and Dong-Jun jumped up from the sofa and shouted, Ahhh! We can do it!


    We can do it!


    We can do it, Siren!


    We can do it!


    We all gathered together with our arms around each others shoulders and shouted our signature line.


    No need for you to feel nervous or scared. We will do the best job. Letse back after beating everyone, Yeon-Hoon uncharacteristically talked in a very determined manner.


    Yes!


    Lets go!


    Lets win!


    Yeaaah!


    We all headed outside the waiting room while drawing out all our energy. I also nned toplete the final performance we have been working on for the past several months with no regrets.


    ***


    Park Soo-Chul stared nkly as Luminins performance continued. Four groupsOnly One, Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Lumininall just finished their performance. He then looked at the umted number of texts.


    Is it possible for them to organize this amount of data?


    It seems the technical board is quite surprised. They are trying to keep things in control somehow.


    So many votes wereing in that they were beginning to worry that the system could freeze. This was the second season of <em>The Showcase</em>, and though the first season was, without doubt, a program that disyed great results


    <em>This looks like more than twice the number of votes, </em>he thought. The number of messages they were receiving was overwhelmingly higher than before. He had seen the high view ratings and view count of clips, but they all appeared like simple numbers then. It was simr to just seeing numbers on a bank ount. It was nice, but hard to make sense of how much it was. Yet, the count of message votes gave him a simr feeling as personally using that money.


    Ha, this is thrilling.


    It truly is.


    It felt like he was experiencing the shows sess with his whole body. He was aware that <em>The Showcase 2 </em>had surpassed Season 1 in many criterias, but he didnt realize it was to this extent. It brought chills down his back that he had a hand in making this great wave in the broadcast industry. Then, he pulled himself out of his self-adoration and focused on the stage again.


    Who has the most votes right now?


    Ughplease give me a moment. It doesnt umte the votes live. Theres a slight dy


    Just tell me the ranks as you see it.


    Its Only One.


    Really? What about Siren?


    They are falling a bit behind Only One.


    Is the difference huge?


    Its not big, but it wont be easy for them to turn things over. They hadnt been able to surpass Only One since the show began.


    Hm. Park Soo-Chul didnt say more. He simply wondered how he should n the new reality program if Only One won.


    But you know how the votes increase dramatically after a performanceif we calcte the increase, then, its likely that


    What is likely?


    I think its likely that Siren could end first ce.


    Siren?


    Park Soo-Chul thought deeply again about how he should n the reality show if Siren won. Of course, nothing was decided yet.


    <em>But it will be fun either way.</em> It didnt matter much to him whether Siren or Only One won.


    ***


    While <em>The Showcase 2</em>s final performance was going on, idol social media andmunity sites such as Bluebird buzzed with stories about<em> The Showcase</em>. It was only expected since it was the most popr and influential idol program early this year. Though the majority of the cast were supposed to be doomed idols or groups who hadnt even debuted yet, they were the biggest topic right now on this side of the inte.


    Only Ones performance just now was insane


    Just kill me Hyun-Sung


    Only One, lets just only win


    This is too much


    Hyun-Sung <em>sob, sob</em>


    Please message your votes for Only One #2557 1 #TheShowcase #OnlyOne #KangHyunSung #ParkYoungHo # KimSiWoon #KimJuHyun #LeeChulWoon


    The one who got the most responses after the show started was naturally Only One. Not only was their performance excellent, they had many points that could draw in the audience even if they werent fans.


    Only Ones performance just swells up your heart


    Hyun-Sungs knows how to y the game since <em>Select Your Idol</em>


    Did Only One win?


    Reply: The result hasnte out yet


    In Bluebird and othermunity sites, fans talked as if Only One had already won. Though Siren had a simr-sized fandom now, Only One fans were erupting with passion and excitement after Only Ones legendary performances and quieting everyone else down. Of course, its not as if Siren fans just stayed quiet.


    Our guys haven''t evene out yet


    Ah, please Siren


    Sending Mac lipstick to those who show proof that they voted for Siren ~~~ If you were chosen, please show proof that you voted by text~~


    I will be giving away gift cards for those who show proof that they voted for Siren!! 10 people will be chosen!!


    Please look at this while waiting for our guys performancerare picture of Bong Tae-Yoon in a uniformif you want to see more of these cool, handsome guys, please watch them live right now on <em>The Showcase</em>s final performance


    Siren fans advertised prizes for those who showed proof of voting for Siren and continued to upload legendary clips of their group. Yet, Bluebird and themunitys general mood was still greatly in favor of Only One.


    Ha, shit. What if our guys dont win this show?


    Looking for people who will bomb WD Entertainment with me


    It will be ridiculous if Siren doesnt win


    Siren fans were also aware of this and wrote posts that expressed their worries from time to time.


    We dont know the results yet! Lets fight till the end!


    Have to protect our sea fairies


    Yet, other Siren fans continued to write encouraging posts to pull up others'' moods. And as various opinions and feelings went up and down, provocations and fights also erupted frequently, and many people unnecessarily became too emotionally charged.


    Ahhhh Please Soo-Chul!! Pick Siren!


    Reply: The PD doesnt pick anyone


    Reply: Yeah, I also know


    Please make Hyun-Sung win everyone


    But in the end, neither Only One nor Siren fans could be sure who would win. And as all these various responses came up and the attention on <em>The Showcase 2</em> reached its greatest peak, Siren came up the stage.


    Ah, look, Siren is up.

 Chapter 128

    <h4>Chapter 128</h4>


    The Siren fan was staring nervously at the stage. Although Luminin was talking about their feelings on stage, none of their words were actually registering in her mind.


    <i>¡®Please, please guys...¡¯</i> It was because Siren¡¯s performance was just around the corner.


    <i>¡®Please let Siren win. Please, please, I beg you!¡¯</i> Frankly, she had been confident of their victory until the performances began. Although Only One had been doing well, she believed the tide had turned back to Siren, and to support her belief, Siren had wonst week¡¯s broadcast. However, after watching Only One¡¯s final stage, her confidencepletely disappeared. She felt a strong sense of crisis that Siren might lose if they made a single mistake.


    <i>Sigh. ¡®Please...¡¯ </i>Was it because she was too desperate? Even though Siren was the one performing, she felt more nervous than them. When she measured her heart rate with the smartwatch, it was¡ª


    ¡ª158bpm


    <i>¡®Oh my gosh.¡¯ </i>One would think she was running a marathon. She held her hands tightly. It was unclear whether Siren would be able to make their debut if they returned to WD Entertainment. She didn¡¯t want them to disappear into the void like this when she finally found a group to support after wandering aimlessly for so long.


    ¡ªIt was a stage where I could clearly feel Luminin¡¯s heartfelt feelings toward their fans.


    ¡ªI felt very moved while listening to it.


    ¡ªThen, we will be moving on to the team that will wrap up today¡¯s final performance.


    ¡ªWe will now begin a performance from a group who always blesses our eyes and ears with their amazing performance¡ªSiren!


    The two hosts exchangedments and introduced Siren.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s starting! They¡¯reing out!¡¯</i> The Siren fan clenched her fist harder. Then¡ª


    <i>Tap.</i>


    The stage went dark for a while, and her whole surroundings became enveloped by darkness. She could only hear the sound of her heart pounding¡ª


    <i>Tap.</i>


    The light turned again.


    <i>¡®Ah.¡¯ </i>Siren fan strangely rxed all of a sudden. Siren was on top of the stage. They were her idols, who she¡¯d always watched on screen and listened to only through songs. Her heart swelled that her idols were finally in front of her and actualized into reality. At the same time, the lingering anxiety in the corner of her heart disappeared like snow melting.


    There was no need for her to worry. Currently, Siren was dressed in white costumes as if they wereing out of a mythology, and just their presence gave off an extraordinary vibe; their appearance seemed to reassure her that today¡¯s stage would be amazing and her worst fears won''t turn into reality.


    Perhaps, her nerves were forcibly pumping optimistic thoughts into her nervous system from worrying too much, but regardless of what the reason was, she just wanted to believe that Siren would perform well today.


    <i>creech. </i>


    Then the sound of the machine and scratching sounds rang out. It was a unique sound effect. Currently, Siren was lying on stage, and a picture taken with a camera crane appeared on the electronic disy. Since the picture was taken from the top, the choreography formation was much better seen from the electronic disy than in the audience seat.


    <i>¡®What are they doing?¡¯</i> They were lying in a circle with their heads on each other¡¯s legs. In the middle, Woo Yeon-Hoony alone in a crouching position.


    <i>Screech. </i>


    The scratching sound grew worse, and Woo Yeon-Hoon slowly lifted his head; his movements looked like a baby bird lifting his head. When Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face was shown close-up in the electronic disy¡ª


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°Wow, crazy.¡±


    ¡°Kyaah!¡±


    Regardless of whether they were Siren fans or not, screams burst from everywhere. The white outfit and glittering gems under his eyes perfectly matched Woo Yeon-Hoo¡¯s face. When she felt that his face was glowing, Woo Yeon-Hoon stared straight ahead with an emotionless expression.


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    He said in a hushed voice. At that moment, sounds that were just scratching noises began to rearrange into a melody. The Siren members began to get up one by one. The camera also moved out of the close-up shot and captured all the members in one frame.


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°Insane.¡±


    People eximed in the following scene. Even before the performance had fully started, the Siren fan thought, <i>¡®This is it! They did it!¡¯</i>


    Just by seeing theirpletely white outfits, fancy makeup, and the visuals of the members who pulled off these difficult concepts, she instinctively knew that this performance would be a hit.


    ***


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    A sound that now felt all too familiar echoed across the stage. We began performing moves one by one that we¡¯d been practicing like a machine for the past two weeks. While this was a performance that contained our universe story, it was a performance that, more importantly, contained a message for our fans. The reason for this was that if we just did a performance containing our universe without warning or exnation, it wouldn¡¯t be suitable for the final.


    The message in the lyrics for this song was simple¡ªwe were asking them to join us since this was our new beginning. In a way, it was a message that many idols put in their songs, as being an idol was a profession that could not continue unless there were fans. Thus, we had written this song intending to invite our fans to the beginning of our universe.


    Yeon-Hoon moved to the back of the stage and came out to the center. I had been nervous on every stage so far. While I had somehow managed to ovee my nerves to perform, there had never been an easy performance for me. However, I was different today. I was confident, and I felt like I could do well on today''s stage. I took a step forward and looked at the audience. I had trembled even in front of a much smaller stage, but¡ª


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªA new world blooms before our eyes


    ¡ªEverything I¡¯ve dreamed of manifests into reality


    ¡ªIt¡¯s a great blessing that this world


    ¡ªJust for the two of us has entered our lives


    There was nothing for me to be afraid of, and I probably wasn¡¯t the only one feeling this way. The faces of the members standing on the stage were also brighter than ever before. Even though they had been trembling in nervousness before going up, once they got onto the stage, they returned to their original selves. I stepped down from the center, and Dong-Jun came forward.


    ¡ªI don¡¯t know what this happiness is


    ¡ªI don¡¯t know if this kind of feeling suits me


    ¡ªOur sped hands still feel awkward to me but¡ª


    ¡ªI¡¯ll match my footsteps with yours one step at a time


    Dong-Jun¡¯s clear and stable voice resonated in the concert hall. Then the center changed again, and in the free chorus part, Do-Seung stepped forward.


    ¡ªDay and nights are disappearing


    ¡ªEven I don¡¯t know


    ¡ªWhat this world is


    ¡ªWe will draw it together, but


    He rapped a few verses to lighten up the mood before the highlight part, and then Woon came out to the center and uttered the first verse of the chorus.


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªIt¡¯s a new world


    ¡ªSo that I won¡¯t let go of your hands


    ¡ªI¡¯ll hold on to them tighter


    ¡ªTowards the world, we would reach


    Unlike the basic choreography we did, Woon performed his solo choreography; his movements were light and attractive, and his lines stood out. At the end of his choreography, Yeon-Hoon came out again for the second verse. Was his face captured on screen? As soon as he appeared, the audience screamed again.


    ¡ªDON¡¯T LET GO


    ¡ªHold my hand tighter


    ¡ªOPEN YOUR EYES


    ¡ªTo the world that will unfold before us


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªSay a shy greeting to our world


    It was now time for the song¡¯s highlight to follow.


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªIt¡¯s a new world


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªBeyond what I¡¯ve been dreaming of


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªI say a greeting


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªTo our world.


    We reached our hands to the audience as if we were shaking hands. Then we pulled back our hands as if we were pulling them to us¡ªthis was the highlight choreography for this song. However, even though I reached out my hand in the air, it felt like someone was actually holding my hand.


    <i>¡®...What the?¡¯</i> While I swallowed back the thought that I¡¯ve gonepletely bonkers, I continued the stage while looking at the audience. The fact that our fans were sitting in front of us and watching us reassured me somehow.


    <i>¡®...It¡¯s nice.¡¯</i>


    ***


    Siren¡¯s fan was screaming as she watched the stage. Frankly, she thought this mission itself would be disadvantageous to Siren. Since other groups haven¡¯t done original songs so far, the fact that they were doing an original song felt fresh by itself. However, since Siren had only performed original songs so far, Siren¡¯s originality was already exposed and felt more familiar to the audience.


    Therefore, it was inevitable that they would be evaluated harsher than other group, and their stage would be considered below expectations unless their final performance was noticeably better than their previous stages. But¡ª


    <i>¡®It¡¯s crazy...Who are they really?¡¯ </i>They brought a song, outfit, and choreography that far exceeded her expectations. This performance emphasized ¡°connection¡± as a whole. Everyone was lying with their heads on each other¡¯s legs in the first dance formation, and in the highlight section, some movements resembled hands holding and pulling. The song¡¯s lyrics were also about inviting fans to their new world.


    Anyhow she looked at it, this song was rted to Siren¡¯s universe and a song for fans. Her heart raced at the thought that the uing album would unravel the universe shown in the final performance. Furthermore, she was truly impressed that they also made it a fan song. She wondered if they were really doomed idols and a pre-debut group from a super small agency. Although unimaginable events happened in the world sometimes¡ª


    <i>¡®Seriously, this is a miracle...¡¯</i> It felt like a miracle that five such astounding talents gathered together in a minuscule agency. She looked at the stage with her hands pressed against her chest. The song was going through the bridge before moving on to the third verse. The mood of the song, which had been bright and dreamy so far, reversed and turned somewhat depressing.


    ¡ªEven if the world copses today


    ¡ªEven if someone finds us


    Woo Yeon-Hoon came out to the center and increased the pitch by raising the high note. She had watched a lot of live videos and knew that he was a good singer, but hearing it live was on another level.


    <i>¡®That¡¯s just insane.¡¯ </i>It was shocking that the sound was so clear and bright.


    ¡ªPlease don¡¯t let go of my hand


    ¡ªI¡¯ll definitely find you again


    After the bridge part ended, the melody seemed muted a bit, and then those bright and dreamy sounds from before burst out at once, and the chorus began to repeat.


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªIt¡¯s a new world


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªBeyond what I¡¯ve been dreaming of


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªI say a greeting


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªTo our world.


    The Siren members were perfectly in sync as they marked the highlight of thest third verse. Just in time¡ª


    <i>Pop!</i>


    With a pop sound, flower petals scattered all over the air. The pink flower petals fluttered all over the sky with the bright, heart-wrenching chorus ying repeatedly in the background; and this scene was more than enough to mark the end of their story.


    <i>¡®...Wow.¡¯ </i> The Siren fan stared nkly at the fluttering flower petals and Siren on stage.


    ¡ªTo you who I finally met


    ¡ªHELLO, WORLD


    ¡ªI¡¯ll reach out my hand


    Soon, the song continued to thest outro. Siren finished the ending with the motion of reaching out their hands. Seeing their hands, she felt a strong impulse to grab their hand. The Siren fan pressed her chest, and her emotions felt on the verge of bursting. Even though she had rarely cried once she became an adult, and others might criticize her for being overly emotional, she strangely felt tearse down her face.


    ¡°Ah...seriously...¡± She hurriedly lowered her head and wiped away her tears. She didn¡¯t know what others thought of Siren¡¯s performance, but at least for her¡ª


    <i>¡®...It was really the best.¡¯</i> It was better than any performance.

 Chapter 129

    <h4>Chapter 129</h4>


    The show was over. We stood on the stage with our ending poses. This was the performance we had been preparing for nonstop the past two weeks¨Cno, not just two weeks but all our struggles and efforts for the past <i>two months</i> had been working up for this performance. This was the end of <i>The Showcase 2</i>. My heart swelled as I looked at the camera while forcefully repressing my heavy breathing. I had been scared of standing on stage when I first began this show, but it was different now.


    <i>¡®...How fun.¡¯ </i>I felt as if I was breathing in unison with the audience. Furthermore, finishing a show that we prepared so hard without any mistakes gave me more joy and thrill than anything I had ever done. I turned my head and looked toward my members. My members seemed to be overflowing with emotions too. Flower petals were still scattering over the stage, and I turned my attention to the audience.


    ¡ªKyaaaah!


    ¡ªTae-Yoon!


    I spotted people holding our name signs from among the crowd. People cheered for us, some cried, someughed, and some stared at us nkly, mesmerized. All sorts of emotions were intertwining and focusing on us. I felt it instinctively then, <i>¡®...Is it now?¡¯ </i>


    It was time for me to use Insight. My Insight ability strengthened after seeding in thest mission, but I didn¡¯t know how much.


    ¡°<i>Haaa.</i>¡± I breathed in and out deeply.


    <i>Ziiing.</i>


    I activated my Insight. I didn¡¯t expect much at first. Even if the ability strengthened, I thought there wouldn¡¯t be much of a difference because of how unbelievable it had been from the beginning.


    <i>¡®...Huh?¡¯</i> The whole world seemed to be sucked into a vacuum with me in the center, and the flow of time, scenery, and air seemed to halt. It was the same as before, but my senses felt much more intense than before, and the change became more evident as my ability continued.


    <i>¡®...My goodness.¡¯ </i>


    The emotions of the people in this stage began to pour over me simultaneously; there was happiness, sadness, jealousy, and even rage. Each of these giant, intertwined emotions in this concert hall felt like mine. I had thought Insight was an ability that allowed me to retrieve more information about an object or situation and increase my reaction speed. Yet, it was much more than that, and I felt as if I could read the minds of the people around me.


    I held my breath. No, it was like I was running out of breath, and I canceled my Insight because I felt like I wouldn¡¯t be able to endure it any longer. The speed of the world returned to its original speed and regained its vitality. The thousands of emotions that had shot towards me gradually returned to their original owners. I calmly exhaled and pretended to be calm.


    ¡°Ah...¡± But without meaning to, tears trickled down my cheeks. The camera was still rolling, and I couldn¡¯t believe I was crying while making my ending pose. Furthermore, it was a live broadcast.


    <i>¡®Damn it.¡¯</i> The camera zoomed into my face, and the face of me crying seemed to havee up on the big screen as people cried out.


    ¡ªTae-Yooooon!


    ¡ªDon¡¯t cry!


    I quickly turned my head. I felt embarrassed that I cried without intending to. Yeon-Hoon approached me then.


    ¡°Uggggh...Tae-Yoo....¡±


    ¡°...Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    Though mine had been a drop of tear trickling down my face, Yeon-Hoon was wailing his heart out. It seemed he had approached me to give me a hug, but I ended upforting him.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon...it¡¯s okay...¡±


    Fans seemed to have noticed this as they also cried out.


    ¡ªYeon-Hooon!


    ¡ªKyaaaah!


    Though they seemed sympathetic to my tears, the fans appeared strangely excited seeing Yeon-Hoon crying instead.


    ¡°Everyone, you did so well...really, truly good job.¡± Woon then approached me and Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°Woon?¡± I saw that Woon¡¯s eyes were also teary, and he silently hugged me.


    ¡°We really were the best.¡±


    ¡°...You guys were all so cool.¡± Following that, Do-Seung and Dong-Jun also approached us. I didn''t know how the scene of all five of us gathering in a circle on top of the stage and hugging would appear on the screen.


    <i>¡®...But it¡¯s nice.¡¯</i> Not caring about how we came out on the cameras, I didn¡¯t want to miss this moment. That was all I cared about as my group members hugged me.


    ***


    Park Soo-Chul looked at Siren gathered in a circle.


    ¡°Kyaaaaah!¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon! Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Lee Woon!¡±


    ¡°Kang Do-Seung!¡±


    ¡°Dong-Jun!¡±


    Siren fans still appeared enchanted by the performance and continued to chant the members¡¯ names. Like them, Only One had also shown a splendid performance, and fans cheered for them long after the performance too.


    <i>¡®But something feels different.¡¯</i> Now that Siren¡¯s performance was over, Park Soo-Chul felt a different energy from the concert hall than he had felt after Only One¡¯s performance. Yet, Park Soo-Chul stopped thinking more about this. Even if he tried to make predictions and guesses on who the winner would be, he didn¡¯t know who would win in the end.


    ¡°Producer, I think we are about close to the final results now, do you want to know what it is?¡± One of the writers asked him.


    Park Soo-Chul shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I will also hear it when it¡¯s announced.¡±


    ¡°...Oh, really?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing.¡±


    Park Soo-Chul stared at the stage again. Siren members were still hugging each other.


    <i>¡®Though it¡¯s not like the other team members have a bad rtionship, Siren is a bit special,¡¯</i> he thought. The Siren members¡¯ feelings for each other felt especially more touching and soulful, and it felt like the members wouldn¡¯t be able to live without each other. Park Soo-Chul thought this was a good scene to shoot and directed the cameras.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s break up these guys now and start the ending lines.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡± Then, the staff moved, and it appeared one of the Siren members noticed the staff¡¯s signal, and the members naturally parted from each other.


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    ¡°...Pft.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    Perhaps, it was because all five of them had been crying their hearts out, but all their eyes were bright red. The makeup had been so well done that it was still intact, but their eyes were swollen from crying. Even Park Soo-Chul thought these guys looked cute like his nephews.


    ¡°I shouldter use that as a thumbnail,¡± he said and then continued, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s start the ending lines.¡±


    ***


    As we stood on top of the stage nkly, the mikes were handed to us. Comedian Mr. Kim Young-Jin and Ms. Nahyun also got up to the stage behind us. I didn¡¯t realize it because we had been too focused on crying and hugging each other, but the performance wasn¡¯t over yet.


    <i>¡®We have to give our ending lines.¡¯ </i>


    But our crying must have been funny as I saw the two hosts try their best to repress theirughter. ¡°Um...let¡¯s begin after you all wipe your tears.¡±


    ¡°...Thank you...¡± Yeon-Hoon walked to ept the tissue while sniffing back his tears.


    ¡°<i>Pft! </i>Ah, Mr. Yeon-Hoon...¡±


    ¡°Ah...hmph.¡±


    Mr. Kim Young-Jin burst intoughter with his head lowered while Ms. Nahyun turned her head to repress herughter. Only Yeon-Hoon appeared perplexed about what was going on. He simply wiped his tears with the tissue he received, and the audience also exploded intoughter.


    ¡°...Why is everyoneughing...?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked. He was the only one who didn¡¯t know why this situation wasughable.


    ¡°Okay, then, can we ask each of you how you feel after your performance?¡± the host then asked after the situation settled down a bit.


    The first person to speak was Woon. Originally, Yeon-Hoon was supposed to say his lines but because he hadn¡¯t calmed himself down yet, Woon did the job for him.


    ¡°So many things happened in thest two months. It felt as if we were gifted with a load of miracles. Thank you so much to you all who came to see the show, and I am even more grateful to our fans.¡± After Woon said his heartfelt lines, the mike was handed over to Do-Seung.


    ¡°This is a song we made for our fans. I hope you enjoyed the performance with us, and the song¡¯s message was properly conveyed to you all. Thank you.¡±


    Dong-Jun spoke next. ¡°I was always happy while performing on <i>The Showcase</i>¡¯s stage. I loved meeting our fans like this and I will work harder to see them all in a better ce and more frequently.¡± I was a bit surprised by how serious and mature Dong-Jun sounded.


    Finally, the turn went back to Yeon-Hoon. ¡°...Thank you all so, so much...I am so grateful to our fans and I love you all. And to my group members...ahh...¡± Yeon-Hoon began tearing up again while saying his ending line. Still, he didn¡¯t ce his mike down and opened his mouth again after holding back his tears.


    ¡°I want to also thank them... It must have been hard for them to follow a leadercking in so many ways,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and hung his head. Do-Seung and Woon hugged Yeon-Hoon again, and then I was handed the mike. I gripped the mike and looked at my audience. I didn¡¯t have much to say since my group members already said everything that needed to be said.


    The best I coulde up with right now was, ¡°Thank you for showing us so much love. We will continue to improve and avoid making any mistakes so that you all can continue to love us.¡± It was a promise that we wouldn¡¯t abandon those who had shown us unconditional support and faith.


    ¡°I hope that you will continue to watch over Siren,¡± I said and put down the mike.


    ¡°Thank you for your heartfelt lines, everyone. Then...¡± The host, Mr. Kim Young-Jin progressed the show ordingly, and I didn¡¯t pay attention to hismentaries but looked back at my group members. This was something we couldn¡¯t even begin in our past life, but we had managed toe all this way by trying our best somehow. I gripped my fist and made a strong resolve to stick together.


    No matter what the system did or how crazy the world became, I would never lose these guys again. It was then the host announced, ¡°We will now ask all five groups who had lit up <i>The Showcase 2</i> until now toe up the stage.¡±


    At this time, there was only one reason why we were asked toe up to the stage like this.


    <i>¡®They are going to announce the winners.¡¯</i> My group members seemed to have realized this and tensed up. Following us, Only One, OnebyOne, Bleshu, and Luminin all got up the stage. It appeared everyone else was also nervous and a strange tenseness filled up the ce.


    ¡°Haaa.¡± I breathed in and out.


    <i>¡®If we fail the mission, I should remain calm and act ording to n,¡¯</i> I thought resolutely in preparation for the worst-case scenario.


    ***


    We waited for the results to be announced for so long that our legs hurt. The announcement wasn¡¯t made just because all five groups got onto the stage. There still needed to be some time to tally up all the messages, andmercials needed to y at this perfect moment. During this long period of waiting for the results...all we did was stand still.


    Yet, there was no room for feelings of boredom to intrude in our hearts.


    ¡°<i>Haaa.</i>¡±


    ¡°Ahh.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s killing me...¡±


    We had gone all out the past couple of months to hear the results right now. We couldn¡¯t free ourselves from our anxiety and felt nervous every minute and second. Soon afterward, themercial ended and we began the live broadcast again. Though they were revealing the final results, the fifth to third ranks were revealed rapidly. Perhaps, the announcement felt faster because of how predictable the result had been for those ranks: 5th ce was Luminin, 4th ce was OnebyOne, and 3rd ce was Bleshu. After the third rank was announced, the concert hall filled with a heavy silence.


    Everyone knew that fifth to third ce had been mere appetizers, and this was the main dish. There was no way a broadcast person like Kim Young-Jin wasn¡¯t aware of what even the audience knew.


    He spoke in a more serious voice than before. ¡°...Right now, I am holding a piece of paper with <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s final winner written on it.¡± Kim Young-Jin held his breath and scanned his surroundings. ¡°The name I call will be the final winner of this show, and the name I don¡¯t call will stay in second ce.¡±


    Perhaps, I was too nervous and it felt as if nails were digging into my skin. I loosened my grip and exhaled and inhaled deeply.


    ¡°Two groups are remaining now¡ªthe two that had been battling for the first and second spots throughout the whole show.¡±


    Not just us but the fans also appeared nervous. The concert hall was only filled with tense silence except for the host¡¯s voice. ¡°The winner to be the glorious main characters of <i>Showcase 2 </i>First Chance is...!¡± Kim Young-Jin said and paused.


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    ¡°Ah, Ahh.¡±


    ¡°Please.¡±


    My group members and I felt our breaths stop at Kim Young-Jin¡¯s devilish hosting skills. I felt my heart contract and my legs wantef to give out. I had to endure and keep standing before the result was announced.


    ¡°Siren! Congrattions to you all!¡± It was then our name came out of Kim Young-Jin¡¯s mouth.


    <i>Pop!</i> Flower petals exploded into the sky again.


    ¡°Ah, Ahh! Ahhh!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Everyone!¡±


    ¡°You guys!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡±


    My group members all screamed in unison. Simultaneously, I heard the messages.


    [Mission sess.]


    [You achieved first ce in <i>The Showcase 2</i>.]


    [You prevented Kang Do-Seung¡¯s death.]


    This was the death mission that had been torturing me until now, but it was finally cleared. Perhaps because of the relief I felt, my legs gave out and I almost copsed to the floor.


    ¡°Uhhh!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±

 Chapter 130

    Chapter 130


    [Mission sess.]


    [You achieved first ce in <em>The Showcase 2</em>.]


    [You stopped Kang Do-Seungs death.]


    I heard the notification of the missions sess.


    <em>Haaa</em>. I sharply exhaled, and I almost copsed without realizing it was because I lost all strength in my legs. I didnt fall thanks to Do-Seung holding me up, but I couldnt easily calm my emotions.


    Ah I had gone through more than one sleepless night because this crazy system forced me to sessfullyplete my mission by using my members life as coteral. I thought I had gotten used to the stakes by now, but considering how much I was out of breath right now, I must have unknowingly felt intense pressure.


    <em>Sigh </em>


    Today was definitely a happy day and a great moment for celebration, but my exhausted heart had no strength to feel happiness. I couldnt believe I was in this state when I should be dancing around with my members right now, but I couldnt put any strength in my legs no matter how much I tried. It felt like I was going to copse like this but


    Bong Tae-Yoon, are you ok? Hey! Breath, breathe! Thanks to Do-Seung tightly holding onto me, I didnt fall. My condition must have looked serious as Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun, who had been hugging and shouting, all stopped and came towards me.


    Tae-Yoon?


    Tae-Yoon!


    Tae-Yoon, what happened?


    To outsiders, I must have looked strange as I was acting so strange on such a joyous day.


    Guys. But I couldnt suppress my overwhelming emotions. In the end, I buried my face in Do-Seungs chest and burst into tears. I felt bad that I dampened the atmosphere at a joyful time like this.


    I tried to calm my emotions somehow, but Yeon-Hoon hugged and patted me from behind. Its okay. Everything will be all right.


    Then Woon and Dong-Jun also hugged me. Once again, the five of us were all gathered in a circle on stage, and some people might criticize us for being dramatic, but


    Haa I felt like there was nowhere more safe andfortable than in the arms of my members at this very moment.


    ***


    After I calmed my emotions to some extent, it was now time for us to say our thoughts about winning the show. Only then could I look up and assess my surroundings properly. It seemed that other groups moved to the corner so that we could stand in the center by ourselves. Among them, I met Kang Hyun-Sungs eyes.


    <em>Hmm.</em> His eyes were calmer than I expected. I didn''t know if he really felt calm or if he was pretending, but I thought, <em>Im not in the position to be worried about other people. </em>


    I couldnt care about Only One more than necessary. Although the system didnt immediately give me a new mission, I didnt know when they would give me another one. If I got another mission with simr stakes, I was confident that I would act for our group without hesitation, so I couldnt grow weak now.


    Yeon-Hoon, please tell us your thoughts about winning the show. Just in time, Kim Young-Jin turned the mike towards Yeon-Hoon and asked for his winning speech.


    After holding the mike, Yeon-Hoon seemed to ponder for a bit and slowly said, I think a lot has happened in thest two months, and there have been many changes. He continued seriously, making onlookers doubt if he really was the same person who had been sobbing tearfully a few minutes ago.


    We were able to get fans who like us, and thanks to them, we were fortunately able to win among such amazing and talented people.


    I stared at Yeon-Hoon, and at that moment, we made eye contact. He gave me a small smile and continued, Since this is a precious opportunity our fans gave us, Ill run to the very end with our members so that we dont waste this precious opportunity. Thank you.


    When Yeon-Hoons speech was over, apuse poured out. Then Woon, Do-Seung, and Dong-Jun also expressed their thoughts.


    Welle back with better songs and albums.


    Well be back soon, so please dont get too bored in-between.


    After all the members said their thoughts, the mike was passed to me. Simr to how I felt on stage, I had nothing to say this time again since the members said everything I had wanted to say.


    In the end, the only thing left for me to say was, Thank you so much for supporting, trusting, and loving us. All I could say was thank you.


    After saying our winning remarks, the host, Kim Young-Jin, came forward and began saying his closing remarks. This brings to an end all thepetition of <em>The Showcase Season 2 First Chance, </em>which has been going on nonstop for the past two months.


    I listened to those remarks in one ear and let it escape the other ear. I was a little dazed because this entire moment still felt unbelievable to me. Although it was something I had always dreamed about, I was still unsure whether this was reality.


    <em>Geez, this is crazy.</em>


    Just in time, Kim Young-Jins closing remarks were also reaching their end. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of you for loving <em>The Showcase 2 First Chance.</em>


    Apuse poured out from all sides once again, and five groups, including us, stared nkly at the audience. I didnt know who started it and if the hosts or the producers had ordered us to do this, but


    Thank you!


    We began bowing to the audience. Seeing this, everyone standing on the stage began to greet the audience as if we were all entranced, and while continuously saying thank you, we finally came down the stage. Only then did it begin to feel real that we became the final winner of <em>The Showcase 2</em>. As the staff began to move around us, we heard our names being called from all directions.


    Siren, please gather here for a second! It was hectic even on stage, but it was even more so when we came down.


    Siren! Please move this way! Like this, we followed the guidance of the production team and began to be dragged from ce to ce without knowing why.


    ***


    Behind the stage, two women were in Sirens empty waiting room after Siren left. Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna, who had been monitoring the stage and saw Siren win the final championship from the waiting room, jumped up and eximed in joy.


    Yessss! Is this real?


    Kyaaaah!


    Am I dreaming? Siren really won? Really??


    Yes, really!


    Frankly, Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna gained nothing from Sirens win; they werent going to be transferring to bigpanies or getting bonuses. However, the two were happy as if they had won the show themselves.


    Whaat? Whats with Mr. Tae-Yoon? He looks like hes about to fall?


    AhhHis legs must have given out from being too nervous.


    <em>Sigh</em>


    They looked at Bong Tae-Yoon with deep concern when he was about to fall.


    Oh my


    Hes crying


    And they also became teary when Bong Tae-Yoon cried in Kang Do-Seungs arms. They were the ones who had worked closer than anyone else with Siren for the past two months and watched over all their activities. Even though they had basically gotten tricked into working at a shadypany, they stayed until the end and took care of Siren. Of course, they were clumsy and made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, but they tried their best. No, in a way, they had taken care of Siren beyond their means, and that was why they were so happy about Sirens victory. At the same time


    Its all over now.


    Yeah, I know.


    It became clear that their role was now finished. From now on, Siren would no longer belong to WD Entertainment but to a joint venture between WD Entertainment and Jaeil Group. They had originally nned to leave WD Entertainment and look for re-employment after taking care of Siren until this point anyway, but now that their job was finally over, they felt sad.


    Seung-Yeon, are you crying?


    No.


    In thest two months, they had worked many sleepless nights to make Siren sessful, and this period had been an important and precious time for Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna.


    HonestlyI think I really leaned on the Siren members mentally a lot as well.


    After graduating from college, they had gone several months wasting time without doing anything at the first workce theyd been hired for. They had struggled with concerns and self-doubt about whether they were doing the right thing, whether they were useful human beings, or whether they had worked hard for the past decade to waste time and sit like this. Although they had worked tirelessly for the past two months for Siren, it was for themselves as wellto convince themselves that they were working hard and they were people of sufficient social value.


    It somehow feels like I can also win anything since Siren won.


    We also have to do well, and I think we can do anything now. Weve endured this cutthroat idol industry, so wouldnt we be able to face anything now?


    Of course.


    The two used their self-esteem, which have grown in the past few months, as their basis to reach their goals and reach for a higher position. While they were warmly rooting for each others future, Yoon Seung-Yeons phone suddenly rang.


    <em>Ziiing</em>


    Wait a minute. Yoon Seung-Yeon picked up her phone and checked the sender. She thought it would be an unimportant schedule call but


    Head Manager Yoon Tae-Hyung


    Ah.


    Why?


    This-


    <em>Gasp! </em>Did you get a call from Mr. Yoon?


    It was a call from WD Entertainments viin, Yoon Tae-Hyung. Both Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna had a hunch that this viin was trying to stir up a huge fuss.


    ***


    After the performance ended, we were led by the production team to a space behind the stage. We didnt know what was going on because we were pulled along in a hurry. However, when I saw the sign on the door


    VIP Waiting Room


    All you have to do is go in and mind what you say. When I heard one production staff say this, I had a hunch about who we were meeting.


    <em>Ah. </em>And my hunch was confirmed when producer Park Soo Chul appeared. Oh, you guys are all here. Our winning group, Siren.


    If even Park Soo-Chul wasing out to meet us separately, the person we were meeting was definitely no ordinary individual.


    Ill open the door and introduce you guys briefly so you can all go and sit down, okay? Dont be scared.


    If this was someone whom even the prideful Park Soo-Chul would act so politely towards, I thought, <em>It must be that person.</em> The director of JI ENMs entertainment business headquarters and the future leader of the joint venture.


    Above all, I thought, <em>Hes not the type of person who fits being the director of an entertainment agency.</em> He was too ambitious to stay stuck in an entertainment agency department, and if my memory served me correctly, he became the vice president of JI ENM in the future five yearster.


    Then lets go in.


    Since his name was already well known as one of the major power yers in JI ENM as of now, Park Soo-Chul must be adopting such polite mannerisms; this was especially so since , which Park Soo-Chul belonged to, was just one of JI ENMs numerous subsidiaries. And if someone asked me why I knew all this, it was because


    <em>Its because Only One fans cursed him to the heavens.</em>


    Whenever things went badly for Only One, fans mentioned his name and insulted him. Thus, I thought he was just an ipetent middle-aged man at first, so I remembered being quite surprised when he rose to vice-president of JI ENMter on. We followed Park Soo-Chul and opened the waiting room door and went inside.


    Ah, youre here, Producer Park? Haha, and this is our fellow Siren members? A man with full hair and round eyes greeted us. He looked over fifty but his body looked fit for his age. A middle-aged man was sitting down with an aura that oozed charisma, and even from a nce, he had the look of a person in power.


    Please sit here. I was waiting for you.


    We sat in line with his guidance.


    I look forward to working with you in the future. Im the director of JI ENM, and the soon-to-be president of the joint venturepany. When we sat down, the middle-aged man took a business card from his pocket and handed it to us one by one.


    My name is Yoo Won-Dong, he said with a slight smile. Please dont forget and remember it.


    Yeah, it was Yoo Won-Dong. It was a name I would remember even if I didnt want to. Before my regression,ments like this were written about him in Bluebird every time Only One did an activity:


    Mr. Yoo Won-Dong makes me so angry 99% of the time but 1% of the time he brings something absolutely mind-blowing and makes my heart thump like crazy


    Mr. Yoo Won-Dong, please introduce me to a guy


    Shooting a baldie beam towards Yoo Won-Dong. If you keep acting like that, your few remaining strands of hair will all fall off


    Reply: But Won-Dong has a lot of hair


    Reply: Who the hell cares?

 Chapter 131

    Chapter 131


    I recalled the numerous Bluebird tweets about Yoo Won-Dong.


    Yoo Won-Dong, do your job properly.


    Go die, Yoo Won-Dong.


    Yoo Won-Dong, have you lost your mind?


    Yoo Won-Dong, please dont meddle with the production.


    Yoo Won-Dong, if you dare work like that again


    Yoo Won-Dong, I just want to smack you


    Yoo Won-Dong, I am really going to kill


    <em>Haaaaare you serious? </em>I didnt remember seeing a single tweetplimenting Yoo Won-Dong. But was Yoo Won-Dong that terrible at his job? If I thought about it, he wasnt the worst this industry had to offer. In the entertainment business, that spot was always reserved for someone else. And though there were a lot of issues andints surrounding him, the result he made was always all right. I still couldnt make my mind up about him.


    <em>Hes notpletely out of his mind at least.</em> For some strange reason, Yoo Won-Dong had been mentioned on Bluebird much more often than other bosses from the entertainment world.


    Though most of thements had been mocking him, there were a few that could be considered more positive. I had to see more of him to see if all that issue surrounding him was just his ridiculous star potential or if he was just unconventionally good at his job.


    <em>His card design is pretty,</em> I noted and ced his business card into my wallet. This was already a step above the WD Entertainment bosses who had just appeared with contract uses on our first meeting, much less business cards.


    I organized this meeting because I wanted to get to know everyone, especially since we are going to be a family from now on. I hope it doesnt make you all ufortable. Hahaha! Yoo Won-Dong smiled friendly at us.


    Ah, hahaha, we arent ufortable!


    Its nice!


    Hahaha


    All my group members had a difficult time remaining rxed. Dong-Jun appeared fine, but Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Do-Seung all looked nervous.


    It was understandable. Since they had never been properly cared for by thepany, they never had the chance to personally meet with the heads of apany. Thus, they were naturally nervous to immediately have a meeting with the boss of thepany right after their performance.


    I smiled inside my mind, seeing my group members. They were feeling awkward now, but once they got used to it, I supposed they would be able to say everything they wished. My group members werent the type to get so easily intimidated like this.


    Well, we did prepare for this meeting, but we didnt prepare anything extraordinaryhm, Producer Park. Since Siren just won the show and went through all those hardships, is there anything special I can do for them? Yoo Won-Dong asked Park Soo-Chul if there was anything he could do for us.


    Maybe this was what was so great about big corporations, but they were already trying to do something for us at our first meeting. I immediately thought of possible rewards they could give us.<em> Company dinner? Corporate card?</em>


    Park Soo-Chul seemed to have thought the same thing as me and said, Ah then, since Siren worked so hard today, how about you treat them to a nice meal?


    <em>Thats a good idea,</em> I thought. We had never received even a proper lunch from WD Entertainment, so I thought this would be a great start to our rtionship with thispany.


    Ah~ Dinner~ How nice! Seeing how thin you guys are, you all should eat a lot and exercise.


    <em>Hm?</em>


    But as soon as the topic of treating us was mentioned, Yoo Won-Dong made a pleasant smile and began to change the topic. While having dinner, we can build our friendship and have a nice conversation over drinks! Ah, but can everybody drink here? Isnt there someone underage here?


    Ah, yes, I am underage, sir, I responded.


    How old are you? Isnt your name TaeYoon?


    Im neen years old, and yes, my name is Tae-Yoon.


    Haha, is that so? Then, I guess Mr. Tae-Yoon wont be able to drink. What a pity. Haha!


    I stared at Yoo Won-Dong nkly after giving my answer.


    Neen years oldhaa. Those were the days. Hahaha! I am envious of you.


    Neen sounds young, but its an age where you still have a good head to think. Lets work hard with your <em>hyungs </em>and produce good results!


    Yes, sir.


    Haha! Thats the mindset!


    Yes, I remembered it now. Yoo Won-Dong was notoriously known for being stingy and cutting costs as much as possible. Even now, he was talking in a roundabout way and continuing the conversation with nothing important to say. It was the representative way of talking for corporate manager types; they kept sliding away from the main issue while smiling kindly.


    They never said <em>You cant!</em> even if it killed them but never said,<em> You can! </em>either. Even now, Yoo Won-Dong was using this characteristic way of speaking that corporate managers used to circle the issue of treating us for dinner.


    <em>But is he seriously not nning to give us money for dinner? </em>It wasnt like we were asking to establish a new building or increase our budget to 50 billion so that we could also have a chance in the US market. We were just talking about having a dinner together.


    Of course, one dinner meal could be expensive. If we ate costly meals like <em>hanwoo</em>[1] and added drinks on top of that, one meal could easily surpass a couple hundred thousand won. Still, we were only five peopleseven if Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna joined us. Even if we ate a lot, I doubted the meal would be over fifty thousand won.


    <em>This is too much</em> I was baffled and I stared at Yoo Won-Dong in disappointment.


    Seeing my response, Yoo Won-Dong looked at his watch and remarked, Ah, is it already thiste? I think its time for us to leave now. Hahaha!


    <em>What?</em>


    Yoo Won-Dong was about to get up, but Park Soo-Chul wasnt someone who would easily let this pass. He said, Ah, then, sir, what should we do about dinner?


    The smile on Yoo Won-Dongs face faltered momentarily, but he soon regained his expression and said, Dinner? Of course, we should have it~


    I thought as expected, he was going to at least provide a meal but he continued, Lets write this off as a team-bonding experience fee for the variety show~


    Yes, sir.


    In the end, this crazy guy wasnt nning to give us a meal with JI ENM money but the broadcasts moneyin other words, W-Nets money. Park Soo-Chul also looked at Yoo Won-Dong with dismay. The characteristic trait of guys like Yoo Won-Dong was that though he pressured people to do many things, he showed no care for how others felt.


    Lets meet each other again in a better ce~ Stay safe. Yoo Won-Dong maintained a smile on his face till the very end as he left the VIP waiting room. After he left and we could no longer hear his footsteps in the hallways, Park Soo-Chul spoke, I will personally pay for Sirens dinner. Tell me anything you all want to eat.


    No, no! We are fine! Really!


    Yes.


    We are used to not eating toote now, so we might get a stomachache if we do.


    Yeon-Hoon and the other members waved their hands in refusal. I also didnt want to receive a free meal in this forced manner and stared in the direction where Yoo Won-Dong left.


    <em>Though Im sure this ce will be a hundred and thousand times better than WD Entertainment, it wont be easy </em>


    Then, should we get up now? Park Soo-Chul said, and we all got up.


    ***


    As Park Soo-Chul walked out to the hallway, Yeon-Hoon asked, Ah, producer, then, are we going to move to a jointpany from next week? We havent received any information about the process yet.


    We were all curious about how everything was going to happen now.


    We will give you all the information rted to that matter after some internal meetings. Please just rest for a day or two, Park Soo-Chul replied.


    All right. Thank you~


    Then, after we separated from Park Soo-Chul, we returned to the waiting room.


    Huh? Where are Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon going? Though those two werent where we expected them to be, we didnt think the situation was so strange and sat in our spots.


    Haaa.


    <em>Sigh.</em>


    Ahh. Im so tired.


    Yeah.


    We all sat together on the sofa, sighed, and stared nkly at the ceiling. We finally had to rx after meeting our future boss right after our performance. We sat in our spots without saying anything.


    Does this mean we are going to debut? Then, Dong-Jun began.


    Debut?


    To a bigpany?


    Finally?


    We won!


    Smiles spread across my members faces and they all began to yell.


    Ahhhh!


    Yaaaay!


    We wooon!


    Ahhhhh!


    They jumped up and down the waiting room and began to finally express their happiness. They hadnt been able to properly celebrate on the stage because my legs gave out, and they werent able to do it after the performance either because Yoo Won-Dong came to see us. Thus, it was only now they could finally celebrate their win. I watched my members with satisfaction. In our past life, we couldnt even debut; but now, our debut was right before our eyes.


    <em>Its done! </em>A story of sess was right near us, and my heart thumped in excitement.


    <em>Creak.</em> It was then the waiting rooms door opened and Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came inside.


    You are all here? they asked.


    Ms. Seung-Yeon! Ms. Hyuna! Yeon-Hoon approached Ms. Seung-Yeon first and eximed, We won! We won!


    It wouldve been easy to respond to Yeon-Hoons bright smile with another smile, but their faces didnt appear bright.


    Ah, hahaha


    Hahaha.


    My group members also sensed that something was off and stared at Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna.


    Did something happen? Yeon-Hoon asked.


    Mr. Yoon just came here


    He wanted to go talk to the director from JI ENM in person.


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyun replied.


    What?


    No, why?


    He hadnt shown up anywhere until now All my members stiffened. Of course, my members also didnt have good memories of Yoon Tae-Hyung. Not only did that man neglect us for the past couple of years, he didnt give us any support while keeping our hopes up. I thought while pressing my temples to calm my aching head.


    <em>Yoon Tae-Hyung is going to meet Yoo Won-Dong. It made my head hurt just thinking about their meeting.</em> I needed to stop them.


    Did they meet just now? No, but the JI ENM General Manager was with us just before so theres no way they already met, I deduced.


    Ah, well, they met in the hallway and began to converse there


    We tried to block him with all our might and even stretched out our arms side-to-side to block him at the concert hall entrancebut he just pushed his way through


    Mr. Yoon recognized the director at first nce and knew he was from JI ENM.


    <em>Haaa.</em>


    They had already met. Things were getting messier and moreplicated. It probably wouldve been easy for Yoon Tae-Hyung to spot Yoo Won-Dong as the director of JI ENM. Though broadcast staff wore ratherfortable outfits, Yoo Won-Dong alone wore formal wear from head to toe and was the oldest.


    He was clearly someone from JI ENM from a nce. Still, I was surprised to hear that they had happened to meet in the hallways and began to converse there. I wondered if I should go to the hallway and body m into Yoon Tae-Hyun when another question popped into my head.


    <em>Why is the system so calm?</em> It felt strange. The system usually warned me first when a problem like this arose. Whether it was by giving surprise missions or activating my Precognitive Vision, it impelled me to act. Yet, it was remaining quiet now. I wondered if the system disappeared after Ipleted thest member''s death mission, but I knew it wasnt something that would disappear so easily.


    <em>Maybe this isnt a threat.</em> Perhaps, the system decided it wasnt anything to worry about. I didnt know what exactly happened and decided to find out for myself.


    <em>I should go out and see.</em> I needed to confirm it, whatever the case is.


    Lets all go find Mr. Yoon together, I suggested.


    Yeah.


    Lets go.


    We should stop him before he says anything weird.


    I was heading out to the hallways with my group members when the system rang.


    [Surprise mission activated.]


    [Return to your dormitory by going down the parking lot to avoid Yoon Tae-Hyung.]


    [Upon sess, no rewards.]


    [Upon failure, an altercation with Yoon Tae-Hyung.]


    <em>What?</em> It was as if the system was trying to stop us from meeting Yoon Tae-Hyung by suddenly giving me a surprise mission.


    1. Expensive Korean beef

 Chapter 132

    Chapter 132


    The system warned that I shouldnt meet Yoon Tae-Hyung.


    <em>What, why so suddenly?</em> I thought as I stopped in front of the door.


    Tae-Yoon, what are you doing?


    Mr. Tae-Yoon, arent you going inside?


    Yeon-Hoon, Ms. Seung-Yeon, and Ms. Hyuna asked.


    Ah, um. Uh The system was telling me not to meet Yoon Tae-Hyung, but I was opening the door for us to meet Yoon Tae-Hyung right now. I was at a crossroad, and the decision that I finally made was


    Well, shall we head to the parking lot for now? It was to do what the system told me to do.


    What?


    Arent we going to see the head manager?


    Shouldnt we stop him from talking to Director Yoo?


    Who knows what theyre going to talk about and you want to just go?


    The members questioned me, showing apletely different attitude than before. I would have also acted the same as them if I were in their position.


    Well, uh. I dont think we should all go together like this. I began to quickly make excuses and continued, If we suddenly intervene while the two are talking, Director Yoo might get a bad impression of us.


    I thought I made a good excuse, but Do-Seung said, Theyre talking about us, so we should go and listen.


    Yeah, we cant just leave when we dont know what theyre talking about. Dong-Jun also shared the same opinion.


    Even the kind Woon said, Im actually a little nervous because Im afraid they might exchange unfavorable or unfair conversations about us.


    And if they scold us for anything, Ill say I ordered you guys to do it. Dont worry, Tae-Yoon! Lastly, Yeon-Hoon said this with a serious expression.


    Hmm. I thought again about what exactly the mission I just heard was. As soon as I thought I wanted to listen to the missions content again, it rang in my ears.


    [Return to your dormitory by going down the parking lot to avoid Yoon Tae-Hyung.]


    [Upon sess, no rewards.]


    [Upon failure, an altercation with Yoon Tae-Hyung.]


    <em>The failure penalty is not that serious.</em> Frankly, it was even a stretch to call it a penalty, as our failure penalty was actually our goal.


    <em>Were going there to argue after all.</em> So far, I have never suffered any losses from doing what the system told me to do. Thus, I had tried to follow that rule again this time, but


    Lets go. Considering that the penalty was not serious and above all, I thought it would be extremely difficult to force my members to withdraw, I gave in to their demands.


    Lets just say hello politely ande back if it seems like were intruding on their conversation too much. Woon patted my shoulder to try to relieve my worries.


    Honestly, I hadnt been worried about being rude. However, I still said, Thank you


    Whatever the case, I was grateful that he was worried about me.


    ***


    The director of JI ENM, Yoo Won-Dong, was walking in the hallway after leaving the waiting room. It was not a very impressive encounter. There was no way he would like idols at this age, and he couldnt rte to boys who were young enough to be his sons. It just felt like he went outside and met clients. No, it felt more like he met items offered by his suppliers.


    Director Yoo!


    Ah, Mr. Park. Why are you running?


    Park Soo-Chul suddenly came running towards him.


    Yoo Won-Dong said, Didnt our meeting just end? Do you have anything more to say? Thinking that Park Soo-Chul might havee out to talk about thepany dinner again, his head already ached.


    However, Park Soo-Chul said, Do you remember what we talked about before the performances?


    Ah, that. About WD Entertainment?


    Yes, yes.


    Of course, I wont forget that.


    Well, since the joint venture is under your authority, Mr. Yoon, I feel a bit hesitant to speak up, but I came to say this again because of how worried I was.


    Yes, I see. Ill refer to your words when Im meeting them. Fortunately, what Park Soo-Chul had to say wasnt about thepany dinner. Yoo Won-Dong tried to leave after saying this. It was already long past his time to get off work. Thinking that the road back to his home might have a lot of traffic, he was beginning to grow annoyed.


    Then see you next time. Lets keep in touch. When he was about to finish walking through the hallway again


    Ah, let me go!


    Mr. Yoon, you can take your time to do it next time. Why do you have to do it today?


    Hey! You guys think I dont know what you did! You two collected evidence against me and badmouthed me to the boss, right? Fuck, do you know how many hours I was scolded because of that?


    Ahthats.


    Ill talk about thatter for now because I have to meet with that person from JI ENM today. But you two wait in the parking lot downstairs after youre done. Got it?


    Yoo Won-Dong heard amotion at the end of the hallway, and soon, a man in his 30s and two women in their 20s popped out What the heck is


    Yoo Won-Dong looked in their direction to see what in the world was happening when the angry man met his eyes and suddenly began to approach him. Hmm?


    Yoo Won-Dong tried to take a step back because it clearly looked like the man was trying to talk to him, but the man talked to him faster than Yoo Won-Dong could run away. Perhaps, are you JI ENMs director?


    However, it bbergasted him that this man came to greet him so brazenly after causing such a scene in the hallway. The man must have judged that Yoo Won-Dong couldnt have heard him from across the hall.


    Yoo Won-Dong found the whole situation ridiculous but epted the greeting. Yes, Im Yoo Won-Dong, the director of JI ENM.


    Then, the women in their 20s behind him bowed and hurriedly left. At that moment, Yoo Won-Dong instinctively knew that this was the infamous person whom Park Soo-Chul talked about.


    Im Yoon Tae-Hyung, the manager of Siren the winner of this showand the head manager of WD Entertainment. Nice to meet you, sir.


    Frankly, when producer Park Soo-Chul warned him about Yoon Tae-Hyung, he wasnt too pleased. In his own way, Park Soo-Chul must have given him information for his benefit, but personally, he only thought of it as a young man making presumptuous remarks and stepping out of line.


    However, since there was no need to make a fuss about it, he just let it go and didnt listen too carefully to what Park Soo-Chul had to say. However, now that he was facing Yoon Tae-Hyung directly like this


    Here is my business card. If possible, I would like to meet you separately and have a nice discussion.


    Ah, yes. Mr. YoonOh. But Yoo Won-Dong felt strangely peeved. It might be because his departure was getting dyed further, so he was more annoyed than usual.


    Hmm. Although Yoo Won-Dong was not familiar with the idol industry, he knew this type of person very wellpeople whove reached a higher position than what their ability entailed.


    If you can contact me when you have the time, I will share important information about our Siren members. Yoon Tae-Hyung continued, And, I also have a lot to talk about um, business and contract-rted matters.


    And those same people acted arrogant, thinking theyd reached that level with their own ability.


    Yoon Tae-Hyung continued, And should I say its about ourpanys employment session? <em>Haha. </em>Anyway, I also have something to talk to you about the recruiting process at JI ENM.


    And those were the same people who always tried to find an easy way out while desperately clinging to the fortune they got by sheer luck. Yoo Won-Dong had thought Yoon Tae-Hyung would be this kind of person when he first heard about him from Park Soo-Chul, but it became even more evident after seeing him directly.


    Yoo Won-Dong quietly looked at him, and Yoon Tae-Hyung just smiled brightly in front of him. A long silence passed between them. Even producer Park Soo-Chul, who was still standing behind Yoo Won-Dong, was silently watching the situation with bated breath.


    This is your business card. Then Yoo Won-Dong spoke again while looking at WD Entertainments business card. After roughly picking up Yoon Tae-Hyungs business card, he asked another question. Do you have the CEOs business card?


    Ah, our boss?


    Do you not have it?


    Ah, yes. I dont carry around any of my bosses business cards.


    Then do you have any business cards from anyone higher than you?


    No.


    How many employees do you have at thepany?


    Three.


    How many years of experience do you have?


    I have six years at another entertainment agency, and as for the other twoWD Entertainment is their firstpany.


    Hmm, is that so? Yoo Won-Dong clicked his tongue and stared at Yoon Tae-Hyung again. Then he smiled brightly and tapped Yoon Tae-Hyungs shoulder. Youve worked hard toe all the way here. Hope you have a safe trip back home.


    Yoo Won-Dong walked past Yoon Tae-Hyung and walked down the hallway, and Yoon Tae-Hyung could only stare at him walking further away.


    <em>I didnt get his business card? </em>At the same time, Yoon Tae-Hyung realized he gave Yoo Won-Dong his business card, but Yoo Won-Dong hadnt given his.


    <em>**</em>*


    I could see why the system told me not to go. We walked down the hallway to find Director Yoo Won Dong with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, and we got to see Yoo Won-Dong and Yoon Tae-Hyung together.


    Youve worked hard toe all the way here. Hope you have a safe trip back home.


    Then, we also saw Yoo Won-Dong leave the hallway while leaving behind Yoon Tae-Hyung. After receiving Yoon Tae-Hyungs business card, Yoo Won-Dong just passed by without giving his business card. Even though Ive never been apany worker, I could know what that meant.


    <em>Hes saying that he wont contact him, right? </em>Yoo Won-Dong just t-out rejected Yoon Tae-Hyung. When Yoo Won-Dong didnt let us have apany dinner earlier, my evaluation of him had dropped, but my rating of him increased from the interaction just now.


    <em>He might be more useful than I thought.</em> I had tried various efforts to prevent Yoon Tae-Hyuns employment transfer, like asking producer Park Soo-Chul for help, and didnt know if my efforts would actually worked but


    <em>It worked.</em> It was a huge relief. I wondered if we could go outside now. When they left the waiting room, my members tried to intervene and say something, but after witnessing the scene right now, they were all hesitating. It was because anyone could see that the interaction between Yoon Tae-Hyun and Yoo Won-Dong had been anything but positive. They might make the already bad mood even worse if they intervened now. Thus, we stood behind the hallway and didnt move, but


    <em>Ah, shit.</em> I just met Yoon Tae-Hyungs eyes. Originally, I had nned to take a step back and return to the waiting room. Then my goal was to take our luggage and get into our van within five minutes. However, now that our eyes met


    [Mission failed.]


    [An altercation with Yoon Tae-Hyung begins.]


    I couldnt avoid an altercation with Yoon Tae-Hyung anymore.


    What the hell are you guys all doing here Yoon Tae-Hyung approached us, speaking in an extremely irritated voice.


    Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon must have judged that Yoon Tae-Hyung would throw a fit as they quickly stepped forward and tried to cover for us.


    Mr. Yoon, did you have a nice talk with that person from JI ENM?


    We were on our way down to the parking lot down there. We can go together, right?


    Come out for a second. Yoon Tae-Hyung swiftly passed Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna and approached me. He suddenly red and said, Bong Tae-Yoon,e here.


    He had acted nice and subservient to Yoo Won-Dong, but now, he acted like a backstreet gangster in front of me. He continued, Follow me for a moment and lets talk. Do you even know what you did today? Do you know how much crap I had to deal with from CEO Kim Dong-Hyun today?


    He asked me whether I was aware of my actions. I had worked with my members to win<em> The Showcase 2</em> and had something to be extremely proud of. However, this punk didnt care about us winning at all; he only cared that I messed with his ns. I was about tough because of how ridiculous he was, but my members seemed to have found his attitude more ridiculous than me.


    Mr. Yoon, why are you acting like that?


    What the. Why are you staring at him like that?


    Seriously, did we do anything wrong?


    What are you trying to do by calling him separately? Are you going to beat him up?


    The members who have always acted nice and politely wherever they went


    What?


    Were now suddenly began to corner Yoon Tae-Hyung with intense fighting power.

 Chapter 133

    <h4>Chapter 133</h4>


    As a penalty for failing the mission, the system just stated that an altercation would break out. It didn¡¯t tell me whether this argument would be beneficial to us but simply that it was the ¡®start¡¯ of an altercation. We could receive critical mental damage by losing this argument or suffer great damage even if we won. In other words, no one knew whether this penalty could really be a penalty after we failed, or if this was just a passing event.


    ¡°What are you going to do to him? Are you going to hit him or something?¡±


    ¡°Why are you asking Tae-Yoon to suddenly follow you...?¡±


    But seeing how aggressive my members were responding, it didn¡¯t appear that this would simply end as a penalty. Woon and Yeon-Hoon twisted Yoon Tae-Hyung¡¯s words to mock him.


    ¡°Rather, I''m curious to know. Mr. Yoon, did youe here for the first time after all this time because we won?¡± Do-Seung said provokingly as if he was genuinely trying to pick a fight.


    ¡°You''re hrious, man. What do you think you can do by taking him away?¡± Finally, Dong-Jun tantly insulted Yoon Tae-Hyung.


    It seemed Yoon Tae-Hyung didn¡¯t expect to be insulted by trainees way younger than him and stammered like he was buffering.


    ¡°What...?¡± It was then I realized, <i>¡®There¡¯s never been a time...when my members were that scared of Yoon Tae-Hyung.</i>'' I always had this strange obsession that I had to protect my members, but their minds weren¡¯t so fragile that they needed protection from someone like Yoon Tae-Hyung.


    Yoon Tae-Hyung might be older than us, but if we engaged in a physical fight, it was obvious who the winners would be; in retrospect, this was a fight between an alcoholic middle-aged man with a beer belly and a group of fit twenty-year-olds.


    ¡°Well, whatever it is, didn¡¯t youe here for a purpose?¡± I approached Yoon Tae-Hyung and asked. ¡°If there¡¯s some business you need to attend to, feel free to go back to what you were nning to do instead of talking to us.¡±


    I thought the argument would end here, but Yoon Tae-Hyung took a step forward while meeting my eyes. Then, he said, ¡°I heard that you called the boss to ckmail him. You said you were going to sue him for breach of contract and all that. Have you gone mad?¡±


    Yoon Tae-Hyung brought up the topic that had gone unfinishedst time, and my members, who naturally weren¡¯t aware of my ckmail, stared at me in shock.


    ¡°It¡¯s as you say.¡± There was nothing for me to feel scared about. I thought I could exin to my memberster and didn¡¯t back down. ¡°I called him to tell him what a terrible job you¡¯ve been doing all along.¡±


    It seemed Yoon Tae-Hyung hadn¡¯t expected me to act so boldly and hesitated a bit.


    ¡°So, what are you going to do to me? Are you going to scold me or something?¡± I asked. Seeing how coldly Yoo Won-Dong treated him just now, I knew there was no way that this man would transfer to the jointpany. In other words, he was someone who couldn¡¯t exert any influence over us anymore. Of course, I couldn¡¯t bepletely certain that was going to happen but I thought it was fine to say this much.


    ¡°I did nothing wrong. You didn¡¯t do your job and I simply reported that. We have to protect our rights too.¡± I truly didn¡¯t think I did anything wrong. Perhaps, problems could arise if I were a simple employee provoking my superior. Yet, we weren¡¯t employees nor was this guy my superior. We were simple coworkers coborating for the same goal, and since he didn¡¯t coborate properly, I could report on his faults. It was meaningless to go on about manners and respect in a situation like this.


    ¡°Be careful on your way back, Mr. Yoon,¡± I told him and turned back to my members. ¡°Let¡¯s go, you guys.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we should.¡±


    ¡°Sigh.¡±


    My members and I returned to the waiting room, and Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna also followed us. Left alone in the hallway, Yoon Tae-Hyung seemed to stare at us nkly for a bit and murmured to himself, ¡°...Ha. Damn it, shit.¡± Then, he walked away.


    ***


    After hearing the argument between Yoon Tae-Hyung and Siren, Park Soo Chul cautiously left through the emergency staircase at the back of the hallway. When Yoon Won-Dong and Yoon Tae-Hyung had been conversing, he didn¡¯t mind standing awkwardly nearby; but when an argument with Yoon Tae-Hyung and Siren broke out, he thought he had to hide.


    He wanted to leave the area if he could but since all entrances to passageways were blocked by Siren, Seung-Yeon, Hyuna, and Yoon Tae-Hyung, he had no choice but to escape to the emergency staircase. He was wondering if he should just go down the staircase like this when he unwillingly heard the content of the argument.


    ¡°Ha, the guys sure are strong.¡± He had thought Bong Tae-Yoon was the only headstrong person in the group, but it appeared all the members weren¡¯t the submissive types either. They probably wouldn¡¯t get tricked and beaten easily anywhere they went.


    Since they would have to keep working together from now on, this type of personality was preferable to a weak-willed one. Thus, while thinking about the details of the reality program they would soon have to shoot, he began to add some changes. He had originally nned to make the show easy and soft.


    <i>¡®But I think I can go more hardcore now.¡¯</i> Park Soo-Chul thought he could test the groups¡¯ mentalities a bit more.


    ***


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go back to our ce now for real. I don¡¯t want to stay here any longer.¡±


    ¡°Please put on your seat belts! We are going speed right under the limit speed!¡±


    ¡°If you are going to stay under the limit speed, doesn¡¯t it mean you aren¡¯t speeding?¡±


    ¡°No need to correct me!¡± After our argument with Yoon Tae-Hyung, we all got down to the parking lot and got into our car. Perhaps, as a result of staying in the concert hall all day, we had grown a bit sick of staying here for so long.


    <i>¡®But we will have a lot of memories of this ce,¡¯</i> I thought. Starting from the parking lot to the concert hall, I tried to capture my surroundings with my eyes. I usually wasn¡¯t the sentimental type but today, I felt more emotional than usual since we finally achieved <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s win we had been working so hard for. I was also grateful to this ce for saving Do-Seung¡¯s life and wanted to remember it.


    Yet, there were too many extraneous sounds that were blocking my sentimental time.


    ¡°How about we eat ate-night snack today? We can eat <i>mtang</i> and<i> gua bao rou</i>...wow, I¡¯m drooling just thinking about it.¡±


    ¡°If we eat right now, I guarantee that we will have an upset stomach.¡±


    ¡°But don¡¯t you admit that it¡¯s especially tempting at this time?¡±


    ¡°Whether I admit it or not, you are going to be sick.¡±


    ¡°Even if I get sick, I want to risk it.¡±


    Do-Seung chided Dong-Jun.


    ¡°Let¡¯s all take a selfie!¡± Whether anyone was listening or not, Yeon-Hoon just started to take selfies.


    I was so used to this scenery by now that I tried to treat their sounds as background noise and tried to dwell on my emotions again. Yet, after we got out of the parking lots, there was a whole crowd of people gathered at the entrance.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    I understood what happened in my head but couldn¡¯t ept it in my heart. It seemed they had all gathered here and waited to see us leave work.


    ¡°Have they been waiting for us until now?¡±


    ¡°For us?¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    We had never met our fans anywhere besides on the stage. The studio we went to do our previous performances didn¡¯t allow for fans to gather in this manner. And not just us but Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna seemed astounded by the situation.


    ¡°Uh, Uhh! H-How do I drive...!¡± She tried to hit the gas pedal and move forward, but the crowd gathered closer.


    ¡°I think we can¡¯t step on the gas pedal and need to just slowly roll across.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha.¡±


    ¡°Wow, this is seriously amazing.¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna looked around their surroundings in half-shock and half-amazement. My members and I also stared outside nkly. We were leaving muchter than other groups after meeting Yoo Won-Dong, fighting with Yoon Tae-Hyung, and talking about all sorts of things. But these fans had waited here for over an hour just for this moment.


    ¡°Can we greet them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I-I suppose so?¡±


    ¡°If things get dangerous, we will immediately get out and put an end to things.¡±


    I exchanged looks with my members and I slowly opened one side of the window.


    ¡°Um, hello...¡± I was nning to just give a short greeting when I heard.


    ¡°Kyaaaah!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoooon!¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    Screams that were louder than my voice poured out.


    ¡°Good work today!¡±


    ¡°Congrattions on your win!¡±


    ¡°You all went through so much!¡±


    I heard fans congratting me from far away. I didn¡¯t know how to respond. I didn¡¯t do anything great for these people, and I wondered if it was all right for me to receive such heartfelt congrattions. But that wasn¡¯t all. Letters and folded papers were flowing through the window. I wondered if it was all right for me to receive these gifts so suddenly and looked towards Ms. Seung-Yeon.


    <i>¡®It seems all right.¡¯</i> I saw Ms. Seung-Yeon make the OK sign and decided this was still safe.


    <i>¡®I feel bad though.¡¯</i> I wanted to do something for them too, and perhaps, my members thought the same as me.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Wait a bit.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t close the window for a bit!¡± My members suddenly became frantic.


    ¡°Give these out!¡± Yeon-Hoon pulled out some goods at the back of the car seats and handed them to me.


    <i>¡®Ginseng sticks?¡¯ </i>These were the ginseng sticks we have been eating. After eating it all together on thest drive, we kept storing it in the car and eating it from time to time. Yeon-Hoon knew that I liked these sticks and always restocked our ginseng stick supplies so that it wouldn¡¯t run out.


    <i>¡®But can we give these?¡¯</i> I wondered if it was all right to give ginseng sticks to fans.


    ¡°Um! Please try this!¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    In the end, I randomly passed ginseng sticks to everyone outside the car. Though there had been over ten sticks in my hand, they disappeared instantly after people grabbed them eagerly.


    ¡°Let¡¯s put an end to things here!¡± It seemed the situation looked dangerous then, and Ms. Seung-Yeon put a stop to things. My group members hastily greeted the fans then.


    ¡°Thank you so much today!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s see each other next time!¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    <i>Zing.</i> The car window closed, and the car slowly raised its speed not to injure the fans.


    ¡°We are leaving now.¡±


    ***


    After Siren left the concert hall, Siren fans who had waited to see them leave stood in a daze. Many idols didn¡¯t lower their car windows on their way out. Since it wasn¡¯t their job to do so, no one said anything against that, but...


    ¡°...What are up with these guys?¡±


    ¡°Are they angels?¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    Perhaps, it was because they were fans, but their hearts swelled just from the fact that Siren members rolled their windows down.


    ¡°Ginseng...aren¡¯t they so cute?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fake superstition when they say that hardcore fans can¡¯t meet their idols...¡±


    ¡°Ha, how can we eat this?¡±


    While clutching their ginseng sticks, the smile on their lips refused to disappear. That night, Siren fans uploaded the ginseng stick they got and uploaded it to Bluebird.


    ¡ªHahahaha ah, so cute haha


    ¡ªWho eats ginseng pack in the group? Haha


    ¡ªI feel like Bong Tae-Yoon would


    ¡ªDamn these guys look like they will only eat chocte and sweets like that but they eat ginseng...they are the same as me...?


    News of this story spread among fans and brought smiles to their faces.


    ***


    After departing from the concert hall, we safely arrived at our lodging ce.


    ¡°Haaa.¡±


    ¡°We''re finally home!¡±


    ¡°Ahhh!¡±


    My members and I went up to our floor and we all copsed to the ground. The day had felt very long and hectic. We ally on the floor and stared at the ceiling nkly. I was so happy that I wished time would stop like this.


    [Congrattions on seeding in your mission.]


    [Dispatching next mission.]


    The system talked to me then.


    [Record 500,000 sales on the first week of album release within the year 2022.]


    [Upon sess, you will progress to the next mission.]


    [Upon failure, member Lee Woon dies.]

 Chapter 134

    <h4>Chapter 134</h4>


    ...I stopped myself from swearing after reading the mission¡¯s content. We just finished <i>The Showcase 2</i>, but the mission¡¯s content was for us to sell 500,000 copies this time. I quietly did my calctions. Today was April 8, 2022. There were about eight months left before 2022 ended...


    <i>¡®...That¡¯s crazy.¡¯ </i>The deadline was too tight. I first ran a simtion. The only data that most resembled our situation was from Only One before my regression.


    <i>¡®Since they sold 300,000 copies for their debut album...¡¯ </i>The mission wasn¡¯t impossible. If Only One could do it, we could also sell 300,000 copies of our debut album. Furthermore, if we continued our trend and kept increasing our poprity without it declining, it would be possible for us to reach around 500,000 sales by the beginning of this winter. Of course, we¡¯d have to work like crazy for the remaining eight months.


    <i>¡®...I have no choice.¡¯</i> I had to do it without question. However, Iy down and thought about when the system would end. How far did we have to reach so that the system would leave my members and me alone?


    Since I was given missions centered around big events like this, I thought, <i>¡®Well, would the next mission be reaching 1,000,000 sales?¡¯</i> It could be this or I thought, <i>¡®World Tour?¡¯</i>


    I thought the system might leave us alone if we reach that far. Then I stopped thinking more about this topic.


    ¡°Are we really not going to order ate-night meal today?¡± Just in time, Dong-Jun suggested eating ate-night meal.


    ¡°Hmm.


    ¡°Ate-night meal.¡±


    ¡°It is tempting.¡±


    Normally, we would have instantly rejected his suggestion, but since we won today and we didn¡¯t have schedules for the time being, everyone felt tempted. In the end¡ª


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s just eat for today.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a bad idea.¡±


    The members were all in favor of eating.


    ¡°I really am going to order <i>m</i> hot pot and <i>guobaorou</i>[1], ok?¡± Dong-Jun opened the delivery app with the brightest smile he had shown recently.


    <i>***</i>


    While Siren enjoyed their freedom after winning the championship by ordering ate-night snack and chatting until dawn, stories about Siren and <i>The Showcase</i> were posted on various social media tforms, including Bluebird. In thest season, the story of the final winning team was aired for eight episodes. However, it took only six episodes for the final winner toe out for season 2.


    ¡ªBut is <i>The Showcase 2</i> really over in just 6 episodes??


    ¡ªWhy is it so short?


    The viewers all knew that these types of survival shows did not go on for long and had a short term for each session. Nevertheless, even while considering this factor, most viewers thought the season was way too short this time.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s not six episodes for <i>The Showcase 2</i>! If you go to the official broadcasting website, it says 10 episodes!


    Reply: Oh, really?


    Reply: Isn¡¯t thepetition over?


    People wondered why <i>The Showcase 2</i> was set for 10 episodes when thepetition ended in 6 episodes. However, there was someone who answered that question.


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t it obvious that they¡¯re doing a reality show?


    One person made this post on Bluebird without much thought, and from this point on, reactions to Siren¡¯s reality show began to get a lot of attention.


    ¡ªAh, that¡¯s right


    ¡ªReality show for our sea fairies wooooow pls do a good job, production team plsssssss


    ¡ªWow, are they nning to do a reality show right away?


    Reply: Park Soo-Chul...is a bastard when he edits but he sure is good at smelling where the money is


    Perhaps the production team also predicted that these reactions would pour out during dawn and at 9 am the next day,  made an ambiguous post on its official website and SNS.


    ¡ªEpisode 7 of The Showcase is scheduled to air normally next Tuesday. Thank you for your inquiries and interest.


    Instead of telling them what content they would be covering, it only stated that episode 7 would be aired on a normal schedule.


    ¡ªI¡¯m not going to forgive them if they act like this and just patch together previous cuts for episode 7


    ¡ªAh, so is it a reality show? Why won¡¯t they tell us?


    ¡ªwooooow reality show for our sea fairies is going to be bomb yess


    ¡ªIs there anyone...who would like to join me in...watching our precious babies¡¯ daily life, which is guaranteed to be a full course, Michelin meal?


    By this time, everyone knew about Siren¡¯s reality show. However, some people remained unconcerned, not caring whether there was a reality show nned or not.


    ¡°What¡¯s your n today, Dong-Jun?¡±


    ¡°Today¡¯s n is to breathe to my fullest, sleep until I get sick of it, and eat delicious food until I¡¯m full. What about you?¡±


    They were Siren, the main characters of the reality show.


    <i>***</i>


    It was Sunday, and it felt unbelievable that just two days ago, we won <i>The Showcase 2</i>. Was it because we lived under extreme stress and pressure for a while? The members spent the past two days rxing andzing around.


    ¡°Ah, I love it. I¡¯m so happy. This is what life is.¡± Dong-Jun was lying on the sofa and turning on the TV channel, just flicking through channels with the remote control.


    ¡°Do-Seung, you¡¯re going to exercise so early in the morning?¡±


    ¡°...No. I already came back from exercising, and it¡¯s not morning right now. It¡¯s eleven o¡¯clock in the afternoon.¡± Do-Seung was doing all of the workouts that he had pushed off until now.


    Woon and Yeon-Hoon were lying down and watching dramas or reading novels. However, I was taken aback by the novels Woon read.


    I said, ¡°...Woon, isn¡¯t this a web novel?¡±


    ¡°Oh! Yeah. Tae-Yoon, do you also read web novels?¡±


    I didn¡¯t just read them¡ªI wrote them. The novel that Woon was reading was the most popr romance fantasy on Yellow Page.


    I asked, ¡°Woon, do you like romance fantasy?¡±


    ¡°Me? I read a lot of genres, but I¡¯ve been reading this because I¡¯m a little sick of fantasy these days.¡±


    ¡°Then this one might be more fun than that if you want something fresh.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yeah, that¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°Then rather a soft, healing genre like that, why don¡¯t you try a hard...¡± I told Woon all the novels I liked. Frankly, it was also around this time I started reading web novels, so I knew all the works released during this period.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, um, thanks for the rmendation, but I¡¯ll read those after I read this one first.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    Was it because I was too excited? Woon, who rarely said no, refused this time. I felt awkward and turned my gaze away. Yeon-Hoon was watching a drama through the OTT application, and like always, he was too immersed in it and crying.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, are you crying?¡±


    ¡°...No, I¡¯m not crying.¡±


    ¡°Your eyes are teary.¡±


    ¡°But...the main character is so cool and strong, and this is thest episode...¡±


    I smirked seeing Yeon-Hoon. I received a mission to reach 500,000 sales two weeks ago, but since there was nothing we could do right now, I could only rest.


    <i>¡®Yeah, I need to rest now.¡¯ </i>Furthermore, I needed to rest as much as possible to do my best in my future schedule.


    <i>¡®But isn¡¯t it about time to start?</i>¡¯ However, we couldn¡¯t y like this forever. We would probably get a call around this time. Personally, I thought they would have contacted us by the end of today.


    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s this?¡± Then Yeon-Hoon, who had been concentrating on his phone screen to watch his drama, suddenly eximed. We all reacted sensitively to Yeon-Hoon¡¯s ¡®<i>Huh? What¡¯s this?¡¯ </i>as there was a 100% probability that he was contacted by the production crew.


    ¡°...What is it?¡± Dong-Jun, who had been lying down on the sofa and flicking through the remote control, got up from his seat.


    ¡°Did something happen?¡± Woon also stopped reading his romance fantasy novel and looked at Yeon-Hoon.


    Do-Seung approached him and asked, ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Well, I just got an address.¡±


    ¡°Address?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Did they say anything else?¡±


    ¡°Um, there¡¯s a strangement with it.¡±


    ¡°A strangement?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, for us to be healthy.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    We gathered in a circle around Yeon-Hoon and passed around the phone between us to look at the text. It was exactly as he said.


    ¡ª978 XXX-ri, Hongcheon-eup, Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do


    ¡ªBe healthy


    ¡°Hongcheon-gun?¡±


    ¡°Hongcheon-eup?¡±


    ¡°XXX-ri?¡±


    ¡°Why did they say ¡®<i>be healthy¡¯</i> out of the blue?¡±


    While everyone was wondering about the text from the production team, Yeon-Hoon got a text from Ms. Seung-Yeon.


    ¡ªMr. Yeon-Hoon! Did you get the text message? We¡¯ll go to the dorm right away, so pleasee out lightly prepared and wait for us!


    This message must have also gone to the working-level staff.


    ¡°Well, should we get ready for now, right guys...?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we should...?¡±


    ¡°Hmm...¡±


    We started preparing separately while hiding our iffy, ufortable emotions. However, since we have been living likeplete slobs for the past couple of days¡ª


    ¡°Let¡¯s take a shower first.¡± Taking a shower came first.


    <i> </i> *


    ¡®978 XXX-ri, Hongcheon-eup, Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do¡¯ was the address of a small rural house in a deep mountain in Gangwon-do. Frankly, it was an address that would not be strange if it didn¡¯te up on any inte search.


    ¡°Please be careful not to trip over the cable~¡±


    ¡°Where did you get the electricity from?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no ce to get it from here. We just turned on the generator.¡±


    And there, the production team of <i>The Showcase 2</i> gathered to build the filming site.


    ¡°Would children who grew up in Seoul be able to live here?¡±


    ¡°Why won¡¯t they be able to? There¡¯s a bathroom, kitchen, and two rooms in the living room in the yard.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true, but the surrounding infrastructure...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the forest world-pure nature.¡± Park Soo-Chul, who was leading the scene, looked around and puffed out smoke from his e-cigarette.


    ¡°We¡¯ll definitely get healthy if they stay here.¡±


    ¡°Your health would get worse if you keep smoking like that.¡±


    ¡°It would at least be better to smoke here than with dust pollution,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and checked the proposal in his hand. The Showcase 2¡¯s reality show n. For now, the n was <Siren, be healthy!> because they wanted Siren to eat well and be healthy.


    <i>¡®But it would be no fun if they really became healthy.¡¯</i>


    Park Soo-Chul nned to add additional vors to a wholesome, wellness concept show.


    <i>***</i>


    After taking a shower, we packed our belongings and waited for Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna. Frankly, they hadn¡¯t told us to pack, but we all felt like we just had to. Because when we typed the address on the GPS app...


    ¡°It¡¯s a mountain...?¡±


    ¡°Mountain...?¡±


    ¡°Why on earth are they calling us over there?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know...¡± It was because the address was really in the middle of nowhere. I never imagined that there would be a house there. No, even if there was a house in this area, I didn¡¯t think it would be possible for us to find it on the inte.


    <i>¡®Korea is scary.¡¯ </i>


    While we waited for them with our suitcase like that¡ª


    <i>Ding dong~!</i>


    We heard the bell ring, and we pressed the inte to open the front door. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came inside.


    ¡°Did everyone finish preparing?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes, but what¡¯s happening?¡±


    At Woon¡¯s question, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna looked flustered. ¡°We also don¡¯t know. They told us to arrive at this address today.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s probably because of the reality show...¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re doing a reality show at a mountain?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s probably the case.¡±


    The members¡¯ faces looked conflicted, but there was no need for us to be scared just yet.


    ¡°But since it¡¯s a reality show, there must be good parts to it as well,¡± I said tofort my members.


    However, after arriving at the set, I instantly regretted it.


    ¡°You said there would be good things, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Is this...the right ce?¡±


    ¡°Is this Korea...?¡±


    The reality show that Only One filmed in my past life had definitely been luxurious and extravagant, but rather than luxurious, everything lookedpletely organic here.


    ¡°Siren, you¡¯re here!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll get ready for the shoot!¡±


    With our arrival, the production crew began to move busily.


    ¡°Siren, please wear this first.¡±


    ¡°This?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    We were each provided with a pair of y-colored daily hanboks.


    1. Chinese sticky sweet and sour pork. ?

 Chapter 135

    Chapter 135


    The current time was 5:30 a.m. The sun was about to set and the mountains were embodying a soft glow.


    ¡°It¡¯s my first time wearing this¡­do I look all right?¡±


    ¡°This is what my Korean history teacher used to wear¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­This isfortable though?¡±


    Regardless of how pretty our background was, the clothes we were given weren¡¯t visually appealing. Still, it was veryfortable, and I understood why older people loved these types of clothing. Besides, I couldn¡¯t think of any idol who shot a reality show while wearing daily-wear hanbok.


    ¡°Is everyone here?¡± Producer Park Soo-Chul approached us just then.


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°We''re here¡­¡±


    ¡°Haha¡­¡±


    We made awkward smiles while replying to Park Soo-Chul. At this point, we were already paying all our respects by not cursing at him to his face. Since we were shooting a reality program, we were expecting to film ourselves having fun and enjoying healing moments.


    I especially pictured this since I had memories of Only One filming this reality show in my past life. I remembered them staying in an expensive vi and sleeping and ying there. Yet, this house with a straw roof in the deep mountains was far from a nice vi.


    ¡°Is this a house with a thatching?¡±


    ¡°¡­I¡¯ve never seen a house like this in my life before.¡±


    ¡°The inside of the house is modern, so you all don¡¯t have to worry so much. The walls block the wind well, and the floor is warm.¡±


    Of course, that was the minimum they should provide if they were still human. I forcefully tried to calm my boiling anger.


    ¡°We will attach the mikes onto you first~¡±


    After attaching our mikes, we sat at the edge of the house¡¯s porch. Perhaps, it was because all five of us were wearing y-colored, daily-wear hanbok and sitting right next to each other, the staff burst intoughter.


    ¡°Do we look that funny! You are all too much!¡± Yeon-Hoon appeared peeved by the staff¡¯s response, but even his response was met withughter.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    Then, after some period ofughing, the official shooting began.


    ¡°Okay, Siren! Do you all know the reason why you came here?¡±


    ¡°¡­No? We don¡¯t know at all¡­¡±


    ¡°You all came to film the reality program as a special for winning The Showcase 2! Wooo!¡±


    ¡°¡­Wooow.¡±


    ¡°The theme of this program is healing! I¡¯m sure your minds and bodies must be exhausted after filming The Showcase 2, so we are providing you with this content so that you all can spend a week at this ce to recharge and rest!¡±


    ¡°¡­Hahaha.¡±


    ¡°¡­How nice¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­. Health¡­yeah, that sounds good¡­¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t order delivery here right?¡±


    ¡°Haa¡­¡±


    Perhaps, it was because all our responses were very poor, but Park Soo Chul red at us. In the end, we had no choice but to increase our enthusiasm for the show.


    ¡°Hm! Uh, um, well, now that I look around, the scenery is very nice!¡±


    ¡°Uh! What is this bug¡­!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon tried to take the lead and bring up the mood but a bug crawled over the floor and distracted his flow. In the city, that bug would¡¯ve been a hundred percent a cockroach but things were different because we were deep in the mountains.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a beetle?¡±


    ¡°A beetle¡­?¡±


    ¡°Did a beetle just pass by¡­?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a beetle before in real life.¡±


    Now, a beetle passed by us instead of a cockroach.


    ¡°Haha, yes. That¡¯s proof that the water and air are very clear here. You won¡¯t be able to experience something like this in the city,¡± Park Soo-Chul didn¡¯t miss this chance to tell us the perks of rural living. ¡°This is a very nice ce. Try taking a deep breath and exhale. The air is different.¡±


    ¡°I smell e-cig from somewhere¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­Hmph.¡±


    Woon, with his good sense of smell, caught a waft of e-cig smell while inhaling and producer Park Soo-Chul fake-coughed and turned his head. There would probably be no other reality program with such a disorderly opening like this.


    Sigh. "I give up. You all just look around!¡± Park Soo-Chul said exasperatedly in the end and seemed to have given up on shooting the opening scene. Since we were filming a reality program now, there was no need for us to follow the script exactly, so variations could happen like this.


    ¡°Wow, we just canceled the opening.¡±


    My members and Iughed, feeling baffled and looked around. We saw the scenery on our way up here, but the view was astounding. There were a lot of trees and a stream flowed below. There was just the right amount of thicket of trees so that we could see the sunset from the ridge of the mountain too.


    ¡°Oh! The floor really is warm!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not just warm but hot¡­?¡±


    ¡°Did someone leave potatoes and sweet potatoes here?¡±


    ¡°We can eat this right?¡±


    When we opened the door and went inside the first room, we found out the floor was really warm, as Park Soo-Chul said. The size of the floor was quite spacious so that all five of us couldy down together. There was also a nket and TV set up for us.


    ¡°We can just pile these up like this and use it as a sofa.¡±


    And because the nkets were so thick, they looked like they could be used as a sofa.


    ¡°There¡¯s another room at the side!¡± Yeon-Hoon found a second room we could enter through the side door. This room was attached to the kitchen.


    ¡°This area feels like the living room.¡±


    ¡°And is that the bedroom then?¡±


    ¡°There is actual structure to this house.¡±


    ¡°Thank goodness the bathroom is modern.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­if even this part isn¡¯t modern, I¡­¡±


    Then, after we finished our room tour and returned to the living room, we found Dong-Jun smoldered under a pile of nkets and eating potatoes while watching TV.


    ¡°Wow, this potato is so soft,¡± Dong-Jun said.


    ¡°Ahh! It¡¯s so warm!¡± Yeon-Hoon also dropped to the floor and rubbed his body on the ground.


    ¡°I feel like I will easily be able to go to sleep if I lie down.¡±


    ¡°Now that I don¡¯t smell the e-cig anymore, I can really feel how nice the air is.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung both sat on the floor and began to converse. When we first came here, we had been wondering whether we hade to the right ce.


    ¡®But why are these guys so fast at adjusting?¡¯ It looked as if everyone already made this ce their home.


    ***


    While Siren was enjoying their ¡®healing¡¯ time at a thatched house, a single picture was uploaded onto The Showcase 2¡¯s official social media page.


    ¡ªSiren members are regaining their health (Siren members gathered in front of the porch.jpg)


    It was a picture of all the members sitting together in daily-wear hanbok. Siren fans rushed in to see the picture suddenly uploaded onto the page.


    ¡ª???


    ¡ª:((((( Dong-Jun, our puppy is so cute~~


    ¡ªI like how they are trying to be healthier but when did they go to this ce?


    ¡ªDid they already start their reality shooting??


    Reply: Yup, the first episode is going toe up this week


    Reply: Wow, isn¡¯t that too fast?


    People began to share the uploaded image everywhere andment.


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon looks like a kid who came on a school field trip


    ¡ªOur princess has crazy eyes hahaha look at his half-crazed smile


    ¡ªOur ck cat Do-Seung is angry because he was dragged to the mountains when he has to go to the gym. So cute!


    ¡ªDong-Jun is the only one who looks so excited hahaha


    ¡ªWhy does Tae-Yoon look like he lost the world?


    Reply: Tae-Yoon please smile hahaha


    Because that single picture showcased each of the members¡¯ personalities so clearly, it spread across the inte rapidly. Of course, not all responses were simply positive.


    ¡ªSh** It hasn¡¯t been long since their survival shooting ended and they are shooting another program right away?


    ¡ªA straw house¡­? Soo-Chul, get a grip


    ¡ªOur guys are too nice to say anything so they must really think they can do anything :(


    ¡ªGet them a five-star hotel you bastards


    For the fans who wished to see Siren have fun in a nice ce, the condition of a thatched house deep in the mountains appeared too rough.


    ¡ªBut you gotta admit that those bastards have talent; I can already tell this reality will be super fun


    Reply: Agreed. Soo-Chul made a reality program of another idol group before, and that was hrious


    The majority of people expressed their high expectations for the show, but all in all, Siren fans simply wanted their idols to be happy. Whether they stayed in a thatched house or a high-ss hotel, all that mattered was that Siren enjoyed their time there. But in reality, Siren members were suffering from Producer Park Soo-Chul¡¯s unbelievable requests.


    ¡°¡­What do you want us to make again, producer?¡±


    ¡°A wooden bench, a bench.¡±


    ¡°We will¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yes, here we will give you the blueprint and all the ingredients.¡±


    ***


    I began to feel that the thatched house and the fact that we were deep in the mountains were fine. I also learned the charm of this daily wear hanbok after continuously wearing it. I didn¡¯t expect to adjust to living in this ce so fast, and we quickly found ourselves eating loads of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tangerines while lying in the living room.


    ¡°Ah, the tangerines are sweet.¡±


    ¡°Are these thest tangerines in season?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, since it¡¯s spring now.¡±


    ¡°If we just have dongchimi[1] and kimchi here, it will be perfect.¡± After finishing two potatoes and sweet potatoes each already, Dong-Junmented that we didn¡¯t have side dishes to add saltiness to our dishes.


    Up to this point, this was all still an enjoyable experience. Though we were taken aback by the house at first, this style of living also had its charm and appeal. Yet, soon, Producer Park Soo-Chul called us from outside.


    ¡°Can everyonee out here for a bit?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    We did as we were told. Since it was 6:30 p.m., I supposed that he called us to make dinner, but that wasn¡¯t it.


    ¡°What is this¡­producer¡­?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a wooden bench.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯m only seeing pieces of lumber, wooden boards, hammers, and nails?¡±


    ¡°Those parts are going to be a wooden bench.¡±


    ¡°Are you all going to make it?¡±


    ¡°No, you guys are.¡±


    There were also food ingredients set nearby.


    ¡°¡­What do you want us to make again, producer?¡±


    ¡°A wooden bench, a bench.¡±


    ¡°We will¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yes, here we will give you the blueprint and all the ingredients,¡± Park Soo-Chul said and showed us the blueprint. Seeing the map, it didn¡¯t appear too hard since all the materials have been prepared for us. We simply needed to attach the wood pieces with a hammer.


    ¡°All pieces of furniture are DIY these days. This is the same thing. There¡¯s nothing hard about this.¡±


    ¡°Seriously?¡±


    But who could¡¯ve guessed that we would be making a wooden bench deep in the mountains while wearing daily-wear hanbok?


    ¡°If we don¡¯t make the table, will we not be able to eat dinner?¡±


    ¡°Come on, of course not. We called you all here to give you a healing time. Why won¡¯t we give food? Here, take these ingredients and cook them."


    ¡°Then, the bench¡­?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you make it and fine if you don¡¯t. It¡¯s all up to you. But these pieces will stay here the whole time¡­longing and waiting when it can finally be a real wooden bench¡±


    This crazy guy was trying to make us sympathize with these wood pieces now to make us work. I shuddered at his evilness, but Yeon-Hoon fell for his tricks.


    ¡°Ah, how pitiful,¡± Yeon-Hoon said.


    ¡°What is? How?" I asked.


    ¡°Then, we will leave all these materials and ingredients here so you all can do what you want!¡± Park Soo-Chul said and backed away, leaving the goods in the yard.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get the food first,¡± I suggested. Then, we all ced the food into a basket and went to the porch. There were chicken, pork, beef, plenty of leafy greens, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. In addition, there was a variety of sauces, spices, and MSGs. It felt as if we were given a whole kitchen.


    ¡°With this much, we won¡¯t have any problem cooking.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Do-Seung and I discussed this while organizing the food ingredients.


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    ¡°Um.


    ¡°I wonder what dinner should be¡­? Maybe dak-bokkeum-tang[2]¡­?¡± we discussed. But as I thought this¡ªperhaps, it was because of the strange things that Producer Park Soo-Chul said but the wooden pieces on the ground began to really look pitiful to me. My eyes kept lingering around it for some reason.

 Chapter 136

    <h4>Chapter 136</h4>


    Producer Park Soo-Chul left after installing the cameras and broadcasting equipment. The production crew¡¯s amodation was a straw house about 20 meters away from Siren¡¯s amodation. After entering the thatched house that was a little bit more outdated than Siren¡¯s amodation, Park Soo-Chul opened the main room door.


    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re here?¡±


    ¡°Sir, close the door because it¡¯s cold outside!¡±


    ¡°Brr, maybe it¡¯s because we¡¯re in the mountains, it¡¯s really cold in the evening.¡±


    The production staff were sitting in front of the monitor, eating potatoes and sweet potatoes. There was a temporary monitoring screen that they had set up to watch over Siren, and they could view Siren¡¯s thatched house from the observation camera installed in front of Siren¡¯s amodation in real-time. Of course, since there was a risk for invasion of privacy, the area they could monitor was limited to only the thatched house¡¯s yard, and what happened inside was also aplete mystery to them.


    ¡°So how about it? Did Siren start making their bench?¡±


    One writer answered Park Soo-Chul¡¯s question. ¡°No, they haven¡¯t started yet.¡±


    ¡°Are they nning not to make it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case.¡±


    ¡°Frankly, they don¡¯t have to make it. I think that would be fun in its own way too.¡±


    ¡°But since we prepared the materials, it would be great if they could utilize it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s watch them for a bit longer.¡±


    Park Soo-Chul took off his padded jacket andy on the floor. ¡°Ahh, so nice. Ahhh~¡±


    ¡°Ugh, I hate that.¡±


    ¡°Sir, your feet smell.¡±


    ¡°Be quiet.¡± Park Soo-Chuly down and turned his head to look at the monitor. Then he said, ¡°Wake me up when they finish making the bench.¡± With these words, he turned his head and closed his eyes.


    ***


    The wooden bench bothered me. It bothered me like crazy. Human beings were so easy to manipte that with just a few words from another person (aka Park Soo-Chul) the wooden bench began to feel like a person to me. Since humans were creative animals, if there was just a path to expand their imagination, endless possibilities could unfold.


    ¡°Ahh. The bench. <i>Ughh</i>.¡±


    ¡°Ah, what¡¯s wrong with us?¡±


    ¡°Guys, it¡¯s just wood. Don¡¯t think about it.¡±


    ¡°But Do-Seung, that bench is crying.¡±


    ¡°Yeah Do-Seung, can¡¯t you hear that bench crying...?¡±


    ¡°What the hell is wrong with you both...¡±


    The members and I fell into deep thought about whether to make the bench or not. In the end, our decision was¡ª


    ¡°Ah, screw it! I¡¯m going to help the bench!¡±


    It was to make it. Dong-Jun, who was the most empathetic one of us after Yeon-Hoon, was the first one to take action.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s help Benchy!¡± Naturally, Yeon-Hoon was next, and he even gave it a cute nickname.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s help it. It looks so pitiful.¡± Woon also joined in making the bench.


    As for Do-Seung and I¡ª


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    ¡°Then you three make the wooden bench. Tae-Yoon and I¡¯ll make dinner.¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°Thank you~¡±


    ¡°Please make it delicious~¡±


    Thus, while Dong-Jun, Woon, and Yeon-Hoon made the bench, Do-Seung and I prepared dinner.


    <i>¡®Will the three of them do a good job?</i>¡¯ However, I couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous.<i> ¡®All three of them are not good with their hands.¡¯ </i>


    I wondered if those three, who could barely make instant ramen, would be able to make a proper wooden bench.


    <i>¡®But cooking and furniture assembly are different,¡± </i>I thought and roughly passed over the matter.


    ***


    ¡°Mr. Park, Mr. Park!¡±


    ¡°Huh? What?¡±


    ¡°Siren just started making the wooden bench.¡±


    ¡°Ohh, really?¡±


    ¡°Yes,e here and check it out.¡±


    Park Soo-Chul, who had been lying down on the heated floor and warming up his body, raised his body and slowly got up from his seat.


    <i>Groaaan.</i>


    ¡°Are you ok, old man?¡±


    ¡°Be quiet.¡± After ring at the writer, who called him an old man, he immediately turned his gaze toward the monitor screen. Then he asked, ¡°Those three are making it? The wooden bench?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it seems like Mr. Tae-Yoon and Mr. Do-Seung will do the cooking.¡±


    ¡°Ohh.¡± Just judging by appearance and general image, it seemed like Woo Yeon-Hoon and Lee Woon would know how to cook while Kang Do-Seung and Bong Tae-Yoon would know how to make the bench. However, it was more interesting that they went the opposite way. Ah, but judging by the image, Park Dong-Jun seemed like he wouldn¡¯t cook nor make the bench but just annoyingly cheer in the background.


    Then Park Soo-Chul noticed a strange sight. ¡°Huh? What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not how you assemble it.¡±


    ¡°Ah, is that so?¡±


    ¡°Where is the assembly instruction?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah, that¡¯s right. I don¡¯t see the assembly instructions on screen.¡±


    ¡°Then what are they looking at to make that?¡±


    ¡°Are they making it without looking at anything...?¡±


    ¡°...?¡± Park Soo-Chul stared at the monitor screen with curiosity and then smirked. ¡°It¡¯s better this way,¡± he said with an evil smile.


    ***


    There was nothing hard about cooking with Do-Seung. We both knew how to cook and since we lived together, we worked seamlessly as a team.


    Do-Seung said, ¡°Pass me the onion over there.¡±


    I answered, ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Did you cut the green onions?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°We need to make the sauce...¡±


    ¡°I made it, here.¡±


    ¡°Nice.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to taste it?¡±


    ¡°No, you must have done a good job.¡±


    Our menu today was spicy stir-fried pork. We first nned on making braised spicy chicken, but since potatoes and carrots took a while to cook, we changed the menu. After all, if we wanted to make a chicken braise dish properly, we would have to eat at around 9 pm. Thus, something like spicy stir-fried pork, which we could quickly make and eat, was a better option.


    Do-Seung asked, ¡°You haven¡¯t stirred the rice yet, right?¡±


    I answered, ¡°Yes. But it¡¯s my first time making rice in a cauldron, so I hope it doesn¡¯te out hard.¡±


    ¡°It would probably turn out fine if we controlled the fire well.¡±


    We quickly finished making the spicy stir-fried.


    ¡°Wow, the rice is done well.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it really is.¡±


    The rice turned out much better than I expected, and I put the rice and stir-fried pork on the te and bowls we prepared. Then we also took out the kimchi the production crew bought us and put it on the table. We also washed lettuce and put it in a basket.


    I said, ¡°It looks decent.¡±


    ¡°We did a good job considering we cooked in a different kitchen from usual.¡±


    Do-Seung and I naturally moved our gazes outside as soon as we were done with our work¡ªor more precisely, towards the three who were making the wooden bench.


    I asked, ¡°They¡¯re probably fine, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it seems like it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go check on how they¡¯re doing.¡± I walked towards the side making the wooden bench and asked, ¡°How are you guys doing?¡±


    ¡°Uh? Tae-Yoon! Are you guys done cooking?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we finished dinner. How is making the bench going along?¡±


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re just assembling and screwing this and that, but I think everything is starting to fall in ce.¡±


    ¡°I told you we can do a good job even without the assembly instruction~¡±


    The members said they didn¡¯t have any major problems making the bench. However, there was one thing that bothered me¡ªit was what Dong-Jun said about not having the assembly instructions. ¡°Did you just say you didn¡¯t use the assembly instructions?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yep! We tried to look at it, but the wind snatched it away.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡± I stared nkly at Yeon-Hoon, who was speaking brightly. I couldn¡¯t even get mad because of how brightly he spoke to me, so I answered, ¡°I...got it. Well, all right.¡±


    ¡°We just have to wrap things up now. It¡¯s almost over, so go and rest.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s finish making the bench!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    The members held up the hammer in their hands, grabbed the bench, and began working again.


    <i>Sigh.</i>


    <i> ¡®I¡¯ll just go.¡¯</i>


    I wondered if it was okay for me to just leave, but I decided to trust my members.


    ***


    I shouldn¡¯t have trusted my members. Do-Seung and I put the prepared food on a round tin table and headed towards the wooden bench as we nned to eat on top of thepleted bench. However, when we came out with the food¡ª


    ¡°I think this is going to copse, Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    ¡°...No.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s strong...our benchy...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s sturdy...probably?¡±


    The members looked elsewhere and spoke in a roundabout way. However, the condition of the wooden bench was too extreme for me to ignore. The biggest problem was¡ª


    ¡°Why is it not on level?¡± The level of the bench was crooked. Then I added, ¡°Did you guys use different materials for the legs?¡±


    ¡°...Probably not.¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, we shouldn¡¯t be hearing the word ¡®<i>probably</i>¡¯ from you.¡± I didn¡¯t know how the bench could work if the center of gravity was different for each leg.


    ¡°Still, we¡¯ve made it, so let¡¯s get on top of it.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°What if the food spills and drops?¡±


    ¡°Come on, that won¡¯t happen.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, no matter how badly we made it, it¡¯s still a bench!¡±


    Do-Seung and I looked suspicious until the end, but the three members actively appealed that it would be okay. I decided to leave the food on the floor for a bit in case there could be a problem. When I slowly went up and sat down¡ª


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°See, I told you! It¡¯s strong!¡±


    It didn¡¯t copse instantly.


    ¡°Guys, trying up too,¡± I called the other guys to get on the bench.


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, there¡¯s no problem with it. Trust me.¡±


    ¡°Don''t worry, Tae-Yoon~¡±


    The older members climbed onto the floor with strange confidence. As for Do-Seung¡ª


    He said, ¡°I¡¯m not going on top of that.¡±


    ¡°Why!¡±


    ¡°It looks dangerous.¡± Do-Seung did not get on top of the wooden bench even till the very end.


    The very moment all four of us sat on top of the wooden bench, excluding Do-Seung, Yeon-Hoon shouted, ¡°See! It¡¯s all right!¡±


    Although it seemed fine at first¡ª


    <i>Crackk. </i>


    I heard the sound of lumber breaking and¡ª


    ¡°Uh, huhhhh?¡±


    One of the legs snapped in an instant.


    ¡°Aghhh!¡±


    The wooden bench copsed on one side.


    ¡°Aghhhh!¡±


    ¡°Eeck!¡±


    ¡°Kyahhh!¡±


    <i>...Sigh.</i>


    Naturally, we all rolled in one direction and fell in the yard. The wooden bench had only been about 50 cm high, so we didn''t sustain any serious injuries, but it was my first time rolling around the floor from sitting on a wooden bench.


    ¡°Let¡¯s never make something like this ever again,¡± I said, lying on the floor and looking up at the sky.


    ***


    The production crew apuded and smiled in glee the moment they saw the members rolling on the floor after the wooden bench copsed.


    ¡°Ah! They did it!¡±


    ¡°Horray!¡±


    ¡°Mr. Yeon-Hoon! I believed in you!¡±


    Although it must have been a disastrous event for Siren, the production team was celebrating that the highlight scene for the first episode hade out.


    ¡°Hahaha! Who in the world makes such a sloppy bench.¡± Park Soo-Chul particrly liked their misfortune andughed while clutching his stomach. It was to the point that the other production staff looked at him curiously, as they had rarely seen himugh like this.


    Paying no heed to their inquisitive gazes, Park Soo-Chulughed for a long time while looking at the monitor screen and finally stoppedughing. Then he said, ¡°Ah, I really hope they keep going with this energy.¡±


    Did his wishe true? Siren¡¯s reality shooting continued with all kinds of incidents and happenings just like he wished.


    ***


    While Siren took care of their ¡°health¡± in a mountain valley in Gangwon-do, Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna were working at WD Entertainment¡¯s office in Seoul. No, rather than working, they were sitting in the room while nervously ncing around. After the incident at the concert hall, Yoon Tae-Hyung did note to work.


    They didn¡¯t know whether he was fired or he left on his own, but it seemed reasonable to think that he was probably fired since the day Yoon Tae-Hyun did not go to work, CEO Kim Dong-Hyun came to the office and worked, and people from big corporations wearing suits frequently visited thepany. It felt like they were pressing the elerator full-on for the establishment of a joint venture between WD Entertainment and JI ENM. Kim Dong-Hyun coordinated the details with JI ENM¡¯s people on behalf of the CEOs.


    ¡°This is the stake that will go to you and the other CEOs at WD Entertainment...We would like to set this amount of expenses in consideration of the expenses spent on caring for and nurturing Siren. How about we go with this amount?¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Raising Siren took a lot more capital than we expected...¡±


    ¡°Then if you send me the documents on where the capital went in, we will adjust the amount ordingly and provide a new estimate.¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s impossible to prove everything in writing for work like this...¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t make reports without the documents.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we be more flexible in our business?


    Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna felt gloomy as they listened to the conversation between Jaeil Group and CEO Kim Dong-Hyun. It was ironic that although it was a joint venture for Siren, there was no one who really cared about Siren¡¯s interest.

 Chapter 137

    <h4>Chapter 137</h4>


    After the wooden bench copsed while we were sitting on top of it, we ate on the floor.


    ¡°We should always use the instruction manual before doing anything from now on,¡± I said.


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    ¡°...Haha.¡±


    ¡°Yes~¡±


    Both Yeon-Hoon and Woon promised to follow the instruction manual when they had to make anything from now on. From then on, the broken pieces of the wooden bench became a safety hazard so we weren¡¯t allowed to approach them anymore. Someone even drew a circle around the area and even stuck a piece of paper that said, <i>¡®Be careful!¡¯</i>. Then, after we all ate dinner together and watched the TV in the living room, we fell asleep immediately.


    The second day passed without any big incident too. We just woke up in the morning, cooked soybean paste soup, and ate breakfast. Then, in the afternoon, we yed <i>jokgu</i>[1] with the ball the staff gave us.


    ¡°Ahhh!¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, you are going to rip a muscle in your leg at that rate.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, who had little athletic ability found it hard to keep up.


    <i>Psh!</i>


    ¡°....¡±


    ¡°...Oh my god.¡±


    One big incident did ur in the middle of the game which was Dong-Jun ripping his pants. He had stretched out his legs far beyond normal to reach a ball high in the air andnd a strike.


    ¡°Ahhh! Nobody look!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    It was my first time seeing Dong-Jun appear this flustered. He quickly grabbed the top of his pants and ran back into the room. Soon after that, we all prepared lunch and ate. We had some alone time after that, and for dinner, we finished eating <i>dak-bokkeum-tang </i>from yesterday. Then, as it became dark, I nned to make a fire for us to watch when Woon, Dong-Jun, and Yeon-Hoon looked at me in shock.


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon, what are you doing?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Put that down this instance.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i> "Tae-Yoon! How could you do such a cruel thing!¡±


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°We need some wood to make a fire. Can¡¯t we just use these broken pieces of wood?¡±


    It was all because I was nning to use the broken pieces of the wooden bench as kindling.


    ¡°Leave our Benchy alone!¡±


    ¡°You are heartless!¡±


    ¡°How could you think to do something so cruel?¡±


    All three people looked at me like I was a bloodthirsty psycho, but anyone could see that they were the abnormal ones. Unfortunately for them, Do-Seung had already taken a good amount of ¡®Benchy¡¯ and after stacking its pieces into a pile, lit it on fire with a blow torch.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s burning up really well.¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Benchy! Benchy!¡±


    ¡°...Please meet someone with more handcrafting skills next time...¡± That was how Benchy became a good firewood for us so that we could do some fire meditation. Then, my members and Iy the nkets over us and sat outside to stare at the fire.


    <i>¡®This is nice.¡¯ I</i> wished that time would just stop like this. This was the sort of life that I had always yearned for.


    I never wished for huge sess, a great amount of money, fame, or countless trophies. Though those would¡¯ve been nice to have, it didn¡¯t matter to me much even if I didn¡¯t have them. What I truly wished for was a normal life with my members such as eating tasty food, chatting about various topics, sleeping when night came, and growing old together. This moment made me think that I would be able to live like that if we continued like this.


    [Record 500,000 sales on the first week of album release within the year 2022.]


    [Upon sess, you will progress to the next mission.]


    [Upon failure, member Lee Woon dies.]


    <i>¡®...Damn it.¡¯ </i>As if the system had read my mind, it brought me back to reality with a reminder. I clenched my fist. I also knew that I couldn¡¯t simply enjoy my time with my members.


    <i>¡®500,000 sales...¡¯</i> For our debut album, I nned to reach 300,000 sales in the first week since among all the new male idol groups that debuted this year, no one reached that count. This year was the year for female idol groups, and if we established ourselves as the only notable new male idol group among them, we could maintain our sales count.


    Then, after reaching that 300,000 count with a mini album in the beginning, we could do a series of concerts at sizes that we would sell out. We would also release various contents and repackage some things so that attention on us wouldn¡¯t wade, and then, we would release another single.


    Around that time, we would¡¯ve also participated in multiple joint concerts to draw in interest, and around winter time, we could finally release our official album and pour all our marketing fees into it. If during this period, no new idol group that could threaten us debuted and most of the first-tier idols went to the military that year...


    <i>¡®500,000 sales is possible.¡¯ </i>We needed to hit every single criteria that I listed above, but that number was reachable.


    <i>¡®But this is just a n. Unknown variables could arise...¡¯</i> As I thought about these things, Yeon-Hoon suddenly talked to me.


    ¡°Here, have a marshmallow, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    As marshmallows and campfires went hand in hand, we ced a marshmallow onto twigs and ced them in front of the fire. They seemed to have cooked well enough now.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°What are you thinking so hard about? Do you have any worries?¡± Yeon-Hoon seemed to have guessed that I had concerns.


    <i>¡®But how can I tell him this?¡¯ </i>I thought. I couldn¡¯t tell him that Woon would die if we didn¡¯t reach 500,000 sales by the end of 2022.


    ¡°No, I was just spacing off,¡± I replied in the end and bit off the marshmallow he gave me. I didn¡¯t eat much sweet stuff before regressing, but perhaps, my taste buds had also be younger with my age, and I craved these things.


    <i>¡®...It¡¯s tasty.¡¯ </i>


    ¡°Don¡¯t try to shoulder too many things on your own, Tae-Yoon,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and stared at me hard. ¡°If there¡¯s anything you need to discuss with us, tell us. You don¡¯t have to burden yourself with everything,¡± Yeon-Hoon said while cing his palm on top of my hand. I felt a strange atmosphere sweep the area then. Do-Seung, Woon, and Dong-Jun were all ncing at me.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we all discuss things together before doing something? Whether it be about the album or business stuff we have to take to thepany, let¡¯s talk amongst each other first.¡±


    <i>¡®Oh, that¡¯s right.¡¯</i> I realized then that all my members had found out that I called our boss, Kim Dong-Hyun, to expose Yoon Tae-Hyung. I forgot to exin what happened because I was too focused on ying until now. My group members appeared to have already discussed the matter amongst themselves, and Yeon-Hoon was talking to me as the representative of the group.


    ¡°Okay, I got it. I will discuss things with you guys more.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, good thinking! Let¡¯s eat the rest of the marshmallows now!¡± Yeon-Hoon then brought my marshmallow which had slightly cooled in the meantime to the fire again. Then, he ced the marshmallow into two cracker pieces and handed them to me.


    ¡°Here, this is a smore!¡± He made me something that looked like a marshmallow sandwich.


    ¡°It tastes better if you dip it in chocte syrup.¡±


    ¡°...You put chocte syrup on top of all that? I won¡¯t die from eating this, right?¡±


    ¡°You mean you will die because of how delicious it is?¡±


    ¡°...Of course not.¡± This was a dangerous-looking food perfect for clogging one¡¯s arteries. I cautiously took a bite.


    ¡°...!¡±


    ¡°How is it? Isn¡¯t this to die for?¡±


    ¡°...Yeah!¡± It really was good. I hadn¡¯t had something so shockingly delicious in a while.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    ¡°Wow, I¡¯ve never seen Tae-Yoon like food so much before.¡±


    ¡°Is it that good, Tae-Yoonie? Aw.¡±


    ¡°You can have more. I will make another for you.¡±


    My members seemed to have found it quite funny that I liked these marshmallow smores, and Dong-Jun took the chance to treat me like a baby. Well, this wasn¡¯t bad either since these were the family-like moments that I yearned for the most.


    <i>¡®I will be able toplete this mission too somehow as long as I do it with these guys.¡¯</i> It would be a lie if I said I wasn¡¯t scared, but I felt confidence surge inside me.


    ***


    Time passed by until it was time for the first episode of our reality program to air. Today was Friday at 6 p.m. Today, we didn¡¯t set the food on the porch but inside the living room. It was because we were nning to watch the first episode of the program while eating.


    ¡°Heyyy! Be careful! The soup is still crazy hot.¡±


    ¡°But who cooked this fish so well?¡±


    ¡°Me.¡±


    ¡°Wow, Tae-Yoon is good at everything.¡±


    Today¡¯s menu was grilled mackerel with kimchi soup. It was a pretty traditional menu more befitting of middle-aged men rather than twenty-year-olds like us, but it was hard to fail with thisbination. While I removed all the bones from the fish and ced only the meat in my members¡¯ bowls, the show began.


    ¡°Ohh! It¡¯s starting.¡±


    This was the side story of <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s Siren¡¯s reality program. I soon saw the title <i><Siren, Time to Recharge!</i>>


    ¡°Ohhh!¡±


    ¡°What isn¡¯t that font used in the show, <i>¡®I Am a Natural Person¡¯</i>[2]?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°It looks fun.¡±


    I simply chewed on my rice with mackerel meat without saying anything. I was hopeful about this show too.


    <i>¡®Though this is my opinion as a cast member, I think it will be more fun than Only One¡¯s reality program,¡¯</i> I recalled the reality program I saw in my past life with Only One, and I thought we would have more funny moments.


    At that time, I remembered Only One¡¯s reality program being more shocking than entertaining because of how much money they used, and they failed to draw much attention to the show. Overall, I thought our show would be funnier than theirs, and we could aim to get more buzz than Only One did. In a situation where we needed to get 500,000 sales within the year 2022, this was also a good opportunity, and an interesting reality show could be a good start for our debut.


    Considering how even that uninteresting Only One¡¯s reality show drew in quite a good amount of views in my past life, I knew <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s first act had quite a big influence and effect. Anyways, the start of the show began with us gathered at the entrance of the mountain and looking around our surroundings in bafflement. Most idol reality shows started with ¡®Wow~! but we showed apletely different response.


    ¡ª...Where are we?


    ¡ª...A mountain?


    ¡°Hahaha! We looked that astounded?¡± Dong-Jun burst intoughter while looking at the TV screen.


    ¡ªA daily-wear hanbok?


    ¡ªWow, we have to wear this?


    ¡ªOhh...


    Then, we came out after changing into our y-colored, daily-wear hanboks.


    ¡°Why did they suddenly turn on sad music?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    ¡°Our reality program is fun.¡± Rather than a true reality show, it was edited more like a variety and entertainment show.


    <i>¡®This is good.¡¯</i> This was the better direction to take to draw in more issues and attention. I went to Bluebird to see the responses by then.


    ¡ªHahahaha, seriously? These guys, haha


    ¡ªLook at how soft our baby peach looks while wearing a brown vige, daily-wear hanbok


    ¡ªEven a daily-wear hanbok can¡¯t hide our ck cat¡¯s pecs


    Reply: So true...


    It seemed the fans were enjoying the video. Though someined that we were going through too many hardships, it was better than getting no response. Since living in this ce wasn¡¯t even that ufortable, this was preferable to staying in a high-ss vi to pull in more audiences. As I continued to monitor the feeds about us, something else caught my eye.


    ¡ªThis is insane. Only One terminated their contact with TH Entertainment?


    Reply: ??? Not just Kang Hyun-Sung but all of Only One???


    Reply: Seriously?


    ¡°Ah.¡± I quickly clicked on the link and was directed to an inte article.


    [Only One terminates contract with TH Entertainment.]


    [Only One, the pre-debut boy group of TH Entertainment, terminates their contract with thepany. This is a very unusual case where all the members of a pre-debut terminate their contract at once...]


    I read through the entire article, and the purpose of this article was revealed in itsst line.


    [There is great interest in whichpany Only One will choose now.]


    <i>¡®It was a promotional article,¡¯ </i>I realized. I thought about how we needed to reach 500,000 sales and to do so, we needed to seed the most among the groups who debuted this year.


    <i>¡®...But at this rate, the spotlight could be taken from us.¡¯</i>


    If we had taken away Only One¡¯s fame in the beginning, it was now Only One''s turn to do the same to us. This was the sort of world the entertainment business was, and no one could me them for doing so. In normal times, I would¡¯ve wholeheartedly congratted them on their contract termination and wished the best for them in their future endeavors.


    <i>¡®This is driving me crazy...¡¯</i>


    Yes, with Woon¡¯s life on the line, we couldn¡¯t lose to anyone.


    1. A sport thatbines aspects of ser and volleyball ?


    2. Name of a famous Korean TV Series about people who leave behind their stressful city life and live amid nature. ?

 Chapter 138

    <h4>Chapter 138</h4>


    I checked out other articles about Only One. However, most of them were just rephrasing the first article I saw: about how Only One terminated their exclusive contract with TH Entertainment right before their debut, that they were nning to find a new agency, and how all of them had left together. All of the articles did not contain any more information than that. Since I didn¡¯t think additional searches would be helpful, I put my phone back.


    <i>¡®...Should I call Kang Hyun-Sung?¡¯</i> I wanted to ask him why he terminated his contract with TH Entertainment, what the inside story was, and which agency they were going to.


    But above all, I wanted to ask,<i> ¡®When are they going to debut...?¡¯</i>


    I wanted to ask when he nned to debut. Frankly, I didn¡¯t feel good that these were my first thoughts as rather than blessing a person¡¯s future, I was merely treating them aspetition. However, it couldn¡¯t be helped as a person¡¯s life was at stake.


    I wanted to call him and ask various questions, but I thought,<i> ¡®No, I really can¡¯t.¡¯ </i>


    If I was human, I thought I shouldn¡¯t do that. It was not easy to leave apany, and he probably received a lot of mental strain during this process. If I contacted him now for no reason, it would be like pouring oil on top of a burning house.


    <i>¡®Since nothing is confirmed, I should stay still.¡¯</i> I calmed myself and focused on the broadcast screen. Various other scenes appeared like when we checked out the room, when we ally down and ate potatoes and sweet potatoes, and when we took a piece of tangerine and threw it into our mouths. The highlight of thatst scene was when the piece of tangerine that Yeon-Hoon threw hit Dong-Jun¡¯s nose, not his mouth.


    ¡°Oh! Hahaha! They included the scene when Dong-Jun got hit on his nose, not his mouth.¡±


    ¡°Ah, the producers should have cut that out.¡±


    ¡°I thought my stomach was going to rip when I saw that in real life.¡±


    The members allughed while seeing that scene, but I couldn¡¯t help but feel conflicted. However, since I couldn¡¯t make it obvious right now, I tried not to stand out by forcing myself tough.


    ¡°Ha, hahaha, how funny...¡±


    ***


    During the afternoon, while Siren¡¯s reality show was going on, the inte was noisy about Only One and Siren.


    ¡ªDid Only One really terminate their exclusive contract with TH Entertainment?


    ¡ªIt worked out well. It was an agency that couldn¡¯t even take care of Hyun-Sung


    ¡ªIt¡¯s the first time I saw a group that terminated a contract before even debuting


    ¡ªKang Hyun-Sung, Park Young-Ho, Kim Si-Woon, Lee Chul-Woon, Kim Ju-Hyun I love you :*( Please just be happy


    Reply: Yeah, my babies pls just walk on a rosy road; I¡¯ll be waiting


    ¡ªBut I can understand Hyun-Sung. He must have seen how big agencies worked while doing Yours, and he must have had a huge headache trying to debut under TH Entertainment with his members who he practiced with for a long time.


    People talked about the termination of Only One¡¯s exclusive contract despite the fact that Siren¡¯s reality show was in full swing. Even Siren¡¯s fans were writing about the termination of Only One¡¯s exclusive contract rather than Siren¡¯s reality show.


    ¡ªDid Kang Hyun-Sung terminate his contract, fr?


    ¡ªWow, he¡¯s one crazy guy :0


    ¡ªBut he must seriously care about his members; what a guy...


    ¡ªAs a viewer of <i>The Showcase</i>...I wish both Only One and our guys do well fr...I really hope a troll doesn¡¯t spread any weird rumors cause they had a rival storyline


    Siren¡¯s fandom brought up the termination of Only One¡¯s exclusive contact from the perspective of Siren. Since both fandoms suffered from the two groups being portrayed as rivaling idols, they hoped that their rivalry storyline would discontinue. On the other hand, one Siren fan brought up a conspiracy theory.


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t it he suspicious that they released this news on the very day our guys¡¯ reality show is airing?


    They found it problematic that an article about Only One¡¯s termination of their exclusive contract with TH Entertainment broke out today.


    ¡ª?? That¡¯splete nonsense?


    ¡ªShit, that¡¯s reaching too far hah


    ¡ªI emphasize once again that this is an individual opinion and not a general opinion of Siren¡¯s fans


    ¡ªWho the hell would write an article to keep check a reality show that¡¯s fallen in poprity after the final is over? make it make sense


    ¡ªThe exclusive contract was terminated yesterday, so the article came out today. Isn¡¯t it crazy to insult them for this?


    People flocked to the post and cursed thementer, and the ount owner couldn¡¯t handle the overflowing rush of criticism and deleted her post and even had to erase her ount. However, one clear fact was that due to Only One¡¯s contract termination article, the responses to Siren¡¯s reality show¡¯s first episode quickly disappeared from the feed. This was also reflected in Bluebird¡¯s real-time ranking.


    ¡ª1st ce: Only One Exclusive Contract Termination (45,674 tweets)


    ¡ª2nd ce: Siren, Be Healthy! (35, 387!)


    First ce was Only One¡¯s contract termination, and second was Siren¡¯s reality show. However, there was a moment when this ranking switched, and it was¡ª


    ¡ª??? What are these guys doing when they¡¯re supposed to be shooting a reality show?


    ¡ªhahahhahahaha ackahhahhaha guys hahaha


    ¡ªTae-Yoon...his soulless eyescking any expectations...I love it...


    It was the moment when they made the wooden bench after receiving the materials. Bong Tae-Yoon looked at the bench with dead eyes as if he lost faith in humanity while Woo Yeon-Hoon, Park Dong-Jun, and Lee Woon looked at it lovingly.


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon calling the wooden bench like a puppy is so cute lol


    ¡ªAh, our cutie pie wants to be friends with a bench aww


    ¡ª(video of Dong-Jun running) Excuse me, but where is Dong-Jun in this? I can only see a puppy


    ¡ªOur princess¡¯ eyes look crazy hahaha pls don¡¯tugh like that


    People burst outughing at theplete contrast shown by the two groups in Siren. The two groups showedpletely different reactions while engrossed in their work. The first group empathized with a wooden bench, and contrary to those overly emotional members, the second group was made up of realists through and through. Since this was a section with a lot of other high points, interest in Only One¡¯s exclusive contract termination was quickly pushed back.


    ¡ªWow but our ck cat is so good at cooking? Come to my cer right now


    ¡ªDo-Seung...I¡¯m really your grandma...I want to eat your stir-fried spicy pork before I die...pls tell me the password to your dorm¡¯s entrance...


    ¡ªLook at the veins in his arms when he rolls up his sleeves while cooking. Damn it~I¡¯m dead


    Unlike Bong Tae-Yoon and Kang Do-Seung, who cooked skillfully, Lee Woon and Park Dong-Jun awkwardly made the wooden bench.


    ¡ªTae-Yoon¡¯s dead-pan face is so fucking funny hahaha


    ¡ªHe looks like he¡¯s thinking...I can¡¯t believe they¡¯re older than him


    ¡ªIt¡¯s hrious that even in this situation, Kang Do-Seung didn¡¯t get on top of the bench lol


    ¡ªOur ck cat doesn¡¯t do anything dangerous


    ¡ªHe didn¡¯t go up because he was afraid of identally showing his catnding when he falls down


    Reply: Ah, 100% agree


    After the wooden bench crash scene, the flow of posts clearly shifted towards Siren. Furthermore, it was acting as a means to attract more fans.


    ¡ªI never thought my heart would thump by seeing guys roll on the floor after falling from a wooden bench


    ¡ªI think he¡¯s the most handsome person I¡¯ve ever seen falling off a wooden bench


    ¡ªHow can that...child with soulless eyes and no faith towards humanity...be the 19-year old <i>maknae</i>...? Something is definitely wrong...this is really hard...


    Viewers, who had a lingering attachment to <i>The Showcase 2</i>, were still watching the reality show. Yet, the wooden bench¡¯s crash scene was being used as a pathway for undecided or casual viewers, who watched <i>The Showcase </i>but weren¡¯t fans of Siren, to enter Siren¡¯s fandom. After this, the following scenes passed without much surprise. There were heart-warming and cute scenes that usually came out in reality shows like Bong Tae-Yoon scolding his members, all of them lying down and sleeping after eating, and all of them exchanging jokes before going to bed.


    ¡ªAh, the five guys in daily hanbok were so cute


    ¡ªI feel so happy because our guys look so happy...Siren, let¡¯s only be happy


    ¡ªOur guys look good in daily hanbok


    ¡ªLet¡¯s decide our puppy¡¯s personal color as brown


    ¡ªThen is Tae-Yoon¡¯s personal color a smashed bench?


    Reply: smashed bench lol


    The reality show¡¯s first episode was a well-made show that satisfied not only the fans but non-fans as well.


    ***


    The broadcast ended.


    ¡°Ah, ahh, Iughed so hard that my stomach feels weak.¡±


    ¡°Wow...I didn¡¯t know Tae-Yoon looked at me with such unforgiving eyes.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...why did you look at us with such hopeless eyes...¡±


    ¡°I thought I was Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s nephew.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun must have only realized how I looked at them now.


    However, I had no fault in this case and said, ¡°But it¡¯s you guys¡¯ fault for making the bench like that.¡± I didn¡¯t do anything wrong as who in the world couldn¡¯t match the legs of the bench to that extent? It was to the extent that I could tell the length was not right just by eye measurement.


    And after seeing the broadcast just now, I saw that they had also done a shoddy job nailing the parts together. Anyone withmon sense would have driven the nails in harder to give it a stronger base, but they did the construction so loosely, thinking it would be fine as long as they made the basic shape.


    ¡°You guys said you loved Benchy, but you three are the ones who killed it.¡±


    ¡°Whaaat!¡±


    ¡°Hey, take back your words!¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon! You don¡¯t deserve to talk about Benchy!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun reacted strongly, and in contrast, I grinned at their reaction and pretended ignorance. The three fumed in anger and seemed ready to build a monument for Benchy at any moment.


    <i>Sigh.</i> ¡°Guys, stop. Let¡¯s just clear the table.¡± Do-Seung must have thought we looked pathetic as he said this while getting up and lifting the tes.


    ¡°No, no! We¡¯ll clean it up! You and Tae-Yoon cooked, so we should clean up.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon stopped Do-Seung and took the tes and bowls in his hand. Woon also followed Yeon-Hoon, and Dong-Jun stayed glued to his seat, refusing to budge from his seat.


    ¡°Park Dong-Jun!¡±


    ¡°Ah, I got caught.¡±


    However, at Yeon-Hoon¡¯s call, he had no choice but to head to the kitchen. The only ones left in the master bedroom were now Do-Seung and me.


    I asked, ¡°Are you going to exercise today?¡±


    ¡°Exercise? I don¡¯t know. Maybe I¡¯ll digest the food a little ande back after exercising lightly.¡± Do-Seung was exercising lightly in the evening, even when he came here. He held on to a strong branch and did chin-ups, ran around in the yard, or did push-ups. In many ways, he was dead serious about exercise, and I stared at him intently.


    ¡°Why are you staring? It¡¯s gross.¡± Do-Seung turned away his gaze when I stared at him. Frankly, while monitoring the broadcast earlier, I thought that it could be dangerous if Only One got all the buzz early on with the termination of their exclusive contract, and things had stayed like that. Of course, I rooted for Only One¡¯s sess and happiness. Since I knew that being an idol was not an easy path, I respected them as a fellowrade, but I couldn¡¯t concede this year either as Woon¡¯s life was at stake.


    ¡°Do-Seung, let¡¯s write a fan song.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s write a fan song.¡±


    ¡°What...?¡±


    ¡°And let¡¯s make a self-made music video with the mountain and background here and upload it.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Do-Seung looked at me with shock. ¡°...What, are you my boss?¡±


    Yeah, I thought this would likely be his reaction.

 Chapter 139

    <h4>Chapter 139</h4>


    ¡°Let¡¯s rest a bit for now. I wrote too many songs whilepeting,¡± Do-Seung slumped to the ground. ¡°It¡¯s not as if a song justes into being from thin air.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°We came here to rest, so it¡¯s best if we just do that.¡±


    I stared at Do-Seung in silence. I couldn¡¯t force him to make a song, and as he said, he had been creating new songs left and right for <i>The Showcase 2</i> and probably wanted some rest. I could understand how he felt, but I also knew the kind of person Do-Seung was and what kind of traits creators had.


    No matter how exhausted they were, if they felt something stir in their hearts, they couldn¡¯t help but create; and Do-Seung was the type to fall for such temptations easily. Of course, I couldn¡¯t be so tant or direct about this.


    ¡°It¡¯s thanks to our fans that we can enjoy such a happy time right now. So, I just thought that it would be nice for us to make a song and release it right before this program ended or right after it ended,¡± I said in a carefree tone like it couldn¡¯t be helped if he wasn¡¯t up to it.


    Do-Seung probably felt something at this point, and as proof, his chest that had been heaving up and down steadily halted at the words, <i>¡®thanks to our fans¡¯. </i>


    ¡°But I think it will be too much pressure on you to make a song right now. Writing lyrics for a song is hard enough. I can¡¯t imagine how difficult it is to produce a song.¡± Then, I continued to pressure him with my next lines without going overboard. ¡°If it¡¯s possible, it will be nice but fine even if we don¡¯t have one. Don¡¯t feel so pressured.¡±


    I decided to end things by saying that it didn¡¯t matter what decision he made. Considering his personality, I thought Do-Seung would sumb to making a fan song in the end.


    ¡°Wow, Bong Tae-Yoon, are you ying mind games with me? I almost got tricked.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± But unexpectedly, I was caught red-handed. I was surprised because he wasn¡¯t the type to catch onto things like this. How did he realize what I was doing?


    ¡°On Bluebird, people are always going on about how you are like an evil mastermind. It really is true.¡± It appeared Do-Seung had reanalyzed my character through social media sites. I felt that this was quite an unfair assessment since I didn¡¯t do anything wrong.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s how Tae-Yoon pretends to hate the younger guy concept and the next second, steals the scene by saying, ¡®<i>nuna</i>, please pick me~¡¯¡±


    After Do-Seung brought up my weakness, I couldn¡¯t say anything more and froze in my spot.


    ¡°Beware. I won¡¯t easily get swayed by you now,¡± Do-Seung said, and unable to do anything against his mental attack, I crawled into a corner.


    ¡°But I will think more about whether I will make a fan song or not. I agree that it¡¯s a good idea,¡± Do-Seung said and smiled. Yes, I thought I should be satisfied with this result for now.


    ***


    The next day, happy andzy days continued. When we woke up this morning, we ate French toast and cereal first. It felt different eating cereal while watching the sun rise above the mountains on the porch.


    ¡°Who made this French toast?¡±


    ¡°Woon did.¡±


    ¡°Really? Woon knows how to make things like this too?¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding me? Look at how Woon¡¯s hands look now. Don¡¯t ever make him cook again. I¡¯ve never seen someone cut their hands while making French toast.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Is there even a need to use a knife for this?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying.¡±


    ¡°Well, the bread package didn¡¯t open so I tried to slice it with scissors...¡±


    ¡°What? It¡¯s not even a knife? He got cut by a pair of scissors?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    There were quite a lot of idents that happened when Woon made us breakfast for the first time. Well, since it was a dish someone else made for me, I ate it all up. Though the dish was called french toast, it wasn¡¯t sweet or soggy at all, and I wondered if I could even call this meal ¡®French toast¡¯. Of course, I didn¡¯t say that it was untasty out loud though.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think we can even wear these clothes at our dormitory?¡± Someone asked then.


    Because we had been so ustomed to wearing these daily-wear hanbok, we were thinking about ordering them in different colors.


    ¡°There¡¯s a variety besides just y color.¡±


    ¡°What colors?¡±


    ¡°Hm, um, prune color?¡±


    ¡°...I think y color is the best.¡±


    We did some inte shopping for daily hanbok and discussed what we should have for lunch.


    ¡°Should we eat dumplings for lunch?¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t dumpling take too much work?¡±


    ¡°All we have here is time.¡±


    ¡°If we make dumplings, I think we will have to eat them for dinner instead of lunch.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just eat something simple like ramen, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a good idea.¡±


    ¡°Ramen sounds good. Let¡¯s have that.¡±


    Since Producer Park Soo-Chul was behind this reality program, we thought we would get some big missions, but surprisingly, there wasn¡¯t anything like that. After seeing how we tried to make a wooden table on our first day, it appeared he thought he would ruin the show¡¯s theme of healing and rxation and stopped giving us missions. I was satisfied by his conclusion since that was easier for us.


    <i>¡®I wonder if Only One is looking for a agency right now.¡¯</i> Even while I was spending this blissful and peaceful afternoon, my mind kept shifting in that direction. When I <i>searched ¡®Only One</i>¡¯ on the inte, I only saw articles that said the group was still looking for an agency. However, I didn¡¯t think I would be able to grasp the general public opinion about this topic with a few inte searches, so when I checked social media sites, I saw that Only One fandoms were quickly grouping around the issue.


    ¡ªHoping that Only One will make a contract with apany that can properly care for them.


    #Only One_Wish_You_The_Best


    ¡ª Don¡¯t worry guys. No matter what decision you make, I can continue to wait for you all.


    #Only One_Wish_You_The_Best


    ¡ªI¡¯m really going to root for them till the very end.


    #Only One_Wish_You_The_Best


    Please Kang Hyun-Sung Kim Si-Woon Park Young-Ho Kim Ju-Hyun Lee Chul-Woon, please be happy! Wish you the best!


    #Only One_Wish_You_The_Best


    The fever of <i>The Showcase 2</i> hadn¡¯t died down yet. Right after our reality program was revealed and right when people were wondering what the other teams were up to, they released an article at just the perfect timing. Though we won the show, it felt like Only One was getting all the buzz right now. I was deep in thought when Yeon-Hoon suddenly talked to me.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Let¡¯s go on a walk!¡±


    After staring nkly at the porch, I smiled by reflex. This wasn¡¯t a lifestyle and environment where I could be gloomy.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go on a walk.¡±


    ¡°Should we take some snacks or something?¡±


    ¡°Sweet potato! Potato!¡±


    ¡°Yay, a walk~¡±


    ¡°Should we also bring a mat?¡±


    ¡°Good, good~¡±


    Like that, we took potatoes and sweet potatoes and walked towards the back of the mountain.


    ***


    Back in Seoul where the WD Entertainment office was, people were taking the final steps necessary to establish a jointpany. The director, Yoo Won-Dong, appeared with three other employees into an officeplex mostly used by small to mid-sizedpanies. Lee Hyuna and Seung-Yeon were naturally nervous to meet someone so high up in the corporatedder, and since Yoo Won-Dong was personallying to this meeting, the boss of WD Entertainment also appeared. Kim Dong-Hyun came on behalf of the other bosses.


    ¡°Hello, I am WD Entertainment¡¯s CEO, Kim Dong-Hyun.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. Hello. I¡¯m Yoo Won-Dong.¡±


    The two decided to sign the final agreement of creating a jointpany between WD Entertainment and JI ENM today. The newpany that would be established was named ¡®Next Wave.¡¯ The name meant that thepany would be a great wave for the sea fairies that were Siren.


    And though Next Wave was said to be a jointpany between twopanies, in reality, it was more urate to say that it was JI ENM¡¯s. JI ENM would take 90% of the share holds while Yoo Won-Dong would take 6% and WD Entertainment would take 4%. This bizarrely unequal setup was possible because WD Entertainment bosses didn¡¯t ce much importance on thepany¡¯s operation or owning shareholdings.


    The WD Entertainment bosses, including Kim Dong-Hyun, wished to earn more money rather than take more shares, while JI ENM judged it was preferable to buy as many shares as they could with money. As a result, WD Entertainment became a greatpany outwardly but with no actual authority or standing, and Siren cleanly transferred to JI ENM¡¯s subsidiarypany.


    The bosses were satisfied that they received a good sum of money in theirter years without doing anything at all; and in JI ENM¡¯s perspective, they were able to take an item with sufficient future value at a bargain price. The contract was made quickly because each of the groups came with theirwyers. Finally, after they signed the contracts, Yoo Won-Dong and Kim Dong-Hyun shook hands.


    ¡°Please take care of our Siren from now on. Hahaha.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha. There¡¯s no need to worry.¡±


    A photographer took a picture of the two shaking hands.


    ¡°Then, I have to leave now, because I have some other matters to take care of,¡± Kim Dong-Hyun left the office first after the contract was signed.


    His actions were akin to a homeowner leaving before the guests, and people from JI ENM couldn¡¯t hide their bewilderment by what happened. Still, they weren¡¯t the types to dwell too deeply on such details when it was already apudable that someone like Kim Dong-Hyun had maintained an imitation of apany for this long.


    After Kim Dong-Hyun left, the only people left from WD Entertainment were Yoon Seung-Yeon and Lee Hyuna. A strange silence followed and Yoo Won-Dong was about to get up when Seung-Yeon cautiously spoke.


    ¡°Um, Mr. Yoo, I would like to discuss a matter with you.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yes, what is it?¡± Yoo Won-Dong smiled congenially at her.


    Seung-Yeon looked back at him silently. Seung-Yeon and Hyuna had been thinking hard for thest couple of days. Though they were establishing the jointpany, ¡®Next Wave¡¯ in the name of Siren, there was nothing about thepany that was for Siren besides the name. At this rate, they felt fearful that nobody would take a stand for Siren. Thus, uncaring about whether or not their efforts would be fruitless, the two decided to fight till the end.


    ¡°If you are looking for managers for Siren, could you consider us two for the position?¡±


    ¡°Though we don¡¯t have long experience or majored in this field, we believe that we have developed a strong bond and level of trust with the members over the past months.¡±


    ¡°We both have a type 1 license and have no problem driving. There is more detailed information in these resumes.¡±


    ¡°Yes, you two can take charge of Siren.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, sir?¡±


    Seung-Yeon and Hyuna looked at Yoo Won-Dong again in shock. Yoo Won-Dong still looked at them brightly and replied, ¡°We need to quickly settle things and prepare for Siren¡¯s debut, so it will be ideal for someone who already knows the members well to continue to take care of them. In fact, we were nning to ask you to do just that, so I¡¯m grateful that you brought up the topic first. I like your passions! Hahaha!¡±


    Seung-Yeon and Hyuna stared at Yoo Won-Dong in shock. He didn¡¯t have a great reputation in the entertainment world so they were surprised to see that he had a surprisingly easy-going side to him too.


    ¡°Nr. Jang, please get their contact numbers and resumester and send them to me.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°Then, I will also take my leave,¡± Yoo Won-Dong said and left. A person from JI ENM side approached Seung-Yeon and Hyuna.


    ¡°You can give me your resumes to me. I will give you these documents here and you can write your desired sry here.¡±


    ¡°...Desired sry?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Seung-Yeon and Hyuna¡¯s mouths gaped upon hearing just this. When they joined WD Entertainment, their sries had been decided for them from the very beginning.


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°I understand...!¡±


    But here, they could decide their sries.


    ***


    After eating breakfast and before eating lunch, we went out for a walk behind the mountain to help digest. I thought there wouldn¡¯t be many problems when we first went out for a walk, and everything seemed fine when we found a ce and unfolded a mat over it. As we felt the warm spring breeze and smelled the grass around us, it felt peaceful and nice. Yet, the problem began when Woon left on his own and returned.


    ¡°...Hey?¡±


    ¡°...Woon...?¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°What did you bring with you..?¡±


    ¡°...I don¡¯t know either. They just keep following me...¡±


    <i>Ho, hop, hop.</i>


    <i>Hop, Hop, hop, hop.</i>


    Woon came back with five mountain rabbits.

 Chapter 140

    <h4>Chapter 140</h4>


    We weren¡¯t the only ones surprised by the sudden appearance of the mountain rabbits. The production staff, who went on the road together after hearing that we were going for a walk, were also shocked.


    ¡°Oh my...¡±


    ¡°My goodness.¡±


    ¡°Wow...so cute.¡± The writers, who had always remained silent, murmured this out loud.


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    It was to the extent that even the cameraman, who had to remain silent due to their jobs, gasped at their cuteness. There was a white rabbit, a ck rabbit, a spotted rabbit, a brown rabbit, and a gray rabbit. I wondered how in the world he befriended all these rabbits.


    One rabbit was already in his arms; it was a spotted rabbit mixed with white, brown, and ck, and he rubbed his head on Woon¡¯s chest and closed his eyes in happiness. Woon carefully sat on the mat with the rabbit in his arms, and my members and I were very wary and careful about our movements. However, there was one problem.


    ¡°Rabbit...it¡¯s so cute...hello rabbit...!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes had already gone mad, and he was over-excited as soon as the rabbits appeared. He wasn¡¯t touching them because he couldn¡¯t pull them towards him by force, but he looked ready to hug them with all his might if one allowed it. The one he was particrly interested in was the white rabbit, and Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes even showed a glint of obsession while looking at the white rabbit. However, when Yeon-Hoon tried to take one step closer, the white rabbit hopped to another ce.


    <i>Rustle.</i>


    ¡°Ahh...rabbit...¡± Yeon-Hoon looked quite upset when the rabbit ignored him, and it was understandable as everyone except him was approached by a rabbit. A ck rabbit to Do-Seung, a brown rabbit to Dong-Jun, and even for me, a gray rabbit approached and rubbed his head against me.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± I patted the gray rabbit on myp. Although the rabbit was cute, warm, and soft, there was only one thought in my head. ¡®<i>Wouldn¡¯t there be a lot of germs on them if they¡¯re wild rabbits?¡¯</i>


    Even though I was touching them because they were cute, I thought that I should change my clothes when I got back home. Thus, I said, ¡°Guys, don¡¯t touch your eyes or nose with the hands you touched the rabbit, just in case.¡±


    ¡°Okay~¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡±


    ¡°I have hand sanitizer, so let¡¯s use that for a temporary measure after sending the rabbits off.¡±


    The members responded like this and were enthusiastically touching the rabbit in their arms. Was this what pet therapy was? By merely touching a rabbit, my stress was relieved a little bit.


    <i>¡®But why is this little guy staying here the whole time when he doesn¡¯t even seem to enjoy it?¡¯ </i>Although the gray rabbit didn¡¯t seem to enjoy being touched, he didn¡¯t refuse my touch either. The gray rabbit¡¯s expression looked peeved as if he was going to leave at any moment. However, since I couldn¡¯t read a rabbit¡¯s thoughts, I just continued what I was doing. While I was thinking about how I could adopt a rabbit¡ª


    ¡°Only me...I¡¯m the only one who doesn¡¯t have a rabbit...¡± Yeon-Hoon was still in a stalemate with the white rabbit. The white rabbit sat next to Yeon-Hoon and was scratching his ears with his back feet. <i>Geez, </i>I thought the rabbit should have approached him by now because of the amount of effort Yeon-Hoon was putting in. Then the white rabbit met my gaze, but I wasn¡¯t sure if that was what it exactly was. Anyway, the white rabbit seemed to stare at me for a bit and then¡ª


    <i>Swoosh!</i>


    ¡°W-what.¡± The white rabbit suddenly rushed towards me and then jumped into my arms as if he was mming his body to mine.


    ¡°...?¡± Then the white rabbit beganpeting for a seat with the gray rabbit, who was rxing and lying in my arms. As expected, it seemed the gray rabbit did not like staying in my arms as he easily gave in without muchpetition.


    ¡°NO WAY! <i>You</i> came to me? Really?¡± Then the gray rabbit slowly approached Yeon-Hoon and sat on top of his knee. After I sent away the gray rabbit, I looked down at the white rabbit.


    <i>¡®What¡¯s up with this guy?¡¯</i> I¡¯ve never seen a rabbit act so forward. No, I wondered if this really was a rabbit. At this rate, wasn¡¯t he a dog? I didn¡¯t know rabbits liked people this much. I also patted the white rabbit¡¯s back with the hand I touched the gray rabbit. Then he closed his eyes as if he was pleased and lowered his ears. So while we enjoyed a morning walk with rabbits, the writers and cameramen all looked at us with envy.


    ***


    Our walk with the rabbits ended. The rabbits suddenly disappeared like a hallucination. Starting with the white rabbit, the ck rabbit, the spotted rabbit, the brown rabbit, and the gray rabbit left in order. After sending away the five rabbits, there was a brief moment of silent disappointment.


    ¡°Let¡¯s apply hand sanitizer~.¡± However, we applied the hand sanitizer Woon gave us to prevent possible infectious diseases. After that, I came down to the amodation, washed my hands properly, and changed my clothes. As expected, today¡¯s clothing was a daily hanbok like before.


    ¡°Wow, I thought prune color was bad this morning, and we got a prune-colored hanbok right away?¡± We received a prune-colored hanbok-like karma.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    ¡°This color looked bad in the picture, but iy actually looks better in real life.¡±


    ¡°But it makes you look like a low-level martial artist from a viin sect.¡±


    ¡°...Viin sect? A low-level martial artist?¡±


    ¡°What is that, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°...No, it¡¯s nothing.¡± I had a moment of self-reflection when those from the general public asked me innocently what I was talking about. I was sure that Woon understood what I meant, but he seemed to be pretending ignorance not to be put in the same category as me. After that, we had lunch, and the menu was ramen as we decided in the morning. Since there was rice cake left, we also put in rice cakes, and while we were at it, we also cut some kimchi and put it in. Then we found some ham and also put it in, and as a result, it naturally became <i>budae jjigae</i>[1], not ramen.


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat~¡±


    ¡°Ohh!¡±


    ¡°It looks delicious!¡± After we filled up our stomachs with <i>budae jjigae</i>, the members entered the main room and began toy down as if they had nned it.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep for a bit.¡±


    ¡°Is it because it¡¯s spring? I feel really sleepy after eating.¡±


    ¡°Good night.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun went into the master bedroom, and Do-Seung said he would go around the mountain once to digest the food. Thus, I sat alone on the mat and looked at the scenery. Frankly, I wondered if there had ever been a day as peaceful as now since I regressed. It felt like a very long time since I had stared at the mountains and been able to sit like this without thinking anything.


    However, whenever my heart was about to feel at ease, I thought, <i>¡®...500,000 sales for our debut album. Woon.¡¯</i> I thought about the mission the system gave me.


    <i>Sigh. </i>I rubbed my face and swiped back my hair. Even if I wanted to rest, I couldn¡¯t. I once again searched for Only One on my phone. I wondered if there was any additional information and¡ª


    <i>¡®...!¡¯</i> There was...additional information. In terms of scale, Q Entertainment was an entertainment agency that could be considered the best in Korea. It was apany that had never failed to produce first-tier idols from their first generation of idols to the present. A photo of Lamin, the main producer and president of theirbel, eating together with Kang Hyun-Sung was posted. Of course, it was not a selfie or SNS upload photo, but a photo taken by a reporter. The title of the article was also a provocative title,<i> ¡®A Secret Meeting between Only One¡¯s Kang Hyun-Sung and Lamin.¡¯ </i>


    Since Lamin was a man, it was not a scandal, but rather, it was a signal that Only One might belong to ¡®Another One,¡¯ which was Q Entertainment¡¯s subbel and the division Lamin was the president of.


    There was no way people in Bluebird hadn¡¯t heard of the news that I could easily find. After looking through SNS a little bit, I quickly found responses.


    ¨CAh our boys, pls let¡¯s go to a bigpany. You know you¡¯re too good for a small or medium-sizedpany


    ¨CAh, Mr. Lamin, pls take our boys


    ¨CAnother One and Only One even rhymes plsssssssssss


    ¨CBut if Only One really go to Q Entertainment, won¡¯t that be crazy?


    ¨CMy heart is pounding...pls let¡¯s go to Another One, Only One...


    ¨COf course, most agencies are all the same but...I hope they can go to an agency where they can do whatever they want.


    People were hoping that Only One would join Another One more than anyone else. Another One was an agency I knew very well. All the title songs of popr groups were produced or arranged there, and they were currently receiving trainees to debut as idols. Furthermore, they were famous for being expected to grow as Q Entertainment¡¯s cash cow in the future. It was to the extent that all the people in the Entertainment industry knew that Another One made the most trendy music. And before my regression, idols from Another One really did be famous not only in Korea but also globally as well. However, that was just people¡¯s general opinion, and that was a future event that didn¡¯t even happen yet.


    Perhaps, the internal staff of Another One might have judged that now was the perfect time to find artists to promote theirpany. At the same time, they must have feared that bringing in people who had already debuted from otherpanies would decrease their originality, while raising a whole group from scratch would be even more daunting and take too much time. And in this way, Only One, who appeared for sale in the meantime, must have been the perfect choice for Another One.


    <i>¡®If they do well...I think they can seed?¡¯</i> I thought it seemed very likely that a contract between Another One and Only One would be established.


    <i>¡®Then this will get really dangerous.¡¯ </i>This was a very good event for Only One. If I wasn¡¯t a part of Siren and my members¡¯ lives were not at stake, I would have congratted them on their sess¡ªbut not now.


    <i>Sighhh. </i>


    I wondered how threatening Only One, who would have Q Entertainment¡¯s power on its back and equipped with Another One¡¯s trendiness, would be. While my worries grew and lengthened, Do-Seung finished his walk and came back.


    ¡°Are you still spacing out?¡±


    ¡°Oh, Do-Seung.¡±


    However, the walk that he went to wasn¡¯t the one that I was familiar with. Seeing that his forehead was covered with sweat, it seemed he had jogged lightly, and in the mountains of all ces.


    <i>¡®Why isn¡¯t he an athlete?¡¯ </i>I thought about this for a moment but didn¡¯t say it out loud.


    ¡°What are you thinking so deeply about?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think about anything.¡±


    ¡°I can clearly see that you have a lot on your mind,¡± Do-Seung said and opened a bottle of water and drank it in one gulp. Then he said, ¡°Haa! That¡¯s so refreshing!¡±


    After squeezing the bottled water that he finished drinking, Do-Seung sat next to me. Then he asked, ¡°Were you thinking about the fan song you mentioned earlier?¡± Do-Seung¡¯s guess was off the mark.


    Rather than the fan song, I was thinking of Only One, but still, it was better for me to let him misunderstand for now. Thus, I said, ¡°Yes, I was thinking of the fan song.¡±


    ¡°I thought about it while running, and let¡¯s make it¡ªfan song.¡±


    ¡°...?¡± I quickly turned towards him in surprise.


    ¡°I mean, I kept thinking about it while running, but I wanted to make one too. The reason why I¡¯m able to see rabbits today, sleep like this, and have a good time is all thanks to the fans.¡± Do-Seung seemed to have organized his thoughts in his own way.


    He continued, ¡°I also don¡¯t like sitting idly by. I also want to show something for the fans.¡±


    Only One was making a huge ssh online with a scary move, and the news of making a fan song was like rain in a drought.


    ¡°Shall we make one right now?¡±


    ¡°...What, man?¡±


    ¡°Right now.¡±


    ¡°...Are you crazy?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m perfectly normal,¡± Do-Seung asked me if I was crazy, but I was perfectly normal.


    I texted the production crew and asked them to bring basic equipment for song production. I didn¡¯t ask them to buy new equipment but just asked them to take out the equipment that Do-Seung originally used from the vehicle at the bottom of the mountain. While this was happening, Do-Seung looked at me like a madman. Soon, within 30 minutes, Do-Seung¡¯sptop, headset, and mini master keyboard were all set.


    Then to Do-Seung, who just finished taking a shower after exercising, I said, ¡°Let¡¯s hurry up and quickly make a song. As soon as the melodyes out, I¡¯ll write the lyrics next to you at the same time.¡±


    ¡°...Who <i>are</i> you?¡±


    I urged Do-Seung to make a song, but we didn¡¯t have much time as we needed to finish the fan song before the reality shoot was over.


    1. Spicy stew from Korea that is made with a variety of ingredients like ham, spam, kimchi, instant noodles, and cheese. ?

 Chapter 141

    Chapter 141


    Park Dong-Jun woke up from the sound of faint typing noises. He had been so deep asleep that he didn¡¯t know how long he slept. His original n was to take a short nap, but his surroundings looked dark by the time he woke up. He checked the time and saw that it was already after 7 p.m.; he had napped for four hours. Dong-Jun got up, thinking he had slept enough for the night.


    ¡°¡­What?¡± He saw then, Tae-Yoon and Do-Seung crouching over aptop together in the corner of the living room.


    ¡°Ah, you are awake?¡±


    ¡°Did you just wake up?¡±


    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡±


    Dong-Jun approached them while rubbing his eyes.


    ¡°We were making a fan song.¡±


    ¡°¡­A fan song?¡±


    Dong-Jun¡¯s sleepy eyes burst open. Tae-Yoon and Do-Seung were using a cable that allowed them to transfer sound to two headsets at once while working on the song production. It seemed they were being considerate of the other members sleeping.


    ¡°You produced a song?¡±


    ¡°We were nning to present the song after you all woke up.¡±


    ¡°I just made the core lyrics and left some spaces for you all to fill.¡±


    ¡°¡­Really?¡± Dong-Jun was about to feel sorry that these two had taken all the burden of the song production themselves but fortunately, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes naturally turned toward the monitor screen. He saw several screens that he couldn¡¯t make any sense out of.


    ¡°Can I listen to it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°You can use my headset.¡±


    Dong-Jun took the headset that Tae-Yoon handed him. Since they worked on this music for only about four hours while he was sleeping, he didn¡¯t expect much.


    ¡°¡­Oh.¡± But the quality of the song was much higher than he expected.


    ¡°I put the feelings I felt while rxing here exactly into this song.¡±


    Dong-Jun stared at Do-Seung intently. Every time Do-Seung brought them a song, he thought this, but¡­


    ¡°Wow¡­It¡¯s¡­really annoying.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The song is good.¡±


    ¡°¡­Really?¡±


    Though Do-Seung never let him eatte-night food and dragged him to the gym to exercise every day, he really was impressive when making music.


    ¡°But what are you saying is ¡®annoying¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Ah, well, I just got annoyed seeing your face right after I woke up.¡±


    ¡°¡­Ha, this punk.¡±


    ¡°But the song is really good.¡±


    ¡°¡­Really?¡±


    Then, Dong-Jun began to tease Do-Seung using the song as a hostage, and after the same scenario repeated three times, Do-Seung caught on to what was happening and Dong-Jun had to take off his headset without listening to the chorus.


    ***


    At Gangwon-do Hongcheon downtown, a part-timer for an old recording studio was watching a video of Siren on her phone. As an Applied Music major who was currently on her leave, one of her greatest perks in life was watching idol videos.


    She made self-justifications to herself that watching idol videos wasn¡¯t too far from her studies and spent about two hours every day doing just that. Though two hours was quite a long time, it was a huge development considering that was what she used to do all day long.


    Her biggest source of interest was currently Siren. She first learned about them through The Showcase 2. They caught her eye when they prepared a refreshing and cute performance while every other group was doing a dark and serious concept. Ever since then, she had been trying to find more videos and content about Siren.


    ¡®There will be much more content to see after they officially debut,¡¯ she thought. Since the team hadn¡¯t even debuted yet, there was much less content avable about thempared to other teams. But since the reality show that was uploadedst week was quite entertaining, she was satisfied for now.


    ¡®If they are at Hongcheon, I wonder if they are nearby,¡¯ she wondered and remembered hearing that the shooting site for the reality show was at Hongcheon, but it wasn¡¯t revealed exactly where in the city.


    Though Hongcheon wasn¡¯t a big city, it wasn¡¯t so small to the point that someone could deduce where they were just with pictures and videos alone. If she was lucky, she might meet them while walking in the streets. No, if she was really lucky, they could open the doors to this ce this instance to record their song¡­


    ¡°Is anyone here?¡±


    ¡°Hello?¡±


    ¡°The producers connected us with the nearest studio.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­it kind of has a retro vibe here.¡±


    The part-timer couldn¡¯t believe what she was seeing.


    ¡°Hello, we made a reservation for this ce in Park Soo-Chul¡¯s name.¡±


    The Woo Yeon-Hoon she had only seen through her phone screen was talking to her with cameramen behind him. The part-timer couldn¡¯t say anything and froze in her spot. Her boss did tell her that a shooting team from Seoul wasing here today to record a song, but as it had always been, she simply thought that a group of Indie musicians wereing to make clips for their self-produced music video.


    After all, this studio was known for its retro vibe because they didn¡¯t redo their interior after first establishing the ce many years ago. But who knew that it would be Sirening today? If she knew, she would¡¯ve worn something better than what she wearing or at least washed her hair!


    ¡°¡­Oh my gosh.¡± The part-timer sped her mouth.


    ¡°Is there a reservation?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked again and tilted his head.


    Seeing him in real life, she realized why Yeon-Hoon had been so praised for his visuals. All his facial features fit perfectly into his small face and drew the attention of everyone around him.


    ¡°Could we check our reservation status, please?¡± Woon asked. Standing next to Yeon-Hoon, there was Woon. On the show, he simply looked pretty but in real life, he had both feminine and masculine beauty that exuded a mysterious charm.


    ¡°Wow, this is the sort of interior thates up in a lot of social media pages.¡±


    ¡°Indie bandse here to take music videos frequently.¡±


    ¡°Ah, really?¡±


    Do-Seung, at the back, looked much more manly than he appeared on screens. His body was bigger than she imagined and both his hands and feet wererge. His features looked stronger and more defined in real life too.


    On the other hand, Dong-Jun, who was looking around the room and talking, appeared simr to how he looked on screen; but because his expressions and behavior felt more real and full of vitality in real life, his cuteness factor doubled. Lastly, there was Tae-Yoon.


    ¡®He looks so scary¡­!¡¯ She thought he had a cold face on screen but in real life, it looked beyond just cold but frightening. Of course, for her, who liked cold faces, this was a high form of praise.


    ¡°Um¡­so about the reservation¡­?¡±


    ¡°Ah, Ahhh! Yes!¡± She turned her face back to the front as Woon asked her. This was no big task. She just needed to confirm their reservation.


    ¡°Excuse me¡­?¡±


    ¡°Ah, Ahh! Yes!¡± This was already the third time she had forgotten what she needed to do. She checked the reservation list¡ªReservation at 11 am; Fifth Room: Park Soo-Chul.


    ¡°Yes¡­Park Soo-Chul made a reservation¡­ at 11 am!¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­yes.¡±


    While looking at Siren, she wondered a thousand times in her head if she should ask them for a picture. Other people seemed to ask for a picture so easily when they saw idols they liked, but she had a hard time opening her mouth. It felt like she would be burdening them when they were shooting their show right now.


    However, if she missed this opportunity, it could nevere back again. Yet, she hesitated to approach them andmented the fact that she didn¡¯t wash her hair. Then again, she thought she would be even more the fool to lose this chance just because her hair was a bit dirty. After struggling with these pr opposite choices about a hundred times, she nned to just let them go when Yeon-Hoon talked to her first.


    ¡°¡­.Um, do you¡­perhaps, know us¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­!¡± In shock, she looked at Yeon-Hoon wide-eyed.


    ¡°Ah, if you don¡¯t, sorry. We will just go¡ª"


    ¡°No, I know! I really like Siren!¡± She couldn¡¯t lose this golden opportunity. And as soon as the word, ¡®Siren¡¯ escaped her lips, Siren members seemed even more surprised than her.


    ¡°¡­!¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°You know us¡­?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s amazing¡­!¡±


    The way even the stone-faced Tae-Yoon appeared surprised struck her mind the most. She looked back at all the five members looking at her quietly and thought to herself, ¡®I used up ten years worth of luck here¡­¡¯


    While preparing herself for tenter years of misfortune, she enjoyed this moment in happiness.


    ***


    The night after Siren visited the studio, a picture came up on Bluebird. It showed the group members taking a group photo with a woman in an old recording studio¡¯s lobby. The woman¡¯s face was covered with a sticker and only the Siren members¡¯ faces were revealed. Because the owner of the ount permitted others to share the picture, the picture quickly spread to othermunities through Bluebird. Perhaps, it was because everyone was aware that this was the first picture that Siren members took with a fan, the members looked especially awkward.


    ¡ªWhat hahaha why do they all look so shy ahaha


    ¡ªI¡¯ve never seen Dong-Jun sit so poised ahaha


    ¡ªTae-Yoon¡­is smiling so shyly¡­?


    ¡ªWhy do our cutie peach look so excited?


    ¡ªIt''s been a long time since I saw princess without a crazed look in his eyes


    ¡ªOur ck cat can make such a kind face?


    It was a picture where one could feel that the artists were nervous along with their fans. Perhaps, it was because they had amassed poprity and fame instantly through The Showcase, they looked like newbies who hadn¡¯t debuted yet.


    ¡ªThey are so cute sniff


    ¡ªThey look like it¡¯s their first time meeting a fan


    Reply: Wouldn¡¯t that be the case, disregarding the times they were performing on stage?


    Reply: After realizing that, it makes this picture even cuter


    People realized that this was a moment that wouldn¡¯te again and retweeted the post in their feed. But at this point, people also began to wonder.


    ¡ªBut why did they go to a recording studio?


    ¡ªAre they going to record something?


    ¡ªAre they recording their debut song?


    Reply: There¡¯s no way they would record that in such an old studio.


    Reply: Then, what is it?


    What was the reason Siren had to go to a studio at this time?


    ¡ªBut where is this ce?


    Reply: It says Hongcheon?


    Reply: Did they go there as part of the reality program?


    Reply: Seems like the case


    People began to put the puzzle pieces together and eventually, reached a very urate conclusion.


    ¡ªAre they perhaps, making a fan song?


    ***


    While Siren fans were predicting and buzzing with excitement about an uing fan song on social media sites, Kang Hyun-Sung sat on the uppermost floor of a modern white building located on Teheran street[1].


    Not just Kang Hyun-Sung but all the Only One members were sitting nervously on a sofa. They were at Q Entertainment¡¯s office building and inside a space used both as a studio and office space for Lamin. Though there was another building for Another One, they decided to conduct their meeting here because thepany didn¡¯t relocate their office and studio space yet.


    However, a bigger reason why they chose this location was to leak an article about their meeting just like how they made news by just having a meal together. At that time, Q Entertainment nned to set up the scene so that journalists could shoot the Only One members entering thepany¡¯s office space.


    Right now, there were five contract papers ced in front of Kang Hyun-Sung and the rest of the Only One members.


    ¡°How is it? It¡¯s a rate much better than the industry¡¯s average. The length of the contract is seven years too.¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­¡±


    ¡°We checked each of the conditions¡­and it really is good.¡±


    Besides Kang Hyun-Sung, the rest of the other Only One members looked ready to sign this instance.


    ¡°I will ask ourwyer to review the contract.¡±


    ¡°You are thorough till the end.¡±


    ¡°I am grateful that you made a lot of considerations for us and I also want to sign the papers right away, but my past experiences advise me otherwise.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung took the packet with the contracts and said, ¡°Let¡¯s keep in touch.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°If we don¡¯t see any problems with the contract, we will sign it immediately.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not offended so don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°¡­Yes, sir.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung nodded and ended the conversation.


    ¡°By the way, would you be able to tell us around what time you all are nning to debut? Since we have to make a marketing n ande up with a budget with that?¡± Lamin asked Kang Hyun-Sung before he left.


    Kang Hyun-Sung hesitated for a bit and slowly replied, ¡°I will tell you after thinking about it a bit more. We still have to organize our thoughts.¡±

 Chapter 142

    Chapter 142


    Try running from over there, guys.


    From over there?


    But isnt that too far, Tae-Yoon?


    Well get tired while running.


    Do we have to control our movements as if we''re sprinting?


    Please just run if I ask you to run.


    In a deste Kang Won-Do Hongcheon rural vigete afternoon, I was holding a camera to film a music video with my members. We had finished our song and lyric writing two days ago,pleted our recording yesterday at unprecedented speed, and were now filming our music video.


    We had finished all this in four days, and even I thought it was quite an astounding feat. However, we were only able to progress easily because the song and lyricposition progressed smoothly, the recording only took a brief amount of time, and the music video didnt have any hardposition.


    The music videos concept was a spring pic. We took off our daily hanboks and filmed the music video in our daily clothes, and we took shots where we all ran together like a high teen movie. Then, weid down the pic mat and ate <em>kimbab</em>* [1].


    There was also a small stream flowing in the mountain, and although the participant was unwilling, we were able to get a shot of someone falling there as well. The person who fell in was no one other than Dong-Jun.


    Kang Do-Seung, Im really going to kill you.


    Its your fault for standing there so precariously.


    Kang Do-Seung!


    Dont shout my name.


    Ackkkk!


    Unintentionally, Do-Seung had hit Dong-Jun and caused him to fall. Frankly, I thought it was Dong-Juns fault for standing yfully in a precarious spot. Although this situation could be considered unfair from Do-Seungs perspective, Dong-Jun was so furious that Do-Seung epted Dong-Junsints and helped him release his anger. I didnt forget to capture that moment with my camera.


    Then I also filmed Woon lying down on the grass.


    I said, Thats a good shot.


    But all Im doing is lying down.


    You look handsome.


    Im not particrly trying to look handsome


    Perhaps due to Woons refreshing and bright self, his image fit well with nature. The next person I shot was Yeon-Hoon, and anyone could clearly tell that he looked good with flowers. Thus, I filmed a video of him in a ce full of flowers. Yeon-Hoon crouched next to a bushel of flowers and cupped his face with his hands.


    Yeon-Hoon asked, How do I look?


    You look good.


    Really?


    Yes.


    I didnt even need to think ofposition or whatnot; even if I took it quickly, Yeon-Hoons pose looked natural as he was not the type to stiffen in front of the camera. Then with my strong request, I shot a video of Do-Seung doing pull-ups from a tree. As for Dong-Jun, I filmed a video of him trying to prank Do-Seung. Dong-Jung tried to climb on the tree where Do-Seung was doing his pull-ups, but he didnt have enough momentum and slid down. I was able to make a lot of progress in the music video in this way, and thest person to finally shoot was me.


    Tae-Yoon! Over there! Towards the direction where we can see the sunset more.


    My video had a sunset in the background. I asked, Here?


    Yep!


    Stand still!


    The members all raised the camera, and I was the only one to stand in the sunset spot. I hadnt thought much while going there, but once I got to the ce where I could see the sunset well, all sorts of thoughts popped into my mind.


    <em>The reality show would be over after today. </em>Although the reality show would be aired for three more weeks, the actual filming was until today.


    <em>Its now time for us to debut. </em>We had busily moved forward until now, but we would have to move even more busily from now on. All kinds of thoughts gued my mind when


    Wow, Tae-Yoon, this looks like an ad.


    What the?


    You look handsome.


    Why is he suddenly pretending to be cool?


    ?


    I had a lot of thoughts on my mind, so I was staring far in the distance, but to Dong-Jun, it must have looked like I was pretending to be cool.


    Its not pretend. He does look cool!


    Tae-Yoon! You look cool! Stay there like that!


    Yeon-Hoon scolded Dong-Jun for hisment, and Woon told me to continue what I was doing because I looked cool. I hadnt thought anything about Dong-Junsment, but the members readily defended me.


    Lets just raise this and Then in the middle of shooting, Yeon-Hoon suddenly set up the tripod and fixed the camera on top of it, and he shouted, Lets all go together!


    Yeon-Hoon dragged all the members towards me.


    Tae-Yoon! Then he ran and fell into my arms. Woon and Do-Seung stood behind me, and Dong-Jun crouched in the front.


    I asked, Why did you all suddenlye here?


    Yeon-Hoon answered, Well, I just thought this sunset shot would be better with all of us together.


    Guys, look at the camera. Lets all smile brightly.


    Although it suddenly became a group shot, I didnt think this was bad either.


    Lets go~


    Lets go home now~


    After smiling brightly while looking at the camera for ourst shootour music video shooting was over.


    ***


    Our reality show shooting immediately ended after our music video shooting was over.


    I hoped all of you rested well on this mountain this past week.


    Yes, we did~


    Thank you for your hard work, and lets meet again at an even better opportunity!


    Thank you!


    Good work~


    Thank you~


    After shooting our closing scene, we bowed to the production staff, and with this, the reality show waspletely over.


    Everyone!


    Have you been well this past week?


    Just in time, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna also came to pick us up.


    Hello!


    Its been a while~


    Have you been well?


    Was it because we havent seen them for a while? The members greeted their managers with a bright smile.


    Lets go down for now. Weve prepared the car downstairs.


    We checked the car that they told us was parked at the entrance of the mountain. However


    Wait a minute.


    We couldnt easily get inside. The car that we rode on used to be way past 10 years old, and it was a dangerous car that felt like it was on the verge of breaking as we rode on it.


    Whatis this?


    Where is the van we used to ride?


    However, there was a strange, new car in front of us; it was a vehicle that celebrities were known for ridinga ck and sturdy-looking van.


    The agency provided us with a van!


    <em>Gasp!</em>


    The first person to express their admiration was Dong-Jun. As the second youngest after me, he had to be squished with three other people the most often. Thus, he must have felt more joy about the big car than the other members as he no longer had to ride the car all squished up.


    Ha. For the same reason, I was overjoyed about our new car, and the other members also seemed pleased.


    Wow, we really did transfer to a bigpany


    Amazing


    However, this was only the beginning. As soon as we got in the car and got out of Hongcheon and on the highway, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna revealed another big news. And we have to move to a new dorm right away. For furniture and things like that, weve just bought new ones and installed them in the new amodation, but we couldnt touch your personal luggage separately, so all of them are still in your old dorm.


    A new dorm?


    Wasnt your current dorm a temporary dorm owned by Dong-Jun?


    Yes.


    Its not as great as that one, but we got you a dorm in a good location.


    Wow.


    The new agency was going to give us a new dorm. After arriving in Seoul, we packed our bags and immediately entered our new dorm. Our first impression was


    Wow, its nice!


    Wooow!


    How many rooms are there?


    There are two big rooms and one small room here too.


    Nice.


    The dorms condition was better than I expected. It was not a crazy apartment in the middle of Gangnam, but it was also in a secure ce and was newly built. Moreover, since it was not in Gangnam, it seemed that this ce would be safer as there were fewer people. We sat side by side in the living room and looked around the new dorm. Everything from TVs to refrigerators, sofas, tables, beds, closets, disy cases, and other home appliances were all here.


    The members expressions all looked dazed. Starting from our new car and new dorm, they must have felt like their whole world had suddenly changed. It was the same for me. I wondered if this was reality as good surprises were pouring out at once.


    <em>Yoo Won-Dong? </em>There was no way that the Yoo Won-Dong that I knew could spend so much money. Of course, it was not Yoo Won-Dongs money but thepanys money, but it was still surprising.


    <em>Im amazed? </em>Every time Only One made an album, he always tried to cut costs, and he hadnt treated us to a singlepany dinner. He was an executive who only talked with figures and results, so he only thought about maximizing the highest results possible with the lowest input. It was hard to believe a person like that could give u a new car and house for us, who didnt even bring in any money yet.


    <em>Whats he thinking?</em> I might be too pessimistic, but I was suspicious first. Thus I asked, Perhaps, is this housepany property?


    Property?


    Yes.


    Ah, yes! Thats correct. I heard that they bought a house to use it as a dorm under thepanys name.


    When I asked if this house was owned by thepany, Ms. Seung-Yeon said yes. It was umon for an agency to buy and sell celebrity amodations. Many people lived on a lease and after they ended their contracts, they moved to another house.


    <em>In other words, the executives just invested with thepanys money. </em>Rather than a benefit for us, it was more of a property investment for thepany, and it would be categorized aspanys asset instead of expenses. But still, I was thankful about getting a new house.


    Then the next question was why they gave us a new car, so I asked, May I ask where you got this car from?


    Where?


    Well, the ce where you first received this vehicle.


    Oh! From the JI ENM parking lot. There were a lot of cars like this when we went there?


    Gotcha. I roughly understood what happened. The new car also came not with the money from the joint venture, where Yoo Won-Dong would sit as president, but from the equipment support from its parentpany, JI ENM.


    <em>In short, he didnt spend a single penny.</em> As expected, he didnt spend a single penny, but he did take care of our convenience with his capabilities. In a way, this was a sign of apetent manager.


    <em>But why do I feel iffy about this?</em> How did I exin this? It kept feeling like he was pursuing cost-effectiveness. For now, it felt okay because we were saving costs on products such as our dorm and vehicles, which we could be cost-effective about.


    <em>Hmm. </em>I<em></em>didnt know whether he was just cost-effective in areas we could afford to be, or he would try to be cost-effective about everything.


    ***


    Exit 4 of Gangnam Station. In a rtively small, 11-story building on the roadside some distance from the station, the construction builders were currently removing an old sign and putting up a new sign. It was the building purchased by JI ENM for this business, and the building to be used by Sirens agency Next Wave as its office building.


    Because all the interior design has been newly installed, it sure looks nice. Hahaha!


    We n to turn this first floor here into a caf so that Siren fans can use it freely.


    Oh, really?


    Yes.


    Then that would be profitable, right?


    Ah, I think so. But usually, its just for fan service.


    Then would it be okay to raise the price a little?


    I rmend you set the price to an average caf price.


    Haha! But still, its our <em>The Showcase</em>s winners Siren, so it would be totally fine for us to raise the price!


    Right. Its not going to be a lot of money for Sirens loyal fans.


    Yoo Won-Dong smiled in satisfaction with the exterior of the building. He eximed, Lets get on a roll with good results and good sales!


    Yes, Ill work hard until I break every bone in my body.


    Hahaha! Great! To Yoo Won-Dong, this building and product called Siren looked like adder for him to climb higher. There were only two things on his mindperformance and sales. He didnt intend to stay here for long anyway.


    He nned to stay here for exactly five years and enter the center of JI ENM group within five years. Thus, for the next five years, he nned to produce results that anyone would be awed by. Of course, he didnt know anything about idol groups, and he still understood this business as just a yground for children, not as an extremelypetitive industry.


    1. Korean seaweed roll

 Chapter 143

    Chapter 143


    It took some time for me to adjust to the new dormitory and car. I spent the past few days editing the music video we shot at the mountain and focused on having some rxing time that I couldnt do on the show. Yet, I continued to hear news that heightened my worries.


    [Only One, who has been looking for apany, makes a contract with Another One.]


    [Only One takes the first step to be the leader of a new boy group generation.]


    [Only One, will they soar with the boost of Q Entertainment?]


    [Only One establishes a contract with Another One! How well will they work together?]


    Only One officially signed a contract with Another One and stirred up a buzz in idolmunity sites and social media pages again.


    Ahhhh, Hyun-Sung!!


    Please protect Only One


    Thank goodnessseriously, thank goodness


    People appeared relieved that Only One seemed to have found a properpany. Right after the show, many felt disappointed when we were the only ones to transfer to a bigpany while Only One stayed in a shabbypany.


    <em>It wont be easy.</em> Since I had my members lives on the line, all this news hurt my head. This was definitely congrattory and great news for Only One, but I didnt know what kind of unexpected changes it could cause for us.


    From what I remembered from my past life, Only One achieved 300,000 sales in the first week of their debut album and grew to 400,000 sales in their next mini album. They swept all the rookie rewards and were able to reach their heights thanks to no other boy groups being within theirpetition. Yet, right now, we needed to reach 500,000 sales in the first week while having such a huge obstacle and enemy as Only One.


    <em>500,000 is already a reach even without unexpected variables. This is crazy </em>My heart felt heavy, thinking that we had to reach our giant goal against a huge variable as Only One. For now, it seemed our newpany, Next Wave seemed to also be wary of all the issues surrounding Only One and released articles.


    [<em>The Showcase 2</em>s Siren secured into Next Wave!]


    [Next Wave, blowing new winds into the domestic idol business?]


    [[Exclusive] Interview with Next Waves boss, Yoo Won Dong, Siren has global potential.]


    I understood that they were trying to draw attention by releasing articles here and there, but I thought,<em> Why are the main points of all the articles a bit off?</em>


    Rather than articles dedicated to us, these felt like articles written for thepany, Next Wave, and its boss, Yoo Won-Dong. If people who were curious about Siren clicked these articles, they would have just seen that there was only information about thepanys amodation system and quickly pressed the back button.


    <em>Have these guys never taken care of artists before?</em> I wondered. I stopped shifting through the articles and pressed my temples.


    The current situation was this: though Only One was getting a lot of attention for finding a newpany, we were still getting more mentions in the press. After the second and third episodes of <em>Siren, Time to Recharge!</em> that showed different healing and humorous momentspared to episode 1, we were dominating the rankings. Furthermore, now that our official SNS, message subscription, and live broadcast ounts were made, we were using it every chance we could.


    Ahh! Ms. Seung-Yeon rejected the selfie I was going to post!


    She obviously will if you take a pic of your nostrils looking that big, Dong-Jun.


    Isnt that what makes it funny?


    Its funny but right now, we have to focus on making our feed prettier.


    Though there were some activities that would have set us back, fortunately, they were all halted by Ms. Seung-Yeon. Oh, that was rightMs. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna also transferred to Next Wave. I had been nning to ask for their transfers personally, but it seemed Yoo Won-Dong surprisingly epted them easily.


    <em>Maybe he is doing that to save money spent on human resources. </em>A thought like this came mind, but I just glossed over it since I was satisfied with the result. Though there seemed to be multiple sources of anxiety lurking, we continued our normal days into the second week.


    <em>Theres no way things will stay this peaceful </em>I thought. Though I tried not to let down my guard, I was bing used to the peacefulness now and my guard kept slipping down.


    ***


    Aftering to work, Yoo Won-Dong checked todays schedule. The only tasks he had were rted to Siren, so though his rank rose, it felt as if his work had be simpler.


    <em>I cant let things be.</em> This wasnt the time for him to be satisfied that his work became easier for him. He was a member of the Jaeil Group and the boss of its subsidiary. Furthermore, he was a contract worker rather than an official one, so he would be mercilessly fired if he didnt show proper results.


    <em>Siren is doing well, but its hard to see me.</em> It wasnt Siren that was important but him, and he needed to show the proper results that he could disy to the higher-upsnot results that Siren achieved but what <em>he</em> achieved. The achievements that Siren made had to be his and the progress that Next Wave reached had to be <em>his</em> creation.


    In reality, Jaeil Company didnt expect great things from him. They simply handed him an item that could clearly seed but simultaneously, had obvious limits too. In other words, they were simply telling him to stay put and as long he didnt try anything funny, everything would just work out smoothly for him. Some could like this predicament but this was Yoo Won-Dongthe man who had risen from an ordinary employee with no backing to a director.


    <em>I cant be satisfied by just this. </em>He needed to show results that surpassed expectations.


    <em>I need to be at the center of it too I need to </em>Yoo Won-Dong pondered deeply while twirling his pen. Soon afterward, he turned on his messenger and sent a message to all the team managers.


    Lets have a meeting. Pleasee to my room.


    This was the training method that he had often used in the headquarters: abruptly calling all the team managers into his office.


    ***


    In Another Ones director''s office, Kang Hyun-Sung sat with Lamin. They were able to meet inside because the internal construction was done, and now, after finishing their contract, Kang Hyun-Sung was discussing with Lamin the next steps to take.


    The line-up will be generally like thisare the lyrics not finalized yet?


    Yes.


    Is it because the concept is undecided?


    Yes. Everyone is good at writing lyrics but no concept is really hitting it for me.


    Arent you being too greedy?


    I have to be greedyconsidering all the fuss I made.


    Only One was dominating all the entertainment articles recently because thepany was overexerting itself to spread the news in the press.


    The debut date hasn''t been decided yet, right?


    Yes, Im still thinking about it.


    If you think too long, you might make a bad decision in the end. Its not always good to be too careful.


    Yes, I know what you mean, but I cant be certain of it yet. Please let me think about this a bit longer.


    Yes. Im sure a good result wille as long as we wait.


    Kang Hyun-Sung smiled softly at Laminsment and turned his gaze to the monitor.


    If there are more lyric options thate in, please show them to me.


    Sure.


    Like that, they were about to continue to work on the debut album when Lamin suddenly murmured, Hm?


    What is it? Kang Hyun-Sung turned to Lamins screen again.


    It looks like Sirenis going to debut? It was an article about Sirens debut.


    This time is critical for these guys too.


    Yes.


    They could just tell with just one line from the article that some higher-up was trying to ruin a great group like Siren with their foolish ideas.


    ***


    After I took a seat to eat dinner with my members, my Precognitive Vision suddenly showed signs of activating.


    This is called Park Dong-Juns <em>Jjimdak</em>[1]!


    Isnt it just c<em> jjimdak</em>?


    Its called Park Dong-Juns<em> Jjimdak</em> because I made it.


    With that c, you should have just made a fruit punch.


    You are obsessed with c fruit punch


    This was the first time Dong-Jun was cooking for us. He did it to give some change to the peaceful days we had been going through thest two weeks and more. I sat down without thinking much but when the <em>jjimdak</em> was ced on the table and bowls, tes, and utensils began to be set, I felt a foreboding, unpleasant feeling that my ability was going to be activated.


    <em>Whoosh!</em>


    Time stopped and a transparent barrier floated in front of me like a haze. The future unfolded there.


    <em>Why is it showing me this so suddenly again? </em>I stared in front of me. I was obviously disgruntled to see this future because the Precognitive Vision only showed me a bad future that would soon unfold for me and my members. If possible, I wanted to live a life where I didnt need this ability. On the other hand, since this was an ability that showed us a possible misfortune, I stared intently not to miss a thing.


    The glorious first win for this weeks music countdown is!


    Only One! Congrattions!


    <em>What?</em>


    It was a future unrted to us. No, on second thought, it wasntpletely unrted. While Only One ced first ce in a music program, my members and I were standing behind them.


    <em>What? </em>We were all standing with an awkward smile on our faces.


    <em>We lost to Only One?</em> Of course, just because we lost first ce to them once, it didn''t mean we lost everything.


    <em>But this is dangerous.</em> We needed to aim for 500,000 sales in the first week of our album release right now, and it wouldnt be enough even if we garnered all possible issues and attention towards us.


    <em>Sigh. </em>At this rate, we would be starting a step behind Only One. There was also the effect of an underdog that I needed to consider. If they beat us in our debut activities after they lost to us in <em>The Showcase</em> and won second ce, their underdog appeal would amplify.


    <em>If they have the underdog effect on top of their sufficient potential to seedthey will be unstoppable.</em> Perhaps, it would be not us but Only One who would reach 500,000 sales in the first week of album release.


    <em>Whoosh!</em>


    My Precognitive Vision ended.


    If you eat <em>jjimdak</em>~ It makes you very happy~ Yeon-Hoon hummed while eating his dish.


    Oh, its tasty. Good job, Dong-Jun. Its really good.


    You mustve followed the recipe well.


    Cant you just tell me that Im good at cooking?


    The recipe is good.


    How annoying.


    Woon, Do-Seung, and Dong-Jun all chatted.


    Tae-Yoon, arent you going to eat? Yeon-Hoon asked while cing a chicken leg in front of me.


    Give me a moment. I pushed my food away and raised my phone. We were going to lose to Only One? It didnt make sense based on how things were going right now. The only reason seemed to be that someone would make a mess of things, and there was only one person who would be responsible for that.


    Yoo Won-Dong! There was no way that man would do anything quietly. He was someone crazy about making a name for himself and whenever he did anything, he would proim it everywhere. An article about his ns would have surely been released somewhere. Combining all these key points, I began my search on the inte.


    [Siren''s possible coboration with the famous choreographer, JayQueen!]


    This was a coboration news we''ve never heard of, yet it remained in the headlines of the entertainment news main page.


    1. Steamed chicken with sauce

 Chapter 144

    Chapter 144


    <em>We have a possible future coboration with JayQueen? </em>How could there be a coboration between us and someone else without our knowledge? It didnt make sense unless Yoo Won-Dong learned dance straight from JayQueen himself. It was unbelievable that an arbitrary coboration without any of our input whatsoever was established.


    <em>Fortunately, it doesnt seem like its been confirmed yet</em> It seemed like it was just a spective article where Next Wave leaked information to publish. This was a tactic often used to assess the publics sentiment, and the article could be summed up like this:


    JayQueen posted our stage video on social media and gave us a shoutout. To put it roughly, she rooted for us on the inte. On top of that, she shared it on our agencys official SNS and made a positive post. At first nce, it all seemed normal and logical, but


    <em>Is this even worth an articleWon-Dong? </em>It was definitely not an event worth writing a whole article about, and it was clear that the article was made under a higher-ups orders. I couldnt urately gauge how much Yoo Won-Dong was involved in this matter. It was a mystery whether JayQueens shoutout was even fabricated or sincere, or if Next Wave intervenedter on.


    However, it was not the scope of maniption that was important. The important matter was


    <em>Why would we coborate with this person? Why?</em> To be frank, JayQueen was a dancer who fell out of trend. She had been an active dancer about 10 years ago butpletely left the chereograpgy scene since then. She now came out on variety shows more as an entertainer.


    But above all, I thought, <em>Shes a Waacking dancer.</em> Her dance style didnt match our dance style. I wasnt disrespecting Waacking, but the color and image Siren had shown so far did not match with the Waacking dance genre.


    <em>In short, hes just trying to link us with a famous person. </em>This was a move that didnt consider who we were as a group and what kind of style or color we had.


    Tae-YoonDid something happen?


    Why is your expression so serious?


    What happened?


    Tae?


    The members asked me what was wrong, and I took my eyes off the phone. This issue was not something I should just keep to myself, so I showed my phone to the members.


    Well, would you like to check this out?


    What?


    What is it?


    Soon after, an awkward silence fell over the table.


    ***


    Yoo Won-Dong smiled at the articles that began to fill the entertainment section. The conclusion at the end of todays meeting was to promote Siren by announcing their coboration with a famous celebrity. Although Siren was somewhat famous among idol fans, they didnt have much recognition by the general public, so the purpose of this agenda was to tackle this issue.


    Many promising figures were mentioned, but there were no suitable ones. Then one of the celebrities who showed a favorable response to Siren was brought up in the meeting.


    <em>JayQueen sounds good. She looks young, and shes famous. Since shes good at dancing, people who like idols will probably also like her. </em>


    The one who was mentioned was the famous dancer, JayQueen. Since JayQueen made a post cheering for Siren on her SNS, it felt like an icing on the cake. Yoo Won-Dong immediately ordered the marketing team to draft a usible n for this idea and first published a spective article to assess the publics sentiment.


    Sincements on entertainment articles were now blocked, the real reactions came from ces like SNS. Since the data from such sources were difficult for him to search one by one, he waited for his staff to bring him reports of the organized data.


    Director, may Ie in?


    Ah, yes. Come on in.


    This is the Bluebirds response monitoring report on the coboration between JayQueen and Siren.


    The public response for the first project he promoted came up in a report.


    Yoo Won-Dong read through the content. Oh, its good?


    Since idols and dancers coborate often, there doesnt seem to be much public resistance. The report consisted mainly of positive responses. However, Yoo Won-Dong didnt know that the true reactions of Bluebird came from private ounts that couldnt be searched, and that negative responses from the official ount went through a preliminary filtering process by the moderation team.


    ***


    The moment Jay Queen and Sirens coboration article came up, there were fierce reactions from private Bluebird users who were Sirens fans.


    ???hahahaha fuck is this a hidden camera prank?


    Ah this fucking Won-Dong has zero sense wtf


    Is Next Wave out of their damn mind?


    I can bet my entire fortune that these bastards have never heard even one of Sirens song


    People began to insult Next Wave and Yoo Won-Dong. Sincements like these were posted on private ounts, negative reactions were beginning toe out on the official ount as well.


    But I honestly dont think JayQueen and Sirens styles match


    Siren and waacking is a bit


    Whatwhy wacking for idols whove be popr for strong, sharp performances?


    Although most of the negativements were self-censored, there were still some remaining. People hoped that the agency would properly search through thements and realize this wasnt the right direction to take. Thus, they softened their expressions so that theirments could appear in searches.


    However, what the fans did not know was that even if they softened their expressions, the Next Wave team only picked out good responses among theirments. Thus, a tragicedic skit unfolded, where everyone elsethe fans and workersknew the true reactions of the cob except Yoo Won-Dong. However, it wasnt them who suffered the most.


    What should we do


    <em>Sigh</em>


    It was the Siren members, the main characters of this cob.


    ***


    This could put us in a tight bind, and we needed to avoid a cob with JayQueen at all costs. The most certain method to stop this cob was for JayQueen to show a firm refusal and post on her SNS that she had no knowledge of all this and had no ns for a cob with us. However, there was no reaction from JayQueen. I didnt know whether she knew about this yet, or if she personally weed the idea. Whatever the case, the cleanest method wasnt going to happen now.


    <em>Then the next best method is for the agency to deny it or just let it die down.</em> However, I was sure that this was not going to happen. There was no way that a project that Yoo Won-Dong was supporting would be overhauled. If that was the case, we needed to reveal our denial in our SNS ount.


    <em>But thats not so easy. </em>Yet, doing that could look bad on us. How could a new junior like us refuse a senior way above us in years? It was unimaginable in Korea.


    I think we need to organize our thoughts and convey it to the agency. Yeon-Hoon was the first to break the silence.


    Yes, I agree.


    The coboration with JayQueenI think we need to tell them we should do that next time.


    Since this is going to be our debut, we need to be a bit more careful so


    My members wanted to try to dissuade the agency from this coboration, and I was in full support of it. This was something we needed to talk to the agency about. However, we couldnt just bring the issue out suddenly and needed to understand Yoo Won-Dongs side. We needed to learn why he carried out such a cob so hastily, and why he was trying to create results at all costs


    <em>Its probably because Next Wave is just a stepping stone for him.</em> In Yoo Won-Dongs mind, Next Wave was probably not an agency for him to take root in forever but a mere stepping stone for him to reach a higher ce. Thus, he just needed to stack great results here, and results that credited him the most.


    <em>If thats the case, we need to find something that would make him want to listen to us.</em> It was difficult for us to change his mind and near impossible for us to corner or overpower him.


    Guys.


    Yeah?


    Shall we try getting close to Director Yoo?


    ?


    What?


    Thus, it was necessary for us to establish friendly rtions with him strategically.


    ***


    Even while Sirens fandom was in a tense mood because of JayQueens coboration news, there was a special event that was quickly taking away the fans attention.


    There are so many birthday cafs for Do-Seung


    Im looking for someone to tour Do-Seungs birthday caf with me this week Thursday!


    2022 DO-SEUNGS BIRTHDAY EVENT


    YOU ARE THE RAY OF SUNSHINE IN MY LIFE


    CAF EVENT & MINI EXHIBITION


    *Duration: May 3rd-May 6th


    *Location: Hongdae XX caf


    #Happybirthday_my_forever_ckcat_Doseung


    #Warm_as_spring_Doseung


    (Cupholder design art and detailed exnation of the birthday special menu.jpg)


    It was no other than the opening of Kang Do-Seungs birthday cafs. The first week of May was when the reality shows end date and Kang Do-Seungs birthday ovepped.


    People worked hard on promoting the birthday cafs with the mindset that they should take advantage of the reality shows poprity and prepare for Kang Do-Seungs goods and special events early on. The fans also pondered about what sort of special menus the cafs would have, which would remind them of Kang Do-Seung, and one menu came into their minds first: Do-Seungs c fruit punch.


    crazy, there is a Do-Seungs birthday caf that is selling c fruit punch lollll


    hahaha what if Do-Seunges to the caf himself *<em>fingers crossed</em>


    as expected of a handsome guy, even the menus are bomb


    Although it was too early of a season to make a fruit punch, there were still watermelons avable in the supermarkets. In various birthday cafs, there was a menu where zero c was poured into a venti-sized cup, and watermelon and cocktail fruits were added in. Of course, the cost of it rose that much more.


    I worked hard to buy watermelon in a bulk *whew. The caf owner said she was having a hard time getting watermelons at this time, so I bought them myselfIt doesnt make sense if a c fruit punch is missing from Do-Seungs birthday caf.


    Fans were organized to celebrate Kang Do-Seungs birthday caf as a form of culture and entertainment. However, it wasnt only Sirens fans that were celebrating Kang Do-Seungs birthday


    Today is Sirens treasure and songwriting genius, ck Cat Kang Do-Seungs birthday!


    #happy_birthday_genius_ckcat


    #kang_doseung_happy_birthday


    #spring_days_blessing_Doseung_happy_birthday


    (Picture of Do-Seung wearing a birthday hat.jpg)


    The official ount of Next Wave also posted a congrattory message for Kang Do-Seungs birthday with a series of hashtags. People shared the post and wished him a happy birthday on social media. However, it wasnt just the congrattory messages posted on the official Next Wave ount that were released at midnight sharp. One post was also posted through Sirens official ount by Kang Do-Seung.


    Hello, everyone. Its Do-Seung. First of all, thank you so much for your overflowing love. Today is my birthday, but I prepared a small gift for our loving fans. I hope you all like it.


    People scrambled to check out the gift that Kang Do-Seung prepared. There was a video link at the bottom of his post.


    ???


    Do-Seung *sobbb


    Wow Im crying


    what is it? There are so many ppl in there that I cant get in


    is it a fan song?


    aww I love you Do-Seung *sobbb


    It was the fan song <em>Voyage</em> that Siren made together while filming the reality show. In addition, there was a self-produced music video that looked as if it was filmed and edited by Siren themselves, so there could be no better gift.


    Guys Im in tears


    no one is better than our guys


    ah fuck I''m betting my entire fortune on them


    People were beyond delighted that they received gifts on a day Do-Seung should be receiving gifts instead.


    ***


    My members and I confirmed that <em>Voyage</em> was uploaded properly. As expected, the reaction was explosiveof course, I meant this only within our fandom.


    <em>But the song is good, so itll go viral soon.</em>


    I didnt think this wave would end here, and we needed to move to the next step quickly. Now that we had established a grand n to get chummy with Yoo Won-Dong, we had to carry out the n without a single error. And thest part of my n was to secure speakers to spread the news faster and further.


    I said, Lets ask Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna to get the reporters contact information. While I was thinking its going to be hard to tame Yoo Won-Dong


    <em>Ziing.</em>


    Huh? Tae-Yoon? You just got a call.


    Yeah. My phone vibrated and the call was from no one other than


    <em>What the, why him again?</em>


    It was Kang Hyun-Sung.

 Chapter 145

    <h4>Chapter 145</h4>


    While I was sitting in the living room and checking the responses for our self-produced fan song and music video, I got a call from Kang Hyun-Sung. My members were surprised even more than me that he suddenly called us.


    ¡°Senior Hyun-Sung?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Why would he suddenly call you at this time?¡±


    ¡°Did he call to perhaps, congratte Do-Seung on his birthday?¡±


    ¡°...<i>As if.</i>¡±


    My members appeared surprised.


    ¡®<i>Rather than being happy about the call, they seem a bit ufortable.</i>¡¯


    My members must have been monitoring the public response on their own too and must have read about the remaining rivalry set between us and Only One. Though it couldn¡¯t have been helped when we were in <i>The Showcase </i>because of how the program was structured, now that our careers and the group¡¯s name were in the line, we couldn¡¯t help but be more aware and sensitive to it. Thus, everyone must¡¯ve expressed difort without meaning to.


    <i>¡®We would have to meet Only One in broadcastter though. I guess it will be fine as long as nothing happens then,</i>¡¯ I thought and looked back at my phone screen. I pondered for a long time whether I should ept this call and pressed the end call button.


    <i>¡®I shouldn¡¯t ept it.¡¯</i>


    ¡°Is it okay even if you don¡¯t get the call?¡±


    ¡°Oh...¡±


    ¡°You areing off strong.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to take the call this instance,¡± I replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°Hmm...¡±


    ¡°But I wondered why he called.¡±


    My members wondered about the fundamental question of why Kang Hyun-Sung called me, and it wasn¡¯t difficult toe up with possible reasons.


    ¡°Maybe he called to ask if we''re really coborating with JayQueen.¡±


    ¡°... Probably.¡±


    ¡°Haaa...¡±


    ¡°News sure spread fast.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not just that. There are so many articles about it. It would be stranger if he didn¡¯t know.¡±


    We soon ended our conversation about the call since there was nothing much for us to gain by continuing to discuss the reason for Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s call.


    ¡°I just messaged Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna that we uploaded the music video and song. They will take care of the rest now.¡±


    We had already requested Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna to talk to the journalists, and the two already told us that they would contact the journalists whom they exchanged cards with. It might be going too far to ask journalists to write us an article for just a self-produced fan song and music video, but the reason for it was simple.


    <i>¡®It sure is hard to work with Won-Dong...¡¯</i> It was to develop a strategic friendship with Yoo Won-Dong. Whether it was a gift or an ambush, its effect was more critical if it was unexpected.


    ¡°I think we can just wait for a bit now. We did everything we can do for now.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    <i>¡°Haa.¡±</i>


    ¡°I hope everything works out well.¡±


    ¡°It will so don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    I ced my phone in my pocket and desperately tried to push away negative thoughts from my head.


    ***


    Unlike what the name ¡®<i>Voyage</i>¡¯ indicated, the background for Siren¡¯s fan song¡¯s music video was set at a mountain instead of the ocean. This couldn¡¯t be helped since the members filmed the music video while filming the reality program. Yet, Siren used this setback to even their advantage and the opening of their video began with a spread-out of a foreign magazine with a picture of the ocean on it.


    The members pointed at the magazine and then, brought a piece of paper that said it was a checklist of things they needed to do. Each of the members wrote something down on the list but the screen didn¡¯t fully capture it. From then on, the song¡¯s beat began to flow out, and the main story of the music video began to unravel.


    A sentimental and bright piano sound seeped in, and an exciting marimba sound echoed from behind. Its tempo was slightly slower than medium and because of that, the opening naturally gave a warm, cozy feeling. Tae-Yoon sang the first lines.


    ¡ªEverywhere I look, it¡¯s pitch ck in this deep night


    ¡ªBut it was you who found me that day


    ¡ªThis moment, I walked towards you again


    ¡ªOoh¡ªOoh¡ªOh


    Tae-Yoon sat on top of a tree and jerked his head from side to side. He walked up the mountain and smiled brightly for the camera. Perhaps, because of how natural the colors and angles were, the video felt much more private andforting. Next, Dong-Jun continued the song.


    ¡ªListen to who this song is about


    ¡ªYou and me, we can never separate. Wait for it


    ¡ªWhoever says otherwise, I will be with you till the end


    ¡ªOoh¡ªOoh¡ªOh


    Dong-Jun then popped out in front of Tae-Yoon with a mischievous smile. Then, he tried to climb a tree and slipped and smiled brightly as he jumped around the mountain. It was a moment when Dong-Jun¡¯s usual yfulness shined. The next part was Woon¡¯s. Unlike Tae-Yoon and Dong-Jun¡¯s parts where a simr melody just repeated, the notes changed into minor keys and a more sentimental melody rang out.


    ¡ªOH, YOU AND ME You are my soft embrace


    ¡ªThe only dream I have been waiting for all these nights


    ¡ªThe path I take towards you


    ¡ªIt shines like a dream


    Woon¡¯s beautiful and sentimental voice suited the minor scale perfectly and stuck inside the listener¡¯s head. Woon looked up at the sky while sitting at the edge of the porch and stared intently at the camera with his hand positioned on his chin. Then, he smiled softly and seemed to look elsewhere. Afterwards, the melody brightened again and Yeon-Hoon popped in front of the camera.


    ¡ªSO I WILL BE SAILING FOR YOU!


    ¡ªAt the end of this deep ocean


    ¡ªI WILL BE SAILING FOR YOU


    ¡ªI will surf through these high winds and turbulent waves


    ¡ªSAILING FOR YOU


    ¡ªI will head towards your embrace, your dream


    ¡ªTo where you are


    This was the highlight of the song. Yet, in contrary to themon expectations that Yeon-Hoon would sing the entire highlight section, Do-Seung came out in the second section and sang.


    ¡ªYOU ARE MY COMPASS


    ¡ªAt the end of the high tide, we lost our way


    ¡ªBUT I WILL NEVER GIVE UP


    ¡ªAs long as you are here


    ¡ªI WILL KEEP SAILING


    ¡ªTill I reach you


    As Do-Seung''s low and heavy voice joined Yeon-Hoon¡¯s clear and high voice, the highlight had two clear and distinct sections, making it unforgettable to the listeners. Fans paid more attention to this part because Do-Seung, who didn¡¯t tend to sing, had this singing part instead of a rap.


    The second and third verses flowed in the same structure and when the music video seemed to reach its end, Tae-Yoon stood on top of a hill where the sun was setting and looked up at the sky. The melody gradually quieted until all sound seemed to be mute.


    ¡ªHahaha!


    ¡ªLet¡¯s all go together!


    ¡ªEveryone,e here!


    Rather than the music, the members¡¯ voices flowed in and they all rushed to Tae-Yoon¡¯s side. That was how Tae-Yoon¡¯s lone scene changed to a scene with the whole group.


    <i>Thud</i>. The video came to an end.


    ***


    After the fan song or Siren¡¯s self-produced music video was released, Siren¡¯s fans buzzed with excitement. Since it was a gift that came unexpectedly, they didn¡¯t expect it to be of high quality. Yet, the song, <i>Voyage </i>was a song that exceeded their expectations and even their self-produced music video had a ¡®pro¡¯ feel to it.


    ¡ªAhhhh this song is so good


    ¡ªAh...Tae-Yoon...makes me seriously crazy...(Tae-Yoon smiling brightly.gif)


    ¡ªHow can this person be human? Isn¡¯t he just a puppy? (Dong-Jun jumping around.gif)


    ¡ªLook at how vibrant our soft peach looks after receiving sunlight ahhhh (Yeon-Hoon squinting his eyes under the sunlight.gif)


    The fans¡¯ mouths gaped at the quality of the video, which was like a photobook. The video appeared to be self-produced, so they wondered how the group had managed to think of theposition and angles like this.


    ¡ªWho filmed this video????


    ¡ªSeeing how Tae-Yoon is missing whenever the four of theme out, I think Tae-Yoon shot most of it


    ¡ªthey didn¡¯t get a professional photographer but Tae-Yoon?


    ¡ªthat seems like the case


    ¡ªdamn, I¡¯m dying


    ¡ªOh, this is love


    ¡ªEven Yeon-Hoon¡¯s family wouldn¡¯t be able to shoot him so lovingly


    People expressed their surprise that Tae-Yoon was the one who filmed this video.


    ¡ªKang Do-Seung¡¯s voice is insane.


    ¡ªIt kills me seeing Lee Woon look so sorrowful (Woon looking at the camera.jpg)


    ¡ªWhy did they show Do-Seung doing pull-ups on the tree hahaha (Do-Seung doing pull-ups.gif)


    ¡ªThis is really the greatest gift


    ¡ªWhere else can you find idols who give gifts like this?


    And, as fans spent an enjoyable time discussing and analyzing the song and video¡¯s killing points, another rumor spread.


    ¡ª?? It was Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s idea to send this out on Do-Seung¡¯s birthday?


    ¡ª????


    ¡ªWon-Dong did?


    While marketing Siren¡¯s fan song and music video, there came a rumor that Yoo Won-Dong was behind the project.


    ***


    On Do-Seung¡¯s birthday, May 5th, Yoo Won-Dong came to work and saw that there was a mountain pile of reports addressed to him. Though it was a national holiday, Yoo Won-Dong and the marking team members had toe to work because of the events that happenedst night.


    In terms of just results, this was all good news, and they suffered no losses. Siren¡¯s abrupt fan song stirred up great buzz on the inte and had an enormous marketing effect. Furthermore, they seeded in focusing the idol fandom¡¯s attention on Siren. It wasn¡¯t the public reach and awareness that Yoo Won-Dong wanted, but they had seeded in raising people¡¯s awareness of them in the idol world. On top of that, the articles stated that the one behind all this work was Yoo Won-Dong.


    <i>¡®What nonsense is this...¡¯</i> Yoo Won-Dong thought to himself. When he studied the article, most of the content was about Siren, but at the end, there was a line.


    [Sources say that the fan song and music video opening date had been decided after discussing with Next Wave¡¯s representative, Yoo Won-Dong.]


    He didn¡¯t understand why the article that had beenplimenting Siren the whole article would suddenly include a piece of unnecessary information like this. Only one thing seemed to be certain.


    <i>¡®Someone is behind this.¡¯</i>


    Just like how he tried to stir responses with insinuations of coborating with JayQueen, these articles were part of someone¡¯s big picture. From the fact that such unnecessary information was included in thest line and articles came up just ten minutes after the video was released as if it was nned, it was obvious that someone was behind this happening.


    Yoo Won-Dong wasn¡¯t sure whether he should be happy about this or not. Generally, he liked the fact that people were already noticing him, but it made him nervous that things were happening without his knowledge and jurisdiction.


    <i>¡°Haaaa,¡±</i> he sighed. ¡®<i>Moreover, why is the response for this so good?¡¯ </i>


    It displeased him that the coboration news with JayQueen that he propelled had a lukewarm response while this project that he didn¡¯t have a hand in was receiving explosive responses.


    <i>Knock, knock.</i>


    It was then, that someone knocked on his office door.


    ¡°...Come in,¡± Yoo Won-Dong answered, hiding his conflicted feelings.


    ¡°Hello, sir. Do you have some time to spare right now?¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Siren contacted us to ask if they could meet with you.¡±


    ¡°Oh...Siren?¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong realized it then who the one behind all thismotion was.

 Chapter 146

    <h4>Chapter 146</h4>


    Yoo Won-Dong pondered about this request for a bit. Siren was asking for a meeting all of a sudden, and he couldn¡¯t easily decide whether he should ept this meeting or not. It was because he had a lot to think about but hadn¡¯t organized anything inside his head yet.


    <i>¡®Moreover, why do they want to see me...?¡¯ </i>Yoo Won-Dong felt conflicted about this whole situation. First of all, he was certain that Siren was the one who issued these articles. The timing was too perfect for it to be anyone else. And regardless of who was behind all this, he had no idea why those guys would send out an articleplimenting him when he never requested them to do such a thing.


    There weren¡¯t many possibilities he could think of, and Yoo Won-Dong repressed his groan by pressing his temples.


    ¡°Tell them toe in.¡± In the end, he decided to meet Siren.


    ***


    ¡°Director Yoo says it¡¯s possible to meet all of you. You can go in now,¡± the employee at the front desk told us, and we all got up from our seats.


    ¡°Then, I hope your meeting goes smoothly.¡± After the Next Wave employee backed away, my members and I got on the elevator and moved up to the tenth floor where the director¡¯s office was.


    <i>Sigh. </i>¡°Will we be able to do a good job?¡± Do-Seung asked, sounding uncharacteristically nervous.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It will be all right.¡± Woonforted Do-Seung.


    Dong-Jung appeared unfazed, and Yeon-Hoon looked resolute.


    ¡°No need to be worried. We just need to say our stance as artists of thispany,¡± I said.


    I didn¡¯t have a big goal for today¡¯s meeting. The purpose of today¡¯s meeting was only to get closer to Yoo Won-Dong and build a friendly rtionship with him. Of course, we wouldn¡¯t really be <i>¡®friends</i>¡¯; I mean, what would we do after bing buddies with a man thirty years older than us? This was all surface-level stuff, and right now, we needed to firmly express our stance without going overboard.


    <i>¡®Will we be able to not cross the line...?¡¯ </i>


    All in all, we needed to win this battle of nerves. Right now, all Yoo Won-Dong wanted to do wastch a string of achievements under his belt. He wanted the projects with his name in the headlines to achieve great sess so that he could rise in the ranks of hispany. It was fine that he had so much passion for his work, but...


    <i>¡®He¡¯s going in the wrong direction.¡¯</i> And that direction didn¡¯t favor us. Thus, we needed to have a good talk with him.


    <i>Ding.</i>


    It was then that the elevator stopped at the tenth floor.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± My members and I got off the tenth floor and walked to the director¡¯s room. I knocked on the door and heard Yoo Won-Dong say in a friendly voice.


    ¡°Yes~ Come in~¡±


    We entered the office.


    ***


    Yoo Won-Dong stared at the Siren members who came inside his office. He thought this whenever he saw them but they were like fetuses in his perspective. Even the oldest member among them was twenty-three, Yeon-Hoon, and the youngest was underage. It gave him a strange feeling to be interrted with guys who were his nephew¡¯s age with business matters.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it tiring toe all the way here? Do you all want something to drink? Juice? C? Or water?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m fine,¡± Tae-Yoon said.


    ¡°Ah, is that so? What about everyone else?¡±


    ¡°We are also fine.¡±


    ¡°Haha, that¡¯s fine. Then, I will drink a cup of coffee.¡± Yoo Won-Dong maintained his friendly smile and treated the Siren members like important customers. Siren sat side to side on the sofa for visitors and Yoo Won-Dong sat at the main seat.


    ¡°How is the new dormitory we provided for you all? Is it adequate?¡± Yoo Won-Dong asked. He judged that these guys wouldn¡¯t be used to business-like conversation yet because of their age. Thus, he nned to first talk about daily life matters and focus on making small talk.


    ¡°I chose the TV myself to install at the dorm~ Since you all are the representative idols of our Next Wave, I know you will need to monitor shows constantly. Isn¡¯t it nice because it¡¯s so big? Haha!¡±


    But the moment Yoo Won-Dong tried to stir the conversation to the TV, Tae-Yoon spoke. ¡°We didn¡¯te to talk to you about the TV model, sir.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong was a bit taken aback for the youngest member to take charge of the conversation in the most business-like manner.


    ¡°We wanted to...have a meeting with you because of this article. We would like further exnation about this.¡± Yeon-Hoon pulled out his phone and showed Yoo Won-Dong an article. It was an article about a possible coboration with JayQueen.


    ¡°Ah, what about this coboration? Are you interested in it? If you are, we could immediately push it forward. Should we go on with it?¡± Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s face brightened, thinking that Siren members came rushing to him because they liked his idea. He was about to feel embarrassed about himself for really expecting such guys to discuss business matters when Woon spoke next.


    ¡°No. We came to ask why our opinions weren¡¯t considered for such a big matter like a coboration.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong halted then. It was as these guys said. Though coboration was a big matter, thepany had made its decision without any input from the main people affected. This action could easily be interpreted as undermining their artists.


    <i>¡®We didn¡¯t tell them that we personally made this happen though,¡¯</i> Yoo Won-Dong thought. Though it might sound unconvincing, he could shift the me as they hadn''t told Siren that it was thepany that released these articles. He thought he still had room to escape from this situation and tried to change the topic when Do-Seung stopped him.


    ¡°I hope that we will not be excluded from important decisions from now on. Since this is our career on the line, we think we should be involved in the decision making process as well.¡±


    Then, Dong-Jun added more forcefully. ¡°This coboration could¡¯ve be our debut album. Next time, please ask for our input.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong was at a loss for words for a moment. It was true that it was thepany¡¯s mistake not to consider Siren¡¯s opinions.


    <i>¡®...But why are they so rude...?¡¯ </i>They didn¡¯t have the proper attitude when rying their thoughts. Regardless of what they were saying, Yoo Won-Dong was their great elder in terms of age, and this wasn¡¯t the proper way to address their boss and superior. Thus, he opened his mouth to say his objections.


    ¡°First of all, this coboration news doesn¡¯t have anything to do with us. I suspect that a journalist simply made a reach when they saw that our marketing team shared a JayQueen¡¯s post on a social media site,¡± Yoo Won-Dong said.


    To start his rebuttal, he needed to tell them that it wasn¡¯t thepany behind the coboration news. Though it was a lie, that wasn¡¯t the important part. If he lost in this argument, these kids would continue with their strong-headed attitude, and to prevent that, he needed to take the lead and put them in their ce.


    Then, he nned to tell them that it wasn¡¯t proper for them to only pour out their thoughts to their superior like this. He would teach their positions clearly and then, take a more gentle approach. After all this, he would tell the members they weren¡¯t going forward with the coboration, and that they should go back now. He would end the meeting by saying that thepany would prepare their debut album well, so they had nothing to worry about.


    It would be all in that order¡ªat least, that was what he thought before Tae-Yoon spoke, ¡°Ah, so thepany doesn¡¯t have any connection with the coboration? That¡¯s a huge relief, director.¡±


    ¡°...Hm?¡± Yoo Won-Dong, who had been preparing to give his big speech, stopped.


    ¡°Truthfully, we thought things were truly hopeless if thepany had really sought out a coboration with JayQueen.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong barely repressed his anger then.


    ¡°It will be difficult to bridge the wall between the Waacking genre and the holistic image of the group, Siren.¡±


    <i>¡®Waacking...?</i>¡¯ Yoo Won-Dong didn¡¯t know what that was. All he knew was that JayQueen was a famous dancer who was good at dancing.


    ¡°We thought if thepany really nned our coboration with JayQueen and spread the news, thepany failed to grasp even a little bit of what our group was.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong silently red at Tae-Yoon. Tae-Yoon¡¯s way of speech was a tactic he was very familiar with.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s making snidements...about me...¡¯ </i>Aware that he had lied, Tae-Yoon was insulting him right to his face. Yet, Yoo Won-Dong knew that things would turn worse if he got angry here. He forcefully repressed his anger and made it his priority to change the main topic. What was something that could change the topic and befuddle these guys at the same time?


    <i>¡®Ah, I can use that.¡¯</i> After being backed into a corner, Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s options appeared limited, and he couldn¡¯t think well. Thus, he ended up bringing out the worst card he could.


    ¡°...Besides that, in this article congratting Siren¡¯s birthday, there was something about me. I don¡¯t recall telling you all to reveal the fan song on one of your birthdays...Did you request this article to be published?¡±


    When he said these lines, he knew he had made a mistake. Yet, he couldn¡¯t take back his words.


    ¡°Ah! You mean that?¡± Tae-Yoon immediatelytched onto the opportunity to begin speaking.


    ***


    Yoo Won-Dong brought out what I wanted to mention on his own, and I, of course, had no intention of letting this chance go to waste.


    ¡°We personally requested some journalists to post that for us. Truthfully, we also came here to tell you about these articles.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong probably hadn¡¯t decided yet whether this article was attacking or supporting him. Though this article spoke in his favor, he was likely suspicious of what its intention was since he never gave such amand. Though he suffered no losses, it was understandable that he would also feel ufortable by it. Thus, I was sure that this question about the article would pop out if he felt even the slightest bit psychologically cornered.


    <i>¡®So, he really asked about it.¡¯</i> He asked about the article mid-conversation and thanks to it, I was able to say the lines I prepared for.


    ¡°Since thepany provided our dormitory and car and cared for us in so many ways, we didn¡¯t want to get all the credit for everything good that was happening to us,¡± I calmly said my lines while looking into Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s eyes. ¡°So, although we might have been going a bit overboard, we wanted to make the story also about how thepany helped us. We will only be able to do well if thepany also does well.¡±


    As I was saying this, I knew Yoo Won-Dong would have a difficult time making sense of what I was saying. I simply sounded like I was saying we should share what was good, but someone with quick wits like Yoo Won-Dong probably caught onto another meaning behind my words and was feeling conflicted over it. Thus, I spoke my real intentions more tantly.


    ¡°Going forward, we will continue to work hard in our work, and I will be grateful if thepany continues to support us like it has been doing. Then, we will continue to say in our interviews and broadcast shows that thepany takes care of us well and the director provides the utmost support to us.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong probably got a clear sense of what I was saying now.


    ¡°Ah...like right now?¡± he asked.


    In other words, that meant: ¡®<i>Don¡¯t do anything. We will take care of our matters and you guys should support us from behind ordingly. If you do that, we will make sure you can get your credits and achievements.¡¯</i>


    Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s face stiffened noticeably, but he immediately changed his expression again and said, ¡°Hahaha. We didn¡¯t even do much for you. Many fortunate events happen because we have such talented artists. Hahaha!¡± Heughed boisterously.


    Was he really that pleased?


    <i>¡®Your eyelids are almost spazzing,¡¯</i> I thought. Yoo Won-Dong appeared to be so furious that the skin under his eyes was trembling.

 Chapter 147

    <h4>Chapter 147</h4>


    ¡°It¡¯s so nice that I got to talk to you all. I hope we can meet more often like this. Hahaha!¡± Yoo Won-Dong appeared to be diforted by the conversation and already took the stance to end it. It seemed he already knew that the more he talked, he would be at a disadvantage.


    <i>¡®I wanted to have a deeper conversation with him and be a bit closer, but it¡¯s not easy.¡¯ </i>


    Yoo Won-Dong seemed to have no intention to get close to us yet.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better for us to talk a bit more about our debut, director?¡± Perhaps, it wasn¡¯t only me who didn¡¯t want to end the conversation there and Yeon-Hoon spoke.


    ¡°I mean, there¡¯s nothing certain about our debut yet, and there seems to be no work in progress either,¡± Woon supported us from behind.


    ¡°I think it will be good for us to take this time to discuss our debut album¡¯s concept and the general direction we are nning to take~,¡± Dong-Jun added.


    ¡°If it¡¯s too early to decide yet, I think we could turn the fan song we just released into an album and package it as a digital single,¡± Do-Seung also gave his opinion.


    Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s face turned pale. He had never cared for artists before, and I reckon hardly ever did practical work. He had probably only done administrative and management work before, and I supposed that his head was nk after receiving all these practical questions he never had to answer before.


    ¡°Hahaha. Hahaha...I like all of your passion...It¡¯s nice. Hm.¡± In the end, all he could muster waspliments while smiling. It seemed he couldn¡¯t say he didn¡¯t know the answer to our questions as our boss, and in the end, he chose to make excuses and run away.


    ¡°Ah, look at the time...I have a meeting with the main branch today. I will talk to the marketing and A&R teams about the details.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s a pity. I wanted to be closer to you, boss~,¡± Dong-Jun said to Yoo Won-Dong. I thought Dong-Jun was making a bold provocation, but Yoo Won-Dong couldn¡¯t get angry at someone for stating that they wanted to get closer to him.


    ¡°Hahaha. Let¡¯s have a deeper conversationter. Then, I will take my leave now,¡± Yoo Won-Dong said and left the office. We waited until Yoo Won-Dong got on the elevator before we started speaking.


    <i>¡°Haaa.¡±</i>


    ¡°Wow, my heart hurts.¡±


    ¡°Thank goodness.¡±


    My members said while slumping on the sofa. I thought they all looked confident while talking to Yoo Won-Dong, but Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, and Woon all appeared to have been quite nervous.


    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s up with you all~ We just talked to the director, that¡¯s all. What¡¯s there to be so worried about~¡± Dong-Jun appeared to be the only one who was carefree.


    Nevertheless, there were many things we gained from this conversation.


    ¡°First of all, we won¡¯t have to coborate with JayQueen now.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    <i>¡°Haaa.¡±</i>


    That was our biggest aplishment.


    ¡°From now on, I think we will be able to express what we want to do more freely.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°It will be nice to have more meetings like this.¡±


    Furthermore, we were able to win our first battle for authority with thepany.


    ¡°Then, should we go out now and discuss our debut album?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go~¡±


    Since Yoo Won-Dong said he would discuss our debut album with the marketing and A&R team in person, we could start brainstorming about the debut right now.


    ¡°Ah, but isn¡¯t today a holiday?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯se back tomorrow.¡±


    May 5th was a national holiday. We couldn¡¯t act out in consideration for the people who probably had families.


    ¡°Let¡¯s quietly return to the dormitory.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go~¡±


    And that was how we carefully left thepany building.


    ***


    We left thepany¡¯s parking lot and went on the road. Yeon-Hoon was the driver, and the car we were using wasn¡¯t the luxury van that thepany provided us but the junk car that we used to ride around when we were part of WD Entertainment. We somehow ended up receiving this car too in the process of establishing the jointpany, and thus, we had a car to use outside of our schedule freely.


    ¡°Are we heading to the dormitory right away?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked while activating the car engine. That was pretty much the only option for us since there was nothing for us to gain by wandering around. Though we weren¡¯t widely known by the public, we were still well-known enough that people would take pictures of us if we kept staying outside.


    ¡°Uh....hm, no. Let¡¯s just go back to the dormitory.¡± Do-Seung was about to say something and stopped.


    ¡°Huh? Why? Do-Seung, is there something you want to do?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon stopped from putting on his safety belt and turned around to look at Do-Seung.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing. Let¡¯s just go to the dormitory.¡± Do-Seung said and looked outside the window. If Do-Seung, who rarely expressed his desires, was showing this sort of response, he clearly had something he wanted to do. Besides making the c fruit punch, there was never a time he requested to do anything.


    I made my guess and said, ¡°You want to try going to your birthday caf¨¦, right?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    I was spot on. As soon as I mentioned the birthday caf¨¦, Do-Seung flinched, shuddered a bit, and froze again. Seeing how he didn¡¯t respond any further, it seemed clear he wanted to go to his birthday caf¨¦.


    ¡°But are you hesitating to go because you might cause a stir?¡± I asked. It seemed Do-Seung was worried that he might cause amotion with his entrance.


    ¡°Ohhh~ Our superstar, Kang Do-Seung~¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh~ I¡¯m sorry!¡±


    Dong-Jun tried to tease him, but Do-Seung elbowed him hard and stopped it immediately.


    ¡°Well, since I never had a birthday caf¨¦ open for me, I¡¯m curious...But if I¡¯m going to cause a stir by going, I would rather just not go.¡±


    ¡°Hm...but still...it is disappointing.¡±


    Woon seemed to sympathize with Do-Seung¡¯s feelings and looked regretful.


    ¡°Hm...Do-Seung¡¯s birthday caf¨¦...hm.¡± Yeon-Hoon sat in front of the handle with his arms crossed and looked to be deep in thought.


    In the end, he seemed to make his decision. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    ¡°We are going?¡±


    ¡°Ohhh!¡±


    We decided to go to a birthday caf¨¦.


    ¡°But! You have toe back quickly. Understand? We will be waiting in the car so you can just go to a couple of cafes you want to go to ande back.¡±


    ¡°Ah, before the fans recognize me?¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°But what if they do realize it¡¯s me?¡±


    ¡°Then...¡± Yeon-Hoon thought about this. ¡°Talk to your fans just enough so that you don¡¯t cause any incidents ande out!¡±


    It was such an obvious answer one could wonder why he even thought about it. Of course, there was no other option than that. Nevertheless, it was decided that Do-Seung would dash through one or several of his birthday caf¨¦s. It was then that an interesting idea came to my mind and I shared it with my members.


    ¡°What about this?¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°That sounds good!¡±


    ¡°It will be so fun!¡±


    My members showed bigger enthusiasm than before and agreed to the idea.


    ***


    One Siren fan wandered around the entrance of Hongdae while holding a bunch of transparent bags in both hands. Her hands were both heavy because she had been going from caf¨¦ to caf¨¦ since this morning.


    She waspletely satisfied with her finds because she had seeded in getting all the firste, first-serve goods from the cafes she wanted to visit the most. The item she liked the most was a ck cat, ¡®Do-Seung¡¯s keyring doll¡¯, which she had attached to her bag as soon as she received it.


    <i>¡®So cute...¡¯</i> It was a doll of a ck cat that was looking forward with bored eyes. She thought the doll exactly reminded her of Do-Seung and liked it very much. Thus, she nned to go to one more final caf¨¦ before eating lunch. She opened the doors to thest caf¨¦ on her list before noon and unloaded her baggage to look around the caf¨¦.


    Since other customers were already making their orders at the counter, it was difficult to make her order now anyway. There was Do-Seung¡¯s identification picture from when he was younger framed and hanging on the caf¨¦¡¯s wall. Besides that, there were printed images of <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s performance pictures and rap lyrics written by Do-Seung decorating other parts of the wall. Just being in this space made her smile.


    At that perfect timing, the line in front of the counter disappeared. She nned to use up all her drink perks at this ce.


    <i>Creak. </i>


    It was then the caf¨¦¡¯s door opened and a man walked in.


    <i>¡®Oh...¡¯ </i>It was a tall man wearing a mask and a hat deeply pressed down over his face. Since it wasn¡¯t toomon to see a male fan for Siren, she wondered if he hade to the wrong ce for a moment. But she soon turned her attention back to the counter menu to make her order.


    <i>¡®...Hold on a minute.¡¯</i> The silhouette of the man behind her and the picture of Do-Seung stuck on this menu board was too simr. As soon as she realized this, her body began to freeze.


    ¡°Are you going to order?¡± The caf¨¦ part-timer asked.


    ¡°Ah...Well...¡± Her head felt like it was spinning as she barely managed to answer, ¡°Um, c fruit punch, ck cat cookie, milk tea, and americano. Give me everything.¡±


    ¡°Will you like it as a to-go?¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes...¡± She didn¡¯t even know what she was ordering. Though she was reading off the menu with her mouth, all her focus was on the man with the big stature behind her. Then, she naturally moved to the side after ordering her menu and checked the man¡¯s side face.


    <i>¡®...What the hell!¡¯</i> She was right. It really was Kang Do-Seung. Perhaps, he sensed her gaze and Do-Seung¡¯s eyes also opened wide seeing her.


    ¡°Ah...!¡±


    ¡°Um, excuse me,¡± he said and quickly gave his order, ¡°C fruit punch, ck...cookie, milk tea, and americano to go please.¡±


    Then, he asked her, ¡°Did you notice...?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Uh?¡±


    ¡°Notice?¡±


    It was then, all the attention of the people in the caf¨¦ turned to the counter. Even the part-timer at the caf¨¦ looked at him in shock.


    The tall man with a hat took off his mask as if he was giving up and said, ¡°Um, hello. I¡¯m Kang Do-Seung. I nned to leave quietly but...haha.¡± He greeted all the fans who recognized him.


    ***


    On May 5th, social media feeds were getting flooded by stories of spotting Siren members during Kang Do-Seung¡¯s birthday caf¨¦ event.


    ¡ªThis is insane, our ck cat came to the caf¨¦!!!!


    ¡ªI am writing this in real-time. Do-Seung came to his b-day caf¨¦ in person!


    ¡ªAh!! Do-Seung!! See how is he taking all the event specials


    ¡ªWow, Do-Seung¡¯s physique is so good...


    ¡ªHe looks like a giantpared to everyone else


    ¡ªWow...look at how big his hands are...


    ¡ªHe looks so good in daily wear


    Posts about how Do-Seung visited his birthday caf¨¦ began to pour in, starting from pictures of Do-Seung and a video capturing their conversation with him. People¡¯s attention focused on Do-Seung but things didn¡¯t end there.


    ¡ªOh my goshhhhhh I just saw Yeon-Hoon at Do-Seung¡¯s caf¨¦!!!


    ¡ª???


    ¡ªWhy did Yeon-Hoon go there?? More than that, why didn¡¯t I go fml


    Other posts said that Yeon-Hoon appeared at the caf¨¦s they visited. People naturally thought Yeon-Hoon appeared in the same caf¨¦ as Do-Seung, but it was a different ce.


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon came by himself and took all the birthday specials hahaha


    ¡ª...Everyone, Woon also came here and took all the specials...(Lee Woon¡¯s picture.jpg)


    ¡ªDong-Jun is so cute!!! He looked so like a puppy on camera but in real life, he¡¯s bigger and so handsome!! Dong-Jun, I will give up my life for you :(


    Furthermore, some posts said they spotted Woon and Dong-Jun.


    ¡ªDid Tae-Yoon alsoe?


    Reply: Yeah, I think Tae-Yoon visited the most caf¨¦s


    Reply: Really? Why aren¡¯t there any pics?


    Reply: There is but not really (Shaking Tae-Yoon¡¯s pic.jpg)


    Reply: Ah hahaha


    ¡ªTae-Yoon just sweeps up the specials and leaves the caf¨¦ (Tae-Yoon running away. mp4)


    Reply: There are only shadows of him ahaha


    ¡ªI also saw Tae-Yoon!!! The part-timer asked him if he wanted to get the menu specials, and I saw him looking taken aback as he said, ¡°P-please give me everything!¡± Even if he¡¯s not on stage, he¡¯s like the <i>maknae</i> outside


    There were even posts that spotted Tae-Yoon.


    ¡ªIt seems all the guys are going around the nearby birthday caf¨¦s!!


    ¡ªAh...Why do I live outside of Seoul...


    ¡ªSiren is like Hong Gil-Dong[1]


    That day, Siren members split ways and visited more than half of the birthday caf¨¦s. Furthermore, Do-Seung uploaded a post on Siren¡¯s official SNS page.


    ¡ªHello, everyone. This is Do-Seung. I was so happy to have met some of you at my birthday caf¨¦s in person and talk to you. I shared the desserts and drinks I bought from the caf¨¦s with my members. It was the happiest and best birthday I had in my life. Thank you as always.


    Simultaneously, a picture of Do-Seung posing with the presents he got from his members and a birthday cake was uploaded. It was followed by another group picture of the five members posing in front of the dinner table. That was how the chaotic but fulfilling Do-Seung¡¯s birthday passed.


    1. A famous character in Korean literature who is similiar to Robin Hood ?

 Chapter 148

    Chapter 148


    ¡°Park Dong-Jun! Stop eating the macarons!¡±


    ¡°Ah,e on. If we have to eat it anyway, it¡¯s better to eat it quickly.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re already on your tenth macaron! You can freeze them and eat themter.¡±


    ¡°For desserts¡­you have to eat it on the same day you buy it¡­even if your stomach rips¡­¡±


    ¡°You want to do nk until your stomach rips?¡±


    ¡°Are you a demon¡­?¡±


    We were doing Do-Seung¡¯s birthday celebration while looking at his birthday caf¨¦ goods at the same time. We just uploaded a group shot and a picture of all the special goods Do-Seung gathered together and uploaded on our SNS. Of course, Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon examined the pictures before we uploaded them. It was a chaotic but warm birthday.


    ¡°¡­Bong Tae-Yoon, where did you get the money to buy me this?¡± Do-Seung whispered to me, seeing the headset I got for him.


    ¡°I bought it with the bonus I got.¡±


    ¡°What, I know exactly the amount you received¡­isn¡¯t this a bit too much?¡±


    ¡°But we won thanks to the song youposed.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s also the song you wrote.¡±


    ¡°Just take it.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­okay. Look forward to your birthday.¡± Do-Seung said and kept touching the headset.


    Frankly, I did go slightly over budget. However, after transferring our contract, we received bonuses from not Next Wave but Jaeil Group, so I bought Do-Seung¡¯s present with that money.


    Furthermore, I thought, ¡®Won¡¯t I be receiving copyright fees soon?¡¯ Although I hadn¡¯t received a formal payment yet, since I was registered with the Lyricists¡¯ Association, I would probably soon receive copyright fees for the songs I wrote. Thus, this amount of spending was not a huge burden on me.


    ¡®I should buy Yeon-Hoon¡¯s birthday present again soon.¡¯ Since I bought such an expensive birthday present for Do-Seung, I felt bad about the gift I gave to Yeon-Hoon before. I had only given him a tumbler because I didn¡¯t have much money back then. I thought if I bought him either the Apple-pad or the Apple-watch that Yeon-Hoon always wanted, it would sufficiently match up to Do-Seung¡¯s present.


    ¡°Shall we start wrapping things up now?¡± It was then that Do-Seung suggested wrapping up the birthday party.


    ¡°Why, we still have some time until 12.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for us to go until 12. Dong-Jun is going to eat up everything at this rate.¡±


    ¡°¡­Did I get caught?¡±


    Sighhh.


    ¡°¡­What in the world shall I do with him¡­¡±


    As Do-Seung said, I thought Dong-Jun would keep eating if we left food on the table. In the end, we decided to freeze the food that could be frozen and leave the rest in the refrigerator and eat them within a week. And for the drinks, I thought we could just drink one every morning.


    ¡°But it felt really strange when I went to today¡¯s birthday caf¨¦.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I agree.¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon were talking about going to the birthday cafes today.


    ¡°I think it really was a great move for all of us to split up and go around different birthdays like Tae-Yoon suggested.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. If we¡¯d all been around together, we would have only been able to go to two or three ces and return home.¡±


    The members thought well of the guerri that I proposed.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s more efficient and fun.¡±


    However, I thought it was an idea that anyone could think of, so I didn¡¯t think it was worth beingplimented for.


    ¡°I also want to go to my birthday caf¨¦¡­¡± Yeon-Hoon was disappointed that a birthday caf¨¦ hadn¡¯t opened up on his birthday. However, it couldn¡¯t be helped because his birthday was on Feb. 29th, which was even before The Showcase 2 aired. Our fandom had been non-existent then.


    I said, ¡°We¡¯re going to all be in Siren next year too. We can go then.¡±


    ¡°Are we all also going to do gueri together then?¡±


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s do that.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sounds good!¡± Yeon-Hoon smiled broadly as he seemed to already feel better again. Then he closed the refrigerator door and said, ¡°Then shall we get together and organize what we have to talk about at thepany tomorrow?¡±


    We n to go to thepany tomorrow and talk about our debut. However, we couldn¡¯t do it impromptu, so we had to go after setting up a pretty clear n.


    ¡°I¡¯m all for it~¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we have to talk about it.¡±


    ¡°That sounds good~¡± The members said and hastened their cleaning.


    ***


    Late at night, Kang Hyun-Sung was sitting at his desk, checking out the concept references of his group¡¯s debut album. The dorm provided by Another One had a total of four rooms. Thanks to that, three members, including Kang Hyun-Sung, had their own room, and the two youngest shared arge room.


    ¡°Haaa.¡± He looked at the materialste until the night, so his eyes began to feel heavy and dim. Kang Hyun-Sung took off his sses and lightly pressed his brows.


    ¡®Should I getsik?¡¯ He thought this briefly, but after thinking that wearing lenses was an extension of his job, he thought he would be putting too much pressure on his eyes if he gotsik too. He closed his eyes for a bit of relief and wore his sses again.


    Only One¡¯s debut concept was somewhat set; finer details like the title song, the number of songs included in the album, and which artist would bemissioned for the artwork to be included in the album were already all decided. Now, the only thing left was to finalize the schedule and record and produce the album. They now only had to decide the date of their debut, but¡­


    ¡®Hmm.¡¯ He kept thinking of Siren. They hade out on The Showcase 2 together and were set up as rivals there, and it was highly likely that they would probably debut around the same time. Of course, they could avoid ovepping their debut dates as they could wait until Siren''s debut and debut after them. Or they could postpone their debut until next year.


    ¡®But one of the terms of this contract is to debut this year.¡¯ Their contract with Another One was made on the premise of a speedy debut as Another One chose Only One because they wanted to secure an artist who could represent the agency¡¯s brand image as soon as possible. Thus, they would have to debut as early as the first half of this year or within three quarters at thetest.


    ¡®If that¡¯s the case, we would ovep with them at least once anyway.¡¯ Thus, the timing of their activities would inevitably ovep at least once with Siren. Even if their debut date didn¡¯t ovep, they might ovep in subsequent activities after their debut.


    ¡®If then, would it be better to meet the rival storyline to induce stronger reactions and immersion from their fans?'' However, Kang Hyun-Sung wanted to avoid ovepping with Siren as much as possible. It would be difficult to reap much benefit from having their promotional periods ovep.


    ¡®But if we can¡¯t avoid it, we have to beat them them soon?¡¯ He wondered if he should end the rivalry between Siren and Only One as fast as possible, or add more fuel to the fire. Winning was the only answer.


    ¡®But why isn¡¯t he answering his phone?¡¯ Thinking about Siren naturally reminded him of Bong Tae-Yoon ignoring his message. Kang Hyun-Sung frowned and after biting his lip, he went back to focusing on the concept references again.


    ***


    It was the day after Do-Seung¡¯s birthday. We had organized our ideas for our debut album the night before, and we were having a meeting with thepany based on the materials we gathered. It seemed as if the A&R people hadn¡¯t expected us at all toe to thepany for our debut album as they all looked quite flustered.


    ¡°We sincerely apologize foring without notice.¡± Thus, we apologized first, but it was not a sincere apology.


    ¡®This is karma for not having a meeting about our debut album after all this time.¡¯ I forced myself to apologize to hide these feelings.


    They must have felt guilty as they made excuses like this, ¡°Hahaha¡­no, not at all. To tell you the truth, we also thought we needed to talk about your debut album, so we were nning to call you all to our agency sometime this week.¡±


    We didn¡¯t linger on this matter, and the conversation swiftly moved on to the next topic.


    ¡°First of all, this is the concept direction that we talked about yesterday.¡±


    ¡°Oh, really?¡±


    ¡°Yes! To exin from the first chapter¡­¡± Yeon-Hoon took the lead and talked about our debut album with A&R. ¡°The song we sang at The Showcase final was rted to our universe. We would appreciate it if thepany could make a music video with that song and release it in advance.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­pre-release¡­¡±


    ¡°And all the songs we performed during the show were selfposed songs. Ah, except for the Light¡¯s song we rearranged in the coalition mission. Anyway, we want to include all of the selfposed songs in the album.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. That¡¯s not much to ask.¡±


    ¡°And we want to include about three songs that have never been released to the fans.¡±


    ¡°Three unreleased songs¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah, I think we should also include the song ¡®Voyage¡¯, which was released on Do-Seung¡¯s birthday.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡±


    ¡°So we would like to make a mini album with 7 songs in total for our debut album.¡±


    ¡°7 songs¡­that¡¯s a lot for a mini album.¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s not to the extent of a full album size.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true.¡±


    Was it because we came up with the general structure and arrangement? A&R people¡¯s expressions became brighter than we first saw them.


    ¡°Then one out of the three unreleased songs will be the title song, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right!¡±


    ¡°Then shall we askposers for all three songs? Or do you want to make them on your own?¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Do-Seung answered this question instead, ¡°Please request it. But I¡¯ll also produce songs as well.¡±


    ¡°Oh, really?¡±


    ¡°Yes. And I think it would be most fair and reasonable to do a blind test to choose the best title song.¡±


    ¡°All right.¡±


    Then we talked about the overall direction of the album, the message we wanted to convey, the direction of the performance we wanted to do, the color of the music video, and so on.


    We discussed various matters necessary for our album, and around the time A&R people lost their energy, and their expressions became nk, we said, ¡°Then shall we do another meeting after we receive the requested songs and the blind test ispleted?¡±


    ¡°Yes! I think we should do that!¡±


    We wrapped up the meeting. We went to thepany around lunchtime, but after the meeting, it became evening rush hour.


    ¡°Shall we go now?¡±


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s start heading back to our dorm.¡±


    ¡°Even though we just sat down all day, I feel so tired.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re tired because we sat down all day.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°On that note, shall we go to the gym together then?¡±


    ¡°¡­No.¡±


    The members and I got into the car parked in the parking lot. After arriving at the dorm, we each went into our respective rooms and enjoyed our personal time. Do-Seung went to exercise, Dong-Jun went out to y, saying he had a personal matter to attend to, Woon went to the practice room, and Yeon-Hoon said he wanted to catch up on dramas he was behind on.


    I also nned to sit in the living room and look for lyrics or album references that I could use for the debut album. The moment I picked up my phone to find references¡ª


    ¡ªCan I call you?


    ¡°¡­What the.¡± I got a text message from Kang Hyun-Sung. He asked me if he could call me. I was about to say no, but since something simr happened before, I thought about it for a while.


    ¡®I just ignored it without picking upst time.¡¯ I was worried that he would harbor unnecessary bad feelings about me if I kept pushing him away one-sidedly like this.


    ¡®What does he want to say over the phone?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t help but think negatively and then thought, ¡®I should at least first hear him out.¡¯ Since I needed to get his call sometimeter anyway, I decided just to pick it up now.


    ¡ªYes, you can.


    The very moment I answered and waited for the call¡ª


    Ziiing.


    My phone immediately vibrated, and I got a call from Kang Hyun-Sung.


    [A surprise mission.]


    [Debut in the same week as Only One.]


    [Upon sess, meeting with the second regressor.]


    [Upon failure, your Insight will be taken away.]


    ¡®¡­What?¡¯ The system threw a mission at me as if it had perfectly nned it out.

 Chapter 149

    <h4>Chapter 149</h4>


    I had been wondering when this system would give me another damn, surprise mission. It had been dead quiet recently so I thought it would pop out one of these days.


    <i>¡®It always picks the worst timing toe out.¡¯</i> I was baffled that it would give me a mission to debut in the same week as Only One right before a conversation with Kang Hyun-Sung.


    <i>¡®Is the system really trying to suck me dry...?</i>¡¯ My head hurt and my phone continued to vibrate.


    <i>Zing¡ª Zing¡ª</i>


    <i>¡®Or else it will take away my Insight...¡¯</i> I debated whether not debuting with Only One in the same week would be preferable to giving up Insight. All sorts of scenarios shifted in my head in a short time frame. But what I needed to do in this instance was to take this phone call.


    ¡°...Hello.¡± I ignored my concerns for a bit and took the call. I needed to first listen to the reason why he called me first. Perhaps, Kang Hyun-Sung could tell from my voice that I had a lot of worries, or he was just a mind reader as he asked:


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s wrong? Are you worried about something?


    He knew I was worried about something right away.


    <i>¡®...What is the deal with him, seriously...?</i>¡¯ I felt goosebumps on my arms.


    ***


    Kang Do-Seung got a new membership at a nearby gym and began his workout there. Fortunately, nobody recognized him there yet, but he thought, <i>¡®I will no longer be able to do this if I be really famous.¡¯</i>


    He thought he couldn¡¯t go to this gym for too long. First of all, too many people came to this gym and the number of equipment was severelyckingpared to the number of people. Above all, the owner of this ce had bad music taste.


    <i>¡®I can¡¯t believe...he cut off our song in the middle...¡¯ </i>There was a time when Siren song flowed out while he was in the middle of training. Some part-timer probably yed some male idol ylist, but just when Siren¡¯s song was ying, the song got cut off and changed to a medley of girl group songs. From then on, his affection for this gym dropped significantly.


    Well, that was that and he came to exercise. Today was his leg day, so he waited a bit for the squatting area to clear. Do-Seung put on the headset that Tae-Yoon bought for him and listened to the music. Just at that moment, the squatting area cleared, and to make a gradual progression, he nned to start with the low weights first.


    After finishing the first set and confirming that blood was rushing to his leg, he raised the weights and finished the second set. Then, he checked that his leg muscles were pumped up. His body heat increased while sweat began to trickle down, and from then on, he began to enjoy his exercise. Since the warm-up was over, he nned to increase his weights and officially begin his exercise.


    <i>Zing. </i>The headset he connected with the Bluetooth vibrated for a bit and he read the rm.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s a message from YM Entertainment Yoon Dong-Hyuk


    Do-Seung froze in ce when he saw the name of the sender through his Bluetooth headset. Yoon Dong-Hyuk used to be his fellow trainee at YM Entertainment and was someone who became a member of the final debut group instead of him and Woon. He was still working as an idol and a song producer right now too.


    Do-Seung instinctively took off his headset and slowly reached for his phone. He contemted to himself if he should open the phone screen a thousand times. He was curious about what the content of the message would be but also just wanted to delete it because it was a message from a person he never wanted to meet again.


    <i>Sigh.</i> In the end, he decided to take a look. This was the messageing from Dong-Hyuk:


    ¡ªHow have you been?


    It was an ordinary message, except that the two¡¯s rtionship wasn¡¯t one to exchange greetings with one another. The main point seemed to be in the next message, which said:


    ¡ªI heard that you''re going to debut soon. Congrattions haha It took you sooo long lol


    The tone of the message strangely sounded like it was mocking him, but the most problematic line came afterward.


    ¡ªWant me to write you a song?


    ¡°...Are you kidding me?¡± Do-Seung almost sent back a message filled with curses. However, he knew he would be the one losing if he lost his cool right now. Even if he lost to everyone else, he didn¡¯t want to lose to this bastard.


    ¡°Did you finish using the equipment?¡± Someone suddenly asked behind him.


    ¡°Oh.¡± He realized then that he had stood in front of his exercise machine while typing for too long. How rude of him.


    ¡°Yes, I finished using it.¡± Though he wasn¡¯t finished using the equipment, he left the area. Then, he took his belongings and red at his phone again. He had already got another message by then.


    ¡ªI will send a song to yourpany¡¯s A&R team~


    Do-Seung didn¡¯t know what to write then. He didn¡¯t know whether he should reply to Dong-Hyuk to stop or just ignore him. He couldn¡¯t get a sense of what to do at all.


    ¡°What are you doing there?¡± It was then, he heard a familiar voice from behind. Do-Seung turned around and saw Dong-Jun standing while holding a shopping bag. This guy would nevere to a gym unless Do-Seung dragged him here, so he was surprised to see Dong-Jun.


    ¡°Here, take your birthday gift.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Dong-Jun handed Do-Seung a shopping bag. Do-Seung¡¯s head already hurt because of Dong-Hyuk and wondered what this was about now.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t n to get you something this expensive, but because Tae-Yoon got you a headset, I ended up going a bit overboard.¡±


    Do-Seung epted Dong-Jun¡¯s gift with a nk expression. It was a sportswear set and a pair of exercise shoes from a famous sports branch. Since both the sportswear set and shoes were limited editions, they could only be bought with a great amount of money.


    ¡°...Why would you give me such a...¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t bear giving something less expensive than our <i>maknae</i>.¡±


    ¡°Even Woon and Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t give me something so expensive.¡±


    ¡°Even those two gave you quite pricy things. I thought I was the only one who got something too cheap, so I bought these.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t like them, I will refund them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± Do-Seung took away the shopping bag behind him. His head seemed to clear a bit then.


    ¡°But why aren¡¯t you exercising and standing in a corner like that? You usually exercise without a minute of rest.¡±


    ¡°What? I¡¯m not at that level.¡±


    ¡°You are.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±


    ¡°So, what is it?... Did someone pick a fight with you or something?¡± Dong-Jun asked.


    Do-Seung flinched a bit in surprise, but then, he quickly changed his expression and said, ¡°I just suddenly got a muscle ache.¡±


    ¡°It would be stranger if you didn¡¯t with the way you exercise.¡±


    ¡°So, do you want to also exercise since you are here?¡±


    ¡°...No.¡±


    ¡°No, just do it.¡±


    ¡°I said, I won¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I said,<i> do it.¡¯</i>¡±


    Then, Do-Seung forcefully stopped Dong-Jun who was trying to run away, and made him change into exercise clothes.


    ***


    When Kang Hyun-Sung asked me if I had any worries, I couldn¡¯t answer for a while and froze in my spot. Honestly, I shouldn¡¯t have been this taken aback. It could still just be a standard question that a person could ask on a call, but the timing of his question had just been too perfect. It felt as if my feelings were found out somehow, and I was going to tell him I didn¡¯t have any worries when Kang Hyun-Sung spoke first.


    ¡ªI suppose it¡¯s natural you will be worried. After all, you are preparing to debut.


    This guy was so good at taking the lead. And well, at this point, there was no need for me to keep insisting that I had no worries since that would make me appear more worried instead.


    ¡°Yes, well, that¡¯s true. Do you have any worries?¡± I asked.


    ¡ªI also have many since I am preparing for our group¡¯s debut.


    There was a short pause. We were circling the issue instead of getting to the main topic. At times like this, it was better for someone to just get to the point since both Kang Hyun-Sung and I weren¡¯t the types to strategize by hiding our cards.


    ¡°When is your debut date, senior?¡± I asked first.


    ¡ª...


    I heard another pause through the phone.


    ¡ª...You just got right to the point without warning.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you call me to ask me this question too?¡±


    ¡ª...Yes


    ¡°So then, let¡¯s get to the point. It¡¯s better for us to avoid each other if we can.¡±


    There was another silence.


    ¡ªWe don¡¯t have anything nned yet. Personally, I think we will do it around the middle of July.


    ¡°July?¡± It wasn¡¯t bad. There were two months and a half left until then, and though it wasn¡¯t much time, it was still enough for us to release an album within the time frame.


    ¡ªWhen is Siren going to debut?


    ¡°We also have nothing decided yet.¡±


    ¡ªBut don¡¯t you have an estimate?


    I chewed my lips. Many things would change depending on how I answered.


    <i>¡®If we debuted on the same week as Only One, we would hit either a jackpot or dig our graves.¡¯</i> Because the rivalry set in <i>The Showcase 2</i> could continue, it could create a good synergy effect that would draw in more attention.


    <i>¡®But upon failure, either Only One or we could die.¡¯ </i>


    One side could consume all the attention and take away the growth of the other team. The amount of poprity and fame we could gain from one season was limited; and for Only One and us who needed to battle for the domestic idol market as newly debuted idols, we could both potentially fail to secure our positions and fall together by debuting together.


    The progress of an idol career often rolled like a snowball. A little tilt, in the beginning, snowballed so that some groups became first-tiers while others couldn¡¯t even step into the edge of third-tiers. In a situation where I needed our group to be first-tier at all costs, each step and decision we made felt extremely precious.


    <i>¡®We need to reach 500,000 sales within this year...¡¯</i> This was a game I was ying with Woon¡¯s life in the line. Perhaps, it was better to ce my coins on a safer bet even if I had to give up my Insight ability.


    <i>¡®But in my past life, even Only One couldn¡¯t go past 400,000 sales in the first week even after all that attention they got,¡¯</i> I thought. This was the concern that hung on my mind. I wondered if we could really reach 500,000 sales no matter how well we did. The poprity and attention a new idol group could amass was limited since there were already idol groups capturing parts of the idol market.


    <i>¡®Then...my only method could be stealing fans from other fandoms.¡¯ </i>We couldn¡¯t just do well for trainees or could simply be one of the main groups in the idol business.


    <i>¡®If we want to reach a first-tier group¡¯s first-week sale count, we might need to be the only main group that season.¡¯</i> All sorts of calctions passed through my head. I reviewed all the experiences I had gone through until now and assessed my members¡¯ skills. Then, I calmly thought about how I could reach the best result realistically.


    ¡ª...Are you nning to end the call after just listening to our information?


    Kang Hyun-Sung pressured me then. I had finished my calction by then. Though the system pushed me to a corner, it didn¡¯t suggest me the wrong path.


    ¡°We are nning to release our album around June.¡±


    I said June instead of July.


    ¡ªAh, yes. It¡¯s best if we don¡¯t ovep.


    ¡°No.¡± Though I said June, I didn¡¯t n to avoid Only One.


    ¡°Please prepare your group¡¯s debut around June too,¡± I said. If I gave too much time to Only One, the quality of Only One¡¯s album would be high since they were at apany with the industry¡¯s best. Thus, it was more advantageous to us to give them a limited time frame since the only way to increase the quality of a project in a limited time frame was money.


    <i>¡®And Next Wave is above Another One in terms of resources and money.¡¯</i> Only One¡¯spany was at best an Entertainment Company, yet ourpany was part of a chaebol business in the list of top five nationalpanies.


    <i>¡®If I manage to convince Yoo Won-Dong well, this is the best way.¡¯ </i>


    I made my call and passed it to him.


    ¡ªHa....Seriously...


    It was now Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s turn to decide.

 Chapter 150

    <h4>Chapter 150</h4>


    Lee Woon was warming up in the Next Wave¡¯s practice room. Honestly, there was nothing to practice, but he came out because his body felt too stiff just to keep staying inside the dorm. Maybe it was because their debut wasing soon, but he felt like if he didn¡¯t practice, he couldn¡¯t even fall asleep or eatfortably. Of course, since it wasn¡¯t so severe that it would affect his daily life, he didn¡¯t show it to his members.


    <i>Sighhh... </i>


    However, he also knew that he was not in a normal state. Since there was no specific choreography to practice, he just did basic stretching and copied the choreography of famous dancers. Although he didn¡¯t know what the title song would be, he still needed to check what choreographies were trendy continuously. Rather than making a choreography on the spot, it was better to pile up multiple data andbine or transform them.


    <i>¡®My ankle feels a bit sore.¡¯ </i>His ankle felt a bit soretely; perhaps, it was because he had been overdoing ittely. However, when dancing, these kinds of pains weremon. After airspraying his ankle, he checked his movements once again. He didn¡¯t know when this started, but at one point, he began to feel frustrated if he couldn¡¯t dance.


    Lee Woon thought it might be a habit he formed from letting out his pent-up emotions through dancing. He was not the type to often reveal his inner feelings. Even when he failed in getting to the debut group at his previouspany¨Ceven when he saw trainees with worse skills than him debut faster than him¨Cand even when his debut fell through due to another person¡¯s devious trick, he never spoke out and simplymented his circumstances.


    Lee Woon thought it was not his time yet and thought everything had its course and he should just ept his fate and live with the flow. Like this, he tried to pass over these troubles without conflict and struggle. However, there were some emotions that he couldn¡¯t just get over unless he resolved them properly. Thus, he thought he should focus harder on dancing to forget those emotions.


    <i>Ziiing. </i>It was then his phone vibrated. Lee Woon, who had been fully immersed in dancing, stopped the music. Then he looked at the caller.


    ¡ªYM Entertainment Hwang Jun-Kyul


    ¡°Why is he...?¡± It wasn¡¯t someone he wanted to meet. YM Entertainment was apany that only left scars for both Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung. They were trying to avoid encountering any people from there as much as possible.


    Sigh.


    However, now that Siren was starting to be famous, all kinds of people were contacting him. He had been worried that he might start getting contacts from YM Entertainment as well, and as expected, people didn¡¯t change easily.


    ¡°These guys...really...don¡¯t change...¡± Lee Woon answered the phone.


    ¡ªWow, it¡¯s been fucking ages. Lee Woon, how you¡¯ve been doing?


    A voice that Lee Woon didn¡¯t want to hear called out his name in an overly friendly way.


    ¡°Ah, yeah. It¡¯s been a while...¡± Lee Woon answered, swiping back his sweat-soaked hair.


    <i> </i> *


    After proposing June as the debut date, Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t say anything for a long time. He was probably calcting what the pros and cons of debuting in June would be for them.


    From Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s point of view, it was probably not a very advantageous proposal, since if they made their debut in mid-July, they could improve the quality of their debut in an agency like Another One. He probably didn¡¯t want to move the debut date a month earlier and risk lowering the quality.


    Nevertheless, if I thought about why Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t immediately reject my offer, I thought, ¡®<i>Is he thinking that if we have to go head to head at least once, it might be better to justpete from our debut?¡¯ </i>


    He might be drawing up a n simr to mine¡ªthe n topete from our debut and raise the buzz if we have topete anyway. However, he seemed a little troubled about debuting in June, not July.


    At first, I also thought it would be safer for our debut date not to ovep with Only One. If we debuted together and one side had an overwhelmingly higher quality album, the other side would crash. However, I had to take into consideration that if I only picked safe paths, we would never be able to reach half a million in sales for our debut album. We needed to hear things like, <i>¡®Wow, what¡¯s up with them? They¡¯re crazy¡¯ </i>instead of ¡®<i>they¡¯re good for a rookie</i>.¡¯


    In order to hear reactions like that, we needed to stand out the most by far, but it certainly wouldn¡¯t be easy. It was a stage difficult to reach simply by improving the quality of the album. All external conditions -not just the album quality- needed to be met, since all the eyes and ears of the idol consumers should be focused on us.


    <i>¡®For that to happen, we need to keep the sameposition as The Showcase 2 as much as possible and debut.¡¯</i> We needed to utilize the full-course meal provided by <i>The Showcase 2 </i>and keep riding on its fame. However, no matter how delicious a meal was, consumers didn¡¯t want to eat the same food twice. We needed to serve something more stimting and colorful with more variety while the consumers still hadn¡¯t forgotten the taste of our previous meal.


    Thus, if Only One and our group made our debut in the same week in the first half of this year, I thought, ¡®<i>We would definitely be a hot topic.</i>¡¯ The fire that was lit by <i>The Showcase 2</i> would burn once again. Furthermore, things would feel spicier than before since we were beginning the main game with our career on the line, and not just participating in apetition to debut. However, there was one problem.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s too much of a gamble.¡¯ </i>This n was dangerous unless there was a guarantee that Only One and we would dominate the idol industry at that period. If we only managed to get a bit of publicity and didn¡¯t show clear growth from <i>The Showcase 2</i>, others would criticize us as one-hit wonders and there was a high likelihood that we would crash and burn. Rather than raking in the inflow of new fans, we could crash our fandom.


    <i>¡®But if we seed, we could get a heap of fans for both groups instead of one of us losing.¡¯</i> We could beat all the male idols that year- not seed rtively as a rookie. Currently, all the first-tier male idols who exceeded 1 million album sales had joined the military, split into units, or were doing overseas tours. In other words, this was an off-season for male idols.


    If Only One and we debuted together this year and dominated the industry, I thought, <i>¡®...It might be possible to make 500,000 album sales in a week.¡¯ </i>


    We had a shot of bing temporary first-tier idols if we filled the empty spots in the male idol vacancy during this season. Although there was a high risk if we failed, the reward was equally great if we seeded. It was a high-risk, high-return game. Kang Hyun-Sung, who had been silent for a long time, finally said.


    ¡ªCan¡¯t we debut in July at the same time?


    As expected, he was bothered about debuting in June.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to debut in June.¡± I pushed head-on with June. We couldn¡¯t go in July. If we went with July and debuted at the same time, it would only be beneficial for Only One.


    Frankly, I was not confident we would be able to release an album with a quality simr to that of Another One with Next Wave. I thought we would be able to produce a simr quality as Only One if we prepared for a month and a half on a tight schedule. Kang Hyun-Sung probably knew this and was asking us to debut in July. However, I couldn¡¯t give up on debuting at the same time in June. I desperately hoped he would agree, but...


    ¡ªUnfortunately, I guess we won¡¯t be able to debut at the same time then. We¡¯ll do it in the middle of July. Please go ahead of us.


    He was as stubborn as an ox. It was ourst chance to ride on <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s fame, and it was a chance too good to miss. Was it because I felt too disappointed?


    ¡°...Can¡¯t you just give in this once?¡± I asked him before I could control myself.


    ¡ª...What?


    I couldn¡¯t believe I said this to him, and an awkward silence passed between Kang Hyun-Sung and me for a while. I thought about hanging up the phone like this a hundred times but decided against it as it would be even more embarrassing if I hung up the phone now.


    ¡ªThen what about the end of June?


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡ªYou asked me to give in. I¡¯ll give in halfway.


    I hadn¡¯t even expected it, but my whining worked. However, people had no end to their greed as I asked, ¡°Then what about the third week of June?¡±


    ¡ªYou¡¯re trying to drag it to a date closer to the middle of the month as much as possible.


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    ¡ªAll right. Then let¡¯s do it in the third week of June.


    ...It worked. I had never expected this would work.


    ¡ªBut can you decide the date of your debut on your own like that?


    It was then Kang Hyun-Sung asked an essential question. I asked, ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡ªIt¡¯s up to us to set a debut date.


    ¡°We can¡¯t do anything at our discretion, but we¡¯ll try our best to make that happen.¡±


    ¡ª...


    ¡°We¡¯ll solve it on our own so don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡ª...All right.


    ¡°Then...¡± I wondered what I should say and hung up. Frankly, I had no idea this phone call would be so coborative. I thought it would be a tense conversation where we tried to fish for information, check up on each other, and y a battle of nerves.


    <i>¡®But we just talked about cooperating.¡¯</i> Although the atmosphere was unfriendly, the content of the conversation was a win-win situation for both of us.


    ¡°...Please take care.¡±


    ¡ª...


    ¡°...I¡¯ll hang up.¡± I hung up before I heard the answer. I thought it was a pretty good call overall.


    <i>Sighhh. </i>After I hung up the phone, I felt a sudden rush of fatigue. I had set the date at the spur of the moment but thought, ¡®<i>We don¡¯t have much time if it¡¯s the third week of June.¡¯</i>


    My head heart, thinking of all the things we have to n. I thought we needed to get the budget first.


    <i>¡®But to get the budget, the album concept and song needs to be done.</i>¡¯ Since nothing was done, I was at a loss for what to do. Since the song requests began in earnest tomorrow, the final song and recording would probably begin before mid-May.


    <i>¡®We can start recording the songs and fan songs that we made while doing The Showcase 2 tomorrow.¡¯ </i>Since we just needed to record the remastered songs that have already been made, we could immediately start working on it tomorrow.


    <i>¡®Then we would be able to save quite a bit of time.</i>¡¯ If we finished recording four of the seven songs first, the recording work would be finished quickly. We could film our music video and do the photobook shoot before June and start getting album reservations in June.


    Then, we would finish editing the music video andplete the album before our debut. I thought, ¡®<i>We would be cutting really close, but I think it¡¯s possible.</i>¡¯ I thought it would be possible under the assumption that we would use a shit load of money.


    <i>Squeak.</i>


    At that moment, Yeon-Hoon opened the door and came out of his room, crying in his pajamas. ¡°Tae-Yoooooon...Tae-Yoon...¡±


    ¡°...Yeon-Hoon?¡± I immediately got up, wondering what in the world happened.


    ¡°What¡¯s going to happen...to Rachel...? Her husband just died...¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°Look at this...this is the couple I¡¯ve been shipping the most this season...¡± He must be talking about the main female and male leads of the drama he was watching.


    ¡°I¡¯m so sad, Tae-Yoon...¡±


    ¡°Ah...yes.¡±


    <i>Bawl...</i> I patted Yeon-Hoon¡¯s back lightly while he wailed. He began to mourn for Rachel¡¯s husband while crouching on the sofa.


    <i>¡®What...the hell is this...¡¯</i> This was so like Yeon-Hoon, but every time he did this, I waspletely taken aback.


    Yeon-Hoon barely managed to turn off the OTT application and said with a sigh, ¡°...I need something to calm down.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I think so too.¡±


    ¡°Shall I eat some ice cream...?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea.¡± I went to the freezer to console Yeon-Hoon. Among Do-Seung¡¯s birthday caf¨¦, there was a ce that sold cup ice cream. Since it was a rare menu, I bought several of them and put them in the freezer. After taking out two ck cat vani ice cream, I turned around to move back to Yeon-Hoon when¡ª


    [A surprise mission.]


    <i>¡®...Again?¡¯</i> The system suddenly threw another mission at me.


    [Go to the practice room and meet Lee Woon.]


    [Upon Sess, Lee Woon¡¯s slump will be prevented.]


    [Upon failure, Lee Woon¡¯s slump will start.]


    <i>¡®Woon¡¯s slump?¡¯ </i>It was a problem I had never thought about.

 Chapter 151

    Chapter 151


    Woon was going to have a career slump. I thought about the meaning behind the words, but there wasnt much for me to think about. If I didnt go to the practice room right now, Woon was going to go through some serious hardships. I couldnt get a sense of why that would be and what was happening to Woon right now that would lead to his slump, but I quickly moved.


    Woon.


    Yes?


    UmWhy dont we put down our ice cream for a bit and go to the practice room together?


    Why the practice room?


    It bugs me that Woon is practicing by himself.


    Thats true. It feels like he is too focused on practicing by himself.


    Should we practice with him a bit and eat dinner together?


    Yeah, lets do that. Yeon-Hoon took a bite of his ice cream and got up. Though I tried not to show it much, my sense of anxiety was rising.


    <em>Its making me nervous. </em>It felt like something ominous was happening without my knowledge.


    ***


    Woon ended his call with Hwang Jun-Kyul from YM Entertainment and stood nkly in the middle of the practice room. There hadnt been anything wrong about the call. It was a short conversation just congratting Woon on his uing debut. Though that was the general summary of the content of the call, there was something about the nuance and tone of Hwang Jun-Kyuls call that bothered him.


    Hwang Jun-Kyuls exact words had been this:<em> I didnt think you would be able to be an idol, but its great that you got the opportunity, even if itste. I want to give you some advice as your senior, so lets have a meal together sometime.</em>


    Those words had been sufficient to make him feel ufortable and make him nk out like this. If this conversation had been with any closepanion from his trainee days besides Hwang Jun-Kyul, Woon wouldve acted differently. He wouldve easilyughed off the guys words, asked how the other person doing, and wished for each others happiness. Yet, the problem was that this was Hwang Jun-Kyul who called him.


    Hwang Jun-Kyul was the one who pushed him into a slumpst time and made him think that he should give up everything to return to his hometown. Above all, Hwang Jun-Kyul was the one who took his pre-debut spot that couldve been his. His heart felt heavy recollecting those memories. And now that his heart felt heavy, he became more desperate and worried.


    Woon began to search for choreography videos on his phone obsessively. Then, like he was possessed, he started to follow dance moves of genres that he normally wouldnt. As if he was trying to forget the pain in his heart with his physical pain, Woon made his movements bigger, more forceful, and more dangerous.


    ***


    Yeon-Hoon drove the car and entered Next Waves building. As soon as he parked the car in the parking lot, I quickly went outside.


    Why are you in such a hurry, Tae-Yoon? Yeon-Hoon asked me.


    Ah, sorry.


    No, theres no need to apologize butlets go.


    Yeah.


    Yeon-Hoon appeared taken aback by how urgently I moved, but I couldnt stop myself.


    <em>Theres definitelysomething going on</em>


    Whenever the system showed me a signal like this, it was the beginning of some kind of incident. Thus, I was worried about Woon. Furthermore, I had just made ns with Kang Hyun-Sung today to debut on June 3rd. Whether we debuted in June or July, that all became meaningless if Woon suffered from a slump. There was no point in continuing this work if my members were unhappy.


    <em>Moreover, is someone bothering Woon?</em> Out of everyone I knew, Woon had the strongest mentality. He was someone who always maintained his own pace whatever the situation was. Thus, there was a high possibility that the reason for his slump came from external factors rather than internal problems.


    Considering all these factors, I began to feel an intense rage that went beyond simple worry despite not even beingpletely certain what the cause of Woons slump was or who I was supposed to me. All in all, many factors increased my sense of urgency about the situation.


    As you say, Woon seems to be obsessing more about his practice these days. I wonder if hes really nervous before our debut or Yeon-Hoon seemed to have alsoe up with his own exnation about what happened, seeing how urgent I was feeling.


    Eventually, we went down to the basement, where the practice room was and walked to the only brightly lit ce in the area.


    There he is. We saw Woons silhouette past the semi-transparent ss wall. Woon was deeply immersed in his dancing and a hazy human silhouette messily moved from here and there.


    What choreography is he dancing right now?


    Yeah. I wondered if any of our choreographies would require him to dance so roughly. Though it was just his silhouette, his movements were very intense and wide.


    <em>Furthermore, hes slightly off-beat. </em>The melody that was seeping out of this practice door and the moves were a bit off.


    <em>Woon isnt the type to go off beat though.</em> He was the type of person to catch someone going off even half of a half-off beat. My worries grew the more I watched.


    Huh?


    Then, the silhouette of Woons form suddenly disappeared across the ss wall.


    What?


    Yeon-Hoon and I quickly opened the door and spotted Woon copsed on the ground.


    <em>Boomboomboom</em>


    A melody with a heavy base sound continued to flow meaninglessly. There was a tablet PC installed on the floor, showing a very difficult and intense choreography video, and in the center, Woon was crouching over and clutching his ankles.


    Woon!


    We approached him.


    Ah, when did you guyse here? Woon looked at me and Yeon-Hoon in surprise. But before I answered that we just arrived, Yeon-Hoon asked first.


    Woon, did you use a cold spray?


    Yes, but why?


    How much did you spray on yourself?


    Sorry?


    Yeon-Hoon and I flinched because of how intense the smell of the pain relief spray reeked in the practice room. I spotted a pain relief spray ced in the corner and shook it.


    Did you not realize that you used almost the whole bottle? I asked. Though we had bought it only recently, it waspletely empty now.


    You used all of it by yourself? Yeon-Hoon asked in shock.


    I justlightly sprayed it whenever I felt some pain


    I turned my eyes to the ankle that Woon was clutching. I didnt know whether I was imagining it because I was aware of how much pain relief spray he used or if it was real, but Woons right ankle appeared slightly more swollen than his left ankle.


    Woon, your ankle is swollen, I said.


    Huh?


    It wasmon to get inmmation around the joints when dancing. Normally, we wouldve just glossed over it, but the system had warned me about Woons potential slump.


    <em>Did he perhaps, fall into a slump because of this?</em> I wondered. Thus, I couldnt let go of this matter and suggested, Lets go to a hospital.


    Huh? No. Its just a simple inmmation. I just need to rest a day or two


    Lets go. You are hurt. Theres nothing simple when ites to pain.


    Tae-Yoon


    Yeah, Woon, lets go. If its serious, it could get worse if you leave it be. Dont you want to dance for a long time?


    Thats true but


    Theres an emergency clinic near here. Lets go there, I said.


    I will go get the car and drive it to the entrance. Tae-Yoon, can you support Woon upstairs?


    Yeah.


    NoIm really fine


    Lets go. Why dont you slowly try getting up.


    Yeon-Hoon left and I lifted Woon off the ground.


    Just at that moment, the system gave me a notification.


    [Mission sessful.]


    [You prevented Lee Woons slump.]


    Seeing this, I thought, <em>His injury must have really grown worse</em>. I became certain that if we had left Woons injury alone, he wouldve suffered long-term pain that pushed him into a slump. It was fortunate that we were forcing him into a hospital now.


    Tae-Yoon, I just need to put an ice pack on it like I always do.


    We are going. It wont kill you to go to the hospital. Just go this once. I am just worried about you.


    Okay.


    Though I managed to block Woons slump, I didnt feelpletely relieved. I wondered who pushed him to go this far. I knew very well Woon wasnt the type to go this overboard just because he felt pressured about debuting soon.


    ***


    I brought Woon to the hospital with Yeon-Hoon. After getting a couple of check-ups and meeting with the doctor, Woon got a simple diagnosis.


    You stretched your ligaments, the doctor said. It was amon happening when male students yed ser. In other words, it wasnt such a big deal.


    See, I told you, it was nothing to worry about, Woon said, hearing the doctors words.


    Ah, no its not that simple. Seeing the state of your ankles, you couldve ruptured your ligaments if you went even a little too far. You should consider yourself lucky for preventing what couldve been a really dangerous situation, the doctor firmly said, and Woon shut his mouth.


    Shh! Yeon-Hoon ced his finger on his lips and shushed Woon so that he would properly listen to the doctors prescription.


    For now, I will give you a cast, and let''s meet again in two weeks. I will also prescribe some anti-inmmatory and pain relief medicines that you should take after your meals. If your pain gets worse,e visit the hospital, even if its not this week. Why dont you get a shot before you leave today.


    Yes, thank you.


    My heart calmed down hearing the doctors clear and reasonable prescription.


    I need to wear this cast for two weeks? But Woon appeared to be displeased about his diagnosis and said, Our upation requires us to move our bodies


    It seemed Woon wanted to avoid having to wear a cast at all costs.


    Unfortunately, you have to wear a cast. If possible, you should just rest.


    Ah


    The doctor was firm and soon afterward, Woon got his cast, shot, and medicine.


    Do you really not need crutches?


    .No, I think I will need it actually.


    Should I bring the wheelchair? I asked.


    Thats going overboard, Tae-Yoon.


    Yeahthats too much.


    All right.


    Like that, Yeon-Hoon and I brought Woon back to our dormitory. On our way back, we bought a water bottle and made Woon immediately take his medicine.


    I will lie down for a bit. The meds are a bit strong, Woon said. It seemed the medicine was really effective as Woon headed to his room right after we arrived back andy down. When I checked up on him again, he was soon fast asleep.


    Woon is sleeping, I noted to Yeon-Hoon.


    Thats good. Its probably better for him to go to sleep.


    Perhaps, it was because it felt as if many big events rushed after the other, Yeon-Hoon and I dropped onto the living room sofa.


    <em>Sigh.</em> "It was so hectic.


    It really was, I replied and thought to myself,<em> It was so nerve-wracking. </em>


    I had been shocked when the system warned me that Woon would fall into a slump. Yet, though I was happy to have prevented such a big happening somehow, I soon regained my senses with Yeon-Hoons next line.


    I wonder whats going on with Woon?


    It was too early to be relieved. I worried about what sort of matter could push someone like Woon to such a corner. At that perfect time, I heard the door lock unlock.


    <em>Beep, beep, beep, beep</em>


    Im never going to the gym again.


    Just follow me for two weeks. Exercising is fun.


    I think I will die within that time


    Dong-Jun and Do-Seung returned home. Based on their conversation, it seemed they wereing back from exercising. This was a normal thing to do, and I didnt think much of it.


    Huh?


    What are these crutches for


    It was then, that Do-Seung and Dong-Jun spotted the crutches leaning against the entrance wall.


    Are those Woons? Do-Seung asked us in surprise.


    Ah, yeah, Yeon-Hoon said.


    Yes, it is Woons, I said.


    What? Seriously?


    Woon is hurt?


    Do-Seung and Dong-Jun both stared at us for an exnation. Do-Seung especially looked like he wanted to seek Woon out and interrogate him for the details.


    Dont try to talk to Woon. Hes sleeping, Yeon-Hoon said.


    Ahreally?


    Yeah. After taking some medicine, hes sleeping.


    Buthow did he get injured? Hes someone who usually takes care of himself so well.


    WellWe dont know the exact reasons either. He was just injured when we went to the practice room.


    What do you mean?


    And that was how we exined what happened with us and Woon in the practice room. We told them how Woon had been dancing so intensely that he sprained his ankle, and the doctor told Woon that his ligaments were on the verge of copse. After listening to everything we said, Do-Seung hesitantly opened his mouth.


    So, Woon got injured while dancing too roughly?


    Yeah.


    Yes.


    Hm. Thenmaybe thats it.


    Huh?


    Do you know something?


    Well, while I was exercising today, I suddenly got contacted by a guy who used to be a trainee with me in my pastpany.


    With your pastpany?


    Yeah, the ce where I used to be with Woon.


    Oh.


    He probably felt very frazzled after getting contacted by someone from there.


    As soon as Do-Seung mentioned his pastpany, I could draw up a general picture of what happened. Do-Seung and Woons previouspany was a ce called YM Entertainment. By current standards, it was a sizeable idol managementpany.


    <em>But I recall thatpany breaking apart because thepany CEO and even the artistsmitted all sorts of crimes there.</em>


    From the future that I remembered, YM Entertainment was apany that set an all-time crime record among all entertainmentpanies.

 Chapter 152

    <h4>Chapter 152</h4>


    In the future from my past life, YM Entertainment was an agency that was infamous for its spectacr criminal history. The representative of YM Entertainment was caught arranging sexual favors for high-level executives, and numerous artists were charged with using and distributing drugs. It was an agency where DUI and assault charges weremon, and giarism and embezzlement ran rampant. However, this was all in the future.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s probably just a pretty big agency right now.¡¯ </i>The current public perception of YM Entertainment was probably to this extent. However, since I knew the future, I couldn¡¯t help but have a negative perception of thepany.


    ¡°Do-Seung, are the YM Entertainment coworkers you¡¯re talking about the ones in Vision?¡± I thought they were probably members of the idol group that was working under the name of Vision.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon asked, ¡°...Vision?¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    Do-Seung lowered his head as if he was embarrassed at the word ¡®Vision¡¯, and Dong-Jun and Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes opened wide.


    ¡°That assaulting idol gr...¡±


    ¡°Shh! Dong-Jun!¡±


    ¡°Ah...I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Although YM Entertainment¡¯s corruption was revealed onlyter, the group called Vision¡¯s fall had already begun. It was a group that received a good reaction, even in their first debut. They didn¡¯t win the Rookie of the Year award, but theypeted with the leading rookie candidates until the very end. In their second year of debut, they achieved worthwhile sess and sold 250,000 album sales.


    Then, one of the members, Hwang Jun-Kyul got into a scandal for physical assault. He was used of drinking and fighting with a passerby and was sued for it. The incident ended inplete disgrace because he was the one who hit first in anger but was beaten the shit out instead; and because of the assault, he had to halt all activities.


    After this scandal, Yoon Dong-Hyuk, the songwriter on the team, had a controversy over giarism. Although he didn¡¯t admit giarism until the very end, it was already an open fact among idol fans that he giarized famous songs from Americanposers.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t only these events that led them to their doom. They had other incidents besides this, but it was too bothersome for me to list them all out. Anyways, it was a group that ended their careers by their own karma. Thus, it was bad that a Vision member contacted Woon or Do-Seung, but it would be the absolute worst if it were either Hwang Jun-Kyul or Yoon Dong-Hyuk who contacted them.


    ¡°Who contacted you?¡± Those two guys were the worst, so I hoped that there would be no interaction between them and my members.


    ¡°Yoon Dong-Hyuk contacted me, so Hwang Jun-Kyul probably contacted Woon.¡±


    Life always betrayed hopeful expectations.


    <i>Sigh...</i> It was a line-up that made me sigh. Since It already happened, I had no choice but to move on. The important part was not who contacted them but why they contacted Do-Seung and Woon, and furthermore, why did Woon lose his mind after receiving that call?


    I asked, ¡°Why is Woon so stressed after getting a call from them?¡±


    Do-Seung seemed to hesitate a bit and replied, ¡°It¡¯s a little hard to say.¡±


    Do-Seung looked sideways at the room where Woon was fast asleep and continued, ¡°Woon and I couldn¡¯t debut there because of Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk. That¡¯s probably why Woon got stressed after answering the phone since it was Hwang Jun-Kyul who messed up his debut.


    ¡°Hmm...¡± Do-Seung and Woon weren¡¯t able to debut because of those two. I asked, ¡°Did they pull some kind of scummy trick?¡±


    ¡°Yeah...that¡¯s the case. It¡¯s a bit hard for me to say.¡± Do-Seung said and smiled with mixed feelings. ¡°Of course, I think it was very fortunate that we didn¡¯t debut there now. Since we met a good team and good agency...? I¡¯m not too sure about the agency part yet, but anyway, we signed a contract with a big corporation.¡±


    After saying this, Do-Seung seemed to ponder for a bit and said, ¡°But...we didn¡¯te out of there in good condition...at that time, both Woon and I were having a hard time.¡±


    The atmosphere grew heavy after Do-Seung finished talking. Do-Seung must have also noticed this as he tried to change the mood and tried to lift the mood forcibly.


    ¡°Oh, but it¡¯s already in the past. And even though we don¡¯t have a good rtionship with them, it¡¯s not like they can hurt us anymore. We should just move on without getting involved with them anymore.¡±


    Do-Seung was right. There was no need for us to get involved, but I said, ¡°But why are they contacting you when it¡¯s so obvious that you guys have a bad rtionship?¡± There were too many iffy parts to just move on from this topic and think positively about the situation. Since there was potential for things to escte, we needed to address it before things turned from bad to worse.


    But for now, I could understand why Woon¡¯s mentality was so shaken up. I would react the same if it were me. If a person who ruined my debut called me and carelessly asked how I was doing, I would get so angry and cuss them out. However, this was not the fundamental cause of why this happened.


    I said, ¡°There¡¯s no reason for them to call you and upset you guys for no reason. Of course, I don¡¯t know what happened between you two and them but...isn¡¯t that weird?¡± When I questioned him, Do-Seung¡¯s expression turned somewhat stiff.


    ¡°...Yeah, that¡¯s true. You¡¯re right.¡± I supposed Do-Seung also must have thought of this; Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk had no reason to contact them unless they had some kind of ulterior motive. However, considering his reaction just now, it seemed like Do-Seung didn¡¯t want to uncover their motive. He probably felt reluctant to do this.


    ording to Do-Seung, they couldn¡¯t debut because of those two. I was too anxious about the consequences we might face if we just glossed over this issue just because we didn¡¯t want to address it.


    I said, ¡°Shall I try finding out what their motives might be?¡±


    As soon as I said this, Dong-Jun, who had been quietly listening, pushed the phone towards us. ¡°Um...I did a search just in case. And...this is a bit serious?¡± Dong-Jun seemed to have searched Vision and our names on Bluebird while Do-Seung and I talked. Among them, there werebinations of names that came up most often:


    Hwang Jun-Kyul and Lee Woon


    Yoon Dong-Hyuk and Kang Do-Seung


    These were the most frequentbinations. Dong-Jun said, ¡°If you look into this...it¡¯s a bit problematic.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Problematic?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung looked at Dong-Jun¡¯s phone in unison. Dong-Jun turned on a video he found in Bluebird. It was a post of a live clip video from DoubleU on Bluebird. In the video, Hwan Jun-Kyul was doing a live broadcast by himself.


    ¡ªYou¡¯re asking who debutedter among YM Entertainment trainees...Hmmm. Someone famous among our peers...Oh! That¡¯s right! Woon of Siren, who came out recently in <i>The Showcase 2</i>! I was close to Woon~


    He suddenly brought up Woon¡¯s name. Yeah, it was understandable that he answered the question this way, since anyone who was a fan of Siren knew that Woon and Do-Seung came from YM Entertainment. It wasmon for information like this to spread one way or another. However, this was not the problem.


    ¡ªWoon was amazing~ He always won first ce in monthly evaluations by himself, and he also danced really well by himself. And he¡¯s also really handsome, as you can clearly tell.


    He first talked well of Woon. This was a given, as no person with any sense in their mind would cuss someone out directly. However, it was the words he said next that were concerning.


    ¡ªBut you really never know about people. My friends and I all thought he would debut, but strangely, he didn¡¯t join the debut group. So we were all like, ¡®<i>Hmm, why did he drop out</i>?¡¯ But I¡¯m sure there must have been a reason~


    There was a strange nuance with his words, and from his expressions, attitude, and tone, he exuded out a strange feeling that he considered Woon inferior to him. Furthermore, he kept talking with the nuance that there was some kind of problem with Woon that led him to drop out.


    I guess I wasn¡¯t the only one who felt this hard-to-describe difort as Dong-Jun said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t he sound shady?¡±


    ¡°...It¡¯s annoying.¡± Yeon-Hoon frowned.


    ¡°This crazy punk...does he not feel any shame mentioning Woon¡¯s name...?¡± As for Do-Seung, pure anger was tant on his face.


    However, the true highlight came next.


    ¡ªDo I keep in touch with Woon? I wanted to contact him, but I think he¡¯s too busy. Even when I call him, he doesn¡¯t answer. I understand because it¡¯s a busy time for him. We were also super busy when preparing for our debut, so we didn¡¯t have any time to look at our phones.


    This was the moment when the indescribable difort was actualized into clear annoyance. Of course, I didn¡¯t know if this person actually kept trying to contact Woon. I thought he probably hadn¡¯t contacted him before, but besides that, the fact that he revealed this to everyone in a v-live meant only one thing.


    ¡°Guys, I think he¡¯s wary of Woon.¡± Hwang Jun-Kyul was trying to keep Woon in check, partly out of fear.


    I could clearly see that he was desperately trying to undermine Woon¡¯s reputation. However, as a celebrity, he couldn¡¯t do it outrightly and was letting it out in his v-live.


    ¡°Yeah, I also feel like he¡¯s wary of Woon.¡± Yeon-Hoon also felt the same.


    ¡°I also feel that a bit. Even in theter parts of the video, he kept bringing up Woon in a strange way.¡± Dong-Jun also said this.


    And it was confirmed by Do-Seung when he said, ¡°This guy...always had a huge inferiorityplex towards Woon.¡±


    <i>Squeak. </i>


    Then the door opened. ¡°...What are you guys all watching here?¡± Woon walked out with half-closed eyes. ¡°I kept hearing my name...what¡¯s this?¡±


    I wondered if we should hide this video or not, but Woon had already seen Hwang Jun-Kyul on Dong-Jun¡¯s phone. ¡°Hm...?¡±


    Yeah. I thought since it involved him, he should know. We turned on the video for Woon without saying anything. After watching the video, Woon covered his eyes with his palm and chewed his lips.


    <i>Sigh...</i> ¡°Seriously...¡±


    Do-Seung¡¯s expression darkened, seeing Woon¡¯s reaction. An ufortable silence filled the living room. However, that was not the end of this problem.


    ¡°Um...Do-Seung...that person named Yoon Dong-Hyuk also talked a lot about you on DoubleU live...this is the live broadcast clip that he did before...¡± Dong-Jun, who had been nervously ncing around, told Do-Seung that Yoon Dong-Hyuk was talking about him just like Hwang Jun-Hyuk did to Woon.


    ¡°...What?¡± Do-Seung¡¯s expression instantly got cold. In the video Dong-Jun found, we saw Yoon Dong-Hyuk trying to link Do-Seung and him as rivals.


    ¡ªAh Do-Seung! Yeah, we¡¯re <i>really </i>close! We learned how topose songs together under the same teacher! Ah, but how do I say this? Um...you know when you get lessons together when you¡¯re young, you feel a sense of rivalry or something like that, right? Anyway, because of that, he was a bit mean sometimes. But ah, I¡¯m not saying he¡¯s the only one who did it-we both teased each other~ Don¡¯t misunderstand~


    Do-Seung¡¯s expression hardened in real time as Yoon Dong-Hyuk continued.


    <i>Sigh...</i> ¡°...These guys are really sickening...¡± Woon shook his head as if he was sick of them, and both Woon and Do-Seung looked disgusted.


    Then we searched around to see how many times Yoon Dong-Hyuk and Hwang Jun-Kyul mentioned Woon and Do-Seung on DoubleU live.


    ¡°...At this rate, they basically mentioned you guys at least half the time they did their v-live since we came out on <i>The Showcase</i>...?¡± I thought they would have mentioned Woon and Do-Seung just once or twice, but it was much more than that.


    ¡°Their words...sound strange...?¡±


    The words they said seemed to imply that Woon and Do-Seung caused a lot of incidents when they were trainees since they kept emphasizing that both did really well but failed to make it in the debut group; they also said things like how Woon and Do-Seung were really talented but made mistakes when they were too passionate. They had been close and got along well, but now, Woon and Do-Seung won¡¯t get their calls because they were too busy now.


    ¡°There are so many people who love making conspiracy theories...¡± I didn¡¯t know what conspiracies and misunderstandings would spread in private ounts from their words. If such negative misunderstandings umted, it eventually became a potential risk factor to dampen our growth. Now I could see why Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk called Woon and Do-Seung. They were doing all sorts of backhanded tricks, hoping that we would fail.


    ¡°...Do you want to hear why we failed to join the debut group...?¡± Do-Seung and Woon must have also realized that this problem was not going to simply end with bad feelings between them and those two guys as they began to share with us why they were dropped from the debut group.

 Chapter 153

    <h4>Chapter 153</h4>


    ¡°Is it okay for you to tell us?¡± I asked. I was worried foremost when Do-Seung told us that he would tell us the reason why he and Woon were dropped from YM Entertainment¡¯s pre-debut team. I thought we would be probing open a wound that hadn¡¯t even healed yet.


    ¡°It¡¯s all right.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s already in the past anyway.¡±


    Contrary to my worries, Woon and Do-Seung nonchntly nodded and assured us.


    ¡°Well...It actually doesn¡¯t bother me too much. I guess it only affects me mentally.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s not like we are YM Entertainment trainees anymore nor part of the Vision pre-debut team.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know where I should begin, but...my rtionship with Hwang Jun-Kyul started when...¡± Woon then exined what happened between him and Hwang Jun-Kyul. But unlike Woon who calmly told us what happened, our expression twisted and turned by what we heard.


    ¡°So, Hwang Jun-Kyul waxed the floor during the time I was supposed to practice.¡±


    ¡°...Sorry?¡±


    ¡°He waxed the floor...?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, he waxed it pretty heavily so that it was easy to slip on the floor.¡±


    He went overboard from even the beginning, but the summary of the incident went like this. Hwang Jun-Kyul waxed the practice room¡¯s floor while Woon was practicing; and of all times, this was the time when the agency was deciding who to ce in the pre-debut group for Vision. Though it had already been internally decided Woon would be part of the pre-debut group, the decision became null because Woon twisted his anklepletely at a critical misstep.


    ¡°The doctor told me that I would have to wear a cast for a month, and I couldn¡¯t do rigorous exercise for three months. Thus, naturally, I couldn¡¯t debut.¡±


    In the meantime, Vision¡¯s pre-debut group was set in stone, and Hawng Jun-Kyul filled Woon¡¯s ce.


    ¡°But I understand. Thepany already nned and prepared to debut a group at the beginning of the year, and they probably decided it wasn¡¯t a good idea to put a member who couldn¡¯t even practice properly for three months,¡± Woon said.


    ¡°...Woon, you could¡¯ve sued him for this,¡± I said. Though Woon appeared understanding, we couldn¡¯t understand at all. If the same thing happened to me, I would¡¯ve sued the other person and more.


    ¡°No...haaa...Of course, it¡¯s great that Woon didn¡¯t debut as part of Vision in the end so that we could meet like this, but...¡± Yeon-Hoon also looked at Woon in shock.


    ¡°I knew he was trash, but he was a worse bastard than I thought,¡± Dong-Jun said in enragement. Then, he calmed down to ask what he was curious about, ¡°But how did you learn it was Hwang Jun-Kyul who waxed the floor?¡±


    I was also curious about this point.


    ¡°Someone else who was a trainee with me told me. It seems Hwang Jun-Kyul went around telling his pre-debut members that I slipped because he waxed the floor as if he was retelling some great feat,¡± Woon replied, still maintaining his calm.


    <i>¡®Another trainee told him?¡¯</i> This point bugged me but I pushed it off for the time being to ask, ¡°But wow, he contacted you again after doing something like that? Moreover, talked about how close you guys have been on live broadcast?¡±


    ¡°Yeah...how could someone be that brazen....?¡±


    ¡°Seriously...If I happen to meet him on the streets, I¡¯m going to drag him to a dark alleyway and...¡±


    ¡°Dong-Jun, you can¡¯t do that.¡±


    ¡°All right.¡±


    My group members continued to bash Hwang Jun-Kyul as their rage continued to boil. It was understandable why Woon had been disturbed by Hwang Jun-Kyul¡¯s call; no, it was actually very impressive that he had been able to keep his cool to this extent.


    ¡°You went through so much, Woon,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s all in the past anyway.¡±


    Now, everyone turned to stare at Do-Seung. It was now Do-Seung¡¯s turn to tell his story.


    ¡°Hm, it¡¯s also been so long for me too, so I¡¯m not sure if I can get my story straight,¡± Do-Seung began, and we quietly listened to him. I thought Woon¡¯s story was unbelievable, but Do-Seung¡¯s story was shocking from the very beginning too.


    ¡°I got my song stolen by Yoon Dong-Hyuk.¡±


    ¡°Oh...¡±


    ¡°What? That¡¯s crazy.¡±


    ¡°Haa...¡±


    How could he get his song stolen? From the get-go, I couldn¡¯t grasp how enraged I would get from hearing Do-Seung¡¯s story this time.


    ¡°YM Entertainment¡¯s training method is to pick a specialty for each member and make them do a focused training on that. My specialty there was song-producing, so I took sses rted to that there.¡±


    I was aware of all this up to this point.


    ¡°Other trainees were taking the same ss as me during that time and one of them was Yoon Dong-Hyuk.¡±


    So far, there were no problems.


    ¡°But whenever we were supposed to present our music during our lessons, Yoon Dong-Hyuk particrly picked mine to nitpick and criticize. And it wasn¡¯t just him but everyone who was taking the same song-producing ss did the same thing to me.¡±


    ¡°They only dissed your song?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. My teacher said my songs were good but because all my fellow students said somethingpletely different, I didn¡¯t know what was right.¡±


    It appeared that students from his song-producing ss tried to gaslit Do-Seung for a lengthy period, but I wondered how the amateur students could look down on him when the teacher spoke otherwise.


    ¡°Did Yoon Dong-Hyuk lead the other trainees to bully you or something?¡± Dong-Jun asked the same question I wanted to ask.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Dong-Jun replied nonchntly.


    ¡°How could a fellow trainee make others act ording to his will?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked.


    ¡°Well, I suppose I can say that it¡¯s because I wasn¡¯t in Yoon Dong-Hyuk¡¯s group.¡±


    ¡°His group?¡±


    ¡°You know how there¡¯s always a mean group of students who look down on others? They were a group like that, and Yoon Dong-Hyuk was the boss. I was thest trainee to join the song-producing ss and couldn¡¯t be part of their group¡ªnot that I wanted to join them either.¡±


    ¡°Ahh.¡± Yeon-Hoon nodded like he got what happened now.


    ¡°They just tried to bully you for no good reason.¡± The group probably felt an inferiorityplex towards Do-Seung, who wasn¡¯t part of their group but had superior skills.


    ¡°So, I thought my songs were good, but many people would tell me they weren¡¯t. Then, my teacher would call me in person and tell me separately that they were good. Anyways, all that drove me crazy.¡±


    It would¡¯ve been best if he had only listened to his teacher¡¯s words, but when one was so young, it was difficult to do so. As a young male student, his ears would¡¯ve leaned more toward his fellow ssmates¡¯ opinions, and his heart would¡¯ve wavered.


    ¡°So then, how did you get your song stolen?¡±


    ¡°Ah, well. It was what I found out after I was dropped from the pre-debut team. The producers kept wondering between me and Yoon Dong-Hyuk, but in the end, Yoon Dong-Hyuk was chosen.¡±


    ¡°Ah, really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but I found outter that Yoon Dong-Hyuk had gained some extra scores with the producers by presenting them with a song he copied from me.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°It is just as I said. I heardter that the producers were conflicted between me and Yoon Dong-Hyuk, so Yoon Dong-Hyuk took a song to the producer in charge of music production and told the producer that if he was chosen, he couldplete this song as the title song. And the producer chose Yoon Dong-Hyuk as a pre-debut member because he liked the song.¡±


    ¡°And that song was a copy of yours?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. There were slight differences but theposition and melody were over 90% the same.¡±


    ¡°And how did you find this fact out?¡±


    ¡°I learned it thanks to my song-producing teacher, who always took my side. When he went to make an anonymous vote for Vision¡¯s title song, there was a song so simr to mine that he asked who wrote it and heard that it was Yoon Dong-Hyuk¡¯s song.¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°And the teacher told me that was when he heard the process of how Yoon Dong-Hyuk became part of the pre-debut group.¡±


    If this happened in Vision¡¯s pre-debut days, they must all have been underage. It was unbelievable that these were actions done by someone so young. On second thought, perhaps, it was more understandable. At that age, one¡¯s moral standard wouldn¡¯t have been set in stone yet and could easily be tested to achieve some goal. However, this was going too far.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t protest about what happened with your teacher?¡±


    ¡°I did. But the pre-debut was already decided then, and they were already practicing.¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    ¡°Also, even though it¡¯s true that he copied my song, it wasn¡¯t a song officially released to the public or anything but just made for practice. Thus, it wasn¡¯t like I could legally im giarism of my song.¡±


    ¡°I guess in the end, thepany took Yoon Dong-Hyuk¡¯s side.¡±


    ¡°Yeah...my song-producing teacher seemed to have been really disappointed by what happened and quit too.¡±


    ¡°Ha...¡±


    After listening to the whole story, a heavy silence circled the room. I knew that Woon and Do-Seung both had difficult pasts and they must have gone through all sorts of troubles to transfer from YM Entertainment to WD Entertainment. But I didn¡¯t imagine stories like these.


    ¡°Hm...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like you can just reveal all this to the public...¡±


    ¡°Haa....¡±


    If I could, I just wanted to proim everything to the public and fight Vision head-on, but that would set Siren back. After all, Vision was our senior in the idol industry, and even though they were beginning to lose steam, their fandom was sizeable. If we brashly rushed against them, it would be us who would end up crushed.


    ¡°All we can do is just...not pay attention to these guys and hope that things will all quietly pass by.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    In other words, our only option was to keep our mouths sealed.


    ¡°Yeah, we just have to live our lives and not bother with them. If they keep talking about us strangely in live broadcast, well...if it gets worse, it will be cleaner to send aint through YM Entertainment.¡±


    ¡°We are only telling these stories to you guys so that we won¡¯t have any misunderstandings. Don¡¯t bother yourself about it too much,¡± Woon said.


    ¡°Let¡¯s watch how those guys act first. If things be so big that it might affect our group.... then, we can personally go out and exin our side,¡± Do-Seung said.


    The two tried to settle the situation like that. I also knew that keeping our silence was the easiest and safest method. These sorts of rumors and levels of gossip usually passed away if no more attention was given, and I doubted that Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk would talk about my members forever on a live broadcast. They probably mentioned the two because Siren looked like they would do well and were also aware that things would backfire if they went any further than this.


    <i>¡®But is this really the best we can do...?¡¯ </i>Though keeping our silence was the safest method, I didn¡¯t know whether it was the best one. <i>¡®For instance, what is the trainee who told Woon that the floor was waxed and the song-production teacher who took Do-Seung¡¯s side doing?¡¯ </i>


    There seemed to be clear witnesses to the events. I didn¡¯t want to go so far as to publicize the event by securing witnesses, but...


    <i>¡®Won¡¯t there be more people who know about what happened?¡¯ </i>Then, it appeared that the case could be solved even without us doing anything. Furthermore, the characteristic of evil people was that they continued their heinous actions and had more than one victim.


    Perhaps, they would¡¯vemitted all sorts of crimes against most of the people they interacted with. In the first ce, the song-production teacher and Woon¡¯spanion could¡¯ve taken Do-Seung¡¯s and Woon¡¯s sides because they had some ill feelings about Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk too.


    <i>¡®That means... they could just fall over by themselves.¡¯</i>


    By just creating a little opening, the other side could fall to their doom without us going out of our way.

 Chapter 154

    Chapter 154


    The atmosphere inside YM Entertainments Visions dorm was grim. It was inevitable because this year was the fourth year since Vision debuted. The group should have been experiencing a career high by this time, but the group was already showing signs of doom. As frequent scandals broke out, fans dropped out and the initial album sales and attendees of fan signings were noticeably decreasing. Thus, it was natural that the atmosphere of the dorm was bleak.


    Perhaps because of this bleak atmosphere, the Vision members were unable to concentrate on their activities and kept turning their attention to other ces like women, making unnecessary scandals, and frequently visiting clubs where sightings of them in clubs were spread across the inte. Furthermore, some of them even came into the dorm half-dead and only slept.


    Vision was a group that was slowly decaying both on the outside and inside. Moreover, the members, Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk did not like each other. However, apart from that, their personality matched well so their conversation went on smoothly.


    Hey, Jun-Kyul.


    What?


    Did you call Lee Woon?


    Yeah.


    What did he say?


    What did you expect? He just hung up without saying anything. Did you call Kang Do-Seung?


    I texted him.


    Shithead, I told you to call.


    Why dont you try calling him? Lee Woon is a pushover, but Kang Do-Seung turns batshit crazy if he gets angry.


    Fuck, so what youre going to do about it? We need to straighten things with them somehow.


    I know, so just shut up and let me do my work.


    Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk each owed Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung a debt respectively. Hwang Jun-Kyul debuted thanks to breaking Lee Woons ankle, and Yoon Dong-Hyuk made his debut by giarizing a song by Kang Do-Seung.


    If those guys go crazy and spill the beans about our past, its really over for us.


    I told you I also know that. Stop fucking whining.


    Thus, they nned to cover up their past somehow and straighten things up with Woon and Kang Do-Seung. If they were people withmon sense, they would sincerely apologize and ask for forgiveness. No, rather than apologize, theymitted crimes that they needed to beg for forgiveness. However, these two werent able to do that. It was because they had always felt a sense of inferiority towards Woon and Kang Do-Seung.


    Fuck, is it possible for you to apologize to those bastards?


    It feels like absolute shit.


    I thought they shot themselves on their feet when they went into a cruddy, no-name ce called WD Entertainment or something, but who knew theyd shoot up to fame like this.


    They thought they had finally managed to ovee their inferiorityplex by removing those two from the debut group, but Woon and Do-Seung stepped back into the limelight by appearing in <em>The Showcase 2</em> as Siren members, and Siren was showing signs of bing a huge hit. Thus, their inferiorityplex was currently much stronger than before, and they werent able to ask for forgiveness even more.


    We need to make up somehow and take away some of their poprity so that we can release an album or whatever.


    Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk had quite a lot of reasons to ask Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung for forgiveness. It was to cover up their past but also to light up thest embers of their dying group. But even this didnt stem from amendable desire to save the group but a desire to save themselves.


    Lets drop those druggies and womanizers when we renew our contracts and try to survive on our own.


    If they somehow maintained their current poprity and proved their value, they might be able to aim for a second chance in life after renewing their contract. In short, this was a desperate struggle to extend their lives as celebrities.


    And I told you not to talk crap about Lee Woon in your v-live. Fuck, arent the private ounts already saying youre a bit shady?


    I know.


    I told you to pretend to be close, not secretly bring him down.


    Hey, why the fuck are you just yelling at me? Youve also been talking shit about Do-Seung?


    Me too?


    Dont just search my name but search yours too, you dumbass. Are you worried about reading your giarism controversy if you search your name?


    Shut up.


    Anyway, lets stop subtly putting them down. <em>Haa</em>even if I try to be all buddies with them, its really hard. They tried to ride on Sirens fame by pretending to be close to Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung in their v-lives, but strangely, they ended up speaking ill of them. It was probably due to their long inferiorityplex, but they both pretended to be oblivious of this fact until the very end.


    Lets do well, Im begging you.


    Tell that to yourself.


    The two ended their meaningless conversation by ming each other until the very end.


    ***


    On the day that Siiren members felt troubled because of Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk, thest episode of <em>The Showcase 2</em>s side story Siren! Be Healthy aired. Thest episode of Siren! Be Healthy contained the making of the fan song <Voyage> and its music video. Thanks to that, the Siren fandom once again enjoyed the numerous released clips to their heart''s content.


    hahahaha why did they put Do-Seung doing pull-ups like that?


    Tae-Yoons film directing is hrious lol


    fuckthis is my resting ce (Woo Yeon-Hoon with flowers.jpg)


    Why does Tae-Yoonpliment people so calmly? (Bong Tae-Yoonpiling Woons face.mp4)


    Park Dong-Jun hahaha why did he climb the tree where Do-Seung is doing pull-ups hahaha


    Thest ending scene was taken by Yeon-Hoon on the spur of the moment.


    wo this really feels like a teen drama


    ah pls do a reality show for a thousand years


    Cant believe this is thest episode noo


    As much as they enjoyed Sirens reality show, they were disappointed that this was thest episode. However, after Siren finished filming the music video, the reality show officially ended.


    To celebrate the end of the show, look at this picture of the guys and rabbits together (Siren and rabbits group photo.jpg)


    Reply: Ah, this was legendary :0


    Reply: Its crazy that theyre sitting with rabbits that look like them.


    People enjoyed the aftermath by looking at clips or photos of the reality show that were popr among fans. One person who showed keen attention to these reactions.


    The heat is still not going down even though the reality show is over. Shall we gather the guys together and do a live broadcast. It was Park Soo-Chul, the main producer of <em>The Showcase 2</em>.


    ***


    Whether Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk gossiped about our members or not, we steadfastly did our work and time flowed by like that. Even though it was the weekend, we went to the agency and started recording first. It was a remastering of the songs that we previously released on<em> The Showcase 2</em>.


    Since the quality of the music and song was good, I thought it would be better for us to record it again and release the new version. During this process, we corrected some parts that only Do-Seung could catch, and everyone worked extremely hard on their work as if they were trying to cover up their troubled hearts.


    Tae-Yoon, your voice sounds great here, so dont sound like youre pressing the back of your neck so much. Rather let out your entire voice more. That sounds really great right now. Youre doing well. I pressed the talkback button and looked at Do-Seung, working hard on the directing. He was working harder on the recording than anyone else.


    It must be because he was theposer and producer of our group, but I thought, <em>Diving into work is the best when your heart feels heavy. </em>I also knew how he felt.


    I answered, Yes, Ill try again. I started recording again ording to Do-Seungs direction. Since weve all sung this song before, we were able to finish recording one song a day quickly. After recording the existing songs, the listening session for picking out the new songs began. Was it because we had a long fight with Won-Dong once before? The A&R team was extremely cooperative and called us to thepany whenever they received a new song. Like this, the album work progressed steadily.


    We decided on the tone and manner of the album artwork and decided on the big message we wanted to convey through the album. We also shared our universe file with the A&R team and conveyed that we would like to present lyrics containing stories that we created. Time passed by like this, and Wednesday arrived.


    Hmm? I got a call from Ms. Hyuna? While we were having another album meeting at the conference room after lunch, we received a call from Ms. Hyuna after a while.


    Of course, it was a call that came to Yeon-Hoon. The reason for the call was clear.


    Oh, theyre doing a live broadcast with <em>The Showcase</em> ounttomemorate the end of the show?


    It was to do a live show tomemorate the end of the side episodes.


    Wow!


    Nice!


    Yeah, we havent beenmunicating with the fans directly much these days.


    The members seemed d to do this live broadcast. Since everyone seemed down because of Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk these days, I thought this could be a good turning point.


    Oh, but youre telling us to send you guys the contents and special reveal well do on the live broadcast?


    Of course, we couldnt just enjoy ourselves and y, and this was also an extension of our work. The live broadcast will be this Friday evening, right? The same time as when <em>The Showcase </em>aired? Ah, yes. Ill tell the others~


    It seemed we had to finish preparing for the live broadcast by this Friday evening.


    Guys! Lets briefly talk about this live broadcast! Yeon-Hoon said, and we briefly organized the album meeting, which had been heading towards chaos.


    We quickly organized and typed our main ideas and immediately moved on to the live broadcast meeting.


    What kind of reveal should we do for the first time?


    Theyre telling us to give spoilers for the album, right?


    I said, Thats right, but I personally want to add something extra besides the album spoiler too.


    Hmm.


    The members and I threw ideas around this time as well. Brainstorming like this had long been solidified as our main conference method.


    Then shall we give some spoilers on the album concept and announce the fandom name?


    Ah, and give a slight hint for our debut date?


    Got it. But we cant reveal too much.


    Yes, sir~


    To sum up the results after the meeting: it was to give a little spoiler for the album, announce our fandom name, and give a hint of our debut date. Since we had thought of a fandom name in our previous meeting, we nned to announce it soon. Perhaps this live broadcast would be the perfect opportunity.


    At the same time, I personally hoped for something else as well. <em>If we do wellmaybe we can get revenge on Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk.</em>


    Starting surprise v-live~


    Vision: Cheese cat is here hehe


    The notification that I set to monitor them rang just in time. I pushed the notification aside and silently deleted it.


    ***


    In a four-year campus university in Seoul, a man wearing a university jacket and bag was staring at his phones screen. He was so engrossed with his phone screen that he looked like he would bump into someone at any moment, but he narrowly avoided all obstacles.


    Hyun-Joong! Then a group of people ran towards the man from afar. They were students wearing the same ss jacket as him.


    Oh, what? Arent you guys on break? Why did youe to school?


    Huh? What are you talking about? Today is our majors midterm exam.


    What?


    Wow. Why are you so out of it these days? Did you seriously forget the exam today?


    Uh, damn it. I think I have to retake that course, The man sighed and hid his phone screen behind him.


    What were you looking at?


    Its nothing. He said and stuffed the phone into his pocket. Then he said, Im just going to roll with it since Im doomed anyway.


    Woow, you got guts.


    Well, I faced bigger challenges in my life~, the man said and walked together with his ssmates toward the campus.


    What he had been watching on his phone was a live broadcast of the idol group, Vision. Was it because he was a Visions fan? No, it was rather the opposite. He hated Vision.


    The mans name was Kim Hyun-Joong. He was a former YM Entertainment trainee and one of the final members of the debut group Vision, who left at the very end.

 Chapter 155

    Chapter 155


    Time quickly passed until it became time for us to do our live broadcast. This was the time when <em>The Showcase 2</em> aired every Friday evening. By choosing this time to go on live, the strategy was to pull all <em>The Showcase 2</em>s avid viewers to watch this show.


    As a matter of fact, this live broadcast had been promoted quite many times on the programs official social media page. And though I expected this broadcast to feel looser and more casual than our other shows because it was started in haste, the show was more official than I imagined it to be. Woon also temporarily took off the cast on his foot for today after receiving permission from the doctor that he could loosen it up as long as he was careful.


    <em>Cant he just leave it on?</em> I wondered if Woon really had to go so far as to hide his injury, but Woon was firm in his intention not to show this side of him to his fans.


    After working on our album until lunch, we got our hair and makeup done at the salon. Another thing that changed when we transferred to thispany was our salon. We had been using the salon that Ms. Hyunas friend ran until now, and I felt disappointed about this change.


    I thought about asking if we could use the previous one, but I couldnt when I recalled how the people from ourst salon had gotten up earlier than they usually would do to open the shop for us. They only opened up their salon early in the morning during the period of <em>The Showcase</em>, but they didnt usually work at that time nor did makeup and hair for celebrities. Thus, in the end, we had no choice but to go to the famous salon in Gangnam Cheongdam where all the other celebrities went.


    I heard that you all are going on a live broadcast today. I wont go overboard then and go for the more natural look this time. But even this ce seemed to be full of capable people, and they did their work cleanly and with good sense.


    <em>They just do their workwithout us needing to intervene </em>


    Though thest ce didntg behind in terms of hair and makeup skills, this ce felt like it provided a more high-end service, and their attitude was that they only dealt exclusively with celebrities. But whether it was this ce or thest ce, all my hair stylists had a hard time dealing with me.


    Umhello, Mr. Tae-Yoon


    Yescould I touch your hair?


    Thats what I came here for?


    Ah!


    Since a male stylist was ced in charge of me this time, I thought he would have an easier time talking to me, but instead, he was even more careful than the previous one.


    You look cool today too, Mr. Tae-Yoon!


    Thank you?


    He just gave me apliment suddenly, admired his own work, and dived back to what he was doing again. And when our hair and makeup were almost done, I saw five familiar faces walk towards us.


    Huh?


    Hm?


    What?


    Ohhh!


    They were the five members of Only One. They had finished their makeup and hair and came to greet us.


    Hello!


    Wow! Its been a while!


    Dong-Jun, who finished earlier than us, greeted the Only One members as our representative. My members and I shortly greeted them with just our eyes because we were still getting our makeup done.


    <em>We are using the same salon as them?</em> I thought in shock while greeting them with my eyes. Since this was a salon that many idols used, I thought I could meet other entertainers in the same industry as me.


    <em>But I didnt imagine that to be Only One. </em>At this point, Only One and we seemed to be destined for each other.


    Did you alle here to prepare for your live broadcast? One of the Only One members asked.


    Ah, yes! Did you all prepare for yours well? Are you going to show something amazing today too?


    Come on, theres nothing like that. We just do what we nned.


    Hahaha!


    Hahahaha!


    Dong-Jun talked to Only Ones Kim Ju-Hyun like some mid-sizedpany boss. Kim Ju-Hyun also talked to Dong-Jun like anotherpanys boss.


    It wasnt only the shows winners that were doing todays live broadcast. Five different groups would conduct their own channels at the same time. But though I expected to see some familiar faces when we arrived at the live broadcast studio, this was earlier than I expected. We ended up meeting people who I wanted to seest. It was then that one person approached me.


    Mr. Tae-Yoon, how have you been?


    Ah, hello.


    It was Park Young-Ho. I wanted to reply longer, but I couldnt when a makeup brush kepting towards my face.


    Ah, lets exchange greetingster since you are getting your makeup done.


    Park Young-Ho was about to leave when my makeup artist announced, Your makeup is done..! and collected his brush and took his supplies away.


    Oh, its done, I said. Ah, yes! Park Young-Hos face brightened momentarily. Then, I wondered what he wanted to say to me. We werent so close to have much to talk about.


    Will you like to have some? he asked me then.


    ?


    Its a cookiemy dad gave it to me.


    Aha cookie. I took the cookie he gave me. It was a big one withrge chocte chips. It was like any cookie that could be found in a cafe, but the words on it were unusual.


    [Come to me, all whobor and are heavilyden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28]


    The days are getting warmer. How about taking a short rest with Jesus gracious words with a cookie?


    Yedam Church 02-xxxx-xxxx


    It was an evangelism cookie.


    Oh, did your dad give it to you to evangelize?


    Ahyes! He said there were many people to evangelize on the broadcast setand asked me to hand these out But since I only had one choco-chip left, I was saving it to give it to a close friend! Its really tasty.


    I was thankful that he thought of me as one of his close friends, but I was taken aback to receive an evangelism cookie for the first time. I never even had thatmon recruit or street evangelism encounter before in my life and didnt dream of getting one while I was at a salon.


    <em>I suppose the gospel isnt restricted to any ce. </em>I was impressed by how far Gods disciples seemed to reach.


    Thank you. I will treasure it.


    No problem, Park Young-Ho smiled shyly.


    Lets go now. Its not polite to stay for so long too. It was then that Kang Hyun-Sung, who had been surveying the situation quietly until now, spoke.


    Oh, thats right.


    We were so d to see you all after so long that we took so much of your time. Haha.


    With that, the Only One members began to move away from us.


    We should go now. Lets see each other again at the studio! Park Young-Ho did likewise and returned to Kang Hyun-Sung.


    Lets see each other at the studio~


    It was nice to see you again~


    Like that, Only One members left the salon looking giddy. On their way out, I met eyes with Kang Hyun-Sung.


    <em>Whats with him?</em> I didnt understand why he was ring at me instead of justing up to talk to me.


    Ha, that was kind of hectic. After all thatmotion, I felt my blood sugar level drop and opened up the choco-chip cookie package that I received from Park Young-Ho. I took a bite and realized that it was homemade instead of just bought from a store.


    The quality and texture of this cookie werentparable to factory cookies that saved on ingredients.


    Guys, try this, I said and divided therge cookie and shared it with my members.


    Oh!


    Mmm!


    Wow, this is so tasty!


    Is this made by a cookie master?


    Everyone covered their mouths in shock after taking a bite each. Since we at least got this cookie, I supposed there was something we gained from this abrupt meeting.


    ***


    After getting our hair and makeup done, we got into our car. I still couldnt get used to how big and nice our car became as I sat on a seat in the third row.


    We will start now~ Ms. Seung-Yeon stepped on the gas pedal and started the car.


    Ah, I want to eat that cookie again. It was so tasty.


    That was the best cookie I ever ate in my life.


    Dong-Jun and Yeon-Hoon talked about the cookie we ate even after we got on the car.


    Should we try making it ourselves?


    Ah, really?


    They went as far as talking about making the cookies themselves when I cut them off. You both screwed up the wooden benchst time. What else are you going to ruin?


    Ahhh!


    Dont mention Benchy again!


    Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Junshed back in anger. Like that, we moved in a fun and bright atmosphere.


    <em>Hm. </em>But as I expected, Do-Seung and Woon remained quiet. It seemed I wasnt the only one who noticed. Dong-Jun and Yeon-Hoon kept ncing at Do-Seung even while they were joking around. They tried to also brighten up the mood by talking to them.


    Woon, do you want to have some too?


    What is it?


    Ginseng.


    No.


    Ok.


    Is your leg all right?


    Yeah, its fine.


    Of course, they werent acting so outwardly depressed to not worry about us, but this was even worse in a way. Ever since the incident with Hwang Jun-Gyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk, they seemed to have less energy and appeared constantly down. We couldve talked about it if they made their feelings obvious, but they seemed intent on keeping their feelings hidden.


    <em>Its not like I can just bring it up out of the blueespecially since they seem not to want to show it.</em> Yet, it was obvious the two would be worried about Hwang Jun-Gyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk. The two were probably concerning themselves about those two evil Vision members and thinking about them in their own minds.


    Though we decided just to keep quiet about the issue, it probably weighed heavily on them.


    <em>Haaa.</em> It seemed we needed a clear breakthrough in this situation.


    ***


    At Seongsu, Seoul, there was a music academy considered legendary among the Practical Music college prep students. Practical Music departmentmonly had apetition rate of a couple hundred to one, so whether one majored in Vocals or Instrument, entering it was like trying to shoot for the stars; and getting epted to a Practical Music department of a high-ranking art college was like shooting for the brightest star among those stars.


    Yet, this music academy managed to produce sessful applicants to thesepetitive art colleges every year. Furthermore, they were said to ept students who were nowhere near the brightest students and send them to perhaps, not top art colleges but still near them. Thus, it was inevitable that this academy would be well-known and news of it would spread.


    After finishing his afternoon ss, the academys young director sat in front of his office desk. When evening came, students who were applying to colleges for the first time woulde to listen to ss. Thus, he needed to prepare for it, but he was wondering if he should postpone the ss from 6 pm to an hourter.


    Hmmm.


    Its been so long since I sawKang Do-Seung. I feel like I should see him. Do-Seung was the disciple he taught when he was young and who had now progressed into his own song producer. He wasnt nning to see Do-Seung in person but see Do-Seungs live broadcast.


    He had been too busy to check up on how Do-Seung was doing, but a couple of days ago when he was surfing the inte, he happened to find Do-Seung. After that, he had been keeping up with Do-Seungs works.


    Simultaneously, he also checked how another person was doing.


    Yoon Dong-Hyukthat bastard is still living like this? This was the person who made him change from a song-producing trainer to a teacher at a music academy. Hyun Sung-Junthe music academys teacher and Kang Do-Seungs past teacherlooked at the screen with a conflicted expression.


    This was thest disciple he had as an idol trainer. He wondered what he could do for Do-Seung.

 Chapter 156

    Chapter 156


    While worrying about Woon and Do-Seung, who seemed down the whole time, we reached the studio before we knew it. Was it because it had been a long time since we met the producers of <em>The Showcase 2</em>?


    Wow! Hello!


    Hahaha. Long time no see, Mr. Dong-Jun.


    Everyone greeted each other, chatted, and yed catch-up on how they were each doing. Of course, Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun were the only ones who were chattering away. It felt like Woon and Do-Seung were forcing themselves to talk to the staff because it would be too awkward to stay quiet. As for me


    Uhhello.


    Ah, yes. Hello.


    After this simple greeting, we just stood there without saying anything. The production staff next to me also seemed restless to start a conversation with me, but there was no particr topic to talk about. Rather than share an awkward conversation, I thought afortable silence was better.


    If there is a good opportunity, please call us! Siren will be there!


    Haha! I got it~ Who will I call if not Siren? Please dont worry.


    Like this, the catch-up time-shworkingsted for about five minutes and ended with us asking for another possible opportunity. Afterward, we greeted the people passing by and moved to the waiting room.


    Todays live broadcast was a full-fledged live broadcast that even had professional hosts. Since there were pre-arranged structures and set events, we nned to read through the script at least once. Right before we went to the waiting room and opened the door


    <em>Gasp!</em> Mr. Yeon-Hoon!


    Whhhhat? Mr. Do-Young!


    We encountered Han Do-Young, Bleshus leader.


    Yeon-Hoon asked, Have you been well?


    Hahaha! Yes! Wow, its an honor for us lowly contestants to be in the presence of the winning group of <em>The Showcase 2</em>.


    Hey, why are you being like that~


    Yeon-Hoon and Han Do-Young stood in front of the waiting room andmenced socialworking part 2.


    <em>Sigh.</em> I could only stare as Yeon-Hoon shared recent events, where the tasty restaurants near our agency were, and the location of the delicious bakery he recently tried. The other members also caught up with the other Bleshu members while I just stared nkly at this scene.


    <em>What the?</em> However, I noticed that Bleshu members appearance, hair, and makeup conditions all stood out sharply. It felt like theyd really gone out of their way to dress up, and overall, they looked way betterpared to their time at <em>The Showcase 2</em>.


    I noticed this and instinctively asked, Perhaps, are you guys debuting soon? And as soon as I asked, I immediately realized I asked something I shouldnt have.


    Ah, hahaha.


    Oh


    Thatsconfidential! Haha!


    The Bleshu members began to roll their eyes away awkwardly. Yeon-Hoon, who had been excitedly talking, took a step back, and Dong-Juns smiling face hardened in an instant.


    The topic of our debut time was currently very sensitive as we were all ying a battle of nerves to see who was going to debut first. If our timing got tangled up with other groupss debut by mistake, no one would be able to survive, and we might all fall like a deck of cards. In the end, the bright and harmonious meeting between us and Bleshu was ruined by my carelessness.


    Lets meetagainter


    Hahaha.


    Please get back safely


    After we went inside the waiting room, Dong-Jun slightly scolded me, Our <em>maknae</em> has to grow his social cues~


    ***


    Visions Yoon Dong-Hyuk was sitting at his desk in his studio and staring at his phone screen. It was 5 p.m. There would soon be a live broadcast tomemorate the end of <em>The Showcase 2</em>. Since there had been a lot of promotions about it through various SNS tforms in multiple official ounts, everyone who watched <em>The Showcase 2</em> knew about it. As a result, Yoon Dong-Hyuk, who had been sitting at his desk since morning to work on a song, couldnt get his hands on his work at all.


    <em>Sigh</em> Fuck Yoon Dong-Hyuk muttered swear words and turned off his phone screen. Then he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it up. The cigarette smoke swept through his lungs and gently escaped out of his mouth.


    Just disappearKang Do-SeungPleasejust fail alreadyfail. Yoon Dong-Hyuk sighed and lit up his second cigarette. It felt like his insides were burning. Both Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk were afraid of Sirens sess.


    Although they pretended to be close to Kang Do-Seung and Lee Woon or indirectly insulted them in their v-live, they both knew that no matter what they did- if Kang Do-Seung and Lee Woon became popr, their past actions woulde to light in the end.


    They did think that Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung were not the type to spread malicious rumors and shatter their celebrity career. However, if theyined to anyone about what Yoon Dong-Hyuk or Hwang Jun-Kul did in the past, rumors about them would spread like wildfire.


    <em>Everyone would know.</em> Initially, it would be a secret exchange between close people, but hard-core fans with deep connections to the celebrity industry would hear the rumorster on, and then more general fans would hear them too. From then on, the rumors would blow up. Yoon Dong-Hyuk had seen countless celebs unable to make aeback after their images were ruined in this manner, and that was the reason why he kept reaching for another cigarette.


    Fuck He pondered about whether he should smoke a third cig or not and then put it back.


    Lets try calling There was not much he could do anymore except to call Kang Do-Seung and ask for forgiveness.


    PleaseLets beg for forgiveness, Dong-Hyuk. Haaa. Although he knew in his heart that he had to beg for forgiveness, he didnt know that his heart, gued with feelings of inferiority, made it impossible for him to do so.


    ***


    The live broadcast was about to start. We hade up to the set in advance and were sitting in our ce.


    Please just be careful about not leaving this line because youll be out of the frame then. Yes!


    Our writers will type important issues orments that must be read on the screen, so please check the monitor frequently.


    Yes, we will!


    Andstly, good luck today.


    Thank you!


    We met with Producer Park Soo-Chul for the first time in a while and listened to the broadcast precautions. Was it because <em>The Showcase </em>Season 2 ended sessfully? The obsessive and mad look on his face at the beginning of the season seemed to have faded somewhat. Now he looked like a rxed middle-aged man, who was good at his job.


    After doing a camera test, we went back down to the waiting room. There was only about 30 minutes left until the broadcast began, but there was no need for us to remain on the set. When we went down the underground stairs to the waiting room


    <em>Ziiing.</em>


    Huh? Someones phone is vibrating? Someones phone rang, and the owner of that phone was Do-Seung.


    He took out his phone and immediately groaned. Ah.


    When I looked to see who it was, I saw the following name printed on it.


    YM Entertainment Yoon Dong-Hyuk.


    Ah what the f I was about to curse but held it in because we were in a studio. I couldnt believe he was calling right before a live broadcast. Was he nning to shake us up mentally? I thought I should do something, but before I could do anything, Woon acted first.


    Give me your phone.


    What?


    <em>Tap. </em>


    Woon grabbed the phone and pressed deny. He said, Dont answer it.


    Do-Seung was surprised and asked, What, Woon?


    We need to do a live broadcast. If we get shaken up, its our loss. Even if you get it, theres nothing worthwhile to talk about anyways, Woon calmly exined.


    Yeah, he was right.


    Then Woon said, Lets clear our minds for a moment and go up to get ready for the broadcast. Woon dragged Do-Seung, who was 1.5 times taller than him, into the waiting room.


    <em>Hes strong.</em> Surprised by Woons unexpected side, I followed him into the waiting room.


    ***


    A little after 6 PM, Yoon Dong-Hyuk stuffed four cigarettes in his coffee cup. Any desire toplete at least one song had long disappeared. He turned off his songwriting program as if he was possessed and entered the live broadcasting application. There were five live broadcasts under the channel name of <em>The Showcase 2</em>.


    The number of viewerswhats going on? The number of viewers for Visions live broadcast was decreasing day by day, but the number of viewers in all rooms was at least 100,000. In particr, Siren and Only Ones views were already over 300,000.


    The time was 6:08. It had been less than 10 minutes since the live broadcast began, but he couldnt believe the views were already this high. Even while considering theyve marketed this broadcast for several days, it was an extremely high figure.


    <em>Sigh. </em>At this point, Yoon Dong-Hyuk clearly felt that Sirens fame and fandom already exceeded Visions. Since Siren hadnt even debuted yet, he had thought Vision might be ahead by the slightest fraction, but he had underestimated the repercussions of their numerous scandals.


    His heavy heart naturally led his thoughts towards alcohol, and he took out a bottle of soju he filled up in his studio. Without any side dishes, he poured soju into the nearest cup he could find.


    Ah, fuck. The sojus color was ck. He had poured soju into the ce where he shook off his cigarette ash.


    Ack! He almost threw up but managed to hold it in. After gargling his mouth with water and spitting it back into the cup, Yoon Dong-Hyuk leaned back into his chair and deeplymented.


    <em>Sighhh</em>


    Nothings really working out. He was off to a bad start, and he had a bad feeling that something ominous was on the horizon. He turned his gaze toward the phone screen again. Sirens viewership was still growing in real-time, and he pushed away his phone in frustration. Then he went out of the studio, thinking that he should go out and drink to relieve his awful mood.


    However, this became the worst decision Yoon Dong-Hyuk made recently as he had to confirm his downfall while being hungover the very next morning.


    ***


    The live broadcast, which began just in time at 6 PM, went by as scripted. We greeted the hosts, said hello to the hosts, talked about what weve been up to, and said hello to our fans. As the introductory section of the live broadcast, we did icebreakers and lightly exchanged conversations with the host. It was also the time to directly or indirectly inform viewers of the overall vibe of the broadcast.


    Sirens, what do you guys usually do during break after the show?


    We usually lie down at the dorm or watch dramas or cartoons.


    Oh, but there is one person who goes out every day!


    Really? Who is that person?


    Sigh UhI think thats me


    Oh, Mr. Do-Seung?


    Yes, to goto the gym


    Ah, hahaha. No wonder your body is like that~


    The hosts worked hard to make the broadcast fun so that the energy wouldnt drop. Thanks to their efforts, the writers smiled satisfactorily and gave us a thumbs-up when we made eye contact with them.


    Sirens, Ive heard you have something to surprise fans about on this live show. Is that true?


    Ah, yes! We were nning to reveal it at our debut showcase, but since we got our chance to debut thanks to <em>The Showcase 2</em>, I thought it would be meaningful to reveal it on this live show.


    Woow, my heart is pounding. What is the secret that the Siren members will reveal?


    Itsour fandom name!


    The time to reveal our fandom name arrived. However, it would beme if we just announced our fandom name right away, so we prepared something extra.


    Guys! Get ready!


    Yes!


    We got out of our seats in unison and started forming a formation.


    What? Whaaat? Huh?


    Then the hosts got flustered and eximed.


    ???


    Guys???


    I thought you guys were going to announce your fandom name??


    Comments like these were quickly scrolling up on the monitor screen in the corner.

 Chapter 157

    <h4>Chapter 157</h4>


    Our preparation to reveal our fandom name waspleted. It was nothing grand since all we did was get up from our sofa and each lift up a sketchbook. Then, after lining up side by side, we looked forward to the camera.


    ¡°What are you all doing?¡± The broadcast¡¯s host shouted in surprise, and I calmly answered, ¡°This is an event we sort of prepared.¡±


    Because we didn¡¯t give a heads-up to the host, the host appeared to be taken aback. We didn¡¯t tell the host what we were nning to do because it could be boring otherwise. We only told the host and producers that we prepared something to reveal our fandom name, and they simply told us that was fine as long as it was nothing weird. And now that we were officially starting our surprise, their shocked reactions were quite a scene to see.


    ¡°Then, should we start?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Ah, yes, yes. You can start.¡± The host said a bit baffledly.


    Do-Seung was the one who held up his sketch book first and took a step forward. He looked like he still couldn¡¯t ept or understand what he was doing. Do-Seung had been the one to passionately oppose when Yeon-Hoon first proposed the idea and said he didn¡¯t want to participate in something so cringey.


    Yet, in the end, Yeon-Hoon managed to persuade Do-Seung after relentlessly trying. Do-Seung raised his sketchbook, turned a page, and began the story. In the sketchbook, there was a drawing of five merman princes in the ocean.


    ¡°Long, long time ago, there were five handsome merman princes in the deep ocean. Bored of their life in the ocean, they talked about going on an adventure,¡± Do-Seung spoke softly like he was reading a storybook and it was then, the host and the producers seemed to have caught what we were trying to do.


    We didn¡¯t want to reveal our fandom name ndly just like that. We wanted a story behind it and the best method appeared to personally rte it to our audience. After Do-Seung went back, Woon came out next while holding a sketchbook. Do-Seung¡¯s face looked bright red like it was going to burst any moment, but Woon¡¯s face was perfectly at peace. This was the part about Woon that so many of his fans loved to joke about.


    ¡°ording to a legend that had been passed down in the kingdom, one could enter a different world if they pierced through the sparkling blue sky. After learning this legend, the five princes began to n while looking up at the sky.¡± In contrast to Do-Seung who struggled to go through his lines, Woon read his lines smoothly.


    Thus, the producers who had been stifling theirughter until now began to be more immersed in the story and cheered.


    The next person toe out was me. I spoke while turning the sketchbook¡¯s page. ¡°One dark night, when everyone was sleeping, the five princes headed out of the castle after thoroughlypleting their n to go on an adventure. Then, they swam with all their might towards the sparkling sky. They put great force into their tails and burst into the sky and then¡ª¡±


    From this point, the storytelling and continuity was important. The moment I said, ¡®and then¡ª¡®, Dong-Jun turned his sketchbook and took a step forward.


    ¡°Wow! You guys! The legends were really true! This is really a new ce!¡± Dong-Jun came out and smoothlypleted the most cringe-worthy part of this story. He showed not an ounce of shame or embarrassment and continued his lines as if the stage had been set up for him.


    ¡°Ohh~? But what about our tails? And cool fins? Why did our tail suddenly be two legs?¡± On Dong-Jun¡¯s sketchbook, five princes, whose merman tails changed to legs, stood. They underwent a physical transformation aftering out of the water.


    Soon afterward, Dong-Jun moved back, and Yeon-Hoon came forward while holding the sketchbook.


    ¡°Though these princes had gone on an adventure because they were bored of their life in the waters, their life onnd wasn¡¯t easy like it was in the ocean. Walking was cumbersome while finding a ce to sleep wasn¡¯t easy and they were alwayscking in food.¡± On Yeon-Hoon¡¯s sketchbook, there was a picture of five princes starving and suffering.


    This was an inevitable part since all stories needed conflict and hardship.


    ¡°Yet, they didn¡¯t only suffer. They soon heard a rumor circting around the vige that there was and of dreams where wishes were granted, happiness overflowed, and only love existed. Thus, they gained a goal for their adventure!¡± Yeon-Hoon passionately added hand and foot gestures to emphasize parts and looked like a preschool teacher who was reading a storybook to his students.


    I let him be because I thought he would look cute to the fans.


    ¡°And thend of the dreams was...!¡± At that perfect timing when Yeon-Hoon said these lines, Dong-Jun turned a page from his sketchbook while standing next to him.


    <i>Flip!</i> There was a drawing of a castle and the words:


    ¡ªSailing


    ¡°It was the Sailing Kingdom!¡± This part could be considered the highlight of our sketchbook show.


    ¡°The five princes began to walk towards the Sailing Kingdom.¡± Perhaps, it was because we were working so hard, the producers, who had looked at us baffled, now stared at us in curiosity on what would happen next.


    ¡°The people in the Sailing Kingdom were called Sailors, and the five princes now had a dream. It was to meet these Sailors and share happiness and love with them.¡±


    We were almost there. It was time to put an end to this corny but cute story.


    ¡°Though the path to their goal could be rough and difficult, the merman princess would not give up until they meet the Sailors!¡± Yeon-Hoon said and turned to thest page of the sketchbook.


    ¡°Even today, the merman princes walk eagerly to meet the Sailors!¡±


    ¡°Wooow!¡±


    ¡°Ohhh!¡±


    ¡°Cheer on for the merman princes!¡±


    We cheered at the timing right where the story ended and Yeon-Hoon took a bow like a skillful storybook teacher. Seeing this, the host, who had been nkly watching us until now, smiled and approached us.


    ¡°Ah, ahaha! Wow! So, that¡¯s what you guys were nning to do!¡± the host said.


    Perhaps, everyone would¡¯ve caught on by now.


    ¡°Our fandom name is Sailor. Hello Sailors, please continue to support us!¡± We all folded up our sketchbook, took a step forward, and bowed. Siren¡¯s official fandom¡¯s name was now Sailor. It not only meant people who voyaged across the ocean but the names of our fans. I checked the monitor at the corner of the set to see the fans¡¯ responses.


    ¡ªHello, I will forever ever be a Sailor


    ¡ªHahaha you guys are so cute ahaha


    ¡ªThe official fandom name is so pretty!!


    ¡ªI have never seen other idols reveal their fandom name like this hahaha


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon looks so excited!!


    ¡ªI¡¯m so shocked that thepany is actually doing a good job


    ¡ªI like the fandom name <i>sob</i>


    Because there was a slight broadcast transmission dy, messages about Yeon-Hoon¡¯s storytelling and the fandom¡¯s name were mixed.


    <i>¡®The responses don¡¯t seem bad though. It seems pretty good actually,¡¯ </i>I thought and pulled my eyes away from the monitor and focused on the broadcast again.


    ¡°Ah, ahaha! I didn¡¯t expect you guys to reveal your fandom name like this, so I¡¯m still recovering. Let me get a grip and continue the broadcast again. Hm.¡± The host calmed the mood that had be a bit hectic after our fandom name was revealed and progressed the show.


    ¡°Did you all draw these pictures yourselves? These are some impressive art skills.¡±


    ¡°Our multi-talented icon, Kang Do-Seung drew them!¡±


    ¡°Oh, Mr. Do-Seung did?¡±


    ¡°Ah...yes...I studied art a bit when I was young...I drew them because I was the best among these guys...¡± Do-Seung¡¯s face reddened again when it was revealed that he was the one behind these drawings. It was quite shocking that these cutesy drawings were made by him and like that, <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s live broadcast progressed smoothly.


    ***


    Vision¡¯s Hwang Jun-Kyul watched <i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯s live broadcast in his room. It hurt his pride that Siren was amassing many more viewers than Vision¡¯s official live broadcast, but he keptforting himself that this was all due to the broadcastpany¡¯s vigorous marketing.


    <i>Ding-dong.</i> It was then, the dormitory¡¯s chime bell rang.


    ¡°Huh? It must be the delivery.¡± Hwang Jun-Kyul quickly left his room and came back with the delivery food.


    It was a pizza and chicken set. He wasn¡¯t hungry because he already had a big lunch, but starting from some point, he gained the habit of releasing his stress by eating. Overeating soon became a daily habit for him and even though he knew that he needed to take care of his physique, he couldn¡¯t help himself. Hwang Jun-Kyul felt his lower belly bulge and his jaws lose definition, but he kept losing to this momentary bliss.


    <i>Sigh.. </i>¡°I really need to get a contract renewal,¡± he murmured and shoved another slice of pizza into his mouth. ¡°I really have to stop eating.¡± But even as he said this, he bit on another chicken leg.


    Meanwhile, Siren¡¯s live broadcast continued, and Hwang Jun-Kyul could not move his eyes away.


    ¡ªOur fan name is Sailor. Hello Sailors, please continue to support us!


    He got to the part where Siren revealed their fandom name.


    ¡ª¡°Ah...yes...I drew them...¡±


    He also listened to how Do-Seung was the one behind the drawings.


    ¡°Haa...damn, these guys are he cringey,¡± Jun-Kyul murmured. Then, while he was eating his chicken and pizza, his eyes turned towards Woon.


    He looked intently at Woon¡¯s body and murmured, ¡°That bastard never gains weight. He¡¯s seriously lucky. It¡¯s like he was naturally born thin.¡±


    Hwang Jun-Kyul had never seen Woon put on weight. Thinking this instantly dampened his appetite, but he still couldn¡¯t stop eating somehow. Soon afterward, the broadcast began to show legendary clips from <i>The Showcase 2</i> and the members gave theirmentaries. Then, they made some small talk until the host announced.


    ¡ªEveryone watching this broadcast! This is your opportunity! If you have anything you want to ask Siren, please write them on the chat box!


    Perhaps, Hwang Jun-Kyul felt a sugar high after eating all that food, but he stopped gulping down his c and raised his phone. Then, he wrote ament without intending to.


    ¡ªI heard that you were close to Vision¡¯s Hwang Jun-Kyul and practiced with him! Could you tell us some stories of you and Jun-Kyul! I want to see you guys do a coboration~


    Since this was a separate ount from the one he usually used, he thought he could write ament down like this. He thought hisment would just be buried beneath the thousands ofments pouring into the chatting box.


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    Yet, Siren members saw thement he made, and he clearly noticed their faces falter.


    ***


    We were doing a good job on our live broadcast. Following the format of the script that the producers gave us beforehand, we made a lot of good content for the show. Thest content of the script was for us to answer the fans¡¯ questions. All sorts of questions poured into the monitor, and we just needed to pick one at a time and read it.


    ¡°Everyone watching this broadcast! This is your opportunity! If you have anything you want to ask Siren, please write them on the chat box!¡± the host said.


    These were the sorts of questions we got: <i>¡®What did you all have for breakfast?¡¯ ¡®What¡¯s your daily routine?¡¯ ¡®What are each of your hobbies?¡¯ ¡®So, what happened to Benchy in the end?¡¯</i>


    We answered ording to the questions we saw.


    <i>¡®Huh?¡¯ </i>Perhaps, it was because too many chats wereing up at once, there was ag in the chatting box and the monitor screen froze for about three seconds. Yet, of all the questions, thement in the center was:


    ¡ªI heard that you were close to Vision¡¯s Hwang Jun-Kyul and practiced with him! Could you tell us some stories of you and Jun-Kyul! I want to see you guys do a coboration~


    <i>¡®The hell?¡¯</i> Thement was about Hwang Jun-Kyul. I pretended not to notice it since our n was already to remain silent about this topic. Yet, it seemed Woon¡¯s mentality wavered at this time.


    His face became nk as he read thement out loud without meaning to, ¡°My memory with...Hwang Jun-Kyul...?¡±


    Hearing this, Do-Seung stared at Woon in surprise first, and Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun stared at Do-Seung. Our oath of silence brokepletely, and it seemed it wasn¡¯t only us who felt the ufortable atmosphere.


    ¡°Ah, hahaha! Memories with other group members are nice, but~ Won¡¯t it be better to share memories with just the Siren members right now?¡± The host intervened and tried to wrap up the situation.


    ¡ª???


    ¡ª??? What


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s with Woon¡¯s expression?


    Yet, idol fans were sharp and didn¡¯t miss that short moment. My members quickly realized what they were doing and changed their expressions.


    ¡°Ah, memories with our members?¡±


    ¡°Should we talk about that? You know the time we went to theke at night and chatted?¡±


    We returned to our normal conversation and the broadcast went back to its safe zone.


    <i>¡®I should keep monitoring thements after this,¡¯</i> I thought. I needed to check what that momentary mistake had given to people and what sorts of conspiracy theories coulde about as a result.


    <i>¡®Perhaps...that could be the breakthrough...¡¯</i>


    Though we had taken a vow of silence about our group¡¯s connection with Vision members, I didn¡¯t think that was the best choice we could take. Would this short happening work against us?


    <i>¡®I have to watch and see, but I don¡¯t think it will.¡¯ </i>

 Chapter 158

    <h4>Chapter 158</h4>


    Hwang Jun-Kyul stared at Woon, who read hisment and froze. If Siren had been filming a recorded show, Woon¡¯s behavior wouldn''t have caused problems, but they were filming a live broadcast. In this environment, people could catch every movement no matter how slight it was. Furthermore, anyone would¡¯ve been suspicious of this strange pause.


    ordingly, the majority of the people in the chat box talked about Woon¡¯s response.


    ¡ªWhat is up with Woon¡¯s response?


    ¡ªLet¡¯s just talk about Siren in their broadcast


    ¡ª100% chance that he has something going on with Hwang Jun-Kyul


    ¡ªI heard that they were close


    Though it had been just a brief moment, people¡¯s attention on itsted. This was especially more so because of how often Hwang Jun-Kyul had talked about Lee Woon on live broadcasts. Those who were interested in either of the two knew that whether it was good or bad, there was something deeper going on.


    Hwang Jun-Kyul quietly read through thements. He thought he had only said good things about Woon. Though some people said that he sounded shady, he thought there was nothing bad he said overall in the end. Yet, when he quickly went to social media sites and looked through people¡¯s responses, he realized that people¡¯s responses were different from what he expected.


    <i>¡®Was that not the case...?¡¯</i> He was able to more objectively see how he had acted until now. Most people seemed to have caught on about his true feelings about Woon. Though Vision fans were iming until the end that people were being too sensitive, Siren fans and even outsiders were rebuking Hwang Jun-Kyul.


    ¡ªHwang Jun-Kill did keep shading Lee Woon


    ¡ªMaybe Lee Woon got beaten up by Hwang Jun-Kill too?


    ¡ªI¡¯m d I¡¯m not the only one who thought this...whenever this guy talks about Lee Woon on his live broadcast, he sounds like he is trying to bring Lee Woon down


    ¡ªLol a gangster idol trying to leech off Siren somehow~


    Hwang Jun-Kill was the nicknameizens gave Hwang Jun-Kyul after his assault case. And whenever Hwang Jun-Kyul wanted to assess the damage done to his reputation, he typed up this name from time to time.


    <i>¡®Damn it....¡¯</i> After going through these searches, Hwang Jun-Kyul realized that everything he said about Lee Woon until now had been umting as his karma and was about to blow up on him. He turned off his phone andputer and even locked his phone. He knew he couldn¡¯t stop what would happen with just this, but...


    <i>¡®...Fuck...¡¯</i>


    It still gave him a little illusion that he could escape this situation somehow.


    ***


    While Hwang Jun-Kyul was locking himself up in his room and Yoon Dong-Hyuk was drinking his troubles away and getting madly drunk, the inte was buzzing with stories about the two. It had been a while since their names were getting these many mentions after their short peak period right after their debut. Unfortunately for them, the responses they were getting now were theplete opposite from that time.


    ¡ªHey guys, we should just stop talking about Hwang Jun-Kill. That crazy guy has been talking shadily about Wo*n since the beginning of <i>The Showcase 2</i>


    ¡ªI thought those guys were he shady since their debut


    ¡ªBy the way Yoon Dong-Hy*k keeps mentioning Do-Se*ng on live broadcast, I¡¯mpletely certain something happened between them


    Reply: Yeah; not just Hwang Jun-Ky*l but Yoon Copycat is a problem too. I guarantee he did something to Do-Se*ng


    Reply: I just looked up the video and it¡¯s true :0; that bastard keeps mentioning Do-Se*ng and stirring drama


    ¡ªIt¡¯s hrious how the two didn¡¯t say a word about Wo*n and Do-Se*ng even though they were supposed to be so ¡°close,¡± but now that S*ren debuted, they are mentioning our guys at every chance possible. Let¡¯s keep using alternative names so that this doesn¡¯t pop up on the searches. Don¡¯t want S*ren members to trouble themselves with this


    Though there wasn¡¯t any clear evidence yet, idol fans with quick senses clearly saw through the situation. After several years of stanning idols, fans learned how the entertainment business ran. When they saw that Woon responded strangely to thement asking if he was close to Hwang Jun-Kyul, they searched for videos rted to him and quickly got a sense of the two¡¯s rtionship.


    After making their projections up to this point, it wasn¡¯t difficult for them to guess what happened not just between Hwang Jun-Kyul and Woon but also Yoon Dong-Hyuk and Do-Seung. They couldn¡¯t know the exact details like the fact that Hwang Jun-Kyul waxed the floor or Yoon Dong-Hyuk stole Do-Seung¡¯s song, but they could easily guess that one person had one-sidedly tormented the other.


    Of course, there weren¡¯t onlyments that were simply using Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk as perpetrators.


    ¡ªThe Siren cultists are going at it again


    ¡ªBesides all that, doesn¡¯t Lee Woon have like zero social skills? Who just freezes like that from a question asking if he was close to someone? hahaha, there¡¯s not even any proof that Hwang Jun-Kyul did anything wrong


    ¡ªSiren always had a lot of crazy fanatics since the beginning of <i>The Showcase</i>. Just stay neutral


    ¡ªWhy are you also unnecessarily dragging Dong-Hyuk into this too?


    These opinions didn¡¯t necessarily shield Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk, but they reprimanded the othermentators for going overboard with their projections. Though some of these people throught Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk could have done something wrong in the past, they wanted to refrain from guessing without any evidence.


    Yet, there came one post that broke this stance of neutrality.


    ¡ªThere¡¯s a post on NacePann. I put the link of it below.


    ¡ª???


    ¡ªWow, it really was true


    People¡¯s opinions began to wildly tilt with someone¡¯s post that also included proof of their identity and past.


    ***


    NacePann was a ce where all sorts of gossip came up from the entertainment world. From time to time, there were posts with detailed and specific records, and the moment people decided the post was true, rumors became official, and the careers of those who were said to havemitted these ill deeds were destroyed. This time, this long post was about Hwang Jun-Kyul.


    ¡ªIncluded Evidence) I was an ex-trainee of Vision¡¯s final pre-debut group


    It was a title that just invited people¡¯s clicks. Because people had already been curious about the rtionship between the two, NacePann''s heavy users quickly went into the links. The post was wordy but in summary, it was like this:


    ¡ªIn short, Hwang Jun-Kyul disliked Lee Woon during his entire trainee days. He talked badly about Lee Woon to the trainees he was close to and though he tried to outcast Woon from the rest of the group, he failed every time. For a long time, he tried to impede Lee Woon¡¯s progress and hinder him, and atst, he even went so far as to wax the practice floor so that he could enter the debuting team instead of Woon.


    ¡ªAt that time, he said it was all a joke, saying he didn¡¯t really think Woon would get injured and just wanted Woon to fall a bit. But I know that Hwang Jun-Kyul waxed the floor with the desire and hope for Woon to get hurt. (These are the messages Hwang Jun-Kyul sent, confessing that he waxed the floor in his own words)


    ¡ªAfter all the evil deeds he did against Lee Woon, Hwang Jun-Kyul is acting like he was best friends with Lee Woon. I am writing this post in disgust of his behavior. I also uploaded a picture of my contract from my trainee days and some more evidence to prove my identity, so you can make your own judgments.


    People¡¯s responses began to pour in with this post. Though some suggested waiting to confirm whether this post was real or not, the detailed and thorough proof of identity convinced most people that the poster was who they imed they were. And thinking this, what people wondered was how much of this post was true.


    The only fact that they could confirm this instance was whether or not Hwang Jun-Kyul really waxed the floor. Because of that, Woon was greatly injured, and he couldn¡¯t participate in the audition for the debuting group. This was an incident that had certainly happened without any doubts and by just the confirmation of this fact, there seemed to be no further need for proof.


    ¡ªWow, wasn¡¯t he the devil at this point?


    ¡ªI always said Hwang Jun-Kill had crazy eyes


    ¡ªThere¡¯s a guy who really does things thate out in dramas...


    ¡ªHaa seriously, our poor babies


    ¡ªNo, our Woon...sad


    The neutrality that had been barely maintained in cepletely broke down and Hwang Jun-Kyul began to receive criticism from not just the Siren fans but everyone else. Another incident broke out on top of that then.


    ¡ªAfter seeing the post below, I also gained the courage to make a post. I used to be YM Entertainment¡¯s song-producing trainer


    Another post with this title came up. The earlier post targeted Hwang Jun-Kyul while thetter post attacked Yoon Dong-Hyuk.


    ¡ªAt that time, Yoon Dong-Hyuk used his group of friends to bully Do-Seung and make him doubt his abilities as a song producer. Do-Seung went through a lot of emotional and mental turmoil in the process.


    ¡ªI know it¡¯s difficult to judge art forms, but as someone who teaches song-producing as a job, Do-Seung was far superior in terms of his song-producing skillspared to Yoon Dong-Hyuk. Do-Seung¡¯s sense and understanding of instruments, melody, and so on were the most noticeable too.


    The content of this post was simple. It was just that Yoon Dong-Hyuk used his group of friends to outcast Do-Seung. Yet, it went further to say that Yoon Dong-Hyuk had giarized Do-Seung¡¯s song.


    ¡ªIn a ce when the song-producing member of the debuting group had to be chosen, Yoon Dong-Hyuk brought a song that he giarized from Do-Seung. The song that Yoon Dong-Hyuk imed to have written is one of the songs in Visions¡¯ debut album. This is a demo that Do-Seung sent me so please make the judgments yourselves.


    After iming that Yoon Dong-Hyuk had giarized Do-Seung¡¯s song, he provided rted evidence. People heard the audio the song-producing trainer provided and heard Vision¡¯s debut album¡¯s songs and quickly made their judgments.


    ¡ªWhat, he just copied the songs as it was...


    ¡ªHe made no effort to change it


    ¡ªDid he really think he wouldn¡¯t get caught?


    ¡ªBut Do-Seung didn¡¯t even publish his song or anything so he probably couldn¡¯t have sued for giarism :( It¡¯s so frustrating


    ¡ªHa, this is so annoying


    Yoon Dong-Hyuk¡¯s and Do-Seung¡¯s chorus was perfectly in sync. Besides a couple of details, the song was the same. This incident not only became a hot issue among idol fans but the rest of the public since the topic of giarism always garnered a lot of attention. Thus, the issue began to spread even in intemunities that mostly men used through Nutube shorts and TikTakTok videos.


    ¡ªHahaha there¡¯s a guy who giarized a song in his trainee days haha


    ¡ªHow little talent does he have that he giarizes even in his trainee days?


    ¡ªThe person who he giarized from is also an idol?


    ¡ªYeah, someone named Kang Do-Seung


    ¡ªBut this guy named Kang Do-Seung must really be good?


    ¡ªI¡¯m a Practical Music student and he really is good at writing songs. His melody and details are insane. He¡¯s one of the producers we often listen to while studying.


    As the giarism issue became more famous, Do-Seung¡¯s song-producing skills were highlighted as much. All of this led to more public attention towards Siren. This was the butterfly effect of Woon freezing for a moment after reading the chat box monitor.


    ¡ªHwang Wax and Yoon giarism are screwed Haha


    And thus, Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk began to pay for their karma.

 Chapter 159

    Chapter 159


    The live broadcast was over. Though we had originally nned the broadcast to be one hour and thirty minutes long, it went on for a bit longer than we nned and stopped two hourster. Though I clearly remembered what happened in the first hour, thest hour was a haze.


    It was because my members began to say anything on their minds after Woon responded awkwardly to the chatrooms question about Hwang Jun-Kyul, and they wanted to take the viewers mind elsewhere.


    <em>It seems pretty ineffective though. </em>Their actions appeared pointless.


    Haa. Good work you guys.


    Yeah, you all worked hard.


    Dont think too badly about todays broadcast~


    After we returned to the waiting room, we each said a word of encouragement to each other asfort. Yet, Woon remained quiet till the end.


    Woon?


    Woon <em>hyung</em>?


    Lee Woon.


    Though Yeon-Hoon, Dong-Jun, and Do-Seung each called him, Woon didnt say a word and kept his head low. It seemed he was still out of it after seeing thatment from the chatroom or perhaps, he was sorry to have broken our vow of silence about this topic. Considering Woons personality, it was probably more thetter.


    Woon. I slowly approached Woon. I clutched his knees and quietly looked at Woons head. Because his face was covered by his hair, I couldnt see his expression properly.


    <em>He''s crying?</em> Yet, I could see tears hanging from his eyes. He wasnt crying because he was happy or sad. Both his eyes were red, and the edges of his mouth were fixed in ce. He was crying because he felt so angry about the situation.


    I put more force into my hands. I could understand what he was feeling. He probably thought Hwang Jun-Kyuls trick to rece him was all behind him and in the past. It probably made him angry that he injured his leg and couldnt debut because of that, but considering Woon, he probably tried to think positively of the situation and ovee it.


    Yet, what he thought he had ovee now kepting back to haunt him. It popped out when he least expected it and disturbed him. Yet, I couldnt simply tell him that I understood how he felt as if I knew everything. Acting as if I perfectly knew what he was feeling could actually hurt him instead and disrespect him. I wondered what I could say tofort him.


    Woon. It was then Do-Seung came over and crouched over Woon just like me. At Do-Seungs call, Woon raised his head. The tears in his eyes looked as if it was going to burst any moment. Do-Seung looked intently at Woon, and it was then, I realized that it wasnt my ce to intervene and moved away from the area.


    Do you remember that time? You know when we were informed that our time as trainees of YM Entertainment was over? Do-Seung asked and began to say things only he and Woon were aware of.


    That day, I sat by the emergency stairs and was crying my heart out. I felt things were so unfair, but do you remember what you told me then?


    Woon calmly looked down at Do-Seung. Though his lips were still stiffened in ce, his expression seemed to have loosened up more than before.


    You said we will do better than them. You said we should just wait out five more years.


    Woon nodded lightly to Do-Seungs words.


    Do-Seung continued, You said that those guys were fated to fail anyways from all their evil deeds. It was as if Woon had been able to tell the future precisely in the past.


    And look at us now. We didnt debut yetbut honestly, our situation is better than Vision.


    Woon slowly nodded at Do-Seungs words.


    You were so strong and resolute then. So, even now, you will be able to quickly ovee this, Do-Seung said. Hearing this, the edge of Woons mouth began to wiggle. Then, he hugged Do-Seungs head and spoke.


    Yeahwe can quickly ovee thisAnd we will do better than them, Woon murmured and finally let the tears collecting in his eyes drop. For a while, the waiting room filled with Woons cries. Yet, his cries didnt sound sad or regretful.


    As if he just released all the emotions he had been keeping locked up, it felt like he was just letting everything go. There was a refreshing feeling about it and when Woon was able to organize his emotions a bit, he said, HaaGive me a tissue.


    Ah, yeah.


    Perhaps, Woon cried too hard but his face was bright red.


    Sorry you guysthe mood became ruined because of me, Woon said.


    Come on~ Whats wrong with that~ Dong-Jun plopped next to Woons side and tried to act brighter than usual to ease Woons worries.


    Yeah, Woon. Its fine. You really went through so much, Yeon-Hoon said and took a seat besides Woon.


    You are also crying now?


    No. Im not crying. Im really not Perhaps, Yeon-Hoon was moved by Woons crying but his eyes also looked teary. Its just that you twoare so cool and impressivehmm.


    Yeon-Hoon raised his head towards the ceiling to prevent his tears from streaming down. Woon burst intoughter seeing this.


    Whatwhy are youughing!


    No, its just that you are so cute.


    No, Im notIm so sad right now


    Here, have this tissue.


    Thank you.


    Yeon-Hoon blotted his teary eyes with the tissue. I worried about our teams mood after thement with Hwang Jun-Kyul, but


    <em>Its fine. </em>As I thought, our bond wasnt so weak that it would be broken down by something like this. I pulled out the phone at the corner of the sofa.


    Where is Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna?


    Wont theye soon?


    If they donte even ten minutester, I will give them a call!


    While waiting for Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna toe, we decided to have our individual rest times.


    <em>I wonder what happened afterwards. </em>I quickly went to check what sorts of events cascaded after Woons awkward pause on live broadcast.


    ? Yet, things were moving much more rapidly than I expected. Wait It was shocking to the point that I even gasped out loud without meaning to. All sorts of stories wereing out about Woon and Hwang Jun-Kyul and even Do-Seung and Yoon Dong-Hyuk.


    <em>The situationis already concluded?</em> In the period where we came back from our live broadcast, cried, andforted each other, the situation was already wrapped up. The crucial reason was because of the posts on NacePann with evidence attached to them. Perhaps, Woon and Do-Seung also checked the situation, but they were murmuring to themselves.


    Huh? Whatis this? Woon suddenly said.


    Why did my teacher suddenlycontact me? Do-Seung asked.


    They seemed to have caught the general situation with a couple of searches.


    Whaat! What in the world! Woon even gasped while looking at his phone. Isnt this a post written byHyun-Jung?


    I think Mr. Sung-Joon made this post


    The two seemed to know who the writer behind these posts were immediately. I understood why Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna didnte back yet then.


    <em>They are probably reporting to thepany on their phones right now. </em>They were most likelying up with the direction we should take in response to the incidents that urred.


    <em>Bang!</em>


    And just at this perfect timing, the door opened and Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came inside the room.


    Hello everyone. Thank goodness you are all here.


    You all did a great job on the broadcast!


    Butwe have to quickly discuss with you all about something right now


    Can we do a briefing?


    Though Woon, Do-Seung, and I were aware of the situation through searching on the inte, Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun appearedpletely startled by what was happening.


    Huh?


    Whats happening?


    They looked like they had no idea what was going on.


    ***


    While Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk were approaching their doom, this incident was spreading out from entertainment news to even social and more public news forms.


    These young kids only learned bad things while growing up


    Hahaha they are seriously meeting their doom


    So, who are these guys?


    Its not just in dramas that trainees are at each others throats


    There were various factors why this was bing such big news. First, there was the fact that a truth that had been hidden in the past was finally being revealed. Then, there was the giarism issue that Koreans were particrly sensitive about. And finally, there was a clear evil and good in the story and a dramatic transformation of the weak to the strong.


    Wow, a seriously big issue blew up ahaha


    The incident with Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk quickly spread across not just to a minority group of people who liked idols but also to men and women across the public. And with this, it wasnt just Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk who were affected.


    The idol group, Visions image and name became tarnished and after getting a quick whiff of the general situation, YM Entertainment made an official notice within just one hour that they were discussing the expellment of the two artists.


    At first, they wanted to get a general sense of the public sentiments and said they were going through an internal inspection, but as they noticed that the public was responding worse than they expected, they cut off rtions with the two. Yet, their behavior didnt appear to improve Vision and YM Entertainments image in the slightest.


    Hahaha they tried to escape unscathed but failed


    Arent you ashamed of yourselvesYou are all adults but acting so immorally


    The public didnt be deceived by thepanys shady actions. Though the ones most at fault were Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk, it was clear thepany also shared me for burying the incident. Thus, the public raged at Vision and the YM Entertainment. Perhaps, all this had a trickle-down effect, but Siren, who had only recognition in the idol fandom, instantly also gained public recognition.


    Who is Siren?


    Wow, if it was me, I wouldve just quit and dropped out of the business altogether; he persevered so hard


    Hahaha I respect them


    Though it wasnt our intention, we were clearly enjoying the effects of noise marketing.


    <em>But thisis dangerous </em>Though it was great marketing, there were also people who were feeling a sense of danger. Sirens youngest member, Bong Tae-Yoon sat alone in the dormitory and watched the situation progressing. He searched through articles about Siren, watched the Nutube videos, TikTak videos, and other social media sites.


    Comments kept pouring one after the other as if they were getting mass-produced from factories. Most of thements were pitying Siren as victims, paying their condolences and were angry, sad, and happy that they were finally enjoying sess. For a group that hadnt even debuted yet, this was a very big opportunity and simultaneously, a very dangerous situation.


    I think its about time to put a break to all this

 Chapter 160

    Chapter 160


    <em>Tap.</em>


    I put down my phone on the table. It waste Saturday evening and was exactly 24 hours after the live broadcast. If I briefly organized what happened in thest 24 hours, it was possible to summarize it into one sentence.


    <em>Its possible for someone to fall to their doom in just one day. </em>This was the fastest and most wide-scale event that happened since we worked as Siren. I expected things to settle down with Yoon Dong-Hyuk and Hwang Joon-Kyul for longer. Since it seemed like my members were not willing to feed the trolls, I was waiting for those two bastards to slip up and identally let on too much.


    Since feelings of inferiority were not easily resolved, I was sure that those two would definitely make a mistake in their v-live. If that happened, I thought someone who was previously hurt by them or who left YM Entertainment because of them would upload a verified post about the two.


    Thus, I nned to wait 2 weeks, and if there werent any changes by then, I nned to directly make my move. Thus, I couldnt believe that Woons short response during a live video would made such a big butterfly effect.


    <em>We achieved quite a feat while standing in the background again. </em>Although I was pleasantly taken aback, I was scared at the same time as I directly experienced how powerful and influential the inte and media tforms were in such a short time frame.


    Yoon Dong-Hyuk and Hwang Joon-Kyul were falling to the ruins to the point where they could no longer be revived. Videos, posts, and pictures of those two fighting and swearing were being posted and shared at a startling rate. I felt good that those two annoying people that had been bothering us were finished for good.


    At the same time, I thought this event was getting out of control. What should we do about this?


    <em>Hmm</em> This incident had not just ended Hwang Jun-Kul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk but made the public opinion sympathetic towards us. Although it was good that the public gave justice to the victims, it was not good for idols, who should be shining stars, to have a pitiful or sad image.


    Of course, these sympathetic public opinions were helpful in giving idols an initial boost, and in fact, we benefited from our sad and poor image at the beginning of <em>The Showcase 2</em>. However, that was not the case anymore. If we received such a pitiful image with our debut around the corner while having some recognition in the idol industry, I thought it could shorten the life of our group in the long-term.


    <em>This could be bad.</em>


    <em>Sighh</em> I looked at the clock with a sigh. It was 9pm. The time was now heading towards midnight, not evening anymore. Since it was a weekend evening, each of the older members went to their parents house to have dinner or went out for personal activities. I was the only one in this house, and I had also skipped dinner due to my conflicted feelings. I sat on the sofa and stared at the phone on the table.


    <em>What should we do? </em>I thought I needed to first think rationally about the situation. We would probably finish collecting and organizing songs for our debut album by next week. If I just finished the lyrics quickly, the recording process would be quick, and the track list would be fully finalized within next week.


    Furthermore, I thought, <em>I think we can reveal the teaser next week.</em> We had originally scheduled to release the teaser next,<em> next</em> Monday, but I thought it would be all right to release it next Friday or Saturday. Of course, we hadnt even filmed it yetbut I thought that money would solve the time restraint issue.


    If we did all this, I thought, <em>Then we might be able to put out the urgent fire for now.</em> If an idol-like teaser came out as soon as our public recognition increased, there was a possibility that the publics sympathetic sentiments would fade.


    <em>I wish there was something more.</em> I wished that we made another bang before or after the teaser was released. While I was continuously pondering about this matter


    <em>Beep, beep</em>


    I suddenly heard the door unlocking at the front door. I got up and walked towards the front door. Everyone had said they woulde inte at night or tomorrow.


    <em>Is it astalker fan?</em> This thought instantly urred to me. Thus, I waited for the door to open with a spat in my hand.


    Tae-Yoon, Tae-Yoon! Hellllp! When I opened the door, Yeon-Hoon appeared. However, it wasnt just Yeon-Hoon but Yeon-Hoon holding a big barrel.


    What?


    Hold this! Hold this for me! My arm is breaking!


    What, you can just put it down then.


    Ah! Yeon-Hoon put down the barrel with an embarrassed expression for a moment and awkwardly turned away his gaze.


    I asked, Yeon-Hoon, youre embarrassed, right?


    No.


    Why are you holding such a heavy object for no reason? You could have put it down.


    I knew that.


    I dont think you knew.


    No, thats not true. Yeon-Hoons ears turned bright red.


    I decided to stop teasing him because I thought he might get angry if I teased him more than this. However, now that Yeon-Hoon came inside, my troubled heart felt lighter.


    But whats that big barrel?


    Oh, right! Tae-Yoon! Is there rice at home right now?


    What?


    This is braised beef ribs! Its absolutely delicious!


    Braised beef ribsin a barrel like this?


    My mom made this for all of us to share!


    I opened the lid of the barrel. Although it was smaller than therge buckets used in businesses, it was gigantic for home use. I wondered if this huge barrel would really be full of beef ribs.


    ?


    My mom is really generous.


    Ah I was really shocked that it was really just packed with braised beef ribs.


    <em>Just the price of the meat will be</em> I tried to calcte the amount in my head but thought it was an amount too terrifying to calcte without preparing myself.


    Yeon-Hoon continued, Since were going to debut soon, my mom prepared them, saying we have to eat really well at important times like that.


    Please tell her thank you so much. It smells really good.


    Lets eat first, quickly! Yeon-Hoon said and took the rice out of the rice container and scooped it up.


    I cant eat all that.


    Lets eat together! Yeon-Hoon sat down at the table after dividing the big scoop of rice into two bowls. Then he asked, Can you scoop up some beef ribs?


    Yes. I put some beef ribs in a bowl and served it on the table.


    Lets eat~


    Yeon-Hoon, didnt you already eat?


    I haven''t eaten yet. You dont eat without us, so I only brought beef ribs here and came back.


    Oh. I was taken aback by his sudden bout of kindness but managed to hold it in well.


    Since we cant get chubby before we debut, lets eat in moderation.


    Yes. I put the beef ribs that Yeon-Hoons mother made on top of the white rice and took a big bite. As soon as the meat touched the roof of my mouth, it dissolved and the sauce permeated between the grains of rice, and the rice that absorbed the seasoning pleasantly rolled around my mouth.


    Wow. It was a taste that made me exim intuitively.


    Yum! Its good! Yeon-Hoon seemed genuinely impressed too. Then he said, Lets eat this tomorrow with the other guys too.


    Yes, I think everyone should definitely try it. Just thinking about eating it again tomorrow morning ced me in a good mood. I added, I think Dong-Jun will really love it.


    Yeah, I know. I need to make sure Dong-Jun doesnt eat too much.


    It feels like were controlling a diet for a puppy.


    Do you think so?


    Yeon-Hoon and I burst outughing at the same time. Although there was only the two of us, it was quite noisy inside the dorm. We sat on the sofa again after we finished eating and washing the dishes. Yeon-Hoon sat next to me after taking a shower and fiddled with his phone. I also picked up my phone again and searched for various information.


    What are you searching so hard about?


    Ah, this?


    Why do you keep looking at that? Your mentality will just get shaken up.


    Yes, thats true.


    Yeon-Hoon rebuked me after seeing that I was looking up Wang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk with my phone.


    <em>But while Im at it, should I try talking to him? </em>I couldnt just let this pass by without addressing the issue. Thus, I thought it would be a good idea to ask Yeon-Hoon for advice.


    I said, ButIm worried that our image will be solidified as pitiful or sad idols.


    Hmmyeah. Yeon-Hoon seemed to be aware of how things were going. He continued, Honestly, I was worried too. There are somany bad rumors and news and our image seems to be getting set as just pitiful kids.


    First of all, it was a good sign that we both viewed our current situation as a problem.


    I said, Do you think theres anything we can do?


    Arent our teaser going to be released soon?


    Yeah.


    Wouldnt things die down a bit if we release that?


    But I feel a bit ufortable just to keep waiting for that. Its also difficult to change an image once its fixed.


    Yeah, I agree Yeon-Hoon put his hand on his chin and began to contemte it seriously.


    This wasnt the appropriate situation, but I almostughed out loud because his serious face looked slightly like a child-genius professor. I barely held back myughter and waited for his answer so I wouldnt break the mood.


    Then Yeon-Hoon said, Shall we do a surprise live broadcast with just the two of us?


    What?


    You said you wanted to do something before the teaser was released. But thats the only thing we can do right away.


    Yeahthats right.


    Ill ask Ms. Seung-Yeon! Yeon-Hoon suggested that we do a surprise live broadcast. I did think that a v-live was the easiest thing to do.


    But I also thought, <em>Does this have enough impact?</em> We needed to create quite an impactful event to push away our image as a poor and pitiful idol. However, didn''t v-live feel quite normal? While I was thinking this, Yeon-Hoon got permission to do a v-live.


    Ms. Seung-Yeon said yes! But she told me to first think and then talk before I speak and be careful since it''s live.


    Really?


    Our phonefor v-livehere is it! He took out the phone for v-live from under the TV.


    But before that, I asked, Yeon-Hoon, are we doing it without makeup?


    Yep!


    Really?


    Ourbare faces already came out tons of time on TV.


    Ahyoure right. Our bare faces appeared countless times in <em>The Showcase 2</em>. There was no need to hide it now.


    Then what are we going to do at the v-live? More importantly, I wondered what we were going to do for the content. Of course, we could turn it on for a simple chat, but I thought we needed to do something more special than that.


    Yeon-Hoon thought about it for a while and said, Shall we do a song cover?


    He suggested this idea, and I immediately had an epiphany. !


    <em>This was it.</em> I found the solution to dilute the salty, tear-jerking lens ced on us.


    ***


    10:30 PM. It was an ambiguous time, too early to be calledte at night but toote to be called early. It was at this time Sirens surprise v-live began.


    The youngest and oldest are here~


    Only two people came to mind with these two words; it was Bong Tae-Yoon and Woo Yeon-Hoon. Sirens fans, who have been resting at home during a weekend evening, quickly logged into the v-live. The inte was quite noisy due to the Yoon Dong-Hyuk and Hwang Jun-Kyul incident.


    All kinds of people from various groups gathered together, from Siren fans, ordinary people, and trolls who were ready to stir up a fuss. There were obviously people in the chat room who asked if Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung were okay, and there were negative people who asked what was the point of turning on a v-live during that time.


    However, Bong Tae-Yoon and Woo Yeon-Hoon ignored all thesements and progressed their v-live. Moreover, actual Siren fans also posted aggressively on the chat to cover up these belligerentments.


    Ah, what did I eat for dinnerwe ate braised beef ribs today.


    My mom made it for us! It was super, super delicious!


    Yes, it was really delicious.


    Bong Tae-Yoon and Woo Yeon-Hoon conducted the v-live while chatting about everyday topics like this.


    Wow, their facial harmony is perfection


    I love you, Tae-Yoon.


    They look so pure and innocent cause theyre wearing no makeup so cute *sob


    Youngest and oldest pair luv it so much <3


    Bong Tae-Yoon and Woo Yeon-Hoon purposely did not respond to anyments about Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk, and the trolls and click-baiters soon began to disappear.


    I want to sing a song. Everyone, would you suggest a song for me to sing?


    Woo Yeon-Hoon said he was going to take a song request.


    Oh my gosh!


    Crazy


    People began to pour out song requests as if they had been waiting for this moment all along.


    Oh? I like this song.


    Woo Yeon-Hoon picked out a song he liked among the suggestions and began singing it on the spot. Although there were many people who knew that Woo Yeon-Hoon was handsome, there were surprisingly many people who didnt know he was also good at singing. Woo Yeon-Hoon was a vocalist with a singing style and skill that was hard to find in the idol industry, and his stunning visuals had overshadowed his singing ability.


    ???


    Yeon-Hoon?


    Wow, crazy


    ???


    Thus,te at night, the chat window froze for an instant from the songs that Woo Yeon-Hoon sang seriously with his emotions.


    9th ce. Yeon-Hoons crazy singing (7,534 tweets)


    Furthermore, although he sang only once, Woo Yeon-Hoons name went up on the real-time trend rankings.

 Chapter 161

    Chapter 161


    Some things were surprising even if one was aware of it beforehand. This was even more so when a person showed apletely different side from their usual self. When I listened to Yeon-Hoons song cover in the middle of the live broadcast, there was a part of me that was surprised every time and filled with pure admiration.


    Deep night when the light scatters


    The moonlight shines quietly


    In the end, I failed to capture


    Your behind even once


    As expected of the drama fanatic, Yeon-Hoon chose to sing a drama OST. Though people were rmending him all sorts of trendy songs to sing, he was singing drama OST one after the other. Though this was sort of funny, his skills shut down anyughter.


    <em>He really is good at singing.</em> The songs we had sung on stage until now werent the kind that he could show off his singing skills since an idol stage ced the performance aspect of a show foremost. Perhaps, because of that, Yeon-Hoon was going all out in his singing now that he was given the chance.


    Yeon-Hoon!!


    I cant believe our soft peach is this good at singing; this is unbelievable


    Wow this is insane


    This song makes me reminiscence


    I cried so much while seeing this drama


    People simped for Yeon-Hoon and wrote all sorts of fanments about his song. There were some who also became very immersed in the song and dwelled in their sentiments. I nced at the chat box and looked back at Yeon-Hoon again.


    There was something about Yeon-Hoons voice that captured peoples focus. It was clear and gentle but not fragile. Instead of breaking by the slightest strike, it felt firm and strong on the inside. Simultaneously, a voice like this tended to sound bright and hopeful, but there was something sorrowful about his voice.


    It was a very rare voice in the entertainment business and Yeon-Hoons biggest hidden strength. If it had been any other idol, this would have been their main weapon, but because Yeon-Hoons visuals got the most attention, his singing abilities receivedparatively less focus. Soon, the song ended and people continued to writements in their excitement.


    How was it? Was the song good? I also cried a lot when seeing this drama. Yeon-Hoon instantly released the heavy emotions he had captured while singing and returned to his usual bright self. Though he looked cool while singing, he just seemed carefree and happy now.


    How was it Tae-Yoon? Did I sing well?


    I simply smiled at Yeon-Hoons question and said, Yeah, it was awesome. I gave him a thumbs-up and Yeon-Hoon said with a huge smile on his face.


    Did you all hear that? Tae-Yoon said I was awesome. Hes usually not the type topliment people like this.


    Hahahaha


    Their interaction is funny hahahaha


    The members are so cute


    It seemed people were surprised to see me genuinelypliment someone else. Though I didnt express it, I had always been impressed by Yeon-Hoon and felt awkward.


    Hey guys! We are trending right now!


    Wow, trending? Our guys are the best


    The chat box began to fill withments then. Though quite some time passed since Yeon-Hoon sang, his video was trending.


    Are we trending right now? Yeon-Hoon asked.


    Oh.


    Both I and Yeon-Hoon checked our phones. I looked us up and saw that our broadcast was really one of the trending videos. That seemed to be the power of Yeon-Hoons singing.


    Since we are trending, should we also hear our maknaes singing? Yeon-Hoon started.


    Ah, please. Originally, I wasnt a member who sang too well. I just used cheats like Insight to appear otherwise. Thus, I was going to refuse, but Yeon-Hoon appeared to have no intention to give up.


    Its a celebratory event that our broadcast is trending. You have to~ Yeon-Hoon pressured me, and people began to rmend songs in the chat box. This was a live broadcast we had turned off to escape our pitiful image made by the incident with Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk.


    <em>I should use Insight here. </em>The ability reset every day anyway. There was no need for me to save it.


    Then, I will just sing one song. Among the countless rmendation songs that were popping up, I chose one that I was most familiar with.


    I will find you the beat. Yeon-Hoon found the melody on his phone and turned it on.


    <em>Zing.</em> I activated my Insight at that moment. In the period that I was using Insight, I was able to sing at the level of most groups main vocalist temporarily. Perhaps, the viewers of this live broadcast thought the same andmented.


    Bong Tae-Yoon is crazy


    The <em>maknae</em> is also so good at singing?


    What in the world? Please marry me


    Though I nced at them quickly, it seemed positive responses were pouring out of the chat box.


    ***


    While Woon Yeon-Hoon and Bong Tae-Yoon were doing their live broadcast, it wasnt just Bluebird users who were tuning into their singing. Though it was for a limited time, Siren was receiving attention from the general public because of the incident with Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk. Whatever they did, peoples attention focused on them.


    Thus, videos of the two singing on their live broadcast naturally began to spread through Nutube, TikTak, and other major tforms. People who saw videos about Siren while learning about Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuks incident were brought to Yeong-Hoons and Tae-Yoons live singing by the algorithm.


    Since the issue with Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk was all in the rage right now, Sirens cover song videos also began to blow up quite a bit.


    Wow, are these guys Siren?


    Damn, they are seriously good at singing


    Even from the first verse, they are seriously good


    People who hadnt much interest in Siren began to be more invested in the group and videos of them spread farther. The public, who had simply thought Siren as pitiful and sad, began to have a change in opinion.


    Wow, its my first time hearing them sing but why are they so good?


    It sounds good because they are doing an easy song haha


    Reply: ? They can hit the high notes so well though


    I think they are the best at singing among idols


    People who heard Yeon-Hoons and Tae-Yoons songs also began to look up Sirens other stage performance videos. Clips that had been famous amongst only idol fans began to spread, and the algorithm brought these clips to more peoples feeds. Then, as more people learned about Siren, the incident with Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk resurfaced again. The people who learned of this news turned to Sirens live cover and past legendary performances, connecting therge loop again.


    Channels that created shorts, which were consumed for a short period and disappeared, didnt miss this hot keyword. As if they had been waiting for it, they took the videos that were already there, reuploaded them onto their channels, and took the lead in marketing Siren. As a result, dozens of videos containing the live broadcast clips were made, and seeing the view count for these videos, people created more videos with edited performance clips.


    As dozens of videos began to spread on different tforms, the. Keywords on peoples search engines changed. The big data that had treated Siren as pitiful idols this weekend began to change to a group that was seriously good at singing and on-live. In the entertainment business where a moment decision could change the performance of a quarter, there was no way Siren would let this opportunity go to waste.


    But perhaps, because the live broadcast that they made with this intention showed results that far superseded their expectations, the members appeared a bit baffled.


    Whathappened?


    We just went back home for the weekends a bit, but what happened in the meantime?


    WowThe responses that Tae-Yoon and Yeon-Hoon are getting are no joke.


    Kang Do-Seung, Lee Woon, and Park Dong-Jun were shocked by what happened in their absence.


    We should make a song this instance.


    Using the flow of the recent happenings, they nned to drag all this buzz to their debut.


    ***


    After Yeon-Hoon and my live broadcast became a massive hit, we also began to experience some changes in our daily lives. This Monday morning, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyun called us to thepany.


    Its seriously amazing right now!


    We dont have the exact data yet, but if you look at the videos with the keyword, Siren, their view counts basically increased by two times!


    But this is seriously crazy.


    It seemed the two had monitored peoples responses about us all weekend long.


    First of all, thepany is nning to release press to continue the growing public attention.


    If everything works out, I think you all will be able to achieve much better results at your debut than expected.


    It was almost as if Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were more excited than us but since this was all good news, I didnt say anything about it. Instead, I shared with them about the things we discussed this weekend.


    Its just what we talked about yesterday night, but since the responses we are getting are good, I think it will be good for us to push forward a bit strongly while the attention is on us.


    Push forward? What do you mean?


    We just talked about it yesterday, but


    There were two main points that we discussed about.


    I was wondering if we could release the teasers of the shooting we nned to release next week this weekend. The first point was to continue to release content to ride this tide.


    Furthermore, I think we should set our debut date as the third week of June, and pull all our schedule forward. The second point was the setting of our debut date, which hadnt been decided clearly until now.


    It wasnt me who first brought up the date for our debut. It was Yeon-Hoon who made the suggestion first while we were discussing the topic yesterday. If we were going to release the teasers for our shootings next week, he said that we needed to debut within a month, and the third week of June on a Monday was the most fitting time for it.


    I had been looking for my chance to make the same suggestion since my discussion with Kang Hyun-Sung to match our debut time around that time; but now that Yeon-Hoon brought it up first, I was able to easily pass over the issue and agree with it. Then, I revealed that I also heard from Kang Hyun-Sung that Only One was also nning to debut around that time.


    I didnt unnecessarily tell them the whole truth that it was our n to match our debut dates but added my own opinions of how debuting with Only One could have its good points and Kang Hyun-Sung agreed with me on this too. I worried that my members would disagree heavily with debuting at the same time as Only One, yet contrary to my expectations, my members epted the news positively.


    Thats good!


    We have to verse them anyways, its better to meet them when we have good press on us.


    We just need to work harder.


    As a result, we all agreed on the third week of June as our debut dateat least among us. We still didnt know how thepany would respond. Fortunately, Ms. Seung-Yeons and Ms. Hyunas responses were positive too.


    So, to summarize, you all are requesting to finish the shooting for the teaser by this week and debut on the third week of June?


    We will only know after talking to thepany, but thepany seems willing to listen and grant your requests as much as they can. So, I think its possible.


    It appeared thepany intended to support our decisions right now. Perhaps, it was natural since we kept producing great results without them doing anything. Thus, they probably thought it was better for them just to support us from the sidelines.


    Then, we will report this to the higher-ups!


    Until wee back, why dont you listen to a couple of songs that came from the A&R team?


    That was how Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna left and we quietly sat in the conference room and listened to the title song and side tracks that came from the A&R team.


    Haaa.


    Sigh.


    Its really getting to me now.


    Now that our debut date is decided and everything, its really hitting me now.


    There was no one among us who was really listening to the songs. While the tracks was about to automatically rey, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna appeared back at the conference room and confirmed our final debut date.


    Thepany approved the third week of June as the debut date!


    Perhaps, the system was aware of this and called out.


    [Mission Sess]


    [It has been confirmed that you will debut in the same week as Only One.]


    [You will begin your meeting with the second regressor.]


    <em>What? Right now?</em>


    It was suddenly giving me a reward without warning.

 Chapter 162

    Chapter 162


    Although I was not ready for it, the system said that that the meeting with the second regressor would begin out of the blue.


    Wow, were really debuting.


    The third week of June! Pweh.


    Lets work hard and really get good results.


    Furthermore, this was not a good situation for me to meet the second regressor as we were all sitting in the conference room and sharing our thoughts on the debut dates finalization. If a second regressor suddenly possessed someone other than Do-Seung, that would be a different problem altogether. I looked around, nervous to the max, when


    <em>Ziiing</em>


    I felt the world slow down like when I activated Insight. Suddenly, the world seemed to slow down, and then it stoppedpletely.


    <em>Sigh </em>


    <em>Its going to be this way?</em>


    My body was the only thing that moved at a normal speed in a frozen world. I got up alone from my seat. It was quite a unique experience to move alone in a world where everything waspletely still. If this were another ability given to me by the system and had nothing to do with meeting the second regressor, I would have been very d as this would be an excellent ability to dig up information or remove any dangerous elements that could pose a threat to Siren in advance.


    However, I was currently waiting for the second regressor in an extremely nervous state. First of all, I had to exclude Do-Seung, who was the first regressor, in the possible candidate list. This was obvious, but since he was the first regressor, I didnt think he would be the second regressor.


    From the hypothesis I made about thew of regression, I thought the system that regressed us randomly regressed another member from Siren once the previous regressor failed their mission, and the world that each regressor was in could not interfere with worlds in different dimensions.


    Since Do-Seung was called forth as the first regressor, I was curious who would be the second regressor.


    <em>I wonder how theyll be like.</em> As soon as Do-Seung, who was the first regressor, saw me, he hugged me tightly and burst into tears. Then he begged me not to fail the mission. Therefore, I thought the second regressor must have the same tragic story as Do-Seung.


    <em>Because if they hadnt failed, I wouldnt have regressed.</em> It would be a given that the second regressor failed the mission and saw the death of a member. Thus, I prepared myself before meeting them.


    <em>Ziing</em>


    Then, at that moment, one person, who had been frozen, began to be vitalized again and soon made eye contact with me. This person was the second regressor, as the system told me. But


    What? I had no choice but to look at the second regressor withplete shock.


    Bong Tae-Yoon! It was because Do-Seung, whom I met as the first regressorst time, was standing in front of me once again as the second regressor.


    Do-Seung? My mind was in a mess. The fact that the first regressor and the second regressor would be the same person went far beyond my expectations. The system didnt randomly regress the next person from Siren if one person failed the mission? However, I couldnt ponder about these questions any longer.


    <em>Bang! </em>


    Do-Seung rushed towards me. Last time, Do-Seung had rushed towards me to hug me. However, this time


    Ack!


    Die!


    Do-Seung!


    He waspletely different from before. Do-Seungs thick hands firmly grabbed my neck, and he was seriously trying to choke my neck and kill me.


    If it wasnt for you! Why did you suddenly disappear! Why! Do-Seung said something I couldnt understand and strangled me even harder. I tried all my might to get rid of Do-Seungs hand somehow. However, since he worked out as often as eating, I couldnt resist him with my strength.


    <em>Then I should use my weight. </em>Instead of forcibly prying off his fingers, I tried to press down on him so he had no choice but to let go. I turned my body to the side as much as possible using my weight to change my posture. Then Do-Seung, who was strangling me on top, was pushed to the side. Then naturally, his hand that was choking me also fell off. Yet, I knew it wouldnt take long before Do-Seung would inevitablye rushing towards me to make his second attack. They said the best defense was attack.


    Without any choice, I shouted, Do-Seung! Wake up!


    <em>Bam!</em>


    I punched Do-Seung, who fell to my side, with all my might. However, Do-Seung grabbed me by the cor and tried to choke me again.


    Die! Diee!


    Ha! Please stop! I got on top of Do-Seung and pressed down on him with my whole weight. I was trying to stop him from moving. However, there was no way I could beat him with my strength. If that was the case


    <em>Ziiing-!</em>


    I had no choice but to use my ability. I looked for ways to detain Do-Seungs movements in the best way using Insight.


    <em>The middle of his sr plexus, his Adams apple, both hip joints! I</em> started pressing as hard as I could on the areas I saw through Insight. I used both knees to press down on Do-Seungs hip, pressed his sr plexus with my left elbow, and pressed his Adams apple with my forearm as hard as I could. Then, even with much less force, I could stably detain him.


    <em>Swoosh!</em>


    However, I thought I had sessfully detained him like this, but Do-Seung fought back.


    Ackkkkkkk! He forcibly moved his hip joints while enduring the pain and changed his posture. Since his lower body broke out of my grip, my grip on him naturally broke, and in the end, I went down to the floor again and Do-Seung was on top again.


    Do-Seung! Please! Please get to your senses! Why are you doing this! I shouted with all the strength remaining in me. I had thought the same scene as before would unfold because it was the appearance of the second regressor. I hoped to exchange words of constion with each other and get advice on how to get closer to sessfullypleting the mission. Never in my wildest dream had I expected a hand-to-handbat like this.


    Youre asking me why? However, Do-Seung looked at me as if I was the ridiculous one. If you hadnt suddenly disappeared on the live broadcast of our debut stage, we could have seeded in the second mission! Woon died because of you!


    What did you say?


    Everyone died because of you! Do-Seung tried to choke me once again. However, it was different from before.


    Ack! It was a more tactful and precise choking method than before; he was blocking my airway more firmly with less force. There was only one reason why he improved so dramatically in this short time.


    <em>Insight? </em>Do-Seung, who was the first regressor, didnt seem to know anything about Insight or surprise missions, but this phenomenon could not be exined by anything other than Insight.


    <em>''...I cantst any longer!</em> My vision grew more and more dim; I desperately struggled to push away Do-Seungs body.


    <em>Ah</em> But my body was slowly getting weaker. Before I lost consciousness, Istly looked up at Do-Seungs face.


    <em>Hes crying?</em> I thought he would re at me menacingly, but he was ring at me with tears in his eyes. Do-Seungs tears began to fall on my face one by one. My mind began to be hazy, and thest decision I made was to


    <em>Swoosh.</em>


    I was able to put my hand over Do-Seungs strangling hand. A warm warmth hovered over the palm of my hand.


    [World lines have been restored.]


    Then, at the same time, I heard the systems voice, and Do-Seungs hand immediately moved away from my neck.


    <em>Gasp! </em>


    My blocked airways suddenly opened, and air swiftly filled up my lungs at once. Was it because I could finally breathe after not being able to?


    Huff, huff, huff, puff. My head felt dizzy, and my hands and feet were shaking. I rubbed the back of my neck and hurriedly looked around my surroundings.


    What? The world was still frozen. In that state, only Do-Seung, who had been strangling me, disappeared. No, there was still Do-Seung, but he was the Do-Seung sitting in a chair in the conference room, staring innocently into the air as if he knew nothing. He was like the other members, trapped in time and couldnt budge. I looked at the members frozen in time like that and felt a strong cognitive dissonance. Do-Seung had been rolling on the floor with me, trying to kill me just now, but now, he was just sitting over there as if nothing had happened.


    <em>No, for Do-Seung in this worldnothing really happened.</em> My head was in a daze, and I couldnt organize the thoughts inside my head. I didnt know where to start. Both the first and second regressor was Do-Seung. I thought we randomly became regressors if the previous member failed in their mission.


    <em>Is it perhaps a loop? </em>My hypothesis changed; we werent regressing in order. If a member failed at a mission, they were not reced by someone else immediately but regressed again and were given a second chance. My head spun, and I had more than a few questions. The Do-Seung, who regressed the second time, was not the Do-Seung I knew. He looked at me with eyes full of resentment, hatred, and hopelessness. My body trembled even now just imagining it. I couldnt imagine what I did in his second life.


    Judging by what he said, I thought<em>, Did the group fail because I disappeared on our debut day?</em> There was no other possibility than this. Because of that, Do-Seung failed the mission and a member died, and everyones life must have been ruined.


    <em>Sigh </em>My mind felt muddled.


    <em>Ziiing</em>


    Then, at that moment, the frozen world began to move again. Regardless of my will, my body moved as if it were being sucked into the chair where I was originally sitting. Soon, the scene returned exactly where it was before my meeting with the second regressor began.


    [You have finished receiving your reward.]


    The world returned to its original pace.


    Then lets finalize our decision on the title song and the b-side tracks and start recording. Do-Seung was speaking as the representative. Then he said, Tae-Yoon, can you write the lyrics as fast as you can when the songs have been finalized? If you need the rap lyrics, Ill work on them right away. Do-Seung looked at me and asked if I could write the lyrics quickly.


    I had to answer that question, but I couldnt easily answer as the image of Do-Seungs face as he tried to kill me just now didnt leave my mind.


    <em>Sigh. Lets forget it.</em>


    Bong Tae-Yoon?


    Tae-Yoon?


    Are you sick?


    The members started to worry about me when I couldnt answer. I didnt realize it either, but I must have broken out in cold sweat. Yeon-Hoon looked at me with worried eyes.


    [A surprise mission!!]


    [Reach more than 10 million views on the title tracks music video of Sirens debut album in a week.]


    [Upon sess, meeting with the 27th regressor.]


    [Upon failure, Precognitive Vision will be retracted.]


    I received another surprise mission.


    <em>What?</em> However, the reward for the sess was so random. A meeting with the 27th regressorit was a number that supported my time loop hypothesis.

 Chapter 163

    Chapter 163


    My head was in a mess. I didnt have an inkling as to who the twenty-seventh regressor was or what nth regressor I was. Continuing on that, I still had no idea what the identity of this system was. In the beginning, I simply thought the system was like a god.


    There were times when I thought it could be a demon who ced bets on mypanions lives and drove me to the toughest corners. Yet, seeing how all the results ended favorably for us every time, I thought it could also be a god-like entity. But after hearing the twenty-seventh regressors words and Do-Seung who attempted to kill me just now, I didnt know what to think.


    <em>Perhaps, its simply a phenomenon that loops for infinity.</em> I thought perhaps, this wasnt the work of some divine or evil entity but a mechanical existence that simply repeated the same sequence of events. Befitting the nickname I gave it, this system could be nothing more than a part of a giant mechanism.


    It could be a machine that simply received themand, <em>Lock Siren in a regression loop and make them suffer forever</em> and could be tormenting us until eternity. I thought the system was our assistant, but was that not it? Perhaps, it could be our final viin boss that was driving us into madness.


    Tae-Yoon, are you listening to me right now? Yeon-Hoon asked me then.


    AhSorry? Because I was so focused on thinking about the system and regression, I didnt know what was happening in the real world. Now that I regained my senses, I realized that my members were staying close to my side and looking at me with great concern.


    Whydo I look strange? I asked.


    Are you seriously asking us? You dont answer any of our questions and you are dripping in cold sweat. Even when we were approaching you, you didnt realize it and stared nkly at your desk. Yeon-Hoon said in frustration.


    Tae-Yoonare you sick? Should we go to the hospital? Woon ced his hand on my shoulder and asked.


    Are you hungry? Should we go eat something? Dong-Jun grabbed my hand and asked.


    Do you have a fever? Do-Seung extended his hand out to touch my forehead.


    <em>p.</em> I instinctively struck Do-Seungs hand away, hard.


    ?


    Tae-Yoon.


    AhIm sorry.


    Do-Seung looked at me wide-eyed in shock and Woon and Dong-Jun also stared at me in astonishment.


    I just sweated a lot soI didnt want anyone touching me, I exined, but it didnt change the awkward atmosphere.


    Ahyeah, its understandable, Do-Seung smiled awkwardly, but he appeared shocked that I had pped his hand away so roughly.


    UmIs everyone okay?


    Mr. Tae-Yoon, should we search a hospital?


    Not just us but Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were also at the conference room and looked concerned.


    Ah, Im fine. I forced a smile on my face and replied, I justneed to go to the bathroom for a bit. You dont have to worry about me. I got up from my chair and left the room.


    I will follow him. Yeon-Hoon also got up to follow me. I wanted to tell him not to follow me, but because I understood my members feelings, I let him be. Then, when I went to the bathroom and saw my face in the mirror, I realized why my members had been so concerned.


    HaSeriously I had broken out in cold sweat all over my body, and myplexion looked very pale. I turned on cold water and sshed my face. Then, I wiped the water droplets with a paper towel and looked at the mirror again. Yeon-Hoon was staring at me from behind in the back of the bathroom. The face reflected in the mirror looked very worried.


    Im sorry. I dont know why Im suddenly acting like this. I thinkI just got nervous thinking that we were really going to debut now. I just made up any words that came to my word to ease his worries.


    Did you meet the second regressor?


    Sorry?


    In the mirror, Yeon-Hoon suddenly asked me about the second regressor. I flicked my head around in shock, and then, my surroundings turned ck.


    <em>Shaaaa!</em> Yeon-Hoon wasnt where he should be. I was also no longer in the bathroom. There was no sky or earth, and there was only darkness around me.


    <em>What is this! </em>If I was locked up somewhere, I thought I could try to find an exit, but there was only darkness here. I didnt know whether my eyes were open or not. All I could say was, Yeon-Hoon?


    I didnt think it was the system that created this situation but Yeon-Hoon who had spoken to me through the mirror. The system had never ced me in a space with only darkness like this. I quietly looked around my surroundings. There was a time when I thought a whole other entity possessed Yeon-Hoons body, but after going through what I did today, I had an idea of who this entity was.


    What regressor are you? I thought this entity inside Yeon-Hoons body right now and the one who locked me in this dark space wasnt just anyone but Yeon-Hoon who had gone through multiple regressions. Hearing this, Yeon-Hoon began to walk out of the darkness.


    Thats not very important.


    How could he say it wasnt? I stared at the existence before me. He clearly had the appearance and exterior of Yeon-Hoon. The way he talked, his voice, and his gaze were all like Yeon-Hoon but simultaneously, not at the same time. It felt as if I was looking at two separate entities at once.


    Listen to me carefully, Tae-Yoon. Its not seeding the missions that are important.


    What?


    You wont be able to achieve what you want by following someone elses orders.


    What do you mean?


    Return to the very beginning.


    What?


    After saying words I couldnt understand, Yeon-Hoon left. Instead of answering my questions, he left me with more questions rising to my mind.


    <em>Shooooong! </em>The ck space seemed to constrict until it became as tiny as a dot and I returned to the bathroom.


    Hmph! I felt my legs give out. I quickly clutched onto the bathroom sink and supported myself.


    Tae-Yoon! Yeon-Hoon, who had been waiting for me from behind, approached me. Are you really okay? Lets go to the hospital! Im really so worried about you Yeon-Hoon crossed his arms with mine and said.


    I stared at Yeon-Hoon. He had apletely different atmosphere from the Yeon-Hoon who I saw in the dark space. I stretched out my hand towards Yeon-Hoon. I could reach for him and touch him, unlike the other Yeon-Hoon.


    WhyWhat is it, Tae-Yoon?


    No, its nothing. I withdrew my hand. Lets go.


    I tried to go back to the conference room. We didnt have much time before the debut and I thought I took up too much time right now.


    Lets go to the hospital first. What are you doing? Yeon-Hoon said in astonishment. You were breaking out in cold sweat in the conference room and wobbling in the bathroom. If you refuse to go to the hospital in this state, its like you <em>want</em> us to worry about you.


    Nobut.


    I dont want to hear any excuses! Lets just go! Yeon-Hoon shouted in anger and dragged me outside. Yeon-Hoon was rarely persistent like this but he appeared very angry right now.


    Okay In the end, I had no choice but to go to the hospital.


    ***


    As expected, the doctors at the hospital told me there was nothing wrong with me. Though they could do more detailed inspections, they said that they doubted anything woulde up when all my results wereing out as normal. It was natural since I wasnt really sick but just suffered the side effects of using the system.


    When I returned to thepany building from the hospital, Dong-Jun, Do-Seung, and Woon were still listening to songs in the conference room.


    What did the hospital say? Was there anything wrong? Do-Seung asked first.


    Yeah, they say hes healthy! Since hes slightly underweight, they just told him to eat well.


    Ahthank goodness.


    Sorry for making you all worried.


    I apologized to my members. It felt like I had ruined the mood on an important day when we were deciding our debut day.


    No, its fine.


    Its good that you dont have any problems.


    Since we are all here together like this, lets choose our title song and album tracklist.


    Yeon-Hoon and I sat on the conference room chair. But before that, I thought I had to mention something else.


    Im sorry for pushing your hand away that time. I was just surprised that time, I said.


    Ah, that time? Its fine. I already forgot about it. Do-Seung smiled. He had looked hurt when I pped his hand away that time but it seemed he understood because of how bad my state looked.


    Okay, then lets talk about the songs~ Dong-Jun got hisptop and turned on the music.


    Are the songs that Do-Seung wrote also included in the list? I asked.


    Yeah, there is. So, I wont vote but just watch you guys, Do-Seung said he would just watch us. I thought this was quite a cruel way to decide the songs, considering that we could not choose his songs.


    Im not worried because my song will get chosen, Do-Seung said with his arms crossed and backed away.


    Oh~ That confidence~ I want to purposefully pick something else now.


    Hey!


    Im just joking~


    Dong-Jun and Do-Seung bickered like they usually did. There was a total of ten songs on the list, and we needed to choose three among them. And among the three songs, we needed to choose the title song.


    While you and Yeon-Hoon were at the hospital, we all listened to the songs once each. But we are going to go through it again to vote, Woon exined and took a seat beside me.


    Then, I will really turn it on now~ Dong-Jun pressed the space button on hisptop and yed the song. Though I already listened to a little bit of this ylist this morning, it made me a bit nervous that I was listening to make my vote this time.


    Soon after, I listened to all the songs and it was time for us to collect our votes.


    Raise your hand if you thought the fourth song was the best.


    Okay, put your hands down now. Now, raise your hand if you liked the sixth song the best


    We all lowered our hands and only raised our hands ording to Do-Seungs voice. In the end, the song that received the most votes were:


    The third song got the unanimous vote while the sixth and seventh songs got three votes each.


    Thus, the third, sixth, and seventh songs were chosen.


    They are all songs written by me, Do-Seung said.


    What?


    Thats crazy.


    I literally just got the chills.


    Woon, Yeon-Hoon, and I genuinely felt chills that Do-Seung had written all three songs that we liked the best. I didnt know if our ears were trained to like his music by now, but I realized how impressive Do-Seungs talents were again. Only Dong-Jun protested.


    This is a hoax! Do-Seung is lying!


    You think I will be crazy enough to manipte such important results!


    Theres no way all these three songs are yours!


    Dong-Jun, you were the only one to have raised your hand at all three of my songs, so what are you saying?


    Ah, anyways, this is a hoax! Dong-Jun yelled and Do-Seung sighed. Like this, our debut song was decided.


    Can we immediately work on the lyrics now?


    Yeah.


    It was my turn to write the lyrics.


    I will write the drafts by today evening and try to finish all three songs by tomorrow morning, I said.


    Dont push yourself too much.


    You know that I usually write fast. Then, I asked Do-Seung to send me the song files by mail. But rather than working on the lyrics, something else hung on my mind.


    <em>You wont be able to achieve what you want by following someone elses orders. </em>This was what Yeon-Hoon told me in the ck space.


    <em>Was he saying that I shouldnt follow the systems missions?</em> I wondered. But if I didnt follow them, Woon would die.


    <em>Hm.</em> I felt conflicted. <em>He told me to go back to the very beginning. I </em>recalled what he told me.


    <em>No way.</em>


    A frightening thought came to my mind.

 Chapter 164

    <h4>Chapter 164</h4>


    <i>¡®Go back to the beginning.¡¯</i> Everything first began when we met a drunk-driving truck driver on our way back from a trip together in Sokcho. In my previous life, the truck driver was a despicable human being who insisted until the very end that the deaths of my members were not his fault. Of course, since it was not our mistake, he had no choice but to serve a prison sentence. Anyway, that was what happened in my past life but¡ª


    <i>¡®What the hell is he doing...in this life?¡¯ </i>Of course, the whereabouts of that truck driver might have nothing to do with the system.


    <i>¡®But I need to address anything suspicious.¡¯ </i>There was something fishy about this to just gloss over it. Since it was a huge car ident, I thought there must have been one article about it. I needed to find out what that truck driver was currently doing.


    ¡°Then shall we think about the title song after we finish recording?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do that.¡±


    ¡°I like that idea.¡±


    ¡°Yes~¡±


    Yeon-Hoon announced the end of the song selection meeting. Then he said, ¡°Tae-Yoon, do you want to work on the lyrics here? I heard this conference room has been reserved for the whole day.¡±


    ¡°Ah...is that so?¡± I thought that was great, since I needed time to think.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be practicing in the practice room down here. Call us anytime if you get stuck!¡±


    ¡°Yes, I got it.¡±


    ¡°I just sent you the apaniment file via email, so please listen to it while working on the lyrics.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Fighting!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll be working on the choreography downstairs!¡±


    ¡°Writer Bong, please write us some good lyrics!¡±


    The members went out of the conference room, saying they would entrust the lyrics to me. Soon, the conference room became quiet. I turned on theptop that was provided for organizing the meeting. I entered the portal site and entered the newspaper article page. After entering the article search, I set the date of the ident and searched for articles.


    <i>¡®...What?¡¯ </i>Without even searching much, the materials that I wanted came out very easily, and the most startling part was the headline of these articles.


    [Dump Truck crosses the center line on the Seoul Yangyang Expressway...Driver missing]


    Although it was a very simple and clear headline with just the facts, these were intense sentences. I wasn¡¯t surprised that the centerline was breached on the highway; it was the phrase ¡®driver missing¡¯ that caught my attention. After searching more rted articles, I put the contents together. The information was not much different from what I knew. A truck crossed the centerline and rushed into the wall alone.


    <i>¡®Where is that bastard truck driver?¡¯ </i>The problem was that the guy who killed my members went missing. It seemed that the driver hadn¡¯t gone missing from the beginning as there were people who pulled the driver out of the truck that was involved in the ident at the time.


    [I¡¯m not sure whether he was drunk or did drugs but...he screamed like ahhhhhk and ran away across the highway.]


    [I tried to catch him but what can I do...? He ran with all his might even while bleeding from his head as if his life was dependent on it...]


    [He ran with all his might, and he headed towards that hill over there.]


    The truck driver had run like a madman as if he was high on something.


    <i>Sigh...</i> My head hurt. Yeon-Hoon had told me to go back to the beginning, and it seemed that the secret seemed to be rted to Sokcho.


    <i>¡®For the time being, I should look for the truck driver.¡¯</i> I needed to find that missing truck driver. However, I didn¡¯t know where to find him or where I should even begin.


    <i>¡®...Even then, I have to do it.¡¯</i> I couldn¡¯t stand still.


    <i>¡®I should work on the lyrics first.¡¯ </i>Of course, I needed to get work done as well. I began to write the lyrics while listening to the melodies Do-Seung sent me.


    ***


    After I finished writing the lyrics, I came out by myself. I told my members that I was going to take a long walk to take a breather as I was stuck on my lyric writing. Yeon-Hoon told me it was dangerous and wanted to follow me, but I replied I was not five years old and stopped him from following me. Honestly, I didn¡¯t need to go and find the truck driver today immediately, and the way to Sokcho was far away too.


    However, I felt too uneasy just to stay still. This was a matter with my members¡¯ lives on the line, not mine. If I could get a step closer to the system¡¯s secret, I was determined to fly all the way to the U.S., not just to Sokcho. After going to the taxi stand near the terminal, I opened the front door of the closest taxi.


    I asked, ¡°Is long distance possible?¡±


    ¡°Where do you want to go?¡±


    ¡°In the middle of the highway heading to Sokcho.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s not possible, I¡¯ll look for a different person.¡±


    ¡°Um...I think it would cost quite a lot...¡±


    ¡°I can give it.¡±


    ¡°30?¡±


    ¡°Round-trip 50.¡±


    ¡°Hop in.¡±


    Fortunately, the taxi driver didn¡¯t know me, so I didn¡¯t have to worry about getting recognized as an idol. Since he was also not a talkative person, I could also avoid answering questions while driving there. While leaning my back into the seat, I finished writing the lyrics. I trimmed the sentences, cut down the words, and rearranged them. Frankly, it was not something I should do on my way to find the truck driver, but I needed to move fast.


    <i>¡®I don¡¯t have the leisure to waste time.¡¯ </i>Both the debut and finding the secret of the system were too important for me to stay still, and I had a high chance of regretting it if I hesitated to act for too long.


    <i>Sigh... </i>I pressed my brows from the iing headache and looked out of the car window. After the ident, I tried not to go to Sokcho as much as possible since even going to its vicinity brought up bad memories in my mind. Yet, in order to find the truth there, I needed to ovee my trauma.


    <i>¡®I have to go.¡¯</i>


    ***


    Due to my quick thinking, the taxi left around lunch, and I was able to arrive at the ce I wanted around 3 p.m. The taxi stopped near the point of the truck crash. It was a ce I didn¡¯t want to visit ever again in my lifetime. However, there was a saying that the more you tried to ignore a wound, the deeper it got.


    I never wanted to recall that scene again, but ironically, I never forgot about it for a second. I clearly felt this contradiction when I all too easily put in the address of the ident point on the navigation app for the taxi driver.


    ¡°What¡¯s a young person like you have business here? Hmm.¡± The taxi driver seemed disinterested whileing here, but once he arrived at the middle of the highway, he must have gotten curious.


    I put the mask and hat closer to my face and answered, ¡°I have something to look for here. Please wait here for two hours. I¡¯ll give you 300,000 won for now, and I¡¯ll give you the rest when I get back.¡±


    ¡°All right~¡± The taxi driver noticed I didn¡¯t want to say anything more and didn¡¯t ask me more questions. I left the taxi driver behind and headed to the hillside.


    <i>¡®That¡¯s...it still hasn¡¯t been repaired.¡¯ </i>Although the center line that the truck breached had been restored, the recessed wall had not been repaired yet. If we hadn¡¯t stepped on the elerator back then, that dent wouldn¡¯t have been on the wall but the vehicle we were in. It gave me shivers just thinking about that. I crossed the guardrail and went into the wilderness. I thought it would take about 30 minutes to get to the hill over there, so I had to walk diligently.


    ***


    At Only One¡¯s dorm, Kang Hyun-Sung scanned the recent incidents that involved Hwan Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk. Frankly, he had been wondering a while ago why Bong Tae-Yoon was just watching his members get one-sidedly beaten up like this. If it were the Bong Tae-Yoon he knew, Bong Tae-Yoon would never let this slide.


    It was to the extent that Kang Hyun-Sung wondered if Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk continued to say shadyments, he should step forward and say a word or two. However, seeing what happened now, he thought Bong Tae-Yoon must have had a n all along.


    ¡°Wow, Hyun-Sung. My throat is super sore right now. What if I can¡¯t sing tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be a baby.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s for real.¡± Only One Kim Ju-Hyun said in a joking tone.


    Only One was currently recording their debut album. It was a five-song mini album, and the song collection and producer selection had already beenpleted, and the recording had begun in earnest. Today was the first day of recording.


    ¡°Ice cream is the best for a sore throat? You think so too, right?¡±


    ¡°If you want to look sluggish by yourself in the teaser shoot on Friday, go ahead.¡±


    ¡°...I¡¯ll just take out the ice and eat that.¡±


    ¡°Good idea.¡±


    While Kim Ju-Hyun soothed his swollen throat with ice, the rest of the members began entering the living room one by one.


    <i>Yawn.</i> ¡°I''m tired.¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯m more nervous because we¡¯re recording <i>our </i>song.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung looked at each member of Only One one by one. He developed a sense of camaraderie with them aftering out on <i>The Showcase 2 </i>together, and they also became much closer while moving agencies and going through the entire litigation process together.


    ¡°Hyun-Sung! We¡¯re going to church together this week, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Can I tell my dad?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m just going to listen to the service in the back seat and go.¡±


    ¡°Of course~ If you sit in the front, it¡¯ll interfere with the service anyway.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, then let¡¯s go to church together on the weekend.¡±


    Park Young-Ho, a super Christian, worked hard to evangelize Kang Hyun-Sung several times, so Kang Hyun-Sung decided to go to church with him one or two times because of how hard he worked. Only One had now entered an internal period of stability. There was no one who was distracted, and all the schedules were also within Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s sights.


    As the group settled down stably, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s eyes headed slowly outside the group; towards a group that inevitably ovepped with Only One¡ªSiren. At the same time, he thought of Bong Tae-Yoon, the <i>maknae</i> of Siren. His thoughts about them were both positive and negative, but one thing was for sure.


    <i>¡®I wonder if he¡¯s doing well.¡¯ </i>Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s current status was always within Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s interest.


    ***


    It has been three hours since I climbed the hill. The time was well past 6 p.m., the sun was already setting, and the temperature was also falling. Fortunately, it was still May, so even if the temperature dropped, it wouldn¡¯t be very cold. However, the real problem was something else.


    <i>¡®As expected, he¡¯s gone.¡¯</i> I looked at the highway from the middle of the hill, and the taxi that had been parked there was gone. Since the two hours I promised him had already passed, it was natural that he would be gone by now. I didn¡¯t know if he left an hour ago or just recently, but regardless of the case, he was gone.


    <i>¡®I should have...gotten my driver¡¯s license.¡¯ </i>I waspletely isted on this random hill. Frankly, I hade up here recklessly, but I didn¡¯t really think I could find the missing truck driver as there was nothing that told me he would stay on this hill. Furthermore, the witnesses just said he ran in this direction, and no one said he was hiding here.


    Honestly, I hadn¡¯t expected to find the truck driver today.


    <i>¡®I need to find at least one clue.¡¯ </i>I needed to find a clue leaked by the missing truck driver, and I nned to find him by just this clue since I could infer in which direction he moved from that clue. Then, after specifying some of the bases that seemed to be the best ces to hide in the direction he escaped, I nned to go search for him around there.


    Although it was a reckless n, I thought, <i>¡®If I use Insight, it might work out somehow.¡¯</i> I thought that if I narrowed it down to a few more ces and got a few more pieces of evidence, I could somehow find the decisivest piece with Insight. In other words, to achieve the purpose ofing to this mountain today, I needed just to get one clue that the article might have leaked.


    <i>¡®Since it¡¯s been a few months, did Ie toote?¡¯</i> However, it was unreasonable to think that there would still be a clue left here. Wind, rain, and even snow hade down during this time, and I didn¡¯t know where and how important clues could have been swept away. I was nning to go back before it got darker, but an unfamiliar structure caught the corner of my eye.


    ¡°...What?¡± After looking around this hill for three hours, I could tell that it was not a ce managed by someone as there was no trace of people. However, what caught my eye was clearly man-made.


    ¡°...It¡¯s a trap?¡± It was a trap for catching animals. The moment I thought that truck driver might still be here¡ªno, or might have at least hid here for a while¡ª


    <i>Swoosh-</i>


    I heard someone¡¯s cautious footsteps approach me from behind. When I swiftly turned my head around and checked the figure, I murmured, ¡°...Crazy.¡±


    A man with frazzled hair, worn-out clothing, and trembling eyes filled with fear appeared into view. Although his appearance could be mistaken for a homeless person, I could never forget his face. How could I forget the face that insisted our members¡¯ death were our own faults and stabbed my heart a thousand times over?


    ¡°...I found him.¡± I hadn¡¯t know where to even start looking for this guy, but he rolled right in front of me with his own two feet.

 Chapter 165

    Chapter 165


    The truck driver looked at me in shock. He stared at me wide-eyed and began to step backward. Yet, I had no intention of letting this man go and clutched the drivers wrist before he could escape.


    AhAhhh! Truthfully, there was something that I wanted to do to him since I saw him in the courthouse in my past life. And now, we were in the mountains, there were no pedestrians here, and things like CCTV didnt exist in this ce.


    You fucking bastard This bastards drunk driving caused all my members to die. Yeon-Hoon was unable to wake up and my life went to hell. Yet, this guy wanted to salvage his life in the end and kept tainting our name without hesitation.


    Im sorry Though the man apologized to me out of the blue, I swung a punch at his face instead of answering. Though the man appeared shocked about the punch he received, that was none of my concern. I clutched the back of the mans neck. Then, while he was on the ground, I got on top and pounded on him relentlessly.


    <em>Gasp! </em>"UhLets talkit out!


    It was a rage that I couldnt calm no matter how much I hit him. I knew that I wouldnt feelforted nor the pain of my members deaths in my past life would lessen by continuing to attack this man. I could never forget and above all, <em>forgive</em> this man.


    Imsorry The man gave up on even resisting and I let down my fist. I got up from my spot and looked down at the man while pressing my feet down on the mans neck in case he tried to escape.


    You are the bastard who made an ident five months ago, right?


    The man didnt answer and gasped for his breath.


    <em>Press.</em> I pressed my feet on his neck harder.


    <em>Gasp! </em>The man red at me with bloodshot eyes and tried to protect his neck, but it was meaningless.


    Answer. It was you. I wanted to stop this meaningless questioning. I didnt want him to act clueless when I already knew everything.


    Yes, you are right It seemed the truck driver was willing to speak now. I pulled my weight off slightly so that he could breathe.


    The news said you went missing. Where have you been?


    I went around back and forth from this mountainand a private house and hid


    Why did you hide? Were you afraid of having to pay for the ident?


    Nothats not it The man hesitated to answer and rolled his pupils. It seemed there was something that was holding him back. In my past life, this man had obediently gone to the court. Of course, he was charged with a whole different level of crime from this life because his actions had resulted in the death of several people then.


    Even this time, if the police had caught him in the end, he couldve quietly gone to the court for trial. But there was something strange about all this. The people who had stood as witnesses to this man in my past life all gave the same testimony. It was that after the ident, they saw the driver running away from the scene like a madman.


    Furthermore, there was no way a sane person would hide like this for five months. Rather they had to pay for the ident or not, they would return to normal society. Thus, there were only a couple of possible reasons why this man wouldve gone for such a route, and I asked the most probable reason among them.


    Did you run away because you heard something strange inside your head?


    Sorry?


    Perhaps, he heard the systems voice like me. It was likely in a different way since I wasnt driven to madness like this man. I thought it was possible that there could be two systems. There was a system that rang in my ears and another that rang in this mans ears.


    How did you know? The man looked at me in shock. Though he had looked at me like a monster just before, he stared at me like I was some savior.


    <em>Crunch! </em>His look annoyed me and I stepped on his neck again. The man looked up at me with bloodshot eyes and scratched at my ankles. I thought we wouldnt be able to converse any longer if I put any more force than this and slowly loosened up my strength.


    Dont attempt to converse with me and just answer the questions I ask you.


    I began to hear strange voices since the day of the ident It seemed the man finally realized the situation he was in. It kept telling me to get on a car and kill people


    What?


    It said I had to kill someoneIt really drove me crazyI wanted it to stop butahah


    Who did it tell you to kill?


    I also donthuh?


    It was then the mans gaze changed. As if he had received some kind of prophecy, he stopped his actions and looked up at me with a deep smile. I flinched and felt chills run down my back. All my instincts were telling me to run away.


    It was telling me to kill <em>you</em>.


    It all happened in an instant. In the moment when my body was frozen in fear, the mood shifted. The man clutched my ankle hard. Before, I wouldve been able to easily shake him off.


    <em>But how he is suddenly so strong! </em>


    The man raised my ankle and pushed it off. His strength seemed to have increased at least two times more than before, and noticeable veins popped out from his wrists, ankles, neck, and stomach. It looked as if he drawing up more strength than his body was capable of enduring.


    Where are your members? His voice also changed. His expression and tone werepletely different than before, and the truck driver got on top of me and began to choke me.


    Youcrazy bastard! I tried with all my might to push him off, but it was futile. His strength seemed to surpass an ordinary human far now. As my consciousness began to wade, I recalled what Yeon-Hoon told me.


    <em>Why did you tell me to go to the very beginningYeon-Hoon?</em> When Yeon-Hoon told me to go back to the beginning, did he know that I would go to see this truck driver again? Did he send me despite knowing that or did he send me here without knowing it?


    <em>I needed to meet him! </em>It was then, that I became certain. Yeon-Hoon intended to send me to this ce. He told me that I couldnt achieve what I wanted bypleting the missions that the system gave me.


    In other words, I couldnt wait. I couldnt just obediently ept the missions the system gave me. I needed to draw out the system myself and sh against it head-to-head. This man wanted me dead. Rather than this mans will, it was probably more urate to say that was what the will of the other system ringing in this mans head wanted.


    Perhaps, this mans mission could be to kill me and the rest of my team members. Then, I wondered who would be in the worst predicament in this situation. If I thought about the bigger picture of things, it was the system ringing in my<em></em>head.


    This system continued to give out missions that led to my teams sess. In short, its will was for us to seed. Yet, what would happen if I strayed away from the route the system was setting up for us and died in the hands of someone I shouldnt meet the most? What would it do then?


    <em>Would everything end just like that?</em> I wondered what kind of deal was waiting for me.


    [Surprise Mission]


    [Escape the truck driver.]


    [Upon Sess, survival.]


    [Upon Failure, death.]


    Perhaps, it had been in such a hurry, but the system gave me a mission that made little effort in the sess rewards and punishment for failure. My consciousness began to fade. I would die at this rate.


    [Surprise Mission]


    [Escape the truck driver.]


    [Upon Sess, receive control over Future Precognition.]


    [Upon Failure, death.]


    Perhaps, it was pushing me to try harder by improving my rewards for sess. But I wondered what I could do while my neck was getting choked.


    Haaa! I felt oxygen deplete from my lungs.


    [Surprise Mission]


    [ept your reward.]


    [Upon Sess, receive full control over Insight.]


    [Upon Failure, death of all Siren members.]


    The system offered me the greatest aid it could possibly give me: a mission to ept a reward. This just meant that it was giving me a reward, which was full control over Insight. And if Ipleted this mission, I could use the Insight that I had limited control over as freely as I wished.


    <em>ept.</em>


    <em>Ziiing!</em> A much stronger Insight than before was activated, and time slowed down about a hundred times. I wondered what would happen if I gained full control over Insight before, but this was crazyI could not read the truck drivers mind.


    I have to killkillkill


    It was clear that this man had every intention to kill me. Furthermore, this strengthened Insight had more abilities than I thought.


    <em>Get off me. </em>One was the ability tomand the other party one-sidedly. The truck drivers eyes widened. He seemed astounded by the order ringing inside his brain.


    Get off?


    He wondered.


    Kill


    Then, he returned to his original thought.


    <em>Back off</em>. I repeated while looking into the truck drivers eyes again.


    <em>Slide.</em> The fingers that had been gripping my neck began to fall off one by one. I could breathe again, and my Insight ended.


    <em>Ziing!</em>


    Ha! Haa! I inhaled deeply to make up for theck of air in my lungs. My head felt like it was spinning.


    AhAh, ah! The truck driver stared at me nkly. Perhaps, he had finally gained his senses now, and he looked at me like he had no idea what he did.


    Ahhh! The truck drivers arms limply fell to his sides. Perhaps, it was because he had drawn up more strength than his body wouldve normally allowed, his arms drooped to his sides and he couldnt lift a finger.


    <em>His arms are all red.</em> It looked like all his blood vessels had burst and his muscles ripped. I stared at the man again.


    <em>Ziiing! </em>I activated my Insight again. Unlike before, the man had lost all will to fight.


    <em>Piss off.</em> Perhaps, because of that, the man immediately followed my order. Like a person under an enchantment, he moved down the mountain. After making sure that the man was out of my sight, I finally sighed in relief andy on the floor. Rather than just sending the man off like that, I thought it might have been better to try to collect some more useful information.


    <em>ButI think I shouldrest a bit</em> I almost died twice today. Before noon, the second regressor tried to kill me and in the afternoon, the crazy truck driver tried to kill me. Though I just let him go today, I still gained quite a reward foring all this way.


    <em>Ziiing!</em> Now, I was able to use my Insight ability without a time restriction, and it was powerful enough for me to makemands with it.


    <em>The only negative is thatit makes my head hurt like crazy. </em>My head rang as if I was going shoot out blood from my nostrils. I didnt think I could use this ability often and quickly released my Insight. Yet, this was smallpared to the other progress I made: I found out that in this world, there was someone besides me who received missions from a system.


    I didnt know if it was the same system that gave me missions, but the system had made a deal with me at a vital moment. That was the only time when I had the upper hand and authority instead of the system. Of course, I couldnt use this method often since I would have to keep risking my life, but this meant an increase in the options that I could take.


    It felt good that there was a way for me to pay back the system after only being on the receiving end. I got up from my spot and checked the phone. The current time was 8 pm. If I got in the car right now and left, I would arrive in Seoul around 11 pm.


    <em>Damn it. </em>The taxi was already gone by now and I had no driver''s license. There were only two methods that I could take now. I could call Yeon-Hoon toe pick me up. If I chose this method, things could really escte and be big.


    The second method was to ask Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna. If I talked it out well with them, I could keep things hidden but I felt sorry to bother people who were already off work. I was wondering what I should do when my phone suddenly vibrated.


    <em>Riing. </em>


    It was Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ? I suddenly had a third option now.

 Chapter 166

    <h4>Chapter 166</h4>


    I stared at the phone call I was getting from Kang Hyun-Sung. Although I considered him as my third option, I had second thoughts about receiving it. Even though I recently shared all kinds of conversations with Kang Hyun-Sung these days, we were not close enough for me to easily approach him and ask for favors.


    However, did I go crazy for a bit? Or, did my head go mad after a series of unexpected and life-threatening incidents today? I thought I wanted to take this call. People often said that one¡¯s judgment and thinking skills were significantly reduced when they were emotionally driven into a corner. Maybe I was in that state. Thus, I almost half impulsively answered Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s call.


    ¡°Hello.¡±


    ¡ªAh, you got the phone in one try today.


    Kang Hyun-Sung seemed somewhat surprised that I answered his phone in his first try.


    ¡ªYou ignore my call for days usually, so I thought that would be the case this time again but I guess not.


    ¡°I answer when I¡¯m not busy.¡±


    ¡ªYou¡¯re not busy? Shouldn¡¯t this be your busiest time?


    ¡°...I was on a walk.¡± His words hit right on the mark, so I had no excuse to make. It was true that right now should be the busiest time for me as it was decided that we would debut together in the third week of June.


    ¡ªCan you debut in the third week of June?


    ¡°Yes, we told the agency and received the final confirmation. What about on your side?¡±


    ¡ªWe also confirmed our debut in the third week of June. I think the teaser will be released sometime this week.


    ¡°...We are also nning to release the teaser this weekend.¡±


    ¡ªOur teasers would ovep first.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Meaningless conversations like this passed. What was important to me now was not to gauge each other¡¯s progress before our debut; we already did enough of that in ourst phone call. However, did Kang Hyun-Sung call me to talk about this again?


    ¡ªDid you decide on the concept?


    He kept trying to fish for more information.


    ¡ªDid you get the studio and the director of the teaser?


    I wondered what he would use this information for. Was he trying to follow thepany we were nning to work with? It felt like a conversation between the first and second-ce-ranked students in school during the exam period as they tried to gauge theirpetition.


    Since I couldn¡¯t go around in a circle like this, I didn¡¯t answer Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s question and just began saying what I had to say, ¡°Um...I came out for a walk and strayed a bit too far...¡±


    ¡ª...What did you say?


    ¡°I went on a walk and walked...too far...¡±


    ¡ª...So what?


    Yeah, it was understandable that he would respond like this. He didn¡¯t say this to mock me, but he really was genuinely asking me why I was telling him this.


    ¡°By any chance...do you want to pick me up?¡±


    ¡ª...What?


    I didn¡¯t even know what I was saying, so I doubted Kang Hyung-Sung would know. He probably couldn¡¯t catch the topic and flow of this conversation at all, since we were talking about the debut album, and I suddenly told him I came out for a walk and wanted him to pick me up because I went too far.


    Honestly, I was well aware that I was not in my normal state of mind right now. Even before I answered the phone, my sense of judgment and thinking skills were already at rock bottom. Today was a very difficult day for me, and my body and mind were alreadypletely exhausted. Right now, my mouth was just bbering on its own by impulse.


    ¡ªDid you drink or something? Aren¡¯t you a minor?


    Kang Hyun-Sung must seriously think I was drunk.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t drink.¡±


    ¡ªBut why is the conversation flowing like this?


    ¡°...Um, that¡¯s how far I walked. Can¡¯t you just think of it like that?


    ¡ª...You have no idea how much you¡¯re talking without context, right?


    ¡°No...¡±


    ¡ª...You know but you¡¯re acting like that?


    A random onlooker might think Kang Hyun-Sung and I were performing some kind of skit because of how bizarre our conversation was. When I became silent, Kang Hyun-Sung must have decided to give in and asked in a softer voice than before.


    ¡ªHa...So where are you?


    ¡°Sokcho.¡±


    ¡ª...?


    ¡°It¡¯s not all the way to Sokcho, but...I¡¯m on a hill between the Seoul Yangyang Expressway. If you¡¯reing here, you have to put the address on a navigation app."


    ¡ª...Are you filming a show right now?


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡ª...This makes...no sense...


    I had never heard Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s voice so flustered, and my face felt as if it was going to burn in shame. I sounded insane to anyone right now. Who in the world would ask toe all the way to Sokcho after saying they walked a bit too far?


    ¡°Are you not able toe?¡±


    ¡ª...Do you think I can?


    ¡°...Yeah, no.¡± There was no way anyone coulde to Sokcho at this time. The answer was obvious if I thought of it for even a little bit. I wondered what I thought of Kang Hyun-Sung, and I tried to force myself out of my dazed state. I started to get a bit of my reasoning back.


    <i>¡®For real...ha...this is driving me nuts.¡¯ </i>Now that I¡¯ve regained some of my reasoning, I realized how ridiculous my actions were. Because I had been worried about calling Yeon-Hoon and I felt too bad to call Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, I chose the worst possible option. Frankly, the more anxious one got, the worse choices one made.


    ¡°Um...in fact, everything I said was a lie.¡± Thus, I tried to fix the situation by saying the first excuse that came up in my head.


    ¡ªI wish everything was a lie.


    Kang Hyun-Sung must have noticed by now what happened to me.


    ¡ªI can¡¯t go all the way up to Sokcho. Well, there¡¯s no reason for me to be sorry but...sorry.


    ¡°Why are you saying sorry when you have nothing to be sorry about then?¡±


    ¡ªBut don¡¯t you usually call a cab in cases like that?


    ¡°Ah...!¡± My mind went nk for a moment when he told me to call a cab. My goodness. I couldn¡¯t believe I hadn¡¯t thought of this. I really must have been traumatized today, or did I hit my head too hard while fighting the truck driver?


    ¡ªI¡¯ll give you the driver¡¯s number that I sometimes call. He¡¯s a driver who does short or long distance or even ces that don¡¯te up in navigation if you just give him money. He also drives for a lot of people in this industry, so he maintains the utmost secrecy.


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    ¡ªCome back to Seoul safely. I¡¯ll end the call here.


    Kang Hyun-Sung said and hung up the call. Immediately, I received a text from him.


    ¡ªSecret call: 010-xxxx-xxxx


    It was the taxi driver¡¯s number. I stared at the number, and I felt embarrassed to death.


    <i>Sigh...</i> I couldn¡¯t believe I hadn¡¯t thought of this method. A strong sense of shame sprang forth in my heart. However, I decided to push off insulting myself as calling the taxi driver was higher priority.


    <i> </i> *


    The call taxi arrived. I thought he seemed like an unusual person from the very moment I called him. When I told him my current location and destination, he answered only the time it would take him to get there and the necessary expenses and immediately hung up. His strong will to not share any private conversations was clearly conveyed, and of course, I was very satisfied by his attitude.


    After waiting for about an hour, the taxi really arrived. He was a taxi driver wearing sunsses and a mask, and it felt like he valued privacy even more than me. Once I got into the car, he asked for my destination once more and immediately left.


    <i>¡®I can see why Kang Hyun-Sung sometimes uses his service.¡¯</i> There were often moments that needed to be kept secret while living as a celebrity, and due to the nature of our job, it was easy for people to recognize us, and we couldn¡¯t act carelessly. Thus, this was a taxi service that could be used during those times. However, there was one problem.


    ¡°One million won. You can give it to me in cash right now.¡±


    ¡°Yes...¡± The price was insanely expensive. Upon entering Seoul, the taxi driver searched for the nearest ATM and stopped there before reaching my final destination. I supposed he didn¡¯t drop me off at an ATM near my house because he didn¡¯t want me to run off without paying. Thus, he dropped me off at a ce where I couldn¡¯t easily run off on my own.


    It didn¡¯t feel pleasant to be distrusted, but I thought<i>, ¡®He¡¯s got a good system.¡¯</i>


    I strangely liked that he seemed to be a reasonable person. I inserted my card and took out a million won from the ATM. Since I didn¡¯t carelessly spend all my money, I still had some savings left.


    <i>¡®But it¡¯s still too much.¡¯</i> It was crazy to use a million won for a single taxi ride. When I returned to the taxi and handed him 1 million won in cash, it was only then did the driver nodded and left. On my way, I got a bunch of calls from my members. Dong-Jun texted me, ¡®are you ok¡ª?¡¯ and stopped and Woon and Do-Seung repeatedly sent out messages asking me where I was and if anything had happened. In particr, Yeon-Hoon kept calling me.


    I answered the phone, thinking that I had finished taking out the money and sorted out the situation somewhat.


    ¡ªWhere are you Tae-Yoon? Shouldn¡¯t you havee back before dinner? Do you know how worried we are about you? You¡¯re not sick, right? Did you go to see anyone?


    Yeon-Hoon bombarded me with questions, and I said, ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing like that. I''m sorry. I was working on the lyrics, and I went out for a walk because I got stuck...and the walk took longer than I nned...¡±


    ¡ªWho in the world goes on a walk all day!


    ¡°So I will...I¡¯ll quickly return home.¡±


    ¡ªWhere are you now?


    ¡°Uh...Well...Seoul?¡±


    ¡ªWhere in Seoul?


    ¡°Um...I¡¯m almost there! Then I¡¯ll hang up.¡±


    ¡ªTae-Yoon! Tae-Yoon...


    I one-sidedly hung up on Yeon-Hoon¡¯s call. I thought it would be okay because I was within an hour from the dorm anyway. I looked out the car window and took a deep breath. I felt like I was returning to my normal life now that I was talking to my members on the phone and taking the taxi; but in fact, I was extremely tired both mentally and physically.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s not easy.¡¯</i> I closed my eyes for a moment and organized my thoughts. I desperately needed time to calmly organize what happened today.


    <i> </i> *


    I took a short nap, and before I knew it, we had quickly arrived at our dorm. The time was 11:30 p.m. Although it went about 30 minutes over the time than I expected, I thought this was good enough since it wasn¡¯t the next day yet.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Get home safely.¡±


    I exchanged standard greetings with the taxi driver and left the car. Since he dropped me off at the apartment entrance, I needed to walk to the dorm. When I walked towards the dorm, I saw a familiar figure.


    ¡°Oh...?¡±


    ¡°See who¡¯s here. Bong Tae-Yoon is finally here.¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung?¡±


    Do-Seung was standing in front of the apartment.


    ¡°What...why are you here?¡±


    I wondered if he had been waiting for me here until I came back, but he said, ¡°Oh, I came back from the gym. I have to go at night so that I can exercise alone.¡±


    ¡°Aha.¡± He hade back from a workout.


    ¡°So, how are the lyrics progressing? Was your long wandering worth it?¡± Do-Seung put his arm on my shoulder and asked.


    Frankly, I had already finished the lyrics before I left and edited itter on. ¡°Yes, I finished it.¡± However, I couldn¡¯t say that, so I lied that the lyrics came out after a long walk.


    ¡°I¡¯ll look forward to it. It better be good, considering how worried you made all of us.¡±


    ¡°You can look forward to it. It¡¯s not bad.¡±


    I got on the elevator with Do-Seung. We pressed on the floor where our dorm was, and the door soon closed.


    While going up the elevator, Do-Seung suddenly said, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. I took a short nap after lunch today, and I had a strange dream.¡±


    ¡°What? What was it?¡± I wondered why he suddenly mentioned his dream, but the content of his dream sounded familiar.


    ¡°In my dream, we were preparing for our debut performance, and you suddenly disappeard.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you disappeared, but you were just gone. Anyway, we were shocked cause you suddenly disappeared on our debut day. We were angry and frustrated, but then, Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Don-Jun suddenly all fell to the ground.¡±


    I stared at Do-Seung with shock.


    ¡°And when I came to my senses...there was no one around.¡±


    ¡°...Do-Seung?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    The second regressor I met today had told me I had disappeared on our debut day. How did Do-Seung know that? I grabbed Do-Seung¡¯s hand.


    ¡°...What are you doing?¡±


    Paying no heed to his reaction, I used Insight.


    <i>Ziing¡ª!</i>


    The world came to a standstill, and my thinking was elerated. All the information in this space poured into my head one by one in real-time¡ªhow much tension force was on the elevator cable to hold us up, the materials of this space, and what height we were at now. Furthermore, I could hear Do-Seung¡¯s inner thoughts.


    ¡ªWhy is he holding my hand all of a sudden...what¡¯s going on...?


    I hadn¡¯t used Insight to hear thoughts like this. After using Insight several times, I realized a bit about the root of this power. The basis of this ability was literally the power to see through objects and people.


    It was the power to see the essence beyond mere appearance, and what I was trying to see was the essence. I wanted to know what was the true nature of Do-Seung in front of me, and why Do-Seung had the memory of the second regressor. I nned to backtrack that process.

 Chapter 167

    Chapter 167


    I looked at Do-Seung with my Insight. I wanted to confirm if the Do-Seung in front of me was the Do-Seung that I knew. Seeing how Do-Seung had the memory of the second regressor, I thought a small part of the second regressors persona could exist inside Do-Seungs body. This didnt sound like good news to me, as the second regressor was the one who tried to kill me.


    I would only see one identity if no other identities existed inside Do-Seung.


    <em>What the hell </em>I didnt expect this at all. I thought at most, a part of the second regressors identity could have remained inside Do-Seung but, this was


    <em>How many are there? </em>There werent just one or two but dozens of identities ovepping behind Do-Seung. Semi-transparent figures were bound tightly over one another behind Do-Seung, and among them, there was one figure that stuck to him especially closely.


    <em>Is that the second regressor?</em> I supposed. I extended my hand because I thought I could perhaps, detach this figure from Do-Seung right now.


    <em>No, its not possible.</em> That was beyond my control, and I counted each of the figures stuck behind him. One, two, three, fourthere was a total of fifteen figures.


    <em>Does this mean that he regressed fifteen times?</em> It was such an ordeal for me to regress just once. I couldnt believe Do-Seung did it fifteen times. I doubted if the mind of the fifteenth regressor at the farthest back was still sane. But as I looked at this long line of figures, another question popped into my head.


    <em>Also, I thought a consciousness from another world was regressing into this world. Does this mean thats not the case? </em>The system had told me the worldline was breaking apart whenever I met with another regressor as if the regressor wasing from a different world. Yet, I was able to see all the regressed identities attached to Do-Seung clearly right now without needing to destroy the world line.


    Then, why in the world did it say the world line was breaking apart when there was none to break? As I thought this, I realized something. When the system told me the world line crumbled, it couldve not meant that the regressors and my world lines were breaking, but the line between the superior dimension where the system was and the inferior dimension where I existed broke; and with it, the system couldve awakened the identities that were sealed inside my team members.


    I stared at the countless identities bound behind Do-Seung. Each of these was also Do-Seung, and my thoughts deepened.


    <em>Zing!</em>


    <em>Hmph.</em> My head began to ache so hard that it felt like it would crack. This was the side effect of Insight. I quickly unsealed my ability, and all the figures that I saw disappeared. The speed of the world returned to normal. Perhaps I had pushed myself too far, but blood also began to flow down my nostrils.


    Huh? Hey! Bong Tae-Yoon!


    Ah.


    Huh? The blood didnt stop.


    What! Hey! Block your nose!


    Even when I blocked my nose with my hand, blood flowed out between my fingers. My head feltpletely fine, and I didnt feel nauseous or anything.


    Butwhy am I?


    Thats not important!


    My nose showed no signs of stopping. In the meantime, the elevator arrived at the floor where our dorm was.


    Lets go to the hospital right away. Do-Seung clicked the first-floor button and smashed the close door button.


    It will be faster for me to run with you on my back than calling the ambnce right now.


    Umbut.


    What?


    Please keep this a secretfrom the others.


    Please.


    Fine.


    The elevator arrived back on the first floor and we ran to the hospital. I thought I wasnt suffering much physical damage while I was on the elevator, but now that I was trying to move, my legs shuddered.


    <em>My bodywont move </em>


    Do-Seung put me on his back and went outside. All his time at the gym paid off because he could run with a full adult-sized man on his back.


    <em>I should stopthinking for now. </em>The more I tried to think, my headache became more severe.


    ***


    Do-Seung looked down at Tae-Yoon, who was sleeping on the emergency rooms bed. It still gave him the shudders to recall how much blood had spurted out of Tae-Yoons nose inside the elevator out of the blue. It was his first time seeing someone pour out that much blood. Even the doctors had looked quite surprised to see him arrive at the hospital with Tae-Yoon on his back.


    The doctors quickly took control of the situation and ran a couple of tests, and now, Tae-Yoon was sleeping while receiving fluids.


    Are you this patients guardian?


    Ah, yes.


    The doctor came then to reveal the results of Tae-Yoons tests.


    First of all, the tests dont seem to indicate any significant problems.


    Sorry? But he spilled so much blood?


    Based on the test results, it seems that stress and fatigue are most likely the reasons for the nosebleed. That tends to be the reason why someone would have a nosebleed without any external injuries. Did this patient go through a lot of stressful incidents recently?


    Ahyes. Quite many things happened.


    That makes it even more possible that the cause is stress. After getting the IV fluids, I rmend the patient to rest for about two days.


    YesI understand.


    I know that seeing so much blood couldve been unsettling, but I dont think you need to worry about it so much.


    Then, after the doctor left, Do-Seung looked at Tae-Yoon again. Do-Seung thought perhaps, the problem was that Tae-Yoon had shouldered too many worries while not even eating properly. He personally didnt suffer any health problems because he managed his diet while exercising but the other members besides Dong-Jun seemed just to starve to maintain their weight.


    Now that he thought about it, all the members diet methods didnt appear all that healthy.


    <em>Ishould drag all of them to the gym and make them exercise,</em> he thought. He had been rmending exercise half-jokingly until now but for the teams health, it appeared he would have to force them to the gym now.


    <em>But what was that? </em>He forgot about it because Tae-Yoon had a nosebleed inside the elevator but there was something that hung on his mind. The moment Tae-Yoon clutched his hand, memories that had felt like mere dreams began to feel vivid, as if he had experienced them in real life.


    He recalled how Tae-Yoon suddenly didnt appear on the stage, and because of that, he resented Tae-Yoon and cried all night long. Then, he remembered fighting with Tae-Yoon after they met again. Though they were all fragmented visions, they felt more like a memory rather than a dream.


    His body shuddered slightly at the flow of unfamiliar memories, but he didnt dwell on them too much. It was because rather than the unfamiliar memories in his head, Tae-Yoon, who was bleeding in front of him, was much more important. Still, now that Tae-Yoon was fast asleep while receiving IV fluids, he had the luxury to ponder about these happenings.


    <em>What could they be?</em> Those events certainly never happened to him but remained in his mind. Was it some kind of dj vu moment, or were the scenes from his dream so vivid that they were messing with his head? He was thinking this when someone called him.


    Do-Seung.


    Ah.


    Siren members were arriving at the emergency room one by one. This ce was the emergency room and perhaps, the members were aware that they were bing public figures by now. They tried to make minimum noise with their appearance and quietly approached Tae-Yoons bed. Though Do-Seung promised Tae-Yoon that he wouldnt tell the other members about this happening, it unfortunately wasnt a promise he could keep.


    Other members would worry about them if they didnte back sote, and above all, this was something everyone needed to know when their debut date wasing up so soon.


    Are you all here?


    Yeah.


    Is Tae-Yoon sleeping?


    Yeah, he is.


    HaaaseriouslyTae-Yoon Yeon-Hoon looked down at Tae-Yoon like he was going to cry at any moment and Dong-Jun and Woon also looked at Tae-Yoon worriedly.


    Do you think it will be better for us to push our debut date? Woon asked and everyone quietly nodded.


    Though the third week of June appeared most ideal, what was most important was Tae-Yoons health.


    Lets talk to thepany tomorrow and push the date to July or mid-August.


    Yeah.


    Yeah, this isnt something we can rush


    All the members seemed to agree to push the debut date.


    No Yet, Tae-Yoon slowly opened his eyes to say no.


    What.


    When did he get up?


    Tae-Yoon, are you all right?


    But if you are this sick, it only makes sense to push our debut to ater date. Theres no reason why we have to stick exactly to that date.


    Tae-Yoon slowly raised his torso and looked back at his members. I stupidly overexerted myself. So, pleaselets debut on the third week of June.


    You came to the hospital twice just today. What do you think you can do in this condition?


    I will take care of my body really well from now on. <em>Please</em> Tae-Yoon said while clutching Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seungs hands. It was very rare for Tae-Yoon to request something so earnestly like this. Though he was the youngest of the group, he had always been the most mature and adult-like of the group.


    Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung softened to see Tae-Yoon finally act like the<em> maknae</em>. Still, they remained firm.


    Tae-Yoon, you have to consider your body first. Its not something you can just do because you want to, Dong-Jun said.


    Yeah, Tae-Yoon. Your health is most important. What are you going to do if you are having all these health problems at neen, Lee Woon was the same. Yet, Tae-Yoon didnt easily sumb to their opinions.


    Ourpany must also be producing reports and marketing images ording to the schedule. How can we put a halt to that? Tae-Yoon refuted.


    It cant be helped. Your health is more important.


    Furthermore, if we begin to push the schedule like this, ourpanys trust in us will fall. I dont want to start on a bad note.


    We can build up trust step by step going forth.


    Everything is going well for us now. If we lose this chance herethings could not be the same.


    Thats true but


    We have gone through so much to debut. So, please believe in me one more time. I really, <em>really </em>will manage my condition well from now on.


    Tae-Yoon began to convince Woon and Dong-Jun with his passionate arguments.


    <em>Haa.</em> Fine.


    Why dont you be discharged from the hospital first?


    In the end, they decided to back out and the Siren members all left the emergency room. They got in the car that Yeon-Hoon brought and returned to the dorm.


    Lets talk again tomorrow and sleep for now.


    Yeah, lets see how you feel then.


    Good night.


    Siren members greeted each other good night and returned to each of their rooms.


    ***


    [Mission Sess.]


    [You secured the third week of June as your debut date.]


    [No rewards for seeding.]


    At night when all my members were asleep, I woke up from the systems rm. I had been able to wake up at the emergency room thanks to the system just before too. While my members were discussing to push our debut date to ater date, the system shot rms into my head as if it was telling me to stop the situation somehow.


    <em>Haaa</em>. I looked up at the ceiling while smiling. Because I had a good sleep while receiving fluid shots at the hospital, I couldnt fall asleep easily. Though I pleaded to Do-Seung to not the others, I supposed it was a promise that couldnt have been kept. I cautiously got out of my nkets to not wake Woon up. Then, I went out to the living room and sat on the sofa.


    <em>It seems my brain bes overheated if I use Insight too much.</em> This was the truth I learned while getting carried to the emergency room. Though Insight was a strong power, it also came with huge risks because it was an ability that far surpassed a humans limits. Yet, it wasnt like I could keep refraining from using it either.


    I thought about the two missions that I was working up to right now.


    [Record 500,000 sales in the first week of album release within 2022]


    [Upon sess, progress to next mission]


    [Upon failure, member Lee Woon dies]


    There was one mission that ced Woons life on the line.


    [Reach 10 million views in the first week of release for the debut albums title song and music video.]


    [Upon sess, meeting with the twenty-seventh regressor]


    [Upon failure, Precognitive Vision retracted]


    Then, there was this sudden mission about the music videos view count. I tapped the sofa with the ends of my fingers and pondered. There were fifteen figures behind Do-SeungAnd the second regressors memories that were more deeply attached to Do-Seungs sideThe systems message that the world line broke


    Ibined all this information to think of what the systems weak point and secret was, and what I could do. I couldnt continue to y a game where the system pulled me here and there out of my own will. I needed to make the system work for me at times.


    <em>Then, I should try to change one of the missions. </em>


    I needed to change one of the missions ording to what I wanted.

 Chapter 168

    <h4>Chapter 168</h4>


    I used Insight once again.


    <i>Ziiing¡ª!</i>


    I thought the system might be getting tired by now; it probably had no idea I would use Insight so much after giving me full power over Insight in a state of urgency. I also didn¡¯t expect to use it this much either. However, as I kept using it, I felt that events where I needed to use it kept increasing.


    <i>Tick, tick, tock...</i>


    The sound of the clock¡¯s secondhand moving slowed down, and I sat still and stared into space as time slowed down a hundred times more. What I was trying to do now could be quite reckless as I was trying to challenge the system¡¯s authority. However, I recalled the mission in my head once again.


    Then, the memory began to ¡®ring¡¯ in my ears. This part had been a pet peeve of mine for a long time. Usually, missions didn¡¯t ring in user¡¯s ears in stories; instead, they normally saw them in front of them with their eyes. Of course, since this was my first regression, I had no clear basis to judge whether this was normal or abnormal, but I intuitively thought that the system¡¯s way of rying missions by ¡®ringing¡¯ them in my ear was abnormal.


    Thus, ¡®<i>I¡¯m going to make it visible.</i>¡¯ I nned to make all my missions float in front of my eyes like a status window, and that was why I thought this wasn¡¯t going to be easy, as it was something that intervened with the system¡¯s authority. I stared at one point in the air, using my Insight.


    Insight was a power that let people see through the very essence of things, and after using it multiple times, I realized that depending on where I focused on, the amount of information that entered my head varied. For example, if I intently focused on the TV, information about the TV poured into my head more intensively. And what I was focusing on right now was empty space; it was a nk space with no information to deliver. Perhaps the system knew what I was trying to do as a notification rang inside my head.


    [You do not have permission to ess this function.]


    However, I paid no heed to the system¡¯s voice and kept looking at the air. The deeper I focused my Insight into the empty space, the more I could see beyond the outward information I could see with my bare eyes. This was also a whole new ying field for me. After all, who would try to look at the very essence of the world- at least, unless they were Greek philosophers from a long time ago.


    However, I continuously stared at one spot in the air until I could see through the inside and outside of this small space, which was the size of about an A4 paper. I began to write down the contents of the mission one by one on top of that space.


    <i>Ziiiing¡ª!</i>


    Did I use too much of Insight again? I began to have a headache again. However, I ignored it and continued to increase my concentration.


    <i>Zzzskkkk-!</i>


    Letters began to rise one by one over the air.


    [You do not have permission to ess this function.]


    Even though the letters were alreadying up, the system kept telling me I didn¡¯t have ess to this information.


    [You do not have permission to ...]


    The system seemed to now slowly get to the point where it couldn¡¯t urately assess the situation due to unexpected errors, so it suddenly stopped while talking.


    <i>¡®It must have literally been a system.¡¯</i> My thoughts that the system was like aputer code that utilized specific input and output values solidified.


    <i>¡®But besides that, I should concentrate.¡¯</i> I focused on engraving the mission into the air. Frankly, I wanted to engrave Woon¡¯s death mission in the air and rewrite his risk of death. However, since it was close to the so-called ¡°main¡± missions that the system periodically gave, I thought the system would have strongly protected the conditions from changing. Furthermore, the moment I tried to engrave that mission in the air, I felt a strong resistance, as if the Insight woulde off.


    Thus, I approached the music video view count mission, which was given as a ¡®surprise mission,¡¯ and I was able to make it appear into the space the size of an A4 paper much easier than Woon¡¯s death mission. This feeling felt simr to pulling a file from aputer desktop. And as a result, I was able to do the following:


    [Get more than 10 million views on the music video for the title track of your debut album in a week.]*


    [Upon sess, meeting with the 27th regressor.]


    [Upon failure, Precognitive Vision will be retracted.]


    <i>¡®...I did it!¡¯ The ¡®status window¡¯ of the surprise mission appeared in front of my eyes. I raised my hand and touched that ¡®window.¡¯</i>


    I could not only touch it but rewrite the contents myself. ¡®Let¡¯s fix it.¡¯ My goal right now was to modify the sess reward of this mission. However, in order to modify the reward of this sess, I needed to first modify the content of the mission as even while using Insight, I couldn¡¯t change every mission as I wanted to. Thus, I tried to change the mission first, but¡ª


    [You do not have permission to ess this function.]


    The system that I thought was down came back.


    <i>¡®What?¡¯</i>


    <i>Shahhh-</i>


    It deleted the mission window that I left in the air. I looked at the same spot once again, wondering if the system was trying to fight with me, but¡ª


    <i>Ziiing¡ª!</i>


    I ran into the limits of my Insight. It felt like I was going to get a nosebleed¡ªno, nosebleeds were the least of my problems.


    <i>¡®...My head...</i>!¡¯ My head hurt so much that I was worried I might copse. After going to the emergency room after a nosebleed, I might fail to debut in the third week of June if I fainted on this sofa.


    <i>Swoosh!</i>


    <i>Gasp! </i>Thus, I had no choice but to deactivate Insight. However, I might have strained myself too much.


    <i>Drip.</i>


    Blood dripped down my nose. Although it wasn¡¯t pouring like before, I couldn¡¯t help feeling peeved.


    <i>Sighh.</i> I pulled out a tissue and wiped my nose. My head rang so much that it was hard to sit down. I stretched out on the sofa and looked at the ceiling. I was so close to changing the mission. However, judging by the fact that I failed at the end, it appeared the system did not ept my bet unless I was at the brink of death.


    <i>¡®As expected...unless I push the system by putting my life in danger, it won¡¯t work.¡¯</i>


    I guess I got arrogant after I sessfully made a deal with the system for the first time today. However, if I had to risk my life to make a bet with the system every time...


    <i>¡®I¡¯ll have a really short life.¡¯ I thought I should give up on good health and a </i>long life by now.


    <i>¡®Let¡¯s aim for another chance.¡¯</i> Preparing for our debut was urgent right now. After clearing my cluttered mind, I went back to my room.


    <i>***</i>


    We made our final push for our debut again the very next day. The A&R team immediately passed the lyrics I sent out without much feedback. They gave a generalment that they were good enough to be used as it was without additional revision.


    <i>¡®Is this okay?¡¯</i> I wrote these lyrics while dealing with many incidents. Of course, I hadn¡¯t written them carelessly, but I sent them with the intention that I would have to revise them a few times.


    <i>¡®I must have gotten better at writing lyrics.¡¯</i> In the end, I concluded that my songwriting skills got better than I thought.


    Besides the system and missions, various idents and incidents urred while preparing for our debut.


    ¡°Hey! Park Dong-Jun! I told you to stop putting tilde every time you talk!¡±


    ¡°How can a person put a tilde whenever they talk~¡±


    ¡°See, see! Even now! Please stop putting weird symbols while recording!¡±


    ¡°Geez, you sure talk a lot.¡±


    ¡°What did you say, punk?¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re so good, youe and do it!¡±


    ¡°This brat!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhhh!¡±


    Do-Seung and Dong-Jun had a huge blowout once while recording. Of course, considering their personalities, it was not a huge conflict that would impact their rtionship in the long run.


    ¡°Wooow! He really hit me! Kang Do-Seung is hitting a person!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the one who pushed your face towards me so that I could hit you. And I didn¡¯t hit you. I just pushed you a bit!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh! I can¡¯t hear you!¡±


    <i>Sigh.</i> ¡°You¡¯re so annoying. What the hell!¡±


    I always thought that Dong-Jun might get hit someday if he continued to act like that, but he finally got hit by Do-Seung that day. Of course, Do-Seung didn¡¯t really hit him. When Dong-Jun kept pushing his head towards him, Do-Seung just pushed Dong-Jun¡¯s head to the side in frustration. However, due to his massive strength, just a push from Do-Seung inflicted significant damage.


    This was a small conflict that urred before the debut process, and a slightly bigger conflict came to me.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, there are people who saw you in the emergency room. Did you check the responses?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡± The fact that I was taken to the emergency room spread among fans, and there were signs of spreading into a controversy. Of course, the size was not big enough to be called a real controversy so it could be used as a method to stir up one more buzz before our debut. However, I didn¡¯t want to get attention in a way that made our fans nervous.


    So I said, ¡°I just got reviewed by the PR team to post on social media before I came into the recording studio. They said they would check one sentence that might pose a problem and upload it right away.¡±


    ¡°Oh, really? Thank goodness.¡± Woon sighed in relief.


    In perfect timing, I got a SNS notification, and the official statement I wrote was posted on SNS. The content was simple. In a bit more polite and formalnguage, I ryed to my fans that I went to the emergency room for a bit because I didn¡¯t properly take care of my body and got some IV to recover from fatigue. I had no health problems at all and would take better care of myself. I apologized for making my fans worried and told them that I¡¯d be a more professional Bong Tae-Yoon of Siren.


    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s well written!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief then.¡±


    My statement must have been epted well without misunderstandings as spections about the agency and the team quickly faded and began to return to normal. After Dong-Jun came out, I went inside and began recording. Then Woon went in and recorded his part. Lastly, Yeon-Hoon went inside and recorded.


    ¡°Wow, Do-Seung, you could smile like that?¡±


    ¡°What now?¡±


    ¡°Booo, Kang Do-Seung shows so much favoritism...¡±


    ¡°Be quiet.¡±


    As soon as Yeon-Hoon started singing, Do-Seung broke out into a wide smile. Then, he pressed the talkback button and said, ¡°Yeon-Hoon,e out. It was perfect.¡±


    ¡°Oh, really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it was!¡±


    Like this, the debut recording had entered its final stage. Our preparation for our debut progressed fast but stably as we had been waiting and looking forward to it for a long time.


    <i>***</i>


    It was Sunday weekend afternoon. People who were fans of Siren and Only One, started to get busy on Bluebird as everyone already knew that both Siren and Only One were going to release their first teaser today. There were many people who felt upset that Siren and Only One¡¯s teasers ovepped, considering that they were rivals in<i> The Showcase 2</i>, but thanks to their famous rivalry, both groups¡¯ debut became famous in the idol industry and garnered new viewers and fans.


    ¡ªAh, I can¡¯t wait any longer!


    ¡ªfuck Won-Dong!! Hurry up and release the teaser!


    ¡ªToday...is the day Siren¡¯s teaser ising out...please give a lot of attention...


    Siren fans seemed to focus only on their idols instead of being conscious of the fact that Only One was releasing their teaser on the same day. Their biggest interest was the teaser¡¯s concept, whether it was an individual or group teaser, the beat of the song, and the outfit. And while Siren fans chatted and predicted the debut concept amongst themselves that evening, the teaser was finally released on Siren¡¯s official SNS.


    ¡ª???


    ¡ªTae-Yoon...?


    Contrary to expectations that the group¡¯s concept would be clearer once the teaser was released, fans became even more confused.

 Chapter 169

    Chapter 169


    Tae-Yoon???


    I dont know whats going on but thank you


    Hahahaha I cant grasp the concept even more after seeing the teaser


    Wowlook at the scale of this teaser!! Siren is finally getting it


    The evening that Siren uploaded their teaser, numerous response posts began toe up on Sirens fans feeds. This was surely a positive flow of events since a teasers main purpose was to market the music video and raise fans expectations. Yet, Sirens teaser raised more questions than expectations.


    How can a thirty-second video change genres three times?


    The moment they began to predict what sort of concept the group would do, the next scene broke their predictions.


    Wow, Tae-Yoon fits the pure, refreshing concept so well


    Reply: What are you talking about; hes a sexy dynamite here


    Reply: What are you all talking about? Hes the strongest boss character


    Reply: hahaha this is chaos


    Reply: All this came from one teaser?


    People took images from the teaser video and yed with them, pretending as if each of the images came from separate performances. Though various responses poured out, they were positive overall. This was because although several concepts came out at once, the visual quality of each concept was high, and people could tell that great efforts were made for the teaser.


    Regardless of everything else, the beat smells like a lot of money was used


    Reply: They seriously got some sick beats


    Reply: Did Kang Do-Seung produce the song again?


    Reply: Yup


    Reply: I see that you like our genius ck cat, Kang Do-Seungs beatplease stay tuned until June 20th for Sirens debut


    Even ces that didnt have much interest in Siren began to mention the teaser. In the idol market, positive responses were a great marketing phenomenon.


    So, what is the concept again?


    I am also curious about that haha


    Ah, I just came back from watching it again


    Those who werent part of Sirens fandom clicked to see Sirens teaser, and they all gave the same responses.


    Ah, damn it. So, what is their concept exactly!


    In the end, Sirens debut concept couldnt be pinpointed.


    ***


    This was the Sirens teaser video that people were so confused about. The opening scene started with Tae-Yoon sitting at the back of a ssroom.


    He doesnt look like a neen-year-old but when he wears a school uniform, its so fitting


    He kind of looks like the school gangster that is only nice to me


    Reply: Hahaha I think know what you mean


    Tae-Yoon looked outside the window with his hand on his chin. The bell eventually rang and people in the ssroom broke into a chatter.


    <em>Booom!</em> Then, an abrupt explosion sounded, and the screen turned ck. A beat that was most likely the albums title song began to flow out. Minimal base sounds began to spur out intermittently and created a medium-tempo beat that felt heavy and luxurious at the same time. The video continued to y.


    ???


    What happened to all the ssmates??


    The school burned in a fire, and Tae-Yoon staggered away from the burning school with blood on his uniform. He heaved while walking like he had juste back from a fight. It was a question of whether this was the beginning of an apocalypse or a high-teen action genre.


    <em>Kieeeeeh!</em> A monsters screech suddenly wailed and the screen shed. Inside a city in ruins, Tae-Yoon sat on top of irregr lumps that appeared to be strange, alien-like creatures. His school uniform also changed to a different outfit. He was wearing a mask with a strong cyber technology design and a ck battle uniform from top to bottom. He looked ready to shoot out fire from his hands and battle monsters in this instance.


    What the hell? Is this actually a superpower genre??


    Our Tae-Yoon is a S-rank Superhuman?!


    Hahaha What is this constant change of genres?


    A scene that had shown a high-schooler leisurely looking outside the window ended with an image of a superhuman surveying in his surroundings after beating up monsters. It was a teaser that was hard to summarize with just one line.


    SoTae-Yoon, who was an ordinary high schooler, was actually a superhuman strong enough to destroy the whole school, and in the future, he bes powerful enough to beat monsters on his own? This is just my thought


    Reply: Hahaha A webnovel is made just like that


    To make a connection between these abrupt images, people came up with their own stories. Many gave their theories and others who were more skilled basically wrote the storyline of a high-quality novel. This became another marketing ploy and acted as a trigger to pull in more interest. Though it was from a group that just debuted, the teaser was gaining interest from various fields because of all the money that had been poured into it.


    It just looks <em>so</em> expensive


    It looks as if they dumped money into this thing


    I thought thepany would try to think about the cost-effectiveness of the video more, but it looks like they went all out


    After reading all these responses, Tae-Yoon from Siren calmly turned off his phone. Then, he murmured to himself worriedly, <em>Its iffy. </em>


    Though everyone said the video looked expensive, was great, and was interesting, Tae-Yoon wasnt trending first on Bluebird.


    <em>Why cant I overtake the ranks?</em> he wondered.


    1rst. Kang Hyun-Sungs teaser (65,819)


    2nd. Bong Tae-Yoons teaser (65,575)


    Though it was a small difference, he couldnt surpass Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ***


    My members and I had been foregoing sleep and y toe all this way to the teaser reveal. Since we needed to finish all our work in just a week, even sleep felt like a luxury. We couldnt sleep more than two hours, and even those two hours were spent on the car or getting our hair or makeup done at a salon. Yet, thanks to that, we were able to reach the level of quality that we wanted from the teaser. Thus, I organized my thoughts calmly after seeing the teaser.


    The teaser was definitely well-made. Its quality was high, and the fans responses were great.


    <em>But we arent number one. </em>


    My teaser kept falling behind Kang Hyun-Sungs teaser on Bluebird by a small margin. Fortunately, only our trending rank was second, and the view count for our teaser was twice as high. That was probably because of how impactful our video thumbnail wasit was a suspenseful, sci-fi apocalypse shot of me sitting on top of a pile of monsters. This image probably appealed to not only idol fans but also others who liked these subculture genres.


    But for teaser videos, it wasnt the view count that was so important. The important part was the Bluebird response since the responses there were significantly close to the main market responses.


    <em>And in that area, I amgging behind Kang Hyun-Sung.</em> It wasnt like I was that far behind, but I appeared to becking in some ways. Of course, it wouldve been also very shocking for me to beat Kang Hyun-Sung since the only one in my team who had a chance of beating Kang Hyun-Sungs fandom was Yeon-Hoon. Considering this, perhaps, it was amazing that my teaser had been able to go so neck-to-neck with Kang Hyung-Sungs teaser.


    Should weall look at Only Ones teaser together? It was then, Yeon-Hoon asked.


    My members and I gathered in front of the table in the living room. Though nobody had been saying anything, we were all quite curious about what kind of teaser Only One uploaded. Yet, I was certain that the quality of our video would be superior.


    <em>I meanwe dumped loads of money into this.</em> Our teaser had many VFX effects, and to achieve this sort of quality and quantity of VFX effects in the short time frame we had, thepany had to amass numerous human resources and employ all of them. The VFX effects alone wouldve cost as much as most idol music videos.


    Are you going to turn it on?


    Yeah.


    We yed Only Ones debut teaser video where only Kang Hyun-Sung came out.


    ? I had been sure that Only Onespany could top ourpany in terms of the money and resources we could employ. Since ours was a jointpany that one of the leading national corporations created, I thought the difference between our capital and Only Onespany would be huge.


    <em>But what are these guys?</em> It seemed I had to change my judgment of AnotherOne. I simply thought thepany was made up of very skilled individuals, where each person did the work of a hundred.


    <em>But they also have a lot of money? It</em> seemed not only were they skilled, but they also had a lot of capital. Why couldnt they just have one? Our boss, Yoo Won-Dong suddenly felt even more useless then.


    ***


    Only Kang Hyun-Sung appeared in Only Ones first teaser. The teaser began with Kang Hyun-Sung sitting in a dark background. Then, someone lit up a torch, and light entered arge concrete area. Inside the dancing fire sparks, a golden throne came into view. The quality of the set was high enough to use as a background for an overseas TV series.


    <em>Thud, thud.</em> Leather shoes thumped on the ground, and footstep sounds rang across the whole cavity. Soon afterward, Kang Hyun-Sung appeared in a ck suit and walked while holding a crown. He looked both listless and dangerous at the same time.


    Kang Hyun-Sungs face came into view amid the flickering torch lights, and his resolute pupils stared toward the camera screen. Then, he slowly sat on the throne with his crown loosely hanging from his fingers. Like a person who lost all happiness in life from the torch lights, he stared arrogantly and nkly at the screen.


    <em>Boom! </em>The castle walls began to crumble with an explosion.


    The screen shed and the date of the release date and song title came into view.


    22.06.20


    First one


    The teaser ended with those letters. Inparison to Sirens teaser, which contained as many various images as possible within thirty seconds of the teaser to spark peoples curiosity, Only Ones strategy was to pull out the quality of one scene to its highestpletion and raise peoples expectations for the forting album.


    Ah, Kang Hyun-Sung is insane!!


    I screamed as soon as I saw this


    Our genius idol is always at his peak


    After seeing Kang Hyun-Sungs teaser, Sirens members quietly stared at the screen.


    Its amazing.


    They alsohave a lot of money


    It looks so elegant and luxurious


    Though everyone tried to repress another thought to their mind, Tae-Yoon muttered without meaning to, What if we cant get first ce in music shows at this rate?


    Hey!


    lla! I didnt hear anything~


    Dont say things like that! Its bad luck!


    HaaaTae-Yoon, you rascal


    I feared that we would keep falling behind and ying catch-up with Only One during our entire activity time.


    ***


    Hyun-Sung, did you see Sirens teaser?


    Yeah, I did.


    Doesntitmake you a bit nervours


    Hm.


    Yet, ironically, just like how Siren had felt threatened after seeing Only Ones teaser, Only One also felt the same about Sirens teaser.

 Chapter 170

    Chapter 170


    Late that night, Kang Hyun-Sung watched Bong Tae-Yoons teaser again and again. Until the very moment they filmed their teaser, they had been confident that they would win no matter what concept Siren brought forth. AnotherOne was supporting every part of their debut process with maximum production cost, and the producers selected by Kang Hyun-Sung were people who were considered the best in their field. But


    Moneyis truly terrifying He took off his sses and pressed his eyes tightly. AnotherOne secured all talents that could be considered the best in the industry. Thus, no matter what kind of talent Siren brought in, they would have been the second-best talents in the industry. Of course, the broadcasting industry was big and there were many hidden masters, but Kang Hyun-Sung thought Siren would not be able to find great talents in such a short time. Thus, there was only one reason why this teaser came out so well.


    How much money did they pour into this? Since they took the industrys top talents, they must have ovee that with sheer numbers and size. One could tell just by looking at the quality of the VFX used in Bong Tae-Yoons teaser. This was not something that could ever be aplished by one or two people. Likewise, many people were surprised by the extremely high quality of Sirens teaser video in thements.


    The number of views is high. The number of views was too high for a teaser video; it seemed that Siren had seeded in attracting even the general public, not just idol consumers.


    Hmm Kang Hyun-Sung checked the real-time ranking; he was still in first ce.


    <em>But the difference is getting narrower.</em> At this rate, it wouldnt take long for Bong Tae-Yoon to catch up to him. Kang Hyun-Sung pushed away his concern about the teaser for now; this was just the first teaser anyway. They still had a lot to reveal until their debut, and there was no point in worrying too much right now.


    He did a great job filming it. Instead of worrying more about this, Kang Hyun-Sung rewatched Bong Tae-Yoons teaser once again.


    <em>***</em>


    My members and I had a short meeting after watching Only Ones teaser. We all felt a sense of crisis after watching Only Ones teaser, which had a much higher quality that we expected. Of course, we couldnt find any clear-cut solution from this meeting.


    Lets work harder so that we wont lose to Only One!


    That''s right!


    We have higher views, so lets not worry about it too much.


    We just exchanged these kinds of encouragements with each other.


    Since we have to shoot the music video tomorrow, lets sleep well today and work hard tomorrow.


    Yes, lets do that.


    Fighting!


    Yes!


    We decided to go to bed early for tomorrows shoot. Since we worked without sleeping properly for the past few days to release the trailer, we were nning to increase our sleep time little by little from today onwards. The members all went to their room, and I was left alone in the living room.


    Tae-Yoon, arent you going to sleep?


    Ah, Ill go in and after washing up.


    Yeah, go to bed before it gets toote. I sat at the living room table and looked into the air. Our debut really was just around the corner, so there was a lot more for me to think about. The most urgent matter to address was these missions. It was the mission to reach 10 million views for our music video and make 500,000 album sales within this year. Considering the current trend, I didnt think it would be that difficult to reach those goals. But there was still one problem.


    <em>Howdo I rewrite this?</em> I had no intention to carry out the mission like this. From now on, I needed to cut off my one-sided rtionship with the system. I didnt think I could reach the future I wanted by carrying out missions like some machine. If so, I needed to change the missions.


    <em>But I failed.</em> I tried once and failed. I seeded in making the missions window appear in the air, but the system strongly resisted when I tried to modify it. Although I had full power over Insight, I could not one-sidedly intervene with the systems authority, and to make a deal with the system, I needed to put my life on the line, like when I went to find the truck driver. However, I could not risk my life every time to make a deal with the system.


    <em>I need to find another waybut is there anything I can make a deal with?</em>


    I didnt know what else to put on the betting table besides my life. Furthermore, I couldnt just put my life on the line, as the system seemed to react only when the truck driver was on the verge of killing me, and I couldnt go around looking for the truck driver every time to make a bet. While I was pondering what to bet on as a deal, something suddenly came to mind.


    <em>Ah!</em> I quickly activated Insight.


    <em>Zing-!</em>


    The world stopped and only my thinking elerated. The process was the same as when I tried to modify the mission as before. I stared into the air, and I controlled all the inside and outside area to focus on one spot in the air. Then I moved the mission contents as if I were moving a file in the air.


    [Reach more than 10 million views on the title tracks music video of Sirens debut album in a week.]


    [Upon Sess, meeting with the 27th regressor.]


    [Upon failure, Precognitive Vision will be retracted.]


    It wouldnt have been difficult to reach this point if I had used insight. The problem was that whenever I tried to modify the missions contents, the system strongly opposed it and tried to deactivate my Insight. Therefore, I needed to first take measures to ensure that the system did not oppose my mission modification. Thus, the method I thought of was:


    [Upon failure, full power of Insight will be retracted.]


    I modified it so that upon failure, I would lose full control over Insight. When I did this, the system did not erase the mission window or even show any resistance. My prediction had hit right on the mark.


    <em>As expectedI have to put Insight on the line.</em> I felt like the system regretted giving me full power of Insight because it didnt think I would use Insight so much and try to ess the systems authority. In other words, the only transaction item I could risk instead of my life right now was full power of Insight. Afterward, I revised the mission. The original content was to reach 10 million views for our music video.


    [Reach more than 10 million views on the title tracks music video of Sirens debut album in a week, and reach more than 1 million views on the choreography video.]


    [10 million views for the music video and 1 million views for the choreography video will be checked in a week based on the upload date.]


    [Both missions have to be cleared to be considered sessful.]


    I added one more condition: to reach 1 million views in the choreography video, not only 10 million views in the music video. At this point, someone might be wondering why I had made the mission harder and not easier. However, I hadnt just made it harder.


    [Upon sess, meeting with the 27th regressor and the 15th regressor.]


    I also changed the reward. Since I knew that unless I changed the content of the mission, the reward would not change, I first changed the difficulty level of the mission. This time, the system also didnt try to oppose me as it seemed to consider my deal as fair. I thought my modification of the mission would bepleted like this, but I suddenly heard a strange sound in my ear.


    [?!**&(^$]


    Then I received the following notification:


    [Will you modify the mission?]


    When I thought this was finally the end


    [Upon modification, Precognitive Vision will be retracted.]


    [Upon deferment, the previous mission would be progressed as it is.]


    Judging by how it tried to remove Precognitive Vision as the price for revising the mission, the system seemed to have decided that although I put Insight as the risk failure and raised the mission''s difficulty, it was not enough to achieve the desired result.


    Precognitive Vision was a very useful ability. However, it was more important for me to meet my members.


    <em>ept. </em>I also had other ns I was thinking about anyway. I used to think that the members from other worlds were strangers to me, but my mind changed.


    <em>Theyre all my members.</em>


    [The mission has been modified.]


    Soon, the system finally confirmed that the mission has been modified.


    [Reach more than 10 million views on the title tracks music video of Sirens debut album in a week, and reach more than 1 million views on the choreography video.]


    [10 million views for the music video and 1 million views for the choreography video will be checked in a week based on the upload date.]


    [Both missions have to be cleared to be considered sessful.]


    [Upon sess, meeting with the 27th regressor and the 15th regressor.]


    [Upon failure, full power of Insight will be retracted.]


    The final and organized mission contents flowed into my ears.


    At the same time,<em> Ah! </em>my eyes containing the Precognitive Vision began to hurt. It was a pain simr to the first time I received Precognitive Vision.


    [Precognitive Vision has been retracted.]


    As the Precognitive Vision disappeared, I felt something slip out of my eye.


    <em>Haaa.</em> I calmed my rough breathing and deactivated my Insight, and the world returned to its original pace.


    <em>Sigh</em>. Its over. It was a valuable time when I got everything I needed.


    <em>But I need toplete the mission sessfully, no matter what.</em>


    I need to seed the view count mission at all costs since full control over Insight was on the line.


    <em>Well, if I fail, Ill go find the truck driver again.</em> I just needed to prepare to die one more time. It felt like I was thinking too easily about dying


    <em>Lets get it together.</em> Thus, I thought I should be careful not to be too immune to death.


    <em>***</em>


    The music video shooting began the next day. I thought it was hard when shooting the teaser, but shooting the music video was on another level of difficulty. The scale of this music video was massive since we put in even more resources, considering that this was our debut album. Judging by how the agency pooled all its resources, Yoo Won-Dong must have also realized that if this debut album failed to produce results, it would be difficult to receive additional investment.


    <em>Did Yoo Won-Dongfinally get to his senses? </em>Since I made the provocation before, he was acting differently from before my regression. I didnt know the exact reason, but it was a positive response. While shooting the music video, we took more concept photos and took a lot of selfies for photo cards.


    With thepanys permission, we also threw in spoiler-like hints through SNS little by little. In turn, individual teasers of Yeon-Hoon, Dong-Jun, Woon, and Do-Seung were also released. These teasers contained the stories of each member, and they were not just stories of this album but stories that epassed the entire universe we created.


    The key story of Yeon-Hoons teaser was that he arrived at a remote mansion while walking in a ruined city, and the highlight was of him standing in front of dozens of rooms. In Dong-Juns teaser, he was spending a happy time on a pic with his family and was suddenly left all alone. After that, a monster started chasing him.


    In Woons case, he was practicing his dancing alone in the practice, and the figure of a monster was caught in the full-body mirror. When he ced his hand on the mirror, he was immediately sucked in. Lastly, Do-Seung was walking down the street at night wearing a headset and then suddenly encountered a monster. The appearance of a monster was amon element in the teasers. As a result, people began to think of all kinds of theories.


    Is Sirens concept the apocalypse?


    I think theyre just espers.


    But why is everyone running away from the monster except for Tae-Yoon?


    A monster didnt appear in Yeon-Hoons teaser.


    Otakus were usually like this; by throwing a single bone, they imagined all kinds of theories on their own. We were worried that our teasers would garner less attention than Only One, but as time passed by, the narrative aspect between the teasers umted, and our views went up.


    1st ce. Woo Yeon-Hoon crazy (70,541)


    1st ce. Dong-Jun (67,431)


    1st ce. Lee Woon cute (67,450)


    1st ce. Kang Do-Seung ck cat (65,557)


    Except for me, all of the members ranked first in the real-time charts. Of course, after the first teaser, we never ovepped with Only One. Yet, although the release dates didnt ovep, our overall poprity was greater. Everything was going in a more positive direction than I expected.


    HaaaWe really are debuting.


    Were finally revealing our music video


    Im feeling really nervous.


    Itll do well, right?


    As a result, on the day our music video was released, my mind was elsewhere while my members worried about whether it would be well received.


    <em>Hmm.</em> Unlike my members, I was a regressor, and I remembered the results Only One made in the past world. If I made an estimateparing our current results and Only Ones, our activities this time were bound to be sessful.


    <em>Its almost double the number.</em> Thus, I didnt worry about our sess unlike my members, since we would definitely seed. However, I needed to adjust my own goals. Originally, the goal was to reach 10 million views for the music video for this album and 1 million views for the choreography video in a week.


    <em>But500,000 album sales in the first week within this year. I think we can clear it this time?</em> I thought I could look forward to something a little bigger now.

 Chapter 171

    <h4>Chapter 171</h4>


    Selling 500,000 albums was the main mission that put Woon¡¯s life on the line. The system told me to solve this mission by this year as if it also knew it wasn¡¯t an easy goal to achieve.


    <i>¡®I think it¡¯s possible with a debut album.¡¯</i> If we pushed ourselves a bit, I thought it wasn¡¯t impossible. Considering the size of our current fandom, 500,000 sales could sound like a bit too much and by the best estimations, our album sales should be about 400,000.


    Yet, even if idol fans tended to only buy goods of the idols they stanned, they also bought another group¡¯s album if there was a lot of interest associated with the other group. Moreover, there was arge consumer base from the public who bought albums from time to time even when they were not a fan of any particr group.


    <i>¡®If we keep appealing to a wider range of twenty- to thirty-year-olds, we might be able to scrape past 500,000 sales,¡¯ </i>I thought. But this also meant that we had to keep raising issues that would make us appeal to the greater public. We would need to keep going viral on social media tforms and market our album well.


    <i>¡®Then, I will be able to hit the 500,000 goal and clear Woon¡¯s death g mission...I should give it a try.</i>¡± I reaffirmed my heart. I decided to bet my life and death on the album sales.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon~ What are you pondering so hard about again?¡± Dong-Jun approached me carefreely. ¡°Are you nervous about the music video reveal tomorrow?¡±


    I wasn¡¯t that nervous, because I knew it would do well. What made me nervous was whether we would hit 500,000 sales.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m sure it will do well.¡± Dong-Jun interpreted my silence as agreement and tried to loosen up my tension. He pressed my shoulders and massaged them.


    ¡°Let¡¯s practice.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    I got up following Dong-Jun¡¯s suggestion. We were in a practice room right now to practice for our debut show that we would perform after our music video reveal.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do our title song just five more times and go over ¡®Voyage¡¯ once more.¡±


    ¡°All righty~¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s keep at it!¡±


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    We all pumped ourselves up and began to dance ording to the music. We were almost starving because it was four days before our debut, but our movements began sharper and sharper with the intent to even use our life force to seed if we had to.


    ***


    On the day Siren¡¯s music video was revealed, Siren¡¯s fans were already getting riled up even when they knew the group¡¯s music video would be uploaded exactly at 6 pm.


    ¡ªWon-Dong~ Please upload it quicker by mistake~


    ¡ªIt¡¯s the day the Men of the Sea would release their debut song...let¡¯s continue to wait until 6


    ¡ªI seriously can¡¯t wait


    Reply: If you hope for too much, you will be disappointed


    Reply: What a downer. You can lower your expectations yourself


    Because Siren had been doing more activities and marking their presence stronger in every activity, people were anticipating Siren¡¯s debut more than ever before. And it wasn¡¯t just Siren¡¯s fans that were anticipating today.


    ¡ªOnly One and Siren are going to reveal their music video at once?


    ¡ªHahaha they sure are loyal to their concepts


    ¡ªIt has been a long time since a rivalry story was so tantly made in the idol market


    Reply: They know it¡¯s more fun the more rivalry there is


    Reply: Ah, my heart is beating in anticipation


    People, who weren¡¯t even fans of either group, waited to see the music videos to see Only One and Siren¡¯s rivalry. There hadn¡¯t been such a clear-cut rivalry story among male idols for a long time now, and a story that had been built for quite some time since before debut made more people immersed in the story.


    Not just Bluebird but other social media tforms like Stargram and so on discussed Only One and Siren¡¯s debut news.


    ¡ªFierce rivalry between idol groups who are debuting June 20


    ¡ªLegendary new idol groups said to debut this June


    ¡ªA collection of male idols who are said to have already gone viral. Zip


    Even news sites released marketing articles to garner views. Among the countless social mediamercials and posts, not even one-third of them were paid by AnotherOne or Next Wave. In other words, all thesemercials and posts marketed the two groups for free to just attract views.


    ¡ªAh, the idol market has been really empty of male idols for thest couple of years...I¡¯m d that¡¯s not the case this year


    Reply: Yeah, it¡¯s been a while since male idols gained this much attention


    Reply: Please don¡¯t give more attention to this muscly and cute ck cat who is at the center of this male idol peak. He¡¯s my husband...(Do-Seung¡¯s selfie at the gym.jpg)


    Reply: Wow who is this?


    Reply: Siren¡¯s Kang Do-Seung


    As Tae-Yoon and Hyun-Sung expected, people paid great attention to the two groups¡¯ rivalry and jumped into the idol scene.


    ¡ªI just don¡¯t want one group to bring something seriously sucky haha


    ¡ªAh, but why am I worried about Siren¡¯s music video


    Reply: Why? Their teaser looked fine


    Reply: There are many instances when the teaser looks all right but the music video is a mess...


    Reply: Won-Dong...I trust you


    As people¡¯s interests increased and the rivalry between the two groups hardened, more people became a bit too invested in the storyline and a flow that was advantageous for both groups¡¯ activities circted.


    ¡ªIt just came up


    ¡ªWhat, it¡¯s here


    ¡ªI just came back after watching it


    ¡ªMy heart is trembling


    Soon, it became 6 pm evening and Siren¡¯s music video was revealed.


    ***


    6 pm was Siren¡¯s music video¡¯s release date. Perhaps, it was because they had shown VFX effects and video quality that had been very impressive, numerous people were already in the waiting chatrooms and chatting with one another. Most idol music videos were usually filled with foreignments, but because Siren didn¡¯t have a solid overseas fandom yet, they were gettingparatively more Koreanments.


    ¡ªTae-Yooon!


    ¡ªAh, please, please, please


    ¡ªI can¡¯t wait in anticipation


    ¡ªAhhhhh


    But it wasn¡¯t like there was much of a difference between national and overseas¡¯ responses. Everyone was just writing anything in the chatrooms in their nervousness, and one such example was a high school fan who was watching the music video while even foregoing dinner.


    This high school fan had stanned Siren since<i> The Showcase 2 </i>and had been writing posts rted to Siren on Bluebird without skipping a day. She was sort of a named ount with quite a few followers; of course, it was still just a dozen people but that wasn¡¯t the important part. After all, it wasn¡¯t as if she began stanning Siren to be famous. She simply started the ount because she wanted to.


    She breathed in and out deeply while seeing thements on the chat box. She wasn¡¯t the one debuting but Siren was. Yet, she didn¡¯t understand why her heart was beating this fast. Perhaps, it was because of the worry that she couldn¡¯t be certain of anything yet or it was because she thought this would be the most pivotal moment of Siren¡¯s career, but her heart beat so hard that even her head began to ache.


    She counted her heartbeat. It was 147 bpm.


    ¡°...Seriously?¡±


    Though she was lying on the bed, her heartbeat was as fast as a person running.


    ¡ª10


    ¡ª9


    ¡ª8


    ¡°Gasp!¡± It was then there were ten seconds before the video release. She settled her excitement and looked at the screen. Yet, the more she tried to calm herself, she felt like her heart would burst. In the end, the countdown ended and a ck screen popped up.


    <i>Click.</i> Below, the Next Wave¡¯spany logo popped up.


    <i>¡®This is the beginning...!¡¯</i> This was the start of the official music video.


    ***


    Siren¡¯s music video started with the clips that had already been released as teasers. The first scene that came out was Tae-Yoon staring out the window. The scene looked peaceful and carefree. Then, after a momentary sh, there was a huge explosion.


    <i>Boom!</i> The school burst into mes and the next scene followed with Dong-Jun¡¯s teaser. Dong-Jun was enjoying a pic with his family in the park, ying with his dog, and eating from a packed lunchbox when¡ª


    <i>Boom! </i>The same explosion rang again. Woon¡¯s scene flowed in the same format. He heard an explosion while dancing in the practice room, and Do-Seung heard the explosion while walking on the streets with a guitar hanging from his back. Then, the screen filled with a close-up shot of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes.


    His eyes reflected an enormous mushroom cloud shooting up into the air. Ashes and dust scattered across the air.


    <i>Click.</i> The scenery changed and their debut title song finally began to flow out. The beat started with a light whistle. An acoustic guitar streamed in afterward, followed by a clear, bass riff. A bouncy percussion sound rang and an exciting tempo that could make anyone shake their shoulders flowed out.


    The tone of the video changed from the foreboding opening scenes. The school that Tae-Yoon was attending came to view again. Tae-Yoon who had been looking out of the window from the back was staring at the camera now. Then, as if he had simply found a lost item, he grasped the camera.


    ¡ªThis is a new story between you and me


    ¡ªThat we willplete together


    ¡ªSO GOOD, I already get a feeling


    With a slight angle and smile, Tae-Yoon began the song.


    ¡ªThis is a moment that can¡¯t be reced


    ¡ªA drama that can¡¯t be seen again


    ¡ªRight now, there¡¯s only us


    Soon afterward, Dong-Jun pulled the camera towards him and sang. It was then people realized the concept of this music video. It was a homemade video that Siren personally made. Of course, the video didn¡¯t progress with just the camera in the Siren members¡¯ hands, and videos shot by professional camera directors were mixed in to maintain the quality of the music video.


    ¡ªThis summer night, TONIGHT~


    ¡ªLet us gather the ends of this night


    ¡ªSO GOOD, TONIGHT~


    ¡ªThis was the day I had been waiting for


    Woon sang his lines softly and ticklishly until Dong-Jun stole the camera for him. In the end, they ced the camera at the center of the ssroom and Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung came to the center of the ssroom.


    ¡ªBLUE SUMMER NIGHT


    ¡ªThis is our night


    ¡ªThis blue sparkling summer is ours¡ªooh¡ª


    ¡ªBLUE SUMMER NIGHT


    ¡ªA zing passionate, summer night


    ¡ªchillingly spreads


    ¡ªLook at the end of this world


    While singing the title song¡¯s chorus, the choreography began. The song¡¯s mood was bright and refreshing, and the choreography itself wasn¡¯t tooplicated. The difficulty level was one that a high school dance group could dance to for fun during rest time.


    After the refrain was over, the Siren members walked out of the ssroom while surrounding Yeon-Hoon. The scene changed again from a ssroom to a recreational room. After changing into their practice uniforms, Siren members danced and sang again in front of the mirror. There were festival posters all around them which indicated that they were practicing for a school festival.


    ¡ªBLUE SUMMER NIGHT


    ¡ªThe night I had been waiting for


    ¡ªIt came to me without notice


    ¡ªBLUE SUMMER NIGHT


    ¡ªThis is our dream


    ¡ªI will never wake up from it


    Yeon-Hoon and Tae-Yoon yed jokingly on the sofa and they dashed to eat the school lunch. Then, there were scenes of them going to a stream and ying in it; scenes of them making a bonfire and staring at it; scenes of them returning home with rice cake skewers and cup <i>tteokbokki </i>in their hands and the orangish sun setting behind them. [1]


    Each scene boasted visuals close to a movie cover. It was as if this was a collection of movie scenes from a teen drama, but their moods were hard to find in this decade¡¯s Korean movies. The highlight of the song was when they went up to the school rooftop andpleted the third verse bridge part and danced the choreography that they prepared for the school festival.


    As these two separate scenes alternated on screen, it killed the monotonous feeling of the video and diversified the moods and scenes.


    ¡ªBLUE SUMMER NIGHT


    ¡ªThatforting embrace


    ¡ªYou are my dream now


    Yet, the world behind the rooftop they were on was bursting into mes. The school festival stage¡¯s lights cracked and curtains ripped. The bright andforting music video¡¯s mood darkened as the video continued. Eventually, all their activities were over and Siren members closed the recreational room¡¯s doors and escaped out of the school.


    ¡ªBLUE SUMMER NIGHT


    ¡ªThis is the sparkling story of you and me


    Tae-Yoon sang the outro nonchntly. Though the song was over, the music video was continuing. Tae-Yoon clutched the camcorder and rushed out of the school entrance with his members. Everyone chatted happily with a huge smile on their faces.


    <i>Boooom¡ª! </i>Then, there was a sudden explosion and Tae-Yoon froze on the spot. He turned around and saw that the school was burning in mes.


    <i>Crackle. </i>Tae-Yoon quickly looked forward again but all the rest of the members¡¯ expressions were the same as before.


    ¡ªTae-Yoon! What are you doing?


    ¡ªCome quickly.


    Yeon-Hoon grabbed Tae-Yoon¡¯s wrist and pulled him forward.


    <Blue Summer Night>


    The screen shed and the title of Siren¡¯s debut video came up and the video ended. Though the beginning had been bright, the music video ended with an apocalypse again and there had been foreboding and ominous scenes in between.


    ¡ªCrazy, I just came from watching Siren¡¯s music video!!! The quality is crazy


    ¡ªDamn, please anyone interpret the music video for me please,<i> please</i>


    ¡ªWow, so what happens to them?


    Perhaps, it was because the music video kept hinting that there was a hidden, deep storyline in the music video, fans waited desperately for someone else to interpret the music video for them.


    1. spicy rice cake inside a cup ?

 Chapter 172

    <h4>Chapter 172</h4>


    Our music video was released. We checked the music video inside the waiting room before the debut show. Was it because our long-awaited debut was just around the corner or there were many good reactions to our music video? But Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes were red.


    ¡°Ha...Hmph.¡± However, he forced back his tears to not show his weak side and said, ¡°People¡¯s reaction to the music video is really great guys.¡±


    Everyone nodded at his words.


    ¡°At this rate, we really might cause a syndrome?¡± Dong-Jun said with a sly smile.


    ¡°It was worth staying up all night to shoot the music video. It came out really well,¡± Woon said while not being able to take his attention away from the music video clip. His eyes were filled with affection and love.


    ¡°The director and staff members must have suffered a lot...¡± Sigh... ¡°It must have taken many sleepless nights...¡± Do-Seung seemed to have been shocked by the music video¡¯s quality.


    The reaction of both the public and fans was good, as well as from our group.


    ¡°We now only have to do well at our debut show.¡±


    ¡°We can do it.¡±


    ¡°Ohh!¡±


    ¡°Everyone, gather your hands!¡±


    We were a moment away from going up to our debut show.  reserved a time spot during the evening for us to release our music video and song. Our debut show was a live broadcast that was going to appear live on ¡¯s Utube channel at the same time.


    ¡°We can do it, Siren!¡±


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s show them everything we practiced.¡±


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    We all put our heads together and cheered.


    But why was my heart trembling? I thought I had definitely ovee stage fright by doing <i>The Showcase 2</i>.


    ¡®<i>My heart is throbbing.</i>¡¯


    ¡°Are you feeling nervous?¡± Do-Seung asked as he passed by.


    Nervous? That was not it.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m excited.¡± My heart was throbbing in excitement for the uing stage. There was still some time left before the stage. We finished our makeup, and it was now time for us to fix our outfits.


    ¡°Your outfits are here!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯mte! The sponsor suddenly changed their mind on a whim...!¡± Just in time, the costume team came into the waiting room with the outfits.


    <i> </i> *


    A Siren fan, who won a ticket to the debut show, turned on the fluorescent stick that she received in front of the broadcasting station. As expected of a bigpany group that debuted through ¡¯s program, Siren¡¯s debut time was specially reserved.


    The girl had applied to be an audience member with low hopes but luckily won a ticket. As they said, unexpected gifts were more moving than normal gifts. She almost screamed out loud at the office when she first heard the news. And now, just in case she waste, she used a half-day leave to stand in front of the live hall of ¡¯s broadcasting station.


    ¡®<i>This light stick is not bad.</i>¡¯ The Siren fan happily waved her light stick. Honestly, she had wanted Siren¡¯s official fan light stick instead of a standard, light stick like this. Agencies, who were on top of their game, usually made an announcement for a fan light stick as soon as a group debuted.


    <i>¡®Work harder Next Wave...¡¯ she thought. </i>Since she was now an office worker, she could spend as much money as she wanted, but this damn agency did not even give her the opportunity to use her money. Well, it was still the early days of their debut, and there were some idol groups who came out with light sticks a long time after their debut.


    ¡®Let¡¯s wait a little longer.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t something urgent anyway.


    ¡°Pleasee in now~¡±


    Just in time, it was now time for the audience to enter the debut show. The Siren fan took a deep breath and began walking inside. She could meet Siren soon, and she could watch their debut show performance directly.


    <i>¡®Seriously...I don¡¯t know where or who you are, but please ept my bow for picking me.¡¯ </i>This moment was one of the luckiest days ever in her fangirling life. She sped her trembling heart and entered the hall.


    <i> </i> *


    We had to go up on stage soon. All that was left was to finalize our costumes. In today¡¯s debut show, we were going to change our outfits three times¡ªonce on the opening stage, once on the middle stage, and once on thest stage. The second andst stage outfits have been decided, but the opening stage outfits have been dyed so far due to a sponsor issue. Of course, it was not a big problem, and since the stylist had chosen clothes for us, we just had to choose from their picks.


    ¡°I want to wear this and this!¡±


    ¡°Are you going to wear the same clothes chosen by the stylist?¡±


    ¡°No matter how much I think about the clothesbination, I¡¯m sure the stylists must know better than me.¡± Yeon-Hoon chose to wear exactly as the stylist nned.


    ¡°Please just give me the exact clothes chosen by the stylist.¡± It was the same for me.


    ¡°Oh? Can I fold the ends of my pants a little bit?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s fine!¡±


    ¡°Then please fold this a bit.¡± Dong-Jun made small adjustments to his outfit.


    ¡°I want to put a brooch on this one.¡± Then Woon said, ¡°Hmm. About here?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s fine.¡±


    ¡°Oh! It¡¯s pretty!¡±


    Woon added a small essory to his outfit. Our outfits were finalized in an instant. However, there was one person who was still struggling until the very end.


    Sigh... ¡°...Why am I the only one with two outfits?¡± It was Do-Seung.


    All of us had only one piece of clothing, and there were just props and essories to add to our outfits. However, Do-Seung had two tops to choose from.


    ¡®But...what¡¯s with his clothes?¡¯


    The style of the tops waspletely different. Our opening performance today was <Voyage>, which we posted as a fan song before. Therefore, our outfits were more casual than the usual, fancy stage outfits.


    ¡®<i>One is just a shirt and the other is a knit with a low v-line cut.¡¯ </i>I didn¡¯t know how the costume team interpreted Do-Seung¡¯s character. One was a very ordinary white shirt, and if he matched it with the jeans he was wearing now, it would make him look very neat and tidy.


    However, the other was a beige, patternless knit with a low v-line neckline to expose his chest. Of course, the low-cut knit was also a brand-name outfit and high-quality. Perhaps thepany that made that knit released it for it to beyered rather than worn alone. At first, Do-Seung also thought it was ayered outfit and tried to wear the two clothes together.


    ¡°Mr. Do-Seung! That¡¯s not how you wear it! You just wear one of the two! Who wears knitwear and shirt together during the summer?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    Due to the extreme dissuasion of the costume team, Do-Seung fell into a dilemma where he had to choose between the two.


    ¡°Which one do you think is better?¡± Do-Seung asked me and Dong-Jun.


    ¡°What, why aren¡¯t you asking us?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, why are you leaving us out?¡±


    Woon and Yeon-Hoon protested why Do-Seung didn¡¯t ask them.


    ¡°You two only say nice things.¡± Do-Seung had his reason.


    However, if Do-Seung asked us because Woon and Yeon-Hoon only said nice things, that must mean we were people who only said bad things.


    ¡®<i>What the?</i>¡¯ I felt slightly annoyed.


    ¡°Which one do you think would be better?¡± I carefully inspected the two tops. Frankly, the more normal-looking shirt was the white shirt, and it was a tone simr to the rest of our outfits. Thus, based onmon sense, Do-Seung should choose the white shirt.


    ¡°Choose the shirt. The shirt is pretty.¡± Perhaps Dong-Jun had a simr thought as me and picked the shirt.


    I was about to tell Do-Seung to also choose the shirt when another thought came to my head. Getting 500,000 album sales was a difficult goal even if we stepped on full elerator right now. I couldn¡¯t choose the normal option in all situations.


    ¡®<i>But above all, if it¡¯s Do-Seung...!</i>¡¯ There must be a reason why the costume team picked this outfit for him.


    Thus, I said, ¡°I like the knitwear.¡± I chose the deep v-line cut knit.


    Do-Seung asked, ¡°...Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°But this one is revealing.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the purpose of that outfit.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re...really telling me to wear this?¡±


    ¡°Frankly, aren¡¯t you asking us because you want to wear that?¡±


    ¡°...¡± Do-Seung became speechless and closed his mouth. I must have hit the nail on the head.


    If he really wanted to wear the shirt, he would have just worn it. However, since he knew that he would get a good reaction from wearing the knit, he was trying to check our reaction first as the knit seemed too revealing.


    ¡°There should be at least one sexy member on stage.¡± Thus, I tried to pull out Do-Seung¡¯s safety switch.


    ¡°Yeah, certainly...this outfit is a bit more...¡± Do-Seung was leaning towards wearing the knit, but Dong-Jun bashed the idea.


    ¡°But isn¡¯t it more sexy to cover it all up.¡± In Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes, the white shirt looked sexier to him.


    ¡°Ah...do you think so?¡± I wondered why Do-Seung was so wishy-washy in situations like this when he was so firm while making music. He should choose that knit with the same passion as making the c fruit punch. Why was he looking at that white shirt again?


    I said, ¡°Do-Seung, you can¡¯t cover everything. No, why are you covering everything? You¡¯ve put all those hours at the gym.¡± I touched his pride as a gym bro.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true.¡± Do-Seung looked at me again and nodded.


    ¡°But isn¡¯t this too low cut for that to be the case?¡± Dong-Jun refuted this once again.


    ¡°Ah, yeah. That¡¯s also...¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung.¡± Before Do-Seung nced at the white shirt again, I grabbed his hand. Persuasion shouldn¡¯t be only done by words but also by non-verbal methods. I made eye contact and clutched his hand tighter.


    ¡°Why did you bench press yesterday if you¡¯re just going to wear a shirt?¡±


    ¡°...!¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re going to wear something tight with buttons like that, why did you train your lower and upper chest every day, 50 sets each?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung, how much do you bench these days?¡±


    ¡°I do 1RM 100 these days.¡±


    ¡°If you wear a shirt, people don¡¯t know whether you hit 100 or 1000. They would think you are simr to me.¡±


    ¡°You and me?¡± I must have pulled Do-Seung¡¯s trigger point really well as he seemed angry that people thought he looked simr to me.


    ¡°I¡¯ll wear the knit instead of the shirt. I¡¯ll finalize my outfit with this.¡± Without any hesitation, he put down the shirt and wore the knit.


    ¡°Wow, he really fell for that.¡± Dong-Jun looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.


    While Do-Seung was changing, I asked Dong-Jun, ¡°Dong-Jun, did you really think the shirt looked better?¡±


    ¡°Huh? No. I just kept saying ''the shirt'' for fun. Since it was <i>so</i> obvious he wanted to wear the knit, I didn¡¯t want to tell him what he wanted to hear.¡±


    ¡°...Wow.¡± As expected, Dong-Jun was in charge of kindness in our team.


    Soon, Do-Seung came out wearing his full outfit. The effect of the knit with a low-cut V-neck was truly great.


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°Geez...Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°Oh my goodness.¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±


    It was to the point that we all reacted like this. Was this the power of a gym bro? I hadn¡¯t realized how truly fit he was because I didn¡¯t have any opportunities to see his chest.


    I said, ¡°Do-Seung, you must have really worked hard at the gym.¡±


    ¡°You and I are at fundamentally different muscle levels, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°I got it. Move away from me. You smell like iron.¡±


    As expected, people who worked out loved to show off their body the most.


    <i> </i> *


    At the live hall where the debut show would be held, people were filled with anticipation and excitement while waiting for Siren to appear soon. While people murmured amongst themselves and watched the stage to see when Siren woulde out¡ª


    <i>Ziing¡ª</i>


    They heard the amplifier go off.


    ¡°What?¡±


    The melody of a song familiar to the fans began to ring. It was a song that was released right after filming Siren¡¯s reality show, and it was also a b-track included in their debut album. It was the first official fan song that Siren made¡ª¡°Voyage¡±.


    The beginning of the song signaled the start of the debut show. Soon, Siren members came up on stage one by one.


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    ¡°...Crazy.¡±


    ¡°Do-Seuuuung!¡±


    ¡°Wow, wait a minute.¡±


    Whether Do-Seung was their bias or not, all the fans in that hall intuitively focused on Kang Do-Seung.

 Chapter 173

    <h4>Chapter 173</h4>


    Do-Seung went up the stage while wearing a V-neck knitwear. It was nothing provocative, and there was much more skin left unexposed than exposed. But perhaps, because the outfit was so subtly exposing, it pulled in more attention than otherwise. He even pulled the gazes of people who didn¡¯t usually show much interest in him. This was the power of the pecs he had grown until now.


    ¡ªEverywhere I look, it¡¯s pitch ck in this deep night


    ¡ªBut it was you who found me that day


    ¡ªThis moment, I walked towards you again


    ¡ªOoh¡ªOoh¡ªOh


    Tae-Yoon began to sing after raising the mic. Tae-Yoon wore an oversized shirt, cks, and circr-frame sses. Because of the strong image he gave off, Tae-Yoon usually looked older than his age but today, his image felt younger.


    ¡ªListen to who this song is about


    ¡ªYou and me, we can never separate. Wait for it


    ¡ªWhoever says otherwise, I will be with you till the end


    ¡ªOoh¡ªOoh¡ªOh


    The second person to sing was Dong-Jun. Curly hair added to his usual gleeful and carefreeness. His outfit, which was a short-sleeved shirt that had been buttoned to his neck and overalls, showcased his usual role of looking like the visual <i>maknae</i> instead of Tae-Yoon.


    ¡ªOH, YOU AND ME You are my soft embrace


    ¡ªThe Only dream I have been waiting for all these nights


    ¡ªThe path I take towards you


    ¡ªIt shines like a dream


    Lee Woon took a step forward while holding the mic and sang. Woon¡¯s characteristic soft and ticklish voice rang lowly across the concert hall. Lee Woon wore a short-sleeved knit and brown wide-fit cks that revealed his delicate form.


    ¡ªSO I WILL BE SAILING FOR YOU!


    ¡ªAt the end of this deep ocean


    ¡ªI WILL BE SAILING FOR YOU


    ¡ªI will surf through these high winds and turbulent waves


    ¡ªSAILING FOR YOU


    ¡ªI will head towards your embrace, your dream


    ¡ªTo where you are


    Then, as if someone had raised the speaker¡¯s volume, a voice that rang strongly and clearly across the space entered the scene. Perhaps, it was the white Angora knit he was wearing or the spotlight he was getting, but Yeon-Hoon looked like he was shining.


    ¡ªYOU ARE MY COMPASS


    ¡ªAt the end of the high tide, we lost our way


    ¡ªBUT I WILL NEVER GIVE UP


    ¡ªAs long as you are here


    ¡ªI WILL KEEP SAILING


    ¡ªTill I reach you


    It was finally Do-Seung¡¯s turn to sing while he was wearing his V-neck knit. A heavy voice that fitted his sturdy body rang across the concert hall.


    ¡°Wow....ah.¡±


    ¡°My gosh....¡±


    ¡°Ah....¡±


    ¡°...How nice.¡±


    People didn¡¯t even scream but let out low gasps.


    ***


    Siren¡¯s debut show which had been shown on-live was gaining great buzz on social media. They were dominating the trending ranks before even the beginning of the debut show, but after they officially began it, they were gaining even more interest.


    ¡ª1st. Do-Seung Pecs (34,710 tweets)


    The trending ranks clearly showed where people¡¯s interests particrlyy.


    ¡ªDamn, ck cat seduces me with his chest


    ¡ªWho is the stylist who decided to put him on knit? Please ept my bow


    ¡ªLove you Do-Seung


    ¡ªAh, Do-Seung drives me crazy


    ¡ªPlease Do-Seunge to my basement


    Since Do-Seung talked a lot about exercising and many people mentioned how good his body was, many were aware that he was in good shape. Yet, they didn¡¯t think too much about it since Siren¡¯s group¡¯s image was closer to pure than sexy. Perhaps, today, because people had seen a sexiness that surpassed their expectations, social media sites, including Bluebird, buzzed harder with this discovery than ever before. This was especially so because these days, it was umon for male idols to have this body type.


    ¡ªFrom today, I started to like cats with big chests


    ¡ªI learned from today that my heart wavered from a man with a big chest


    ¡ªDo-Seung¡¯s body looks twice the size because he is standing among such delicate-looking guys


    People who hadn¡¯t been very interested in Siren until now became pulled in. Even Do-Seung¡¯s past pictures came to the surface.


    ¡ªThis is the epitome of Do-Seung¡¯s performance


    Reply: I am going to sue you if you erase this


    Reply: This is seriously the peak


    Reply: His pelvis...don¡¯t call me a pervert, you all thought the same


    Though it could be said that some had perverted motives, people began to explore Do-Seung¡¯s charms. And while people were continuing topliment Do-Seung, Siren¡¯s debut show progressed. After the opening stage, they revealed a reality-variety show. It wasn¡¯t an official one-hour variety show intended for broadcast but a short twenty-minute show. The title was called<i> ¡®Siren, Cheer Each Other Up</i>¡¯.


    The premise of the show was for the members to watch each others¡¯ legendary performances and give praise andpliments. People didn¡¯t expect much entertainment from a reality show that was revealed in a debut show. Yet, it was better than they imagined.


    ¡ªLet us see our <i>maknae</i>¡¯s ¡®Please pick me, nuna.¡¯


    ¡ªI thought we were going to see a stage performance. This isn¡¯t a stage performance.


    ¡ªYou are on the stage though, Tae-Yoon.


    ¡ªBut this isn¡¯t it. Why is the standard only different for me?


    ¡ªSo, shall I put this ¡®pick me nuna¡¯ part on an infinite loop guys?


    ¡ªOh, good idea


    ¡ª...


    Contrary to the purpose of cheering each other up, they were using this time for pure humiliation. The one who suffered the greatest damage was Tae-Yoon. He tried with all his might to stop the loop but he couldn¡¯t win against four people stopping him, and Siren¡¯s practice room rang with Tae-Yoon¡¯s voice saying,<i> ¡°Pick me, nuna¡± </i>repeatedly.


    Tae-Yoon¡¯s ears turned redder by the minute and Yeon-Hoon¡¯s, Woon¡¯s, Do-Seung¡¯s, and Dong-Jun¡¯s videos that came out afterward didn¡¯t have as much impact as Tae-Yoon¡¯s video.


    ¡ªWhy is Mr. Tae-Yoon so embarrassed about this?...It makes it all the better


    Reply: hahahahaha you are crazy


    ¡ªThis is the moment when I stanned him


    ¡ªI still remember when I heard that live


    ¡ªDidn¡¯t someone loop this before? Pick me nuna. Drrr tap. Pick me nuna. Drr tap. Pick me nuna. Drr tap. Pick me nuna. Drr tap.


    Reply: please stop hahaha


    Perhaps, it was because Tae-Yoon¡¯s response was so funny; people on social media sites mainly talked about Tae-Yoon when the show was shown. Soon after, the performances for their title song and a B-side track song, ¡®Blue Ocean,¡¯ were revealed. They were all good performances so the majority of people on social media gave positive responses, yet the highlight of this program was still the V-neck knit that Do-Seung wore.


    It was then Only One¡¯s debut show also began. Though  took out one of their time slots for Siren¡¯s debut show, Only One¡¯s debut show was happening on a famous national inte portal site. As people went inside the inte portal, they clicked on Only One¡¯s live broadcast marketing banner like they were drawn into it.


    ¡ªOnly One began their debut show


    ¡ªSo many things happening haha


    ¡ªHow is Only One¡¯s music video?


    ¡ªGo watch it. It¡¯s seriously good


    With the start of Only One¡¯s debut show, many of the viewers who had been watching Siren¡¯s debut show began to change tforms. Do-Seung who had been trending first was soon followed by Only One. Though the start of Siren¡¯s debut show was good, it was a wonder if they could maintain people¡¯s interest till the very end.


    ***


    My members and I sat side by side on the stool chairs ced on top of the stage. This was the beginning of the debut show¡¯sst corner: a Q&A section with the questions asked in chatrooms. We weren¡¯t reading chats in live time but had selected questions beforehand to answer. Naturally, the answers we could give to these questions were also decided.


    Of course, we were told that we could freely reply with our answers if we came up with better ones, but...


    <i>¡®It¡¯s safer to go with what was decided beforehand.</i>¡¯ There was no need to be adventurous right now. As I nkly watched things flow ording to the script, I suddenly recalled the details of Only One¡¯s debut show.


    <i>¡®Isn¡¯t it about time for them to start?¡¯ </i>From what I remember, their show time ovepped with our time slightly. I didn¡¯t know how they nned to progress their debut show, but I thought our debut show was sessful at this level. Not only did we get into the trending charts thanks to Do-Seung¡¯s pecs but we also pulled out a lot of buzz by bringing out my past shameful memory again.


    <i>¡®Wasn¡¯t the view count around 700,000 thest time I checked?¡¯ I</i> thought. The view count wasn¡¯t enough. I couldn¡¯t be satisfied by pulling in just an adequate amount of interest. There needed to be something that could make us a bit more noticeable.


    <i>¡®Hm...¡¯ </i>Unfortunately, it appeared difficult to stir up additional issues with just this debut show.


    ¡°Since we just debuted, we won¡¯t be just satisfied by the present and continue to strive harder to go up higher and higher!¡±


    After answering a couple of questions that we were previously given a heads-up about, it was about time for us to put an end to the debut show. Since Only One¡¯s debut show just started, many people would gather there. Our core fans who liked us wouldn¡¯t leave but people who hadn¡¯t firmly be our fans would be curious about Only One¡¯s debut show.


    At worst, we could lose all the attention we managed to get by selling Do-Seung¡¯s V-Neck knitwear and my shameful past. In the Entertainment world, assessments were always made rtively, and no matter how well we did, if the other team did better, they would take all the spotlight.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, is there anything you want to say to the Sailors who have watched you all until now?¡± Today¡¯s host and ex-announcer who we called to manage this debut show asked me, and I thought about the worst and best thing I could do.


    ¡°The thing...I want to say to our Sailors...¡± Something came to my mind, but I knew it would be the worst thing I could possibly say. I didn¡¯t know if it would have a positive influence on my members, but I would¡¯ve given up on being human by then. Moreover, the issue I would gain from it probably wouldn¡¯t be as high as I hoped for. If I considered all the plus and minuses, this was definitely a minus in the end.


    Yet, despite all the losses, If I could just add one more view count to Siren¡¯s view count...I thought I could do it.


    <i>¡®Perhaps, a thousand more would watch.¡¯ </i> That was enough. Right now, Only One¡¯s debut show ovepped with ours, and the view count for our music video wasn¡¯t extraordinary. I felt an urgency to show something more. I continued to think whether or not I should use my worst card.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon? Is there anything you want to say to Sailors?¡± the host pressed on, and the sailors on-site looked at me expectantly. My members also looked at me curiously. I felt like I had to show something in this situation.


    ¡°...Um....I debuted, <i>nuna</i>...?¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°!¡±


    ¡°...What did you just say, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±


    ¡°Kyaaaah!¡±


    I let down my integrity and any sense of self-worth for this.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Ha! You hated it so much whenever we made fun of you for that!¡±


    ¡°Wow....Bong Nuna is really pro...! Bong Nuna who debuted is really different...!¡±


    ¡°...Bong Tae-Yoon...seriously...?¡±


    My members we also astonished and the people on-site responded with as much shock. I felt this before and felt it now.


    <i>¡®Ah...Should I just die....?</i>¡¯ One really shouldn¡¯t carry out something they had doubts about.


    <i>¡®Why in the world did I do this...?¡¯</i>

 Chapter 174

    <h4>Chapter 174</h4>


    Why in the world did I do this again? How could I push myself into a pit of mockery once again? Apart from my despair, the fans¡¯ reactions were good. I didn¡¯t know whether the fans were truly happy or wereforting me after seeing how embarrassed I was.


    <i>Sigh.</i> I felt like my face was going to explode.


    ¡°Hahaha! How nice it was to hear our <i>maknae</i> Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s cute greeting! Then let¡¯s listen to Park Dong-Jun¡¯sst greeting. Mr. Dong-Jun, is there anything you want to say to Sailors?¡± The host progressed the script so that this chaos wouldn¡¯tst for too long.


    Dong-Jun nced at me and then said, ¡°I also debuted, <i>nuna</i>! Please take good care of me! Let¡¯s see each other very, very often!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    ¡°Dong-Juuun!¡±


    ¡°Wow...Park Dong-Jun is...amazing...¡±


    The <i>nuna c</i>omment went on for a second round. Why the heck did he have to do it a second time, and how far did he seriously want to tease me? Woon must have caught that I might have a mental breakdown if this situation prolonged, so he made normalments¡ªno, I thought they would be normal.


    ¡°We would be able to see each other much more often in the future, so let¡¯s make a lot of good memories together.¡± There was no problem up to this point. ¡°Then let¡¯s see each other again,<i> nunas.</i>¡± That dreaded <i>nuna </i>crawled back again without disappearing.


    I trusted that Do-Seung of all people would not join in but...


    Do-Seung said, ¡°Judging by the flow of things...it feels like I have to say nuna no matter what...¡±


    I didn¡¯t know why he suddenly cared so much about the flow of things. Why was he caring so much about what other people were doing when he didn¡¯t have such great social aptitude in the first ce?


    When I fiercely red at him, it triggered Do-Seung even more instead. With a yful expression, he said, ¡°I guess I have no choice but to say it since Tae-Yoon is staring at me with such loving eyes. Please look forward to our activities. We¡¯ll make a lot of good songs and frequentlye back with good performances. Then let¡¯s meet again, <i>nuna</i>.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    It was the fourth round of <i>nuna</i> now, and by this point, <i>nuna</i> now became an unstoppable flow.


    Thest batter, Yeon-Hoon, was looking at the front with a very determined expression. ¡°Honestly...I also really...wanted to try saying nuna once too...¡±


    I was sure that Yeon-Hoon was 100% enjoying this situation. Judging by how the corners of his mouth were twitching, he was ready to spit it out at any moment.


    ¡°Sailors! Today is our first day, so don¡¯t ever leave in the middle and stay by our sides forever! We¡¯ll also continue to wait for you all here. Then let¡¯s see each other again tomorrow, nuna!¡± Yeon-Hoon confidently said hisments as if he were making a confession he waited to say for a long time.


    ¡°Kyahhhh!¡± The concert hall was overflowing with the fans¡¯ screams and cheers.


    ¡°Hahaha! That was Siren¡¯sst greeting all finished with nuna.¡± The host said a conclusive remark to calm the audience and continued, ¡°Then we want to thank the fans who¡¯ve participated in Siren¡¯s debut show so far, and we will conclude the show for now. Thank you!¡±


    With these lines, the broadcast was over.


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Thank yooou!¡±


    The fans who filled the concert hall began to leave one by one. We captured each and every fan leaving the concert hall while standing on stage. The fans waved at us or mouthed a line or two while leaving. We waved back to the fans who waved at us and replied to the fans who mouthed a line or two.


    Soon after, we moved to the waiting room ording to the staff¡¯s instructions. Since confusion could ur if we stayed on the stage for any longer, it couldn¡¯t be helped. After we moved to the waiting room, we eximed and cheered to our heart¡¯s content.


    ¡°Well done, guys!¡±


    ¡°We debuted!¡±


    ¡°Wooow!¡±


    ¡°We finally debuted!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhhh!¡±


    I stared at my members wandering around the waiting room.


    ¡°We finally debuted Tae-Yoon! Debut! It¡¯s a debut!¡± Yeon-Hoon grabbed my arm and did a little dance.


    I replied, ¡°I know. We finally debuted.¡±


    ¡°It only feels real after we did the debut show.¡±


    ¡°Great job everyone.¡±


    ¡°Whoa!¡±


    ¡°We debuteeeed!¡±


    ¡°We have to get beer with chicken on a day like this!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s going overboard, Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°...So boring.¡±


    The members expressed their joy of debuting in their own ways.


    ¡°Shall we say something to each other to celebrate our debut?¡± It was then Yeon-Hoon made this suggestion.


    ¡°One word each?¡±


    ¡°Suddenly?¡±


    ¡°Why, it¡¯s nice.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°Can I curse?¡±


    ¡°No, you can¡¯t do that, Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°...All right.¡±


    Thus, starting from Yeon-Hoon, we began to say nice words of encouragement or blessing to each other.


    ¡°Since we¡¯ve just debuted, let¡¯s not get in trouble, do bad things, and act impulsively. We all want to work together for a long time, right? Let¡¯s keep this same mindset for a long, long time.¡±


    The atmosphere turned serious at his words. He was right. We needed to keep the same mindset as now. Working as an idol could be unbearably difficult and annoying some days. Then we might naturally participate in immoral or bad actions that we shouldn¡¯t do as stress was one of the things that drove people crazy. Furthermore, being a celebrity made it extremely easy to be exposed to those negative and immoral situations.


    However, stress from work wasn¡¯t something that only idols experienced. Everyone got stressed from working, studying, and participating in social life. Thus, there was no need to fall into self-pity and spiral into depression that we had the hardest job or make bad choices from those emotions. In order to not fall for those traps, we needed to keep our initial mindset and conviction for a long time.


    ¡°I think the same as Yeon-Hoon. To be honest, we went on a very long and difficult road with a lot of ups and downs to debut. We all didn¡¯t have a short trainee period as well, so let¡¯s not do anything that would embarrass this group and our fans and live with our heads up,¡± Woon also added to Yeon-Hoon¡¯s words. They were simr to what Yeon-Hoon said.


    ¡°I agree 100% with what Yeon-Hoon and Woon said. If we want to be happy aftering through such a long, winded road, this is only the beginning. Let¡¯s do this for a long, long time, healthy and free of unnecessary scandals,¡± Do-Seung said.


    ¡°We have to do Siren until our retirement age and open a dinner show for Sailors~ I¡¯m definitely going to retire after 40 years,¡± Dong-Jun said in his usual yful tone. Thest person was me.


    My members said all the importantments and all I had to say was, ¡°Let¡¯s stay healthy and...survive in this industry for...a long, long time...!¡±


    ¡°Is that all, Bong Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s too short.¡±


    ¡°Boo, Bong Tae-Yoon putting in no effort.¡±


    ¡°...¡± I put my heart into it, but they were shaming me for not being sincere.


    ¡°I will do my best not to cause harm to the group and live in a way that our fans won¡¯t be ashamed of me.¡±


    ¡°Good job.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    The members smiled, feeling finally satisfied by myment.


    Yeon-Hoon said, ¡°Shall we hug together?¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s a bit much.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s going too far, bro.¡±


    ¡°...All right.¡± Yeon-Hoon seemed to want to hug at this time, but it failed due to everyone¡¯s strong opposition. Instead, he gently wrapped my shoulder and kept patting me.


    ¡°Great job, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I answered by tapping Yeon-Hoon¡¯s head away with my finger.


    Just in time, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came into the waiting room.


    ¡°Great job, everyone!¡±


    ¡°Congrattions on your debut!¡±


    They both congratted us on our debut. However, there was one part that was different from before.


    ¡°Congrattions! Da-dun!¡±


    There was a cameraman behind them, and Ms. Seung-Yeon had a cake in her hand to celebrate our debut.


    ¡°Oh my gosh!¡±


    ¡°Awesome!¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°Did you get a customized cake?¡±


    The cake was a square-shaped custom-made cake, and there was a model of us on top. I thought they were probably filming this to post a behind-the-scenes video, but...the members didn¡¯t seem to be thinking about that at all. Regardless of whether there was a camera or not, the fact that they prepared a cake for us remained the same.


    ¡°Thank you so much. Really...¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°I never imagined to get such a gift like this.¡±


    ¡°This cake...looks really good...¡±


    We all sat together and ate a piece of cake.


    ¡°It¡¯s good!¡±


    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s really soft.¡±


    ¡°Seung-Yeon and I found this bakery after going to so many famous bakeries. It¡¯s good, right?¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much, really.¡±


    We all had cake together for thest time to celebrate our debut. The taste of our debut was...as expected, sweet.


    <i> </i> *


    After the debut show, we went back to our dorm. We changed into normal clothes and erased our thick makeup for the first time with a cleansing tissue.


    ¡°Haa. This is nice. I¡¯m tired, but I feel great.¡±


    The members sat in the vehicle and said things like they were happy, overjoyed, and everything felt surreal every 30 seconds. I hadn¡¯t realized they would be this happy to debut, and it suddenly made me remember my past life when they couldn¡¯t do what they liked so much.


    My heart felt heavy, but at the same time, I thought, ¡®I have to protect it.¡¯ I strongly thought that I needed to protect them no matter what the system attacked us with.


    ¡®Shall I check the number of views for the music video first.¡¯ I picked up my phone and started checking data like this. The music video for our title song <Blue Summer Night> currently had 2 million views. Considering the time of upload, it was quite a significant number. I thought the number of views would explode tonight.


    ¡®By tomorrow morning, it could go up to 5 million.¡¯ At this rate, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to achieve 10 million views on our title track music video within a week.


    The real problem was selling 500,000 album sales. ¡®They said that we had about 300,000 pre-orders.¡¯


    There were 300,000 pre-orders sold on the first day. If I included on-site sales on the first day, I thought we could sell about 350,000 copies today. If I looked at it like this, selling 500,00 copies seemed like a walk in the park.


    <i>¡®But from now on, we¡¯ll only sell 10,000 to 20,000 copies at most a day</i>.¡¯ It was normal for the order volume to be crazy high on the first release date, and from then on, sales volume went down at a tremendous rate. Furthermore, since the number of pre-orders has increased these days, the rate of decline for sales volume after the first release date was sharper than in the past.


    <i>¡®At this rate...selling about 450,000 copies might be our maximum...</i>¡¯ Even if I made optimistic projections, we wouldn¡¯t be able to reach 500,000. Frankly, I wasn¡¯t afraid because I had expected these numbers. What we did next was the truly important part.


    ¡°Oh? Tae-Yoon! What we ordered came to the front of our dorm!¡±


    ¡°Oh, really?¡±


    ¡°Wow, great timing.¡±


    I prepared some events with the members to raise our album sales. Even if things like the broadcast schedule was prepared by the agency, we could prepare for other small events by ourselves. In any case, the idol industry was not an industry that appealed to the majority of the public.


    It was an industry that had to appeal to a fandom who enthusiastically liked the group. This meant that as long as we took good care of that fandom, even that could act as a great promotion campaign. In other words, the key was to provide high-quality fan service to the fandom.


    ¡°Let¡¯s quickly head to our dorm and get ready.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Everyone will like it, right?¡±


    We prepared quite a lot of things to provide great fan service to our fans.


    <i> </i> *


    Early in the morning the day after Siren debuted, Siren fans gathered in front of GBS¡¯ live hall, where pre-recorded music broadcasts were held. Since it was June, the weather wasn¡¯t bone-chillingly cold, but it was still the crack of dawn. It was not afortable situation at all, but the fans were hungry, tired, and their legs hurt.


    ¡°Did you watch the debut show yesterday?¡±


    ¡°Of course. Seriously...Do-Seung...Ha...¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! Whenever I ask the question, everyone starts with Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°Ah, but Tae-Yoon was really cute too. Tae-Yoon only really feels like a <i>maknae</i> when he says <i>nuna</i>.¡±


    ¡°It was so cute when they were all teasing Tae-Yoon...¡±


    Siren fans were enduring this early morning hours by sitting together with people who they knew, chatting, and sharing information. Then, from a distance, severalrge boxes began to pile up one by one.


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    ¡°...What¡¯s that?¡±


    A delicious smell seemed toe from it, but it also seemed to smell fragrant. Before long, people found out what those boxes were.


    ¡°Oh my goodness...¡±


    ¡°Crazy...¡±


    It was a thank-you gift prepared by Siren. What was important to note here was not the fact that they were giving gifts in return.


    ¡°How in the world...did they prepare all...? No...¡±


    They were gifts that even surprised those who have been fans of idols for years and were well aware of this field.

 Chapter 175

    <h4>Chapter 175</h4>


    The content of our gift to our fans was the following: the first item in the box was a sandwich. It wasn¡¯t a sandwich one couldmonly see on the streets like SubXXX but the premium kind that was only avable in a handful of hottest chain stores in Cheondam Garosugil. It was the kind of ce where a customer could freely decide the sauce ratio, bread type, number of inside and main ingredients, and even got ingredients not on the menu if they asked.


    The key to this brand¡¯s sess was that it would make any sandwich the customer thought of and often trended on social media sites as people shared their own recipes.


    ¡°Wow...this is the ce where I visited but had to return because the line was too long...¡±


    ¡°Siren is really feeding us.¡±


    Siren members had prepared two hundred of these beforehand and handed them out to the fans who waited for them since morning recording.


    ¡°Is this Dong-Jun¡¯s set? It¡¯s a calorie bomb...?¡±


    ¡°This is Tae-Yoon¡¯s set!¡±


    ¡°Wow...Look at Do-Seung¡¯s...chicken breast is the main ingredient...?¡±


    ¡°Why is Yeon-Hoon¡¯s sandwich the only one that¡¯s pink...?¡±


    ¡°Ah, Woon¡¯s sandwich looks the most standard.¡±


    Since it was a sandwich that each member ordered with their favorite ingredients, it was fun to look at too. Furthermore, the ingredients in the sandwiches even revealed the members¡¯ personalities.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t Don-Jun¡¯s menu just a hamburger set instead of a sandwich?¡±


    ¡°But this is really tasty! There¡¯s a sweet, spicy, and savory sauce on this chicken breast patty...colew...fries on top...wow, this is amazing. I think they put fried shallots over it?¡±


    As expected of Park Dong-Jun who had the biggest reputation for liking to eat, his menu was sold out the fastest.


    ¡°Siren¡¯s food scientist is Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°This is the greatest sandwich of my life.¡±


    But besides Dong-Jun, everyone else¡¯s sandwiches received simr responses. Yet, there was one sandwich that even fans turned away from the most.


    ¡°No wonder Do-Seung¡¯s chest is so big. It¡¯s because he eats so much chicken breast...¡±


    ¡°Ah, but it¡¯s not untasty! It¡¯s tastiest among all dishes made with chicken breast...haha...¡±


    Do-Seung¡¯s sandwich had chicken breast softened with sous vide and filled with lettuce, a variety of vegetables, tomatoes, and pickles. Rather than exploding with exciting vors, his sandwich tasted natural and healthy. Though some people didn¡¯t like the sandwich, there were also those who liked it the best.


    ¡°This is perfectly my type of sandwich.¡±


    ¡°I think Do-Seung shares the same tastebuds as me.¡±


    ¡°You have to eat like this for breakfast to feelfortable for the rest of the day.¡±


    Woon¡¯s sandwich acquired an adequate amount of poprity with its standard appearance and taste. Tae-Yoon¡¯s sandwich was a heavy and meaty sandwich that had cheese, ham, strawberry jam, bacon, and a beef patty. Unlike the other members¡¯ sandwiches, the sandwich was toasted after filling its insides once more so that its outside was crunchier, and its insides had a deeper vor.


    Yet, the sandwich that created the most talk was Yeon-Hoon¡¯s sandwich.


    ¡°Why is this sandwich so pretty...?¡±


    ¡°Even if it was rolling on the ground, anyone could tell it¡¯s Yeon-Hoon¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°How did he think of making a bread pink?¡±


    It was a sandwich that had bread made pink with artificial coloring. Only its color was different but its taste was simr to all the other breads. Furthermore, there was a toasted imprinting on the bun so that it made the face of a dog with eyes, nose, lips, ears, and all.


    The sandwich was the standard kind with bacon, ham, cheese, a variety of vegetables, and tomato. The most unique point about its vor profile was that it had a potato sd to add extra texture to it. Though the taste was normal, people reached for the sandwich because of its appearance. Yet, the presents didn¡¯t end there.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Is iting towards us?¡±


    ¡°A snack car...?¡±


    A snack car arrived at the site and began setting up a location.


    ¡ªSailors! Please eat your fill and quickly meet us!


    There was a banner with these lines with the members¡¯ faces. The most surprising part was the menu content of the snack car.


    ¡°There¡¯s a c fruit punch.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    There weremon snacks and desserts like cookies, macarons, dacquoise, and Do-Seung¡¯s favorite, the c fruit punch. If one were a Siren fan, they would¡¯ve tried a c fruit punch at least once. Yet, there were probably not too many people who had made another attempt at the dish with a well-ripe watermelon from the middle of summer. People carried a sandwich in one hand and raised arge c fruit punch in the other.


    The cups they got were simr to the small-sized popcorn cups that they handed out in the movie theatres and were quite heavy with the c fruit punch. People who finished their sandwiches quickly took a bite of their c fruit punch.


    ¡°...Wow.¡±


    ¡°This is insane.¡±


    ¡°This is so tasty.¡±


    ¡°...It¡¯s insane...¡±


    This fruit punch also had cider in it and added another vor. By the time people finished their meals and people¡¯s hands felt lighter than before, thest present was revealed. Though fans thought they already received more than enough, Siren didn¡¯t stop there. This was the highlight of today.


    ¡°...Is this real?¡±


    It was a 20ml perfume with a handwritten letter. 200 perfume bottles and 200 handwritten letters were given to each of the fans who had been waiting for the prerecording. They doubted if the letters were really written by the members but then, they confirmed that the handwriting was the same as the members¡¯ handwriting that had been released on broadcast before.


    Furthermore, each of the letters didn¡¯t have ovepping content. Some letters talked about the daily incidents that happened to the members, and some talked about the members'' childhood memories. Others had promises of what they would make together.


    Fans began to read each of the letters the Siren members wrote for them on the spot. Some people even became a bit teary because they were so touched. Then, they turned to the perfumes they also received. Inside a small shopping bag, there was a card with one line that the members wrote.


    ¡ªThis is a perfume that I use. I hope you can feel as if you are always with me. (Tae-Yoon)


    ¡ªI use this perfume often! I hope you will also like it too. (Dong-Jun)


    ¡ªThis is my favorite perfume. Why don¡¯t you try using it when you want to have a change of mood? (Woon)


    ¡ªIf you smell this same scent nearby, I could be there, so be on the lookout! Please? (Yeon-Hoon)


    ¡ªI hope with this, we have one more simrity. (Do-Seung)


    There were different perfumes inside the shopping bag and with the card, one could tell which perfume belonged to whom. Fans stood frozen on the spot and counted the gifts they received from Siren. For gifts given to the fans, it was usually the members who bore the expenses.


    <i>¡®Those guys must not even have made much money yet....¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®Haa...what are with these guys...?¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®Not like these are cheap either.¡¯</i>


    Every gift they received cost quite a bit. Even the handwritten letter they got was made with luxurious paper and had a special texture. Even if they tried not to think about money, they couldn¡¯t help it. Each of the gifts made them think Siren wanted only to give them the very best, and it made their hearts ache that they prepared this when they must not have even gotten proper pay yet.


    The only thing they could do was to return as much as they received. People took pictures of each of the gifts they received and began to post them on social media. They wanted to promote Siren as much as they could and boast to everyone that their guys loved them this much. Before the official recording even began, Siren¡¯s fans raged with passion.


    ***


    Before going up for the official recording and after changing our clothes, my members and I searched social media sites with our phones.


    ¡°Wow...! Some people already uploaded pictures!¡±


    ¡°Thank goodness that they all seem to like it.¡±


    ¡°I think this will be a meaningful present to them.¡±


    ¡°It was worth it to write those letters all night long.¡±


    Fans were already posting pictures about the gifts they received from Siren. The responses were quite explosive. Though many people were still asleep since it was early in the morning. I thought news of it would spread further around lunchtime. I reach each of the fan posts that popped onto the phone screen.


    <i>¡®...This isn¡¯t bad...¡¯</i> Truthfully, I did push my members to try harder toplete the system¡¯s missions. Of course, I only gave them suggestions, and they readily agreed to follow my list of events. They also gave up their own money and searched for businesses to contact. Yet, for me, I had my own... ulterior motives to seed in the missions.


    <i>¡®It really is good...really...¡¯</i> Seeing the fans¡¯ responses, I felt so touched that I became a bit embarrassed about my own motives.


    ¡°What? Is Tae-Yoon crying?¡±


    ¡°...No.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon is crying?¡±


    ¡°He isn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°He looks teary though.¡±


    ¡°...I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    Perhaps, it was because it was early in the morning, I couldn¡¯t control my emotions well. Seeing how thankful and excited the fans felt on the social media feeds made me feel proud. Perhaps, this was the feeling of pride gotten from paying back what you received. I didn¡¯t have much resistance to this emotion because I didn¡¯t experience it often in my life. I quickly settled my heart.


    ¡°Siren, please be on stand-by~¡± The producing director told us.


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°I understand!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    We prepared to get up on the recording stage.


    ¡°We can do it, Siren!¡±


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go do a good job!¡±


    We shouted our familiar cheer and got on top of the stage.


    ***


    The recording progressed stably. There were three recordings in total and we alsomunicated with fans in between. However, we kept havingmunication errors while trying to talk to fans who were quite a distance away with in-ear earphones.


    ¡ªDid you eat food yet?


    ¡°Did I wash my foot yet?¡±


    ¡ªFood!


    ¡°Room?¡±


    ¡°Did! You! Eat!¡±


    ¡°Ahh, no I didn¡¯t eat yet.¡±


    Though we couldn¡¯t make our ownmentaries, it didn¡¯t seem like a bad idea to have a short conversation. Soon afterward, we performed our title song, ¡®Blue Summer Night¡¯ and went down the stage. Since it had been a while since we performed with fans cheering for us below the stage, we were able to perform a bit more excitedly than before. Fortunately, the song we were performing was bright and refreshing so it became better the more excited we were.


    Since this was our first recording, we gave it our all and tried our hardest to make room for no errors. Thanks to that, we were able toe down after finishing a performance that everyone was satisfied with.


    ¡°Good work, everyone!¡±


    ¡°Be careful on your way back!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s see each other again!¡±


    Though all we did was a recording show, it felt as if we had used up a whole day¡¯s worth of energy.


    ¡°Hello everyone! Let¡¯s move on to the next schedule after finishing our breakfast!¡±


    As it was for all idols, a recording was just the beginning of a schedule. The real thing started from now on.


    ***


    While we worked busily to finish Siren¡¯s schedule, all sorts of posts about Siren began to pour out on social media. From their debut show to this morning¡¯s recording¡ªSiren had been taking all sorts of attention and dominating intemunities. Siren seemed to remain on people¡¯s minds more than Only One, but as if Only One also nned to put up a fight, they began to release issues that could draw in a lot of attention.


    Around lunch on Tuesday at Only One¡¯s media showcase, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s legendary clip blew up.


    ¡ª...Wait, hold on, Hyun-Sung! Damn it!

 Chapter 176

    <h4>Chapter 176</h4>


    The number of views on Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s showcase fan cam video began to rise in an instant. It was an increase too astounding to simply attribute it to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s poprity being higher than the other members. Only One¡¯s title track, ¡°First One¡± was an EDM-based song with a heavy and intense dubstep beat. However, to suit the summer vibe, it was a song that felt refreshing and cheerful rather than heavy, so it made people want to dance as soon as they listened to the song.


    Kang Hyun-Sung in the video was wearing a ck shirt without a cor, but his body line stood out because he was wearing a see-through shirt. Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s body, which lost about 4kg more than usual, had the power to catch the eyes of the viewers. As soon as the light touched his pale skin, it created an optical illusion and made people think he was shining. The silhouette of his corbone and shoulder line to his forearm clearly revealed how hard Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s diet was and how much muscle he had.


    Before the stage began, Kang Hyun-Sung slightly smiled as if he felt shy, but as soon as the music came out, he changed expression and began dancing. He was soft and light at the same time and knew just the right time to put more strength in areas that needed to be highlighted. Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s dancing, which was a festive to the eyes, shone even more in a high-quality dubstep beat.


    ¡ªYES WE ONLY KNOW!


    ¡ªTHIS IS THE FIRST ONE


    ¡ªThe story that we¡¯re going to write about


    ¡ªWe¡¯ve reached the starting point


    Kang Hyun-Sung moved to the center and performed a choreography mixed with krumping in line with the chorus, and this was the scene that people reyed the most. He exuded strength and sticity that were difficult toe out of a thin body and portrayed the charms and strengths of the Krumping genre. Idol consumers recognized a good performance faster than anyone else, so as soon as the video was released, the number of views soared, and it began to generate numerous retweets in Bluebird.


    ¡ªI¡¯m sweating; Kang Hyun-Sung really put out all the stops


    ¡ªwow, crazy. Who is he really?


    ¡ªHyun-Sung...


    ¡ªThose burning eyes...I love you to death


    ¡ªI¡¯m swooning from that small smile he gave right before the stage started


    ¡ªI think his dancing is really clean.


    ¡ªHa the fuck...I feel faint


    The Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s video, which had been consumed only within OnlyOne¡¯s fandom, began to spread to other idol consumers in an instant. During lunchtime when Siren¡¯s gifts to fans firmly kept the no. 1 spot on the real-time chart, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fancam rose to the ranks at a crazy speed and stole the top spot in the real-time trend. It was the first time that OnlyOne beat Siren, which had been constantly gaining poprity from debut shows to fan gifts.


    ¡ªI was curious about the part that people watched the most, and it was ¡®that part¡¯ hahahaha people are all the same.


    ¡ªHyun-Sung¡¯s waist is seriously crazy...


    While monitoring Bluebird, Bong Tae-Yoon inevitably witnessed the very moment when Siren¡¯s reverse gift-giving lost the top spot inside Siren¡¯s media showcase waiting room.


    ***


    I confirmed that Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fancam video shot up like crazy in the Bluebird rankings. There were already 10,000 retweets, and the number of views was by far the first cepared to other members.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! What are you watching?¡± At that moment, Yeon-Hoon approached me.


    I quickly covered the phone screen, and then looked at Yeon-Hoon, who changed his outfit for the media showcase. Today¡¯s showcase outfit was a summer school uniform. Despite being 23 years old, Yeon-Hoon looked just like a high school student in his school uniform.


    Yeon-Hoon asked, ¡°What are you trying to hide so quickly?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon seemed suspicious that I suddenly turned off my phone screen. I said, ¡°It was nothing much.¡±


    ¡°It seemed like you were watching someone¡¯s fancam.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not.¡±


    ¡°What is it? It¡¯s strange that you¡¯re trying to hide it.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing for me to hide. I just clicked on anything that came up on my feed.¡±


    ¡°Hmm...okay.¡± Yeon-Hoon looked suspiciously at me till the very end, and I let out a hollowugh.


    ¡°It really was nothing much. I was just watching senior Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fancam that¡¯s trending right now.¡± I just turned on my screen and showed it to him before he misunderstood that I really was watching something weird. Honestly, there was no need for me to hide that I was watching Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fancam. I just hid it because Kang Hyun-Sung was pretending to be sexy so tantly in this video.


    ¡°Oh, I know about that. It¡¯s trending like crazy right now. You already saw it?¡±


    ¡°It just came up on my feed.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon took my phone and yed the video without returning my phone. Then he sat on the sofa with my phone, looking like a nephew who took their uncle¡¯s phone during the holidays. Then he yed the video and began to sincerely admire Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s performance.


    ¡°...Wow...he¡¯s really good at dancing...No wonder it got no.1 on the real-time charts.¡± Yeon-Hoon also seemed to think that Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s performance was great.


    ¡°But it¡¯s a bit of a shame...that we lost first ce on the real-time charts...¡± As expected, no matter how easy-going Yeon-Hoon acted and lived, he did have a bit ofpetitive spirit in him.


    ¡°Well, but if it¡¯s a performance like this, he deserves it.¡± Of course, his emotions did turn into ugly jealousy, and he cleanly acknowledged the other party.


    I said, ¡°Hmm, really?¡±


    ¡°Huh? Why?¡±


    However, although Yeon-Hoon cleanly admitted our defeat, I couldn¡¯t do the same. I said, ¡°Don¡¯t you think we should film something like this?¡±


    ¡°A fancam like this?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°How can you n and film something like this? If we work hard as usual, this kind of fancam wille out someday~¡± Yeon-Hoon said as if he didn¡¯t care too much about this. However, my thoughts were different.


    ¡®Yeon-Hoon is in good condition today.¡¯ I didn¡¯t think Yeon-Hoon had anything to lose to Kang Hyun-Sung. I said, ¡°Wait a minute. I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Why?¡±


    I climbed onto the main stage where there would be a media showcase. The staff were in the midst of setting up lights and LED panels. I used Insight and looked at the stage where we would stand. The staff who had been busily moving stopped, and it felt like I was standing alone in the concert hall where the showcase would take ce. There was only one thing I wanted to check with Insight.


    ¡®What should I do...from here on.¡¯ I nned to make a legendary fancam that people said were blessings from God with my own hands.


    After finding the best angle the video should be taken and the optimal amount of light at that angle, I deactivated Insight.


    ¡®This is it.¡¯


    Soon after, I said, ¡°Director, may I offer a bit of my suggestion when setting up the lights?¡±


    ¡°Suggestion?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s not anythingplicated...¡± I told the lighting director and the cinematographer about the setting I saw through Insight. At first, they looked doubtful of my abilities.


    ¡°....Oh!¡±


    ¡°...You have good sense, Mr. Tae-Yoon...¡±


    However, their doubtful expression turned bright after changing the setting ording to my instruction, and they immediately nodded and gave me the OK sign.


    ***


    Bluebird, which had went crazy with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s legendary fancam around lunch, was once again in a frenzy with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s legendary fancam. The real-time rankings were swiftly changing once again.


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s legendary fancam performance was the title of Siren¡¯s debut album, ¡°Blue Summer Night.¡± An ambient and soft light that seemed to reflect the depths of the ocean fell behind Yeon-Hoon wearing a summer school uniform. As the blue light touched his pale face, the keywords ¡®Fairy of the Sea,¡¯ which people jokingly used to reference Siren, became a perfect match. His clean skin without any blemishes and round andrge eyes; a straight nose and red, thick lips. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s visuals had the power to refresh both the eyes and ears of all viewers.


    ¡ªWhen people see a handsome face, they forget what they said...when people see a handsome face, they forget what they said...


    ¡ªI definitely turned on Yeon-Hoon¡¯s fancam, but light suddenly came out of my headphones and I was blinded.


    ¡ªOur beautiful peach is our pride and joy~! He is Siren¡¯s Woo Yeon-Hoon!! ¡ªI really didn¡¯t have any thoughts about Woo Yeon-Hoon, but I watched this video with my mouth open. I never knew I had such good concentration...lol


    If Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fancam was a video that made people crazy in a specific section, Yeon-Hoon was an eye-catching video from beginning to end. To support this statement, in Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s video, one part was repeated like crazy, but in Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s video, there was little difference between the most viewed section and the least viewed section. Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s fancam, which had ranked first on the real-time charts from lunch and refused to budge, finally caved in and began to fall.


    While monitoring Bluebird, Kang Hyun-Sung was also able to see his real-time ranking go down. In a waiting room for a music show, Kang Hyun-Sung made a small smile while looking at his phone¡¯s screen.


    ¡°What are you watching?¡± Only One¡¯s Park Young-Ho asked as he sat next to Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon¡¯s fancam video.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I saw that too. He was really good, but...this is okay, right?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no reason why it won¡¯t be okay.¡±


    ¡°...Yeah.¡± Park Young-Ho looked relieved only after Kang Hyun-Sung said it was okay. Kang Hyun-Sung checked the time after turning off Yeon-Hoon¡¯s fancam video. It was time for the music show to start.


    Kang Hyun-Sung agreed to the fact that Siren and Only One were rivals. However, if someone asked if Siren and Only One were rivals who had to beat the other like in a death match, he would say no. Of course, considering his personality, he wanted to win for sure and maintain first ce if he could.


    ¡®But...I don¡¯t think we have to be rivals right now.¡¯ There was no need to spur morepetitiveness between the two. Flexibility was needed in every situation and matter, and Kang Hyun-Sung thought they needed a new strategy to suit this changed situation.


    ***


    Before the broadcast of Music Champion, a music show that that aired every Tuesday, various SNSmunity tforms, including Bluebird began to heat up around one topic. It was about which side would take the title of winner after their debut in the rivalry between Siren and Only One. For now, Siren clearly won the game on Monday, and until Tuesday morning, Siren fandom had been much more active.


    However, after Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s legendary fancam was released, the buzz began to spread more evenly. Of course, Siren gained more attention again as Woo Yeon-Hoo¡¯s fancam coincidentally appeared right after Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡ªI seriously can¡¯t predict who will win 1st ce on next week¡¯s music show;


    ¡ªThis rivalry is too exciting lol


    ¡ªBut honestly, won¡¯t S and OO be ufortable right now? They seemed close


    ¡ªSiren and Only One¡¯s fandom must be unbelievably tense right now lol


    In the eyes of others, Siren and Only One were narrowlypeting for the lead. For idol consumers who were not fans of Siren and Only One, it was a fun sight to see to relieve their boredom, but for the fans of the two groups, the rivalry was an infinite cycle that caused excessive emotions and fatigue to arise.


    ¡ªI swear, it¡¯s he annoying that our guys keep getting tied to Only O- somehow


    ¡ªI just went on a 1:1 fight with Only O-¡® fandom fuck Hyun¡¯s die-hard fans are everywhere


    ¡ªAh fuck just pay attention to <i>your</i> <i>oppas¡¯</i> activities;


    As the conflict became increasingly fierce, there were signs that actual damage on people¡¯s ounts and life were gradually appearing.


    ¡ªThere are a few people who just love arguing for arguing sake so just ignoring them is the only answer


    ¡ªyeah u have to just go ur way


    And in the midst of this fierce conflict that was difficult to predict the oue, Tuesday¡¯s live broadcast of Music Champion began.


    ¡ª??


    ¡ªFuck hahahhahaha


    Then an unexpected scene appeared on air and quickly spread in both Siren and Only One¡¯s fandom. It was a sudden development that flipped the tentative and tense rtionship Only One and Siren.

 Chapter 177

    Chapter 177


    Our music show schedule for Tuesday passed smoothly. Because we had already showcased the title song on the pre-recording a couple of times, we didnt feel that pressured. And likest week, we also had to choose a representative among us to say soapy lines with the hosts. I thought we would have to decide on who would take the role by ying hot potato, but the broadcasting crew specifically picked out Yeon-Hoon and requested him to do the job.


    Mr. Yeon-Hoon, please go up now!


    Yes, sir! I will be back guys.


    Good luck.


    No need to feel nervous.


    Yeon-Hoon seemed to have wanted to do this task and looked happy to have been chosen. And after sending him off, we went to the waiting room and watched Yeon-Hoon through the monitor. Members of new groups had to showcase key dance moves from the choreography of their title songs.


    Oh! Its Yeon-Hoon!


    Senior Kang Hyun-Sung came out for Only One.


    Since Only One and us were debuting at the same time, two teams were also doing the same show. As expected, there was no way that the broadcast station would lose its chance to show more rivalry.


    We have leaders from two teams who made quite the spectacle with their debut! Ohhh!


    The stage was set up so that Yeon-Hoon stood at the left and Kang Hyun-Sung stood at the right, slightly facing each other. This setup didnt seem like a big deal, but it actually had an effect of strengthening the rivalry between the two teams. Furthermore, the show began with the teams rivalry as its main focus.


    Siren and Only One are both two teams that debuted through <em>The Showcase</em>. You both have been tied as rivals for quite some time now, how do you each feel about it?


    The host tantly brought up the topic.


    We think its a great honor that we can even be considered rivals with such amazing performers!


    Because we keep getting set up with such a cool and skilled group like Siren as rivals, it pushes us to work harder.


    Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sung appeared to verse each other on who could say the most humble lines and boosted each other up. Truthfully, it was the scriptwriter who gave them these lines, but I thought this was the only right direction to take. If they went any harder on the rivalry angle than this, it could just sour the mood.


    Then, could you both show a key dance move from your choreography?


    This was the time for the two to exin their key choreography points.


    Our key dance move is to wave your palm like this and jerk your head sideways


    Ah, like this?


    Yes, yes! Isnt it simple?


    Haha! Yes, its a simple and cute move.


    The choreography we had this time was one that could be copied quickly and was easy to understand. Of course, it wasnt like this choreography was just simple and easy since Woon had poured out his blood, sweat, and tears to make such easy moves suitable for an impressive performance; and our real choreography was about five levels harder than the key dance move that Yeon-Hoon showcased.


    What is Only Ones key dance move?


    For ours, you have to point to the floor with your finger and stomp once, then, slide to the side.


    Oh, its simple but very cool


    Kang Hyun-Sung also showed an easier version of his groups choreography.


    I cant wait to see the rest of your performance, but unfortunately, I think its time to let you two go. Then, can you two exin the next performance?


    This was the highlight of this section. It was their time to introduce and exin the next stage. Though I could see Yeon-Hoon doing <em>aegyo</em>[1], I couldnt bear to see Kang Hyun-Sung do the same. I felt sick to my stomach and tried to turn my head away.


    Hey! Bong Tae-Yoon! Do not turn away as yourrade is dying!


    No.


    Dong-Jun clutched my head and fixed it towards the screen.


    Ah so hot~ Mr. Hyung-Sung! Its scorching here! Should we try to find somewhere cooler?


    Really? I dont feel all that hot.


    What?


    I said Im fine.


    Why?


    Its because we have Happinesss Cool Summer


    Its a refreshing and bright song that would cool your ears!


    Lets begin Happinesss Cool Summer~


    The two finished their stage introduction with all their might.


    Wow. I was genuinely impressed. Yeon-Hoon appeared to have been hesitant at times in embarrassment, but


    <em>Kang Hyun-Sungis the real deal </em>There wasnt a hint of hesitation, embarrassment, or awkwardness in his behavior. He sounded so natural as if he would turn on Happinesss Cool Summer instead of the air conditioner to cool himself.


    Though I was shocked by Kang Hyun-Sungs brazenness, my other members reveled in Yeon-Hoons suffering.


    Hahaha!


    Look at Yeon-Hoons faceit looks like it would burst


    I should tease him about thister.


    About this time, I went to Bluebird to monitor thements.


    <em>Hm?</em> I was a bit taken aback by how aggressive thements were.


    ***


    I did expect some people to be overly invested in the rivalry storyline between Only One and us at our debut. Yet, I expected that to be a very small minority and what happened mostly under the surface. Furthermore, I knew that we couldnt only expect good responses with our current game n, and some bad responses would naturally follow behind. Yet, I had prepared myself to not concern myself about the setbacks too much.


    <em>But why is it so out there?</em> There wasnt just a little bit of bad responses. Perhaps, it was all my miscalction. I expected some negative feelings and energy since we and Only One were debuting together, but I didnt think they would be so firmly rooted between the fandoms like this.


    Sh** did the broadcasting station really put them with our guys?


    Dont they know the fan responses? Why the hell would they put them together then?


    Hisment with Kang Hyun-Sung wasnt even funny; it disgusted me


    Of course, these types of responses still couldnt be considered the majority in terms of the total number of feedsing up on sites. Yet, the problem was that even I could see them. I purposefully didnt follow ounts that poured out aggressivements since they didnt urately reflect the actual situation and followed ounts that I thought well-represented themon idol market consumers.


    <em>If this is how these people feel, doesnt it mean that it would be a huge mess in anonymous and aggressive ounts?</em> By then, I realized the severity of the situation.


    I was clearly the one to me for all this. After all, these sorts of negative responses were destructive and soon exhausted fans.


    From now on, I just dont want Siren to work at the same time as Only One


    I guess thepany has their own nsbut honestly, its a bit tiring


    I dont know why I have to feel stressed by just seeing Only One


    It wasnt unusual to find such posts. It was true that Only One and Siren ate up all the entertainment issues and attention with our rivalry storyline before our debut. Kang Hyun-Sung and our n were very effective in this aspect.


    <em>But maybe it was a mistake.</em> I underestimated the negatives while only focusing on the positives. I felt sorry for my fans and felt ashamed of myself.


    Its time for our performance now. Lets warm up a bit, Do-Seung said and got up.


    I settled my mind and got up. At least for now, the broadcast came first.


    ***


    The live show was over. Yeon-Hoon took the role of the ending fairy and created quite a buzz. The moment the camera fixed on Yeon-Hoon, there was a burst of cheer at the site. Iter checked what happened in the waiting room and thought peoples responses then were understandable. On the screen, he heaved with a pure and beautiful face and smiled brightly. He gave off the look of a male lead from a high-teen romance movie that existed only in peoples imaginations.


    Yeon-Hoon is trending again.


    Really?


    Wow.


    Yeah, but the trending keywords are a bit rough.


    <em>Yeon-Hoon Damn Fucking Insane</em> was the trending keywords. After that, Only Ones performance came next and changed the trending keywords again. The ending fairy for Only Ones performance was Kang Hyun-Sung, and even though he just stared at the screen nkly, he still got up on the trending list.


    His trending keyword was <em>Kang Hyun-Sungs face.</em> I still didnt know how Kang Hyun-Sung was supposed to be handsome, but he was someone who gathered fans with his face somehow. Yet, since everyone had their own preferences, I didnt dwell too much on it. Soon afterward, performances from our senior groups continued until in thest stage, a girl group who had been in the business for quite some time finished their ending performance.


    Then, all the singers got onto the stage to pick this weeks number one.


    Wowwe are finally standing on the stage we only saw through the screen.


    It makes me strangely nervous.


    Wont they not capture us on screen? I bet someone else would take first ce.


    Wellthe camera could shoot us when we dont expect it.


    My members conversed as we got up on the stage. I also walked outside the waiting room following my members. Perhaps, it was because all the groups came out but there was quite some traffic in the hallways, and we had to wait in the middle of moving to our location.


    Good job today.


    Ah, you surprised me.


    Kang Hyun-Sung whispered in my ear. It was a face I wasnt happy to see. Since we had to wait in the hallway before going up on the stage, there were unfortunate encounters like this. I wanted to tell him to not just whisper in peoples ears like that since it was annoying but I was afraid to bebeled as the arrogant newbie and kept my thoughts to myself.


    Kang Hyun-Sung also probably acted knowing I couldnt do anything about it. All I could do was stare at Kang Hyun-Sung with some contempt.


    Ah? Its moving. It was then the traffic moved up, and people began to get up to the main stage one by one. As peoples footsteps sounded from everywhere, Kang Hyun-Sung asked out of the blue.


    You checked, right? He asked without any of the main points. Yet, I supposed that he was talking about the drawbacks of pushing our two teams rivalry storyline. I quietly nodded. Though I checked the responses, I wondered if there was anything we could do in this instance. I thought I should do something but nned to discuss the ns after this music show was over.


    Dont worry.


    ?


    Kang Hyun-Sung acted cool all of a sudden. What was he telling me to not worry about? Did he have some kind of n? I stared at Kang Hyun-Sung with more contempt than before, but Kang Hyun-Sung evaded my eyes and got up the stage.


    Lets go.


    ***


    The candidates for first ce this week was a senior member of a girl group, who started her solo activity with a summer song, verses a girl group that debuted about four years ago and also released their season song. I recalled that both candidates disyed good results and sales, and it wouldnt be surprising if either ced first.


    Before first ce was announced, the top of the stage was adequately hectic and loud. It was then, I felt a strange foreboding feeling and turned.


    ? My head stopped temporarily after seeing what I didnt expect, and what Kang Hyun-Sung told me passed through my head. He told me not to worry, which meant that he would quell the rivalry storyline that was getting out of hand. I couldnt get a sense of how he would do that.


    <em>?</em> Right before the first ce was announced and the camera was on the entire stage, Kang Hyun-Sung whispered to Yeon-Hoon and smiled fondly. Yeon-Hoons eyes sparkled as he looked at Kang Hyun-Sung.


    <em>What? </em>Kang Hyun-Sung was acting all familiar with Yeon-Hoon all of a sudden as if he wanted everyone else to see. I thought he had a clear n when he told me not to worry, but I didnt imagine that toe on behalf of Yeon-Hoon.


    <em>Thisbastard?</em> I almost couldnt believe what I was seeing. In the meantime, Kang Hyun-Sung and I met eyes.


    He looked down on me arrogantly and smiled at Yeon-Hoon again. <em>Should I kill him?</em> I thought.


    <em>Haa</em> I really just wanted to take a hard punch at the man.


    1. Acting (sometimes overly) cutesy

 Chapter 178

    Chapter 178


    I looked at Kang Hyun-Sung in surprise. I was so surprised that I forgot to control my expression, and it appeared my shocked expression was caught on camera


    Sigh I didnt know how people would react to it. However, that wasnt the important point right now.


    <em>Whatin the world is he doing?</em> Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sung hadnt interacted much before. Although there had been many chances, they strangely hadnt bonded in any way before. In Yeon-Hoons case, he must have been nervous about being friends with such a famous person. As for Kang Hyun-Sung


    <em>He just seemed like he didnt want to be friends.</em> He seemed to have no intention of bing friends with Yeon-Hoon. Of course, he told Yeon-Hoon that they should speak friendly to one another and added some kindments, but Kang Hyun-Sung didnt actually make any effort to form a friendship with Yeon-Hoon. He basically only said empty words to create a strategically friendly rtionship.


    <em>But this crazy guyseriously</em> Since there was now a strategic reason to get close to Yeon-Hoon, Kang Hyun-Sung made the first move.


    Thus, I nned to intervene between them and asked, What did you guys talk about?


    Of course, it would be helpful if Kang Hyun-Sung and Yeon-Hoon were caught together on camera as it was a cut that directly showed our fans that Only One and we were on good terms. However, I didnt want to see Yeon-Hoon be sacrificed for Kang Hyun-Sungs strategy, so I tried to bring Yeon-Hoon closer to my side.


    Us?


    Wellit was nothing much.


    ? What in the world did Kang Hyun-Sung do in that short amount of time? They had already be close enough to share secrets. Yeon-Hoon glossed over my question by saying it was not a big deal, and Kang Hyun-Sung gave me a furtive smile. It was obvious that they were hiding something from me.


    Kang Hyun-Sung said, Yeon-Hoon and I were sharing our difficulties as a leader.


    Yeah, I was just discussing various concerns about this and that with Hyun-Sung.


    Then they tried to gloss over this situation by using their shared characteristic as leaders to put a stop to this topic.


    <em>But Yeon-Hoonand Hyun-Sung? I </em>wondered if someone was doing a prank video on me right now. If not, how did they be so close as to being on a first-name basis now? They both used to speak honorifics to each other every single time. I had no idea whether Yeon-Hoon had extremely high EQ or Kang Hyun-Sung was just crazy.


    Then Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly whispered something to Yeon-Hoon while staring at me. When Yeon-Hoon heard his words, he looked at me once and smiled brightly. Kang Hyun-Sung was really just pretending to be close to Yeon-Hoon now as if he was bragging to me that although I knew Yeon-Hoon for much longer, they were now closer. I was fuming with anger because of how ridiculous Kang Hyun-Sung was being, but I calmed myself down. When I was about to say a word or two to Kang Hyun-Sung


    This weeks 1st ce is!


    Jays <DRIVE THRU>! Congrattions!


    The first-ce announcement came out. From now on, I needed to keep my mouth shut and lookpletely attentive. This was the moment when our senior in the music industry won first ce. From here on, we were not the main characters but this senior was. We closed our mouths shut and pped in unison, looking straight ahead. Flower petals burst from the sky and the song that won no.1 rang out. We went down the stage at that moment.


    I wanted to ask Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sung what kind of conversation they shared again, but Do-Seung pulled me towards where he was.


    Bong Tae-Yoon! Come here. He purposely pulled me towards him because he was afraid I might bump into someone in a big crowd like this.


    Sigh. <em>I got further away.</em> However, as a result, I had to move further away from Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sung.


    Will we be able to win first ce next week?


    I might cry if we win first ce.


    Woon, I think youll cry.


    Without knowing what I was feeling, the members continued to talk about winning first ce next week. I stared at Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sung as they grew more and more distant and began moving.


    ***


    Woo Yeon-Hoon watched the backs of his members as they were walking far ahead of him.


    Woo Yeon-Hoon said, Ive already so far from my members.


    Kang Hyun-Sung asked, Shouldnt you go after them?


    How can I run in a crowded ce like this? Its not like theyre running away anyway.


    Woo Yeon-Hoon looked briefly up at Kang Hyun-Sung. Kang Hyun-Sung had frequently expressed his intention to be friends with him by saying things like ''lets talk informally, speak casually, and lets be friends''. However, there has been no significant progress until today. There wasnt such a big reason for this.


    Anyway, Ill take good care of Tae-Yoon! Dont worry! It was all because Kang Hyun-Sung had suddenly brought up Tae-Yoon at the first-ce stage presentation ceremony. The topic of their conversation was how is your groups <em>maknae</em> doing?


    Kang Hyun-Sung said that the <em>maknae </em>of his team was suffering from indigestion, perhaps, because he was too nervous before his debut. Only Ones <em>maknae</em> was Park Young-Ho, and Yeon-Hoon did think that Yeon-Hoon looked thinner than before. Then the conversation naturally turned to how their <em>maknae</em> was doing. Kang Hyun-Sung asked if Bong Tae-Yoon was sleeping well and if he wasnt straining too hard during practice as he had a tendency to push himself too hard.


    Woo Yeon-Hoon was surprised that Kang Hyun-Sung knew Bong Tae-Yoon so well, and when he asked about it, Kang Hyun-Sung shared various events that happened during their team alliance mission while filming <em>The Showcase 2</em>. Since then, the two exchanged information about Bong Tae-Yoons small habits.


    What Kang Hyun-Sung discovered was that when Bong Tae-Yoon was upset, his lips protruded ever so slightly and twitched. However, he added that it was so slight that unless one looked at him very closely, it was hard to notice. And sure enough, Yeon-Hoon was able to see Bong Tae-Yoons lips twitch on todays stage. After listening to Kang Hyun-Sung, it was a clearly visible habit.


    I should help Tae-Yoon a lot so that he doesnt burden himself too much.


    Yeah.


    Then Ill contact you again!


    Sure. After breaking up with Kang Hyun-Sung in the waiting room hallway, Yeon-Hoon headed to the waiting room where his group was.


    Although it felt kind of iffy that a leader from another group seemed to know Bong Tae-Yoon better than him, he thought, <em>I should be more attentive.</em>


    Rather than feeling discouraged, Yeon-Hoon strengthened his resolve to take care of the group by working harder.


    ***


    After the broadcast of Music Champion on Tuesday ended, various SNS tforms, including Bluebird, began to mention Siren and Only One together in a different direction.


    I knew that Kang Hyun-Sung was close to Tae-Yoon, but Im surprised that he was close to Yeon-Hoon too


    They look so good together


    But werent they not that close?


    Reply: It seems good tho?


    Reply: But I think its more difficult not to get close cause they did Showcase together, and their promotion period ovep.


    A friendship scene broke out at the moment when excessive rivalry was burning up between the two fandoms and fans were beginning to get sick of it. Since it was came at an exquisite timing, rival-rted posts began to disappear from the feed one by one. Of course, they werentpletely gone.


    Is it just me whos bothered that theyre together?


    They were still people who were too immersed in the rivalry between Only One and Siren.


    Reply: Theyre closePlease let them be friends


    People who were too immersed in their rivalry began to calm down and return to their original state. However, as the heat of the rivalry cooled down, another topic began to gain traction.


    But seriously, Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sungs faces look crazy good together;


    Cool-type and warm-type handsome faces(Kang Hyun-Sung and Woo Yeon-Hoon whisphering.gif)


    Reply: Wow, Im dying


    The feed began to pour in about how good Woo Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sung looked together.


    When I saw the two of them whispering at first, my expression looked exactly like Bong Tae-Yoon haha (Bong Tae-Yoon looking surprised at Woo Yeon-Hoon on ending stage.jpg)


    But its hrious that Tae-Yoon seems surprised for real that Hyun-Sung is whispering to Yeon-Hoon lol


    Reply: Our baby wolf is getting jealous of his boyfriend so gud aww


    Furthermore, the photo of Bong Tae-Yoon, who looked surprised to see the two whispering, also became a hot topic. Of course, there were several different reactions to this.


    If Yeon-Hoon and Hyun-Sung were close, why would Tae-Yoon be so surprised?


    Were they pretending to be close


    Although these were pretty keen observations, people wanted to interpret this scene in a different way.


    BongJealous Bong


    My baby, cutie-pie peachs boyfriend looking jealous is feeding my delusions


    This ordeal is too great for our wolf cub to handle


    hahahhahaha its so funny that he seems really jealous cause of how surprised he looks


    People were more in favor of Bong Tae-Yoons jealous storyline with a bright-eyed Woo Yeon-Hoon and sly Kang Hyun-Sung, and any negative spection about Bong Tae-Yoons surprised expression quickly disappeared.


    Honestly, rather than this boring rivalry, I want to see more of this kind of friendship


    Id rather see them get along well


    Its a blessing to see handsome guys socialize with each other; I like this more


    Moreover, the overall sentiment was that Only One and Sirens rivalry should stop, and they should show more heartwarming scenes. Bong Tae-Yoon stared nkly at his phone as the public opinion in SNS dramatically changed from one scene to the ending stage.


    ***


    I thought I owed it to Kang Hyun-Sung this time since he instantly solved the problems of the rivalry we created with our greed. The overheated rivalry died down, and we even drew attention in a different direction other than the rivalry. Of course, the conversation headed in a direction I didnt expect, but it was all thanks to Kang Hyun-Sung that I felt relieved.


    <em>Whats good is good.</em> I fell deep into thought after turning off the Bluebird app. As Kang Hyun-Sung intended, the public opinion in Bluebird was overturned in an instant, so it would only be a matter of time before the fandom would also change their stance. Since we put out the urgent fire, all we needed to do now was focus on the remaining schedule.


    The only remaining schedule today was a web variety show shoot. These were variety shows where idols usually appeared when they made aeback or made their debut, but the schedule for filming these variety shows became quite tight due to our ovepping debut with Only One. The programs had to set separate filming times because they had to shoot both Only One and ours.


    Thus, I was going to take a nap to manage my energy, but Ms. Hyuna, who was sitting in the passenger seat, eximed and called us, What? No way! Everyone!


    What is it?


    Why?


    What happened?


    I asked, wondering if there was a controversy or something.


    We just heard the total album sales and! I thinkI need to share this.


    What?


    Why?


    Is there a problem?


    Ill post it in the group chat room, so look at the pictures. Soon after, Ms. Hyuna posted a picture of cumtive album sales in the group chat room, and we saw the picture that came up on screen.


    ?


    Is this real?


    The conversation in the van was cut off in an instant.

 Chapter 179

    Chapter 179


    I saw the album sales count on the chat room screen. I thought if we did a good job until the end of today, we would ideally have about 400,000 sales. Yet, the number that came up on screen far surpassed my expectations.


    469,833


    ?


    It was about 470k; a number that I didnt expect at all. Did I underestimate my groups potential or was the current idol market so great that anyone could make a hit with an album release? It didnt matter what was the reason.


    Is thisreal?


    Yes!


    Thepany has been monitoring the sales count because it kept going up, but at this rate, I think we would be able to reach half a million!


    Whatever happened, our sales count exceeded expectations and as long we didnt make some huge mistake, it appeared that we could reach 500kfortably.


    Wooow!


    This is crazy, seriously!


    Half a million? In just a debut?


    Ahhhh!


    My members all shouted in happiness and cheered. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna looked like they wanted to jump out of the car this instance and dance.


    Good work you all.


    Its really thanks to all your hard work.


    If it werent for Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, we wouldnt have been able to achieve this.


    Thank you, you two.


    No, its all Sirens work.


    No~ its you guys~


    My members and our managers smiled brightly at each other. I also wanted to join them and chat, but there was something that I couldnt understand.


    <em>How does it make sense? </em>Of course, this was very good news since now since I didnt have to worry about Woons potential death anymore. Now, if we just sold 10k a day, we could reach half a million in no time.


    <em>But howdid it sell by so much?</em> It was time for me to think about the timeline again.


    <em>Even from the first day, the numbers were unbelievable. </em>We recorded 300k in the pre-order and 100k in the on-site sales. Thus, it was 400k sales just on the first day. I thought at most, we could expect to sell 350k, but my expectations were proven wrong.


    <em>Furthermore, we sold 70k more from this morning to now.</em> If I had known this would happen, I wouldnt have been so worried on our first day. I hadnt been checking the sales count every day because I thought it would stress me out too much and I nned to check tomorrow. Regardless, I quickly searched through Bluebird andmunity forums.


    I read a couple of posts and the responses that had been going off my radar. I also dug a bit deeper to scan responses that didnt usuallye up to the surface, and my conclusion was this.


    <em>Our rivalry with Only One is working really well.</em>


    It was all thanks to this rivalry storyline. The reason why we were able to sell 100k more than I predicted from the first day was because there was a strong sentiment in our fandom to not lose to Only One. Knowing that it was likely that Only One could have more album sales since they had Kang Hyun-Sung, our fans bought the albums more rigorously than before.


    Kang Hyun-Sung made quite a name for himself overseas during his time at his previous group, Yours and it was said that his poprity in China was enormous. Thus, in this rivalry storyline, we were at aparative disadvantage in album sales count which pushed our fans to try harder. At this point, I also checked Only Ones album sales count.


    481,009


    Only One was recording a sales count that was slightly higher than ours. Furthermore, it was a number that was much higher than the sales they recorded with their debut album in my past life. I had felt some guilt that Only One might not do as well because of us, but now, I didnt have to worry about that.


    <em>I can be confident now.</em> Whatever happened, they also did better thanks to us.


    Seeing the sales number really pumps me up.


    Lets continue to do a good job.


    It seemed the sales numbers invigorated my members and they wanted to do better in the next shooting. I also determined myself and looked outside the window.


    <em>I am just moments away from clearing Woons death g.</em> Then, all there was left to do was to get more views on our music video and choreography video. I racked my head to see how I could win over this system and how I could save my membersnot just my members from this world but other worlds. Though I heard good news, I still couldnt stop thinking.


    ***


    At a studio in Gangnam, Siren came to film a web-variety show. A web variety show was what could be considered a gateway to idol activities. Of course, not all idols could participate in it, and only idols with some name could appear on the show. At the same time, it wasnt like it was <em>that</em> difficult to appear, and as long as one was backed by an adequatepany or had some connections in the industry, they could be one of the casts.


    In that sense, Siren was a group that gave quite a headache to the people in the industry.


    HaaIts my first time feeling this anxious about a teams schedule change.


    Its not like its those guys fault. Its theirpany that fixed their debut date.


    But howe their schedule had to ovep with Only One out of everyone?


    Dont keep being angry about something thats already been decided.


    All right.


    Only Ones AnotherOne and Sirens Next Wave were twopanies that were making the most buzz in the entertainment business right now. Though AnotherOne was smaller than Next Wave in terms ofpany size, the influence and power they had in the entertainment industry was huge. In contrast, it was difficult to say that Next Wave had many connections in the entertainment business. Yet, they had core tires with the Jaeilpany, which had the nations cultural scene in their clutches.


    Thus, if the broadcast didnt cater to AnotherOne, their rtionship with some of the top, influential people in their own industry could be awkward. But if they didnt cater to Next Wave, they could lose favor from higher-ups not just in this industry but at a bigger tform. They couldnt ignore either group.


    In such a situation, the producer diplomatically decided to care for AnotherOne a bit more. The program they made was called <em>Idol Encyclopedia,</em> which was usually filed a week before the idol or idols activity period and was aired ording to it. Thus, they shot Only Ones episodest week and pushed off Sirens to ater time.


    Yet, in worry that they could fall off Jaeil Groups good wishes if they pushed Sirens schedule by too much, they got on their knees and begged the on-site staff to create an additional shooting schedule for Siren. With this, they could tell the Next Wave confidently that they also considered thepany highly and did their best.


    The only problem was that the producer had to receive a load of criticisms from his workers.


    Is there anything you all would like? I will pay with thepany card!


    I would like to go home, producer.


    Theres a tasty restaurant outside the studio. Please order for there, sir.


    Cup noodles eaten at home is tastier than a feast eaten at the workce, producer.


    The executive producer of <em>Idol Encyclopedia</em>, Jang Chul-Soo forcefully put on a smile and tried to ease his teams anger. Then, he made ns inside his mind while waiting for Siren toe. He thought he would be a terrible adult to take revenge on such young kids, but


    Lets make todays broadcast <em>really</em> fun. It would be sad if this episode is boring when we went as far as to make an additional shooting.


    Haawhat are you nning now, sir?


    What do you mean? Its good for the group if the show does well. Lets just increase the difficulty level of our activities a bit.


    You know at times like this, you look so damn mean and cheap?


    What?


    Huh? I think the Sirens came. I just got a call from the manager. I will guide them to the parking lot.


    Jang Chul-Soo clicked his tongue at the script writers smooth departure. He didnt n to really go as far as to torment Siren. He just nned to make the missions he gave them more difficult and trickier than usual. It was what everyone else did anyway. Jang Chul-Soo eagerly waited for Siren toe.


    ***


    The program that my members and I were going to shoot today was called<em> Idol Encyclopedia</em>. Fitting its name, the show would gather information about us and register it into their encyclopedia. Yet, we couldnt register just any information. They would do all sorts of variety games to do precise examinations of us and retrieve information ording to the results of the games.


    Not only was the encyclopedia published at the end of the year, but goods that could be purchased were also released. As a result, it was a program that was quite popr among idol fans.


    Lets do a good job.


    Lets each get S-rank.


    Yeah, lets go.


    We all got out of the car and headed inside the studio. There were no hosts and it was a program where the producer personally gave out orders using a mechanical voice.


    What game should we do first?


    Dont they usually do a game like Call in Silence?


    Isnt Tae-Yoon an expert in these kinds of games?


    Soon afterward, we opened the studio and went inside.


    <em>Beeeeeep.</em>


    Huh?


    What?


    Huuuh?


    We were baffled by the unexpected development. A siren began to ring out of nowhere instead of the usual producers mechanical voice giving themand<em>, Test subjects must go to their designated spots. </em>


    <em>Why is everyone so calm?</em> At first, I thought the buildings fire rm rang but seeing how all the staff appeared calm, we realized that this was part of the program.


    Warning! Warning! You are not permitted to approach! Warning! Warning! Please evacuate immediately.


    My members looked baffled by the situation, but I grasped the situation then. Today wasnt the teams usual shooting day. They probably made an additional shooting day because Only Ones and our debut day ovepped. Thus, not only did the production teame up with their programs schedule faster, they probably decided to follow apletely different format than usual.


    If the other idols hade to theb to register their information, we were trespassers who came to theb uninvited. After realizing the situation, I moved.


    Warning! Warning! Please back away. Theb will soon explode.


    Explode?


    What is this?


    Wow, its so fun~


    While my members looked confused by the situation, the noisy Siren soon stopped.


    To stop theb from exploding, idols named Siren have to register their information.


    The program returned to its usual format and my members faces turned calmer. Yet, what had already gone off wouldnt keep running the same way.


    This is a strength test. Knock down the sandbag installed in the center with a glove. You cannot clear the mission by movements like body mming.


    ?


    What?


    I shouldve known from the moment the siren rang but it seemed this programs producer had something against us. Why else would a sandbag appear out of the blue? I looked towards the producer who watched us from a corner with a snide smile.


    <em>Ziiiing. </em>Then, I activated my Insight. Since they told us to knock down the sandbag, I nned to do exactly that.


    <em>Sure, no problem.</em> Though they prepared an event out of my expectations, we just needed to leave data that also surpassed expectations.

 Chapter 180

    <h4>Chapter 180</h4>


    I used Insight to look at the sandbag. Since they told us to knock over the sandbag, I was going to use my ability to see how I could knock it over. By using Insight, I instantly saw which area would be the most effective ce to hit it, the hardness of the sandbag, and how I should extend my fist. After organizing this information in my head, I deactivated my Insight.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Are you really nning to knock that over?¡±


    ¡°Standing sandbags are really hard to knock over.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯ve never learned boxing, right?¡±


    When I stepped forward with a serious expression, the members tried to stop me, telling me to not overdo it. However, I didn¡¯t reply and just looked at the producer. I could roughly predict why he didn¡¯t think favorably of us, but I thought this was a bit childish. As a warning to the producer, I couldn¡¯t easily let this sandbag mission slide.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just give it a try.¡± I put the glove next to the sandbag in my hand and stretched out my fist, just like how I saw in the simtion I saw in my mind through Insight. Rather than just blindly throwing a strong punch, I needed to punch while thinking about how much impact I wanted to make at the hitting point. I lightly rotated my shoulders and extended my fist forward.


    <i>¡®Here.</i>¡¯ And if I just added strength by rotating my waist before touching the sandbag¡ª


    <i>Bam! </i>


    A nice and strong sound of impact rang out in the air.


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...?¡±


    The area I hit right now was slightly below the middle of the sandbag; if it was a human, I would have hit around their pelvis area. My goal right now was to knock over the sandbag.


    Whether it was a person, object, or standing sandbag, I needed to shake the center of gravity for something to fall. And to shake the center of gravity, I needed to shake up the lower body rather than the upper body. I didn¡¯t miss the moment the sandbag shook and hit the same area one more time.


    <i>Bam!</i>


    This sandbag wouldn¡¯t fall if I moved around and hit it all over the ce. Rather, I needed to concentrate my hits on one ce.


    Once again, I extended my fist.


    <i>Bam!</i>


    Another one.


    <i>Bam!</i>


    Then I ended it with a kick.


    <i>Bammm!</i>


    If I kept giving the same impact to the same point with precise movement¡ª


    ¡°Whaaaat?¡±


    ¡°No way!¡±


    <i>Thump.</i>


    The standing sandbag was bound to fall t as if it was dying of exhaustion.


    ¡°I knocked over the standing sandbag,¡± I said as I took off my glove.


    ¡°Did you learn boxing, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°But how did you hit it so well?¡±


    ¡°I guess I¡¯m talented.¡±


    ¡°How can you reply so nonchntly?¡±


    ¡°Was there really a need for you to be an idol...?¡±


    The members werepletely shocked that I knocked over the sandbag. In particr, Do-Seung looked at me with sparkling eyes, and as a fitness enthusiast, he seemed to have a newfound appreciation for me.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, do you want to work out with me?¡±


    ¡°No, I told you. I don¡¯t like the smell of iron.¡±


    ¡°With your talent, I think you¡¯ll quickly get the hang of weight training.¡±


    While we were chatting eagerly like that, the production team became quiet as mice. I checked the producer¡¯s face. At first, he looked mischievously at us like he wanted us to suffer, but now he looked baffled. I felt proud to beat him at his own game, but soon, a smile appeared on the producer¡¯s face and his eyes curved upwards.


    <i>¡®...?¡¯</i>


    Then he picked up the mike and started saying his lines.


    ¡ªSiren. End of power test. The final rating will be revealed after all the tests arepleted.


    ¡ªStart of Reaction speed test.


    That damn producer didn¡¯t even blink an eye when he was imitating the voice of a robot. At that point, I realized that this producer was by no means a normal person; there was madness flowing through his eyes. Soon¡ª


    <i>Bang!</i>


    ¡°Ahhhhhh!¡±


    ¡°What is that?¡±


    The ceiling suddenly opened, and items fell from the sky. They were headgear, gaiters, and chest guards, and they were protective equipment that people who did <i>taekwondo</i> would have worn at least once. However, the amount of equipment didn¡¯t match the number of people.


    <i>¡®Three?</i>¡¯ Equipment for exactly three people fell.


    ¡ªNonstop bombing will begin 30 secondster. Please take the protective gear.


    The members looked nkly at the producer.


    ¡®<i>He¡¯s crazy.</i>¡¯ I had once heard the rumor that the executive producer of <i>Idol</i> <i>Encyclopedia</i> was not normal, and I didn¡¯t expect to directly experience it myself. I put on the headgear, chest guards, and gaiters for my members, who were still standing dumbfounded. Of course, I put it on Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun.


    Do-Seung asked, ¡°What about me?¡±


    ¡°Just endure getting hit.¡±


    ¡°...What the hell, you punk?¡± I didn¡¯t put on any protective gear for Do-Seung.


    ¡ªBombing start


    Staff wearing ck tights approached us with a toy hammer and began to hit Do-Seung like crazy.


    <i>Boing!</i>


    <i>Boing!</i>


    <i>Boing!</i>


    <i>Boing!</i>


    ¡°Ahhhhhh!¡±


    <i>Sigh.</i> Today¡¯s shooting...was seriously going to be a challenge.


    <i> </i> *


    Producer Jang Cheol-Soo was convinced as soon as he saw Bong Tae-Yoon knock over the sandbag¡ªhe was definitely not a normal guy. Normally, most idols said things like <i>¡®What?¡¯, ¡®Really?¡¯, ¡®What, how can we do this, sir</i>!¡¯ when these kinds of missions were given. He didn¡¯t think they were bad; rather, he was thankful to them as a producer for faithfully following along and increasing the enjoyment of the program.


    However, idols these days were too well-versed in the media through media tforms like Utube, OTT, cable entertainment, and so on since they were young, and they¡¯ve been constantly exposed to media throughout their entire childhood. Thus, many children instinctively knew how to act and what to say when they were in front of the camera.


    Chang Chul-Soo didn¡¯t like this very much. How could 10 people react exactly the same way when the same mission was given to 10 people? He had been waiting for someone different, and he found a brilliantly shining, entertainment show gemstone in an unexpected ce.


    <i>¡®He was here.¡¯</i> He had expected reactions like ¡®<i>What! Sir, this is too much! Ahhhh! What is this!¡¯</i> but Bong Tae-Yoon showed the opposite reaction. He casually stepped forward, observed the sandbag for a while, put on his glove, and hit the sandbag with the correct form. Already at this point, Jang Cheol-Soo had fallen in love with Bong Tae-Yoon, and his heart was firmly decided when he saw Bong Tae-Yoon go through the toy hammer terror mission.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s the real deal!</i>¡¯ Bong Tae-Yoon distinguished the people he could be hit and not in an instant and allocated the equipment ordingly. His actions were swift without any hesitation and was a talent that would shine even more in an apocalypse, and he was the type of character that had never appeared in a variety show before.


    ¡°Aghhh! Bong Tae-Yoon! Bong Tae-Yoooon!¡±


    Even while Do-Seung resented Bong Tae-Yoon for not giving him safety equipment, Bong Tae-Yoon calmly said everything he had to say. ¡°You¡¯re not going to die. Just hang in there...for a moment.¡±


    <i>¡®...That guy is crazy.¡¯</i> Jang Cheol-Soo couldn¡¯t erase the smile on his face.


    ***


    Since then, the filming of the Idol Encyclopedia progressed at a maddening pace. After the hammer terror attack, it was time for a game called ''Random y Dance''. It was a mission that was the signature of Idol Encyclopedia. However, there were two obstacles needed to carry out this mission¡ª


    ¡°Wait! We haven¡¯t even taken off our headgear yet!¡±


    ¡°Huff...haaa. Aghhh!¡±


    ¡°What...¡±


    After the reaction speed test ended, they immediately turned on music without even a second of break.


    ¡ªMy deardy~ who went to pick mulberry leaves~


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not doing it with our songs...?¡±


    There was a ridiculous ylist mixed in between, and it was a game that was designed to make us suffer. There were cases where another idol song was mixed in during Random y Dance to make it harder, but songs from the 1970s and 1980s had never been used before. Furthermore, our song didn¡¯t even appear many times.


    The game that came out afterwards was ¡®Don¡¯t Laugh¡¯ Challenge. Since it was a static game, everyone thought we could finally catch our breath.


    ¡ªPlease look directly at the tablet screen.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    ¡°Hahahahaha!¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha.¡±


    However, the videos from the tablet screen proved to be quite a challenge. My members couldn¡¯t help butugh as a random filter from an app called TikTakTok was activated and ced on their faces. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s mouth suddenly became puffed up and droopy, Don-gJun¡¯s face suddenly turned into a horse, and a cute cat filter was oveid on Do-Seung¡¯s brooding posture.


    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°No way....Do-Seung...¡±


    ¡°Please stopughing! This will only end if we stopughing!¡±


    ¡°But how can I notugh at this!¡±


    ¡°Just cry then!¡±


    In the end, we had to repeatedly y the ¡®don¡¯tugh challenge,¡¯ which we had thought would be easy, until our stomach hurt, and it was from this game did I realize that evenughing could be torturous if it went too far. However, the producer didn¡¯t stop the tests as if he were trying to test the limits of our patience.


    ¡ªTest of unity. Build a human pyramid.


    ¡ªTest of trust. Jump down.


    ¡ªTest of humor. Make the producerugh.


    The games went through like a typhoon and were finally over.


    ¡ªThank you for your hard work. Siren¡¯s rating evaluation has beenpleted.


    Our rating metrics were now revealed.


    ¡ªThe final grade for all Siren members is S-rank. Congrattions.


    Perhaps thanks to our hard work, we all received S-rank.


    ¡°...Haha.¡±


    ¡°Thank you...¡± However, everyone was too tired to express their joy. We sat down on the studio floor and epted the ranking tag handed to us by the staff.


    ¡ªWe never had a group that filmed the ending scene while sitting down like that. Please get up.


    They were forcing us to get up after working us to our very bones.


    ¡°Ack...¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll get up...¡±


    The members and I tried to get up from our seats, but we couldn¡¯t get up because our legs kept giving in. It was then the producer said something that immediately got us back to our senses.


    ¡ªDo you not want to start the final mission?


    The final mission was the most important mission in the Idol Encyclopedia program, and it was also the reason why we came out on this show.


    ¡°We¡¯ll start...!¡±


    ¡°Ha...!¡±


    The members and I firmed our resolve and got up.


    ¡ªThen, we will now start our final mission.


    There was nothing much to say about the final mission of Idol Encyclopedia.


    ¡ªLive broadcast, start.


    The mission was to turn on a surprise live on Idol Encyclopedia¡¯s Utube channel. After turning on a surprise live, we quickly had to show our title song performance and end the broadcast, and this was a popr content among fans. There were even groups that doubled their fame with this content. Since we couldn¡¯t miss this big event, we got up immediately. However, we must have been still out of it due to the hectic, consecutive missions as we went on air without checking our conditions.


    Our clothes had stretched out and were on the verge of bing rags, our hair was in aplete mess, and our stamina was rock bottom. Furthermore, this demon producer dragged a monitor in front of the studio so that we had to dance in front of a collection of humorous videos.


    ¡ªSiren¡¯s final mission will be done while watching a collection of humorous videos.


    ¡°Huhp!¡±


    ¡°Hahhhhack!¡±


    ¡°Argh! Please! Producer!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡¯


    The live broadcast began and our title song, ¡°Blue Summer Night¡± began ying.


    ¡ªA new story between us


    ¡ªThe story that you and I¡¯ll be writing


    ¡ªSO GOOD I can feel it


    I did my part exactly and pretended to be as calm as I could even in extreme conditions.


    ¡ªA once-in-a-lifetime moment


    ¡ªA drama that you¡¯ll never see again


    ¡ªNow, the two of us...hahahaha!


    ¡°Aghh!¡±


    ¡°Park Dong-Jun!¡±


    As expected...our group suffered one casualty in front of the humorous videos.


    ***


    While Siren performed their title song with messed-up appearances in Idol Encyclopedia, the lights were still on at Next Wave¡¯s office building. It was not from a night shift ordered by thepany, but a volunteer meeting from some A&R employees.


    They set upte-night snacks such as chicken and pizza and waited for news. From their predictions, Siren was supposed to be able to achieve half a million today. On one side of the tablet, the A&R employees had Siren¡¯s live broadcast on, and on the other side, they opened an administrator page where they could view the album sales.


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    ¡°What...?¡±


    Then someone jumped out of their seat while pointing at the screen.

 Chapter 181

    Chapter 181


    It happened while we were on live. We were about to finish our performance <em>Blue Summer Night</em> while watching a collection of funny shorts.


    Hahahaha


    Omg, these guys ahahahah


    Dong-Jun is dying in the corner ahaha


    Are they all right? Lol


    Our chatrooms became filled withughing sound effects and emoticons and people asking us if we were okay. Dong-Jun was so tired fromughing that he was lying on the floor with his arms and legs stretched out. Do-Seung appeared to have gotten a cramp fromughing and sat in the corner while groaning. It seemed he couldnt believe the situation and kept smirking to himself.


    As the main dancer of the group, Woon kept trying to continue the dance but he also couldnt endure it any longer and copsed. The only ones who remained were Yeon-Hoon and I, but the reasons for our stay were different. I tried my hardest not tough but Yeon-Hoon was the opposite.


    Ah~ Thats so funny! Yeon-Hoonughed often while dancing so this amount ofughing didnt break his concentration. He was able to go through the entire performance from beginning to end whileughing.


    Today was really fun. Its been a really long time since Iughed until my stomach hurt, Yeon-Hoon said after the choreography was over without breaking out a sweat.


    Haais it finally over?


    Finally


    Haaa


    Now that the song was over, Dong-Jun, Do-Seung, and Woon barely managed to get up after rolling on the floor.


    Then, should we stand side-by-side here and give our final farewell? Yeon-Hoon said while trying to settle the situation. In Idol Encyclopedia, the live broadcast usually didntst more than five minutes since if it was too long, it could affect the main program. It was supposed to end after we showed our performance well once.


    Noooo dont go


    Hey guys, Im Yoo Won-Dong, what was the first verse of the next song again~?


    Besides the spoilers, shouldnt they go on aedy show or something hahaha


    After ncing at the live chats that popped up endlessly, we said our closing lines.


    We had a very enjoyable and nice time while doing <em>Idol Encyclopedia</em> today. For exact details, please watch the main program that will air this week on Friday! Then, bye everyone! Thank you~


    Lets see each other again soon!


    Goodbye, Sailors~


    See you again~


    We said our closingments while looking at the live broadcast cameras. The live broadcast would end if the producer just clicked the end button.


    [Mission Sess]


    [You achieved 500,000 sales in the first week.]


    [Erasing Woons death g.]


    <em>What? </em>I just got a mission sess rm. Thank goodness it rang right when the live broadcast was ending. If it had rang even 10 seconds earlier, people would have made all sorts of guesses and theories about my strange behavior on Bluebird.


    Oh my. I froze while standing and looked nkly in space.


    Live is over! Good work everyone!


    Thank you!


    Good work~


    While the producers and staff paid formalities to each other, I stood, not doing anything.


    Tae-Yoon?


    What?


    Are you feeling unwell?


    Why do you look so stiff?


    It appeared I had looked too awkward, and my members stopped greeting the staff to check up on me.


    Ahwell. I organized my thoughts before speaking. I shouldnt have been so surprised since I already prevented Do-Seungs death before. I already knew that I would seed in this mission soon tooit was just much earlier than I expected.


    No, its nothing. I think Im just tired after working all day long. I fixed my expression and spoke so that my members wouldnt be worried about me.


    Really?


    Do you really not have any problems?


    Do you want to eat something sweet?


    My members seemed to have thought I was sick again and looked worried. I waved away their worries and looked at Woon. Since I prevented Woons death, I protected half of my members now.


    <em>Now, theres half left. I can do it.</em>


    Even if the system gave me any additional missions, I was confident that I could protect the rest of my team.


    ***


    My members heard that we reached 500,000 sales the next day morning while we got in the car. Though the system automatically counted the numbers and informed me of the news, the members hadnt been aware of it until then.


    Half of a million?


    We did it!


    Ahhhh!


    Good work you all.


    My members were overjoyed. In Do-Seungs case, he looked sentimentally outside the window.


    Are you crying? I asked, thinking that Do-Seung was crying.


    I wonder how much copyright fee I would get? But Do-Seung was feeling emotional thinking about all the copyright fees he would get.


    Ahyeah. It wasnt the emotional line that I was expecting, and I didnt say more. The music ranking for our title song, Blue Summer Night wasnt bad. After its reveal, we got 11,000 hearts on our entry. And on Mango Chart where the TOP 100 was decided half on streaming count in one hour and another half in twenty-four hours, Blue Summer Night reached 27th ce.


    The next day, we rose to 19th ce and today morning, we got up to 13th ce. At this rate, there was a good possibility that we could go within 10th ce by this week. Though the album sales would bring in significant revenue, the copyright fees would also bring in a great amount more.


    <em>Do-Seung would soon be sitting on a huge pile of money.</em> Considering his personality, Do-Seung would probably spend his money on just buying music equipment and home gym equipment and stop there, but no one would be displeased about more moneying in.


    It was natural that everyone was over the moon about our sess. And after hearing that we reached half a million sales first thing in the morning, the whole team was in a good mood. Even while we were getting our hair and makeup done at the salon or when we were changing our clothes with the outfits the stylists got us, my members constantly had smiles on their faces and were 150% nicer than usual.


    Mr. Yeon-Hoon, this outfit


    I will wear it! Since itsing from you, Im sure its beautiful!


    You didnt even see it yet?


    Mr. Dong-Jun, your hair


    Feel free to try anything on your mind.


    ?


    Mr. Woon, how would you like to do your makeup today?


    Im fine with any makeup.


    Any?


    You always do a splendid job so I can leave everything up to you with no worries.


    Oh really?


    How would like you to get yours done, Mr. Do-Seung?


    You can do what you are mostfortable but confident in doing.


    Oh my.


    My members moods were at their peaks, and it seemed their stylists and make-up artists sensed it too and responded more eagerly than before. Of course, I was also the happiest I had been in a while. I not only erased Woons death g but achieved half a million sales.


    Mr. Tae-Yoon?


    Sorry?


    How would you like to get yours done?


    You can just do what you arefortable with as long as it suits the concept.


    Yes, sir! I will do my best to make no mistakes!


    <em>Hm</em> It seemed I wasnt verypatible with these salon workers. The workers at this salon clearly looked like talkative people, but whenever they came in front of me, they only focused on their work. Anyway, I finished getting my hair and makeup done at the salon and changed into the right outfit. Then, we went to the recording site to start our rehearsal.


    It seemed the broadcasting crew also heard about our album sales count and congratted us.


    Congrattions on reaching 500,000 sales!


    I think only good things will happen to you guys this year, Siren.


    You all worked so hard!


    Whenever we met a staff we saw before, they brought up the news of us reaching half a million sales; and every time they did that, we expressed our gratitude, saying it was all thanks to them. Soon afterward, we finished our rehearsal with no incident and looked over our choreography in the waiting room for thest time before our official recording.


    Guys, can you all listen to me for a bit?


    What is it?


    Why?


    While we were individually going over our routines, Yeon-Hoon approached us. I thought he was just trying to make a joke or asking for our opinions on the lunch menu, but he continued with a surprisingly serious expression.


    You know its our first fan meeting today.


    Yes?


    What about it?


    Dong-Jun and Do-Seung who hadnt been focusing because they thought it would be about a trivial matter began to join in.


    Its really thanks to the fans that we achieved half a million sales and you know we wouldnt have been able to have our careers without them, so


    It appeared Yeon-Hoon was nning to have a more serious conversation than I expected. I grew tense wondering what he was trying to say since he was going on for nso long before getting to the main point.


    Should we have a concept for our fan meeting?


    ?


    Huh?


    Considering how serious he had sounded, this didnt sound like much.


    Ahhh! Well, I guess its more urate to say that we should prepare a small event! Why dont we have an event for our fans!


    Then, Yeon-Hoon continued to exin what he meant.


    ***


    That afternoon, right after Siren finished their recording, Siren fans stood at the live hall with a satisfied look on their faces. They enjoyed Sirens performance and liked thements that had been made. Truthfully, they were satisfied by the fact that they were seeing Siren. Since the fans clearly felt how much the Siren members cared about their overall satisfaction, they had nothing more to ask for.


    Of course, some people soured the mood on social media that Siren was only acting so dedicated since they just debuted, but the fans wanted to focus on the current. Thus, they were about to return home now that the recording was over when several peoples phones rang simultaneously.


    <em>Brr.</em>


    <em>Ding!</em>


    <em>Ding!</em>


    Sirens social media rms popped up on peoples phones. Fans simply thought a picture of the members in their waiting room or some post had been uploaded. Yet, it was more important than that.


    Is there an outfit that you want Siren to wear again?


    a. School Uniform b. Sailor Uniform c. Tech-wear d. Casual


    The survey would be over in 3 hours! Please give us your suggestions, Sailors~!


    The post suddenly asked fans what they would like to see Siren members wear. It was obvious what the purpose of the question was. The members would wear ording to the results in the next stage or the fan meeting set up tomence this evening. But the obviousness of the post didnt make the question any worse.


    Who would hate the idea of their favorite idols wearing the clothes they wanted them to wear? Since the survey would close in three hours, people quickly participated in it. Three hourster, the results came out and it was school uniform. The fans thought Siren would wear school uniforms in the next stage, but the posts didnt end there. Five pictures of the members wearing school uniforms came up.


    Things to do on June 22


    Breathe with all we have


    Eat Lunch like its ourst


    y Basketball with all our energy


    Dance with all our might


    Finally, make an <em>important</em> confession


    Then, it was followed by a list of events that were hard to understand.

 Chapter 182

    Chapter 182


    All kinds of spections began to pour out on social media, beginning from Bluebird to the cryptic message posted by Siren.


    Going to confes???


    What are our babiesnning?


    Haalready smells like a full course meal


    BTW Tae-Yoon looks sooo good in uniform


    Park Dong-Juns eyes while wearing uniform is too much; Im sweating


    What do I do when Yeon-Hoon is staring at me like that? Im in tears.


    Who gave our back cat a uniform a size too small for him? Thank you so very much


    Its so cute that only Woon buttoned his uniform to the very top


    People wondered what Siren meant by confessing while feasting their eyes on the uniform selfies posted by Siren. Surprise events like these were always popr with fans.


    Wait, since this outfit hasnt appeared in any of the unofficial footage and the album photo book or photo cards, they must have worn it for todays outfit


    Yep I think ur right. Its the same makeup as the members pre-recording today


    What are they nning fr???


    People, who nned to click briefly and leave, began to slowly match the puzzle pieces. Fans automatically eliminated the original spection that Siren would wear a uniform on stage tomorrow. If Siren was going to wear it on stage tomorrow, they wouldnt have taken pictures of them in uniforms and uploaded them today. If so, there were two possible theories. One was that they could be doing a show where they had to wear a school uniform, and second was that they were going to wear a uniform at the fan signing event. Either of these was usible, but strangely, the opinions of the fans flocked to the fan signing event.


    Ah, this looks like a fan signing outfit


    yeah 100% fan signing event


    Wowa school uniform fan signing event


    Why cant I go to fan signing event today? Why am I broke? My fucking wallet


    I need to store some data today for sure todayfuckeven if I cant go, I need to save photos and videos


    While the fans were geared towards the fan signing theory, a piece of evidence that finalized this theory appeared.


    What is this???


    crazy that they were building up for this?


    During dinner time, an information board stood at the entrance of a live hall where Sirens fan signing event would begin. The sign said the following:


    What kind of confession do you want to hear?


    It was a sign linked to the message posted by Siren this afternoon. At this point, people had no choice but to catch on.


    Are they nning to confess at the fan signing event while wearing school uniform?


    Ah fuck noooo even if I have to work part-time, Im going to the next fan signing event or I might die from jealousy


    Is that real? FR?


    Its fr. They verified it.


    Wow our babiesthey proved again that theyre fantasy male leads


    Are you saying Ill be able to hear the confession of Kang Do-Seungs boyfriend and my boyfriend, Princess Woon?


    Reply: What kind of rtionship are you in?


    The event Siren prepared was a confession line event, and it was an event that tantly stimted a sense of fantasy rtionship between idols and their fans. Furthermore, that wasnt all there was to it.


    Its not a raffle event but for everyone.


    Reply: ???


    What, its not going to end with just one or two confession lines??


    Reply: I asked the staff and they said I can write what I want on a post-it and hold onto it. Then if I give it to the members, they say the lines.


    Reply: FuckPlease dont do this kind of event when I cant go. Seriously


    It was not an event that ended with a few raffles picked out from a box but for everyone who participated in the fan signing event. The fandom began to get noisy again about deciding on what confession lines they wanted to write down. Of course, some people really wanted to hear a heart-thumpingment, but some people wanted tough and hear funny remarks from their idols.


    Do you want to eat with me or die? Do you want to go out with me or die?* [1] I want to ask Do-Seung to do this


    Reply: But would our babiesknow that drama?


    Reply: Fuck pls dont stab this old grannys heart


    I went ssic and did do I like you?* lol [2]


    Reply: Pls tell me ur review after I beg u


    What about nuna, please dont go topany dinner. Your boss is also a man.


    Reply: Youre seriously crazy ahahahahha


    Before the start of Sirens first fan signing event, people already begun to enjoy the few bits of information given out as appetizers to the fullest.


    ***


    The fan signing event would begin soon. After finishing the music broadcast, we moved directly to the live hall where the fan signing event would take ce.


    Ahhhh. Why am I so nervous? Yeon-Hoon shuddered and clung to me. Even though he didnt get nervous on stage, he was especially nervous in situations like this.


    He said, Do you think the concept is too much? Im getting so nervous now that I have to actually do it.


    No, its fine. Why are you nervous? Honestly, I think youll do the best once we get going.


    Really?


    Yes.


    Yeon-Hoon seemed to rx a little from mypliment. I was surprised that a person could be so simple.


    <em>Sigh </em>But are you sure that the fans would really like this? This wouldnt end with us just creating meaningless dark chapters in our idol history, right? Do-Seung said while pressing his brows with his fingers. Seeing that he was saying this right before going up to the fan signing event hall in his school uniform, he seemed genuinely concerned.


    I think they would like itas long as we do well. Woon dissuaded Do-Seungs concerns and continued, If we get embarrassed and not do a proper job, I think it would really be a shameful memory then. So isnt it just up to us whether this would be a dark chapter in our history or not?


    Do-Seung replied, If you say it like thatI have nothing to say


    Woon was right. In the end, we had to be fully immersed in our acting and do a proper job.


    I want to quickly go up. Its no fun to just stay here like this. I cant wait to see everyones shocked faces. Dong-Jun didnt seem nervous about this event at all and just wanted to quickly go up. Considering his personality, I didnt think he would get nervous about something like this.


    Just in time, an event staff approached us and said, All the fans are seated in line with their number ticket. You can now go up and say hello and start the signing event. They were telling us to go up now that the event setting was over.


    Lets not make a mistake to the fans and do as we nned!


    Yes!


    Alrighty!


    Lets hurry up!


    I went up to the stage of the live hall with my members.


    ***


    Sirens fans sat in the audience at the fan signing and watched the memberse up on stage. From Yeon-Hoon, Kang Do-Seung, Lee Woon, Park Dong-Jun, and Bong Tae-Yoon came out in order.


    Gasp!


    Crazy.


    WowYeon-Hoons face


    Tae-Yoons proportion is insane


    Since it was the fans'' first time seeing Siren at a fan signing event, not at the stage, there were exmations from all over the ce. In particr, people responded well to the school uniform outfits they wore. They wore outfits that real students might wear in a school and not customized school uniforms for the stage. It was also the same outfit they wore in their music video.


    Usually, handsome and pretty people looked even more noticeable when wearing ordinary clothes than wearing bright, colorful outfits. This was because they were even more conspicuous while wearing the same clothes as everyone else, and their faces and proportions stood out from the rest. Furthermore, the uniform itself was an outfit that gave off a refreshing but sentimental feel- all reasons wwhy it was often chosen as an idols outfit.


    Well officially start by saying our official greeting! Just in time, Woo Yeon-Hoon took the mike and started talking. People pressed their camera shutters even more enthusiastically and captured Woo Yeon-Hoon on camera.


    SAY YES! Hello, its Siren! After Siren said their official greeting, cheers naturally erupted.


    Were they not used to hearing cheers outside the stage? All of the Siren members smiled shyly. Only Bong Tae-Yoon stood upright without a change in his expression and made eye contact with the fans.


    Before we proceed with the fan signing event, we have one piece of news to announce to Sailors. People carefully listened to Woo Yeon-Hoon s next lines.


    As you all predicted, we decided on a concept for todays signing event. It was to have a fan signing event wearing a school uniform Woo Yeon-Hoon said and slightly trailed off.


    You all wrote a confession line in front, right! Were going to read those lines one by one! So please bring your post-it note when youe up. Woo Yeon-Hoon bowed his head shyly as he finished. His pale face burned up like a red radish.


    Crazy!


    Wowso cute


    Yeon-Hoon!


    At his reaction, fans of Yeon-Hoon looked at Yeon-Hoon with cheers and shouts, and the camera shutter sound got even more intense. Woo Yeon-Hoon raised his head again at their reactions. In that short time, his face got redder than before. Happy cheers came from the audience.


    Woo Yeon-Hoon calmed his expression for a bit and then shouted, We will not start the fan signing event!


    Woo Yeon-Hoon officially announced the start of Sirens fan signing event.


    ***


    I didnt know why but the fan signing event started with me. I discussed the order with my members before, and the members said I had to go first. The reason was obvious at the time.


    <em>If the first member to go bes Yeon-Hoon, everyone would pale inparison.</em> Thus, we had nned out the intensity of our interactions. I was not much of a reaction person; it wasnt that I was emotionless, but I was not good at expressing emotions by nature, and unlike me, Yeon-Hoon was a very expressive person. Thus, the order started with me and ended with Yeon-Hoon.


    However, the order was not by reaction strength as it was 1. Me 2. Dong-Jun 3. Do-Seung 4. Woon 5. Yeon-Hoon. The overall feeling was weak-strong-weak-strong-strongest, and if Ipared it to food, it was like having a salty and then sweetbination order. I took a quick look at the older members lined up in a row.


    Yeah, now that I saw them like this, I thought we systematically ordered our group members in the most logical order.


    <em>Theyre here!</em> Our first fan approached me.


    Hello! I said hello with a little nervousness. However, my nervousness onlysted a brief moment.


    Tae-Yoon, what did you have for dinner today?


    What song do you listen to these days?


    Whats your favorite song in this album?


    Whats your favorite food?


    My nerves melted at the fans natural lead to questions. Although I felt taken aback that the fan was sofortable and seemed experienced in fan signing events, my heart felt lighter that they took the initiative to ask questions. I answered their questions one by one while signing a photo book page with my face on it.


    I had tuna kimbap for dinner tonight. What about you, <em>nuna</em>?


    The song I listen to most often is our title song, but other than that, the song I often listen to is Troys Young.


    My personal favorite song in this album is Blue Ocean. I think its a song that highlights Yeon-Hoons clear voice.


    My favorite food ishmmI like all types of foodmostly steamed meat?


    After answering the questions like that, I asked questions back. Did it take long for you toe here?


    Have you eaten yet?


    Whats your favorite part of this album?


    Frankly, I didnt know that I was so talkative. However, when I actually faced a Sailor in front of my eyes, various questions kept popping up. Just in time, the event host gave a sign that there was not much time left.


    Thatpost-it notecan you give it to me now? I received the confession line with a trembling heart.


    Ohthis! Dont be surprised! Okay?


    Yes! I received the note the fan gave me. ! Even though she told me not to be surprised, I couldnt hide my surprise.


    Hahahaha! My expression must have been strange as the fan in front of me burst intoughter first.


    Hahahaha!


    What is it?


    Whats with Tae-Yoons expression?


    Then the members sitting next to me reacted next, andstly, the Sailors in the audience seat burst outughing. However, I paid no heed to their reactions and could only focus on the lines written in the Post-it note. My heart felt conflicted, and anyone who saw this would feel the same way.


    HaIm going crazy, nunaDo you like me that much? (Do it while slightly tilting your head with a deep stare.)


    This was a new kind of social death.


    1. Famous lines from a 2004 k-drama, <em>Im Sorry, I Love You</em>.


    2. Another famous line from a 2013 k-drama, <em>The Heirs</em>. Both of these lines are famous for being cringy.

 Chapter 183

    <h4>Chapter 183</h4>


    My vision became blurred, and I felt faint. I didn¡¯t how a person could say such lines in their right state of mind. Seeing my response, my members also became curious about the content.


    ¡°What is it!¡±


    ¡°How hard is it?¡±


    Sitting right next to me, Dong-Jun nced at my hand and read the shocking sentence written on my post-it note.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Seriously what is it!!¡±


    They allughed their hearts out. That made the other members more curious and the fan in front of me spoke.


    ¡°...I¡¯m sorry if it¡¯s too much.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t bear to say that was certainly the case and said, ¡°...No.¡±


    ¡°...!¡±


    Perhaps, the fan saw how determined I was and also turned serious. I gripped the Post-it note tight. Then, I thought hard about how I would properly express this line. If I sloppily spat out the words, it would be worse than nothing, and I had to do a proper job if I was going to do it. If I was going to be embarrassed, I needed to be through with it. If I went halfway, this could end with neither party satisfied.


    ¡°Haa...this is crazy.¡± Following the instructions, I slightly arched my head and pretended to be as seductive as possible. I finally spat out the problematic sentence, ¡°Nuna...do you like me that much...?¡±


    <i>¡®Should I just die here...?¡¯</i> I wondered. I thought it would be nice if an asteroid fell from the sky and crashed into this ce. The damage I got from this was so critical that it should be considered a new type of self-harm.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°That was hard...!¡±


    Perhaps, it was because I had carried out the task so seriously but the area went dead silent for a second.


    ¡°Hahahahh!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, that was amazing...¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m really, genuinely impressed.¡±


    My members burst outughing again. Simultaneously, the audience¡¯s responses also exploded.


    ¡°Tae-Yooon!¡±


    ¡°Kyaaah!¡±


    ¡°Haaaaaaah!¡±


    Fans cheered and burst outughing too. I got quite a dramatic response and saw that the camera shutters were clicking maddeningly.


    ¡°Pft! Thank you...!¡± The fan in front of me sped her mouth tightly. It seemed she was trying with all her might not tough. She appeared to be very satisfied with my performance.


    ¡°...No problem,¡± I said. Soon afterward, the next fan approached me and the fan who socially executed me in public moved on Dong-Jun. I hoped to get lines of lower difficulty from now on, but I soon read:


    ¡ªHello Hyuna. It¡¯s me. ____. I called you because the stars in the night sky looked especially bright today. It felt as if those stars in the sky made up your face. Yes. I am confessing to you right now...


    As expected, moments of hardships didn¡¯t end easily.


    ***


    Siren¡¯s fan meeting ended sessfully. The idea of saying confession lines in fan meetings spread across not just the Siren fandom but diverse fandoms; and after the fan meeting ended, all sorts of keywords including Siren¡¯s name began to top the trending charts.


    ¡ªTae-Yoon looks like he wants to die but suddenly smiles when a fanes. He really is insane


    Reply: As expected of the politician, Tae-Yoon


    ¡ªHis self-deprecating expressions provoke me


    Reply: Maybe I prefer stuff like this...?


    Videos of Siren members saying cheesy lines circted Bluebird all day long. Among them, videos rted to Tae-Yoon got the most reposts. It was because of the gap that formed when a member who clearly hated doing these tasks carried them out most sincerely.


    ¡ªI had no thoughts about Tae-Yoon before, but I think I get why people like him now...he¡¯s like the younger tsundere character...


    Reply: You finally realized it now


    Reply: Yes, I was in the wrong and will make amends


    Though Yeon-Hoon had been the one who was expected to shine the most in the fan meeting, Tae-Yoon¡¯s poprity was shooting up the most from the event.


    ¡ªThey look so cute performing with the fan meeting items


    ¡ªHow many cat ears did Do-Seung get? (Do-Seung dancing with hair bands hanging from both arms.jpg)


    Reply: Hahahaha


    Reply: He wanted to put on all the hair bands that his baby fans gave him, so he put them on his arms. He has so much love for his fans :(((


    ¡ªDong-Jun¡¯s dog earbands are also so cute


    ¡ªEveryone looked so good that day


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon looked like a real-life fairy today


    ¡ªEveryone, see how pretty our princess looked (Woon making eye contact while signing.gif)


    Reply: Wow this is crazy


    Because of the countless content that wasing out from the fan meeting, Siren fandoms¡¯ feed showed no signs of cooling down. Compared to even the Only One¡¯s fan meeting from the previous day, they were getting noticeably more attention.


    ¡ªI think the idea of saying confession lines was really good. I hope they do that again next time...Plz


    ¡ªEven if it¡¯s not the exact same thing, I hope they do another fan meeting with a specific concept


    ¡ªSince they did school uniforms, can they do tech wear next time?


    Reply: If they wear that, I want to ask them to say superhero lines


    Reply: Wow that already makes my heart pound


    People who missed this fan meeting expressed theirmentations and those who went were already anticipating for the next one and getting lost in their imaginations. Like that, the fan meeting received good responses thanks to Yeon-Hoon¡¯s idea and ended.


    ***


    The night after the fan meeting was over, my members didn¡¯t immediately go to their rooms and sat on the sofa to talk about what happened today.


    ¡°It was really fun today. Especially when Tae-Yoon said his first line, I thought my stomach was going to rip.¡±


    ¡°It was funnier because of how shameless some of the lines our fans brought were.¡±


    ¡°My head became nk when I saw the post-it note, but when I saw their face, waiting for me so expectantly, I couldn¡¯t <i>not</i> do it.¡±


    ¡°I think it really was a good idea to do a fan meeting with a set concept, Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    ¡°See? I told you. I feel so proud of myself because the responses were so good!¡±


    My members talked about the memorable and funny parts of today¡¯s fan meeting. I studied each of my members as they chatted joyfully. They were so excited from just a single fan meeting that they couldn¡¯t go to sleep. I thought people like them should really be idols. If I had be an idol with a different group of people, I probably would¡¯ve experienced a whole different atmosphere.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s nice. This fan meeting. ¡®</i> I felt like because I did this fan meeting with my members, it became a valuable memory. After we talked about the fan meeting for a while, we talked about what we would do in theter ones. We discussed additional fan service we could do until it was over 11 pm.


    ¡°Wow, it got sote.¡±


    ¡°We have to go to sleep now.¡±


    ¡°This is bad. We have to wake up early in the morning tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Haaa...even if we go to sleep now, we will only be sleeping for three to four hours....¡±


    Most men our age would still be busy at 11 pm but for us who had to wake up early in the morning for our pre-recording, it was veryte. I nned to organize my belongings and get up when Yeon-Hoon¡¯s phone rang.


    <i>Zing. </i>


    ¡°Hm? Hold on a minute guys.¡± My members all stopped in their tracks. I wondered what was going on.


    ¡°Guys!¡± Yeon-Hoon suddenly yelled.


    ¡°...Yes?¡±


    ¡°Why...?¡±


    It seemed something big happened.


    ¡°Our music video just passed 10 million views!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Whaat!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s amazing!¡±


    This was huge. All my members got their phones and went into Nutube at once. I also followed them and saw that the music video¡¯s total view count surpassed 10 million views.


    ¡ªSiren <i>¡®Blue Summer Night¡¯</i> MV


    ¡ªView count: 10,000,507


    ¡°Ahhhhh! Thank goodness!¡±


    ¡°Wow, isn¡¯t that really fast?¡±


    ¡°Amazing...¡±


    ¡°I think we have a bigger overseas fandom than we think...? There are a lot of Englishments on our music video.¡±


    My members each said their impressions while looking at the view count. Among them, Dong-Jun kept screen-shotting the screen like a madman.


    ¡°Dong-Jun...?¡±


    ¡°We need to leave this as evidence at least a hundred times! This is a huge achievement!¡± Dong-Jun looked mad enough to fill up all his phone¡¯s memory with screenshot pictures. I thought we would pass 10 million views about tomorrow, so this was earlier than I predicted.


    <i>¡®Is this the effect of the fan meeting we had today?</i>¡¯ Throughout our activity period, we had been hitting all our targets faster than I expected. It was probably because I underestimated my team¡¯s influence, and my estimates for all my ns had been too conservative.


    ¡°Haaa. But now that we hit 10 million, I feel relieved.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Of course, selling half a million albums made me realize it too, but...achieving 10 million in a music video gives me a whole different feeling.¡±


    ¡°Will I get copyright fees...for this too...?¡±


    ¡°Damn, Do-Seung, you are obsessed with money now.¡±


    ¡°Damn, you bastard.¡±


    Too busy talking about our new achievement, my members couldn¡¯t leave and sat back on the sofa. Today, it seemed as if God was telling us not to sleep for today and talk about our sess.


    <i>¡®Hm.¡¯</i> It was then I thought I should strike the iron when it was hot and decided to discuss my next mission. Though I was able to clear Woon¡¯s death g, I still hadn¡¯t cleared my other mission to reach 1 million in our choreography video. Since we were able to reach our goal for the music video faster than we expected, we might be able to clear this goal faster than I expected too.


    I thought we would be able to achieve the numbers even faster if we quickly uploaded the video before the buzz of our debut wore off. Yet, I didn¡¯t feel at peace uploading just any video. We needed to prepare something that could guarantee us more views.


    ¡°Did you all hear anything about us filming the choreography video?¡±


    ¡°Choreography video?¡±


    ¡°No, not really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but it is around time to upload that.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t people usually upload it on the first or second week of activities?¡±


    After asking them, it seemed my members didn¡¯t have many ns for our choreography video. Thus, I thought I could push my opinions forward more strongly.


    ¡°Then, how about this for the choreography video?¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    My members gathered around my phone. As they had always done, they showed a strong resistance to my idea.


    ¡°No, but isn¡¯t this a bit...¡±


    ¡°This is our first choreography video, Tae-Yoon. Isn¡¯t this too much?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! I think it¡¯s funny.¡±


    ¡°...Hm...it does seem like you are pushing it.¡±


    Yet, if I had backed down here, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to win <i>The Showcase 2</i>.


    ¡°Hear me out you all.¡± While feeling a strange sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu, I began to persuade my members. My members¡¯ weakness or perhaps, strength was that they were easy to convince. If I just gave them a suitable reason...


    ¡°Hm...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true...¡±


    ¡°...Your intentions are good...¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon has gone insane~¡±


    Everyone easily changed their mind except for Dong-Jun who was always on my side.


    ¡°But it will be fun. I¡¯m on board!¡± With Dong-Jun¡¯s support, my members began to agree one by one.


    ¡°Yeah, we never suffered losses by listening to Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s try it.¡±


    ¡°I should ask Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna to check our schedules so that we can film our choreography video.¡±


    At this point, I thought we were already close to reaching 1 million views on our choreography video.


    ***


    The next day, Siren fans were able to see a video that came up on Siren¡¯s official Nutube channel. As soon as they saw the video, they unanimously thought that there was no way the Siren members, uploaded the video themselves.


    ¡ªDid Siren get the Nutube channel hacked???

 Chapter 184

    <h4>Chapter 184</h4>


    The thumbnail released on Siren¡¯s Utube was as follows:


    Someone likely to be Park Dong-Jun was pushing his face right into the camera. The reason why it was ¡®likely¡¯ was because the photo was so shaky that it was impossible to confirm whether it was Park Dong-Jun or not. Four members were standing behind (possibly) Park Dong-Jun. They were not standing in a neat line but standing in various poses. Since all the members were acting however they wanted, it was hard to tell who was who.


    In other words, the video editor had taken one point of moment when the members had fun together and made it into a video thumbnail. However, the real issue with this thumbnail wasn¡¯t this ridiculousposition.


    ¡ªWhat hahahahha this...I honestly wanted cosy from them but this wasn¡¯t what I was expecting


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t that Cardcaptor Yuri*? [1]


    Reply: Yep, that¡¯s right


    The biggest surprise was that all the members were cosying Cardcaptor Yuri. Woo Yeon-Hoon cosyed Cardcaptor Yuri¡¯s main character ¡®Yuri.¡¯ Park Dong-Jun cosyed Yuri¡¯s best friend ¡®Jiyu,¡¯ and Bong Tae-Yoon cosyed the male friend between them ¡®Shao.¡¯ Lastly, Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung cosyed ¡®Senior Cheong-Myeong¡¯ and ¡®Senior Do-Jin¡¯[2] who were the first love of numerous children.


    ¡ªHahahaha what in the world?


    ¡ªno Dong-Jun lol Jiyu¡¯s character is not crazy like that haha


    ¡ªit¡¯s too much that Dong-Jun cosyed as Jiyu and got such a close-up shot like a crazy guy in the thumbnail hahaha :0


    Theposition of the thumbnail itself was ridiculous, but the members¡¯ cosy was even more ridiculous so it seeded in attracting people¡¯s attention. After ying the video afterwards, a calmer intro appeared, and the members were preparing for the choreography in line with the formation of the title song ¡°Blue Summer Night¡±. Only then did people, who yed the video, check the title.


    ¡ªAh haha this was a dance video lol


    ¡ªI seriously only knew now :0


    ¡ªI thought the members were just doing a cosypetition amongst themselves


    ¡ªThe thumbnail was so powerful that my mind went nk fr


    It was a choreography they had seen before, but the cosy outfits made it starkly different from any of the dance videos they¡¯ve usually seen.


    ¡ªPark Dong-Jun interpreted his character wrong haha Jiyu is not a bubbly character like that haha


    ¡ªWhat hahaha Dong¡ªJun...why are you so excited haha


    Despite the same choreography, each member danced differently based on their interpretation of their character. In Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s case, he danced lively and made bright expressions and gestures to match Yuri¡¯s character, and Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung added poses and gestures that their characters would make in their dance. However, there was something wrong with Park Dong-Jun. The Jiyu character that Park Dong-Jun yed was a daughter of a rich family who albeit a bit entric, was a calm character who sincerely cared for Yuri.


    ¡ªMy fav was Jiyu lol no, Dong-Jun...my current fav¡¯s interpretation of my past fav is a bit...Since it¡¯s you, I¡¯ll let it slide, Dong-Jun


    Park Dong-Jun interpreted Jiyu¡¯s character to be even more bright and lively than Yuri and was dancing his heart out. He performed the choreography by exaggerating his movements and facial expressions by about 200% more than usual, and he acted as the ck hole of the group wherever he moved.


    ¡ªhahhahaha Tae-Yoon isughing out loud for real


    ¡ªIt¡¯s my first time Tae-Yoonugh so loud


    ¡ªOur Bong...he was someone who couldugh so loudly...


    ¡ªBut look, all the members are dying from Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes lol


    ¡ªat that level, isn¡¯t he shooting outser from his eyes? How can he make all the members pass out from eye contact?


    ¡ªahahhahahhahahah


    Any member who made eye contact with Park Dong-Jun copsed on the spot with a burst ofughter. Of course, since this was a choreography video, everyone quickly went back to their position and continued with the choreography. However, an action that destroyed all of the members¡¯ control appeared next. When the outro was yed after the choreography was over¡ª


    ¡ªWoowaaaaaaack!


    ¡ªNo...! Dong-Jun...!!


    ¡ªSomeone please stop Dong-Jun...


    ¡ªDong-Jun really became a puppy


    Park Dong-Jun began to run around and roar like an orangutan in Jiyu¡¯s cosy. It was a bizarre andpletely unexpected behavior that was the opposite of Jiyu¡¯s character. After that, the scene that people saw in the thumbnail appeared. Park Dong-Jun ran haphazardly all over the practice room and screamed. The members fell down one by one andughed at his ridiculous sight.


    Even Bong Tae-Yoon kept his head down with his face towards the wall of the practice room. After the camera captured Park Dong-Jun going crazy for while¡ª


    Click.


    The video ended without any waning.


    ¡ªThat¡¯s it?


    ¡ªThe video ended so abruptly lol


    ¡ªWhat...what is this gift that no one asked for...?


    ¡ªNo one wanted an orangutan Jiyu...lol


    ¡ªMr. Park Dong-Jun. Please...do Attack of the Giant Leva[3]...


    Reply: Do-Seung, pls do this too


    As soon as the video was over, people began posting videos on all kinds ofmunities and social media.


    ¡ªSiren¡¯s choreography video is seriously crazy hahaha


    ¡ªI¡¯m not a Siren fan. I¡¯m really now, but I almost became a fan after watching this


    ¡ªI never imagined that I would search for these guys after seeing Park Dong-Jun as orangutan Jiyu


    ¡ªMy savior who came to ruin my childhood.


    Some peoplebeled Cardcaptor Yuri cosy as a demand less supply, but once it was supplied, people began to consume it in a frenzy. Park Dong-Jun¡¯s performance stood out especially, and Park Dong-Jun had been standing out as Siren¡¯s entertainment character for a while. In the previous reality show, Park Dong-Jun had a particrlyrge amount of cuts, and Park Dong-Jun had the best entertainment sense in the various contents that came outter on. It was to the point that fans called him ¡®born with aedy-spoon.¡¯


    Furthermore, today¡¯s choreography video firmly imprinted on everyone¡¯s minds that Dong-Jun had strong strengths as an entertainment character. Siren¡¯s music video had passed 10 million views now, and the choreography video began to frequently appear on people¡¯s feeds by Utube¡¯s algorithm.


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s this?? Haha


    ¡ªWow, I just saw something hrious on Utube hahah


    ¡ªShit this is ridiculously funny lol


    The impact of this video was so great that it even went up on the feed of men in their 20s and 30s. Since there were surprisingly many men in their 20s and 30s who watched Cardcaptor Yuri, they clicked on Siren¡¯s cosy video without feeling a sense of resistance. Then they had no choice but tough at orangutan Jiyu.


    ¡ªOh hahhahhah these guys are he funny lol


    ¡ªAre these guys famous?


    Reply: Seems so?


    ¡ªI heard they won an audition program


    Reply: But can idols do this?


    Reply: Idk hahahhahahah


    The number of views for the choreography skyrocketed because it was a video that appealed to multiple target audiences. After the reveal, the views that hovered only around tens of thousands of views rose to 100,000 in an instant. In the end, the video even reached a state where it was almost 1 million views in just one day after its release.


    ***


    My members and I watched the number of views on the choreography video rise up like crazy.


    ¡°Wow...the number of views is crazy right now.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s getting a lot of traffic in Bluebird too?¡±


    ¡°There are so many posts about Dong-Jun right now.¡±


    ¡°Really? Wow, I made it~¡±


    We were on our way back to the dorm after finishing all our schedule for the day. Now, if we just performed one more day tomorrow, the first week of activities would be over, but that was not the important part. The important part was that the number of views of our choreography video shot up like crazy. The reason why I set the condition of the choreography video mission as 1 million views was because the number of views of the choreography video increased slower than that of the music video.


    Even for groups with tens of millions of views on music videos, there were many groups whose choreography videos barely surpassed a million or less views because those who watched choreography videos were only fans or dance teams trying to copy the choreography. Since they needed to really million views only from these people, it was inevitable that the views would be much less than the music video.


    Thus, my n had been to increase the target audience itself. I thought that by cosying, I would be able to draw the attention of not our fans but a wide range of fandoms. Furthermore, thanks to Dong-Jun¡¯s orangutan Jiyu character, the target audiences expanded beyond my prediction.


    ¡®I didn¡¯t expect even men in their 20s and 30s to watch it either.¡¯ I think this was possible because the audience of Cardcaptor Yuri surprisingly included quite a few men.


    ¡°But Dong-Jun was so funny that I thought this video would honestly go viral.¡±


    ¡°I really thought Dong-Jun was crazy that day.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Dong-Jun was totally the star that day.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. I was the main character that day.¡± Dong-Jun smiled brightly while saying this.


    Honestly, there was a reason why Dong-Jun went crazy like that. We had filmed the choreography video that day at dawn after all our schedules were over. It was a video that we had to take by extremely shortening our sleeping time while having to do a pre-recording early in the morningter on. It was a rather cruel sleeping schedule for Dong-Jun, who slept the most out of us.


    He dozed off while receiving cosy makeup and hair, and he kept making mistakes in repeated choreography video filming. In the end, he got so angry at himself that he ran around like a madman and danced 200% of his usual energy on thest take. In other words, due tock of sleep and self-anger, he was really out of his mind, and thatst take was decided as the final video to upload. And as a result...


    ¡ª<Blue Summer Night> Choreography video


    ¡ªView count: 950,686


    ¡®I think we can hit a million by today...?¡¯ As expected, we were close to one million views than my initial prediction. I watched the car move to the dorm.


    ¡®I should sleepte today.¡¯ If we achieve a million views, it would be mission sess, and then I would soon receive a reward¡ªmeeting with the 27th and 15th regressor. Judging by the current time, I thought I would meet them around night or dawn.


    ¡®Should I buy coffee?¡¯ I had to prepare in advance.


    ***


    That day at 1 am. While all the members were deep asleep, I was sitting alone on the living room sofa.


    ¡ª<Blue Summer Night> Choreography video


    ¡ªView count: 998,677


    I was outside since the moment the number of views exceeded 990,000 thinking that I might be surprised if I suddenly heard a mission sess notification while sleeping. I ce a frying pan next to me just in case as if a regressor jumped on me like before, I had a weapon to protect myself. At that moment...


    ¡ª<Blue Summer Night> Choreography video


    ¡ªView count: 1,000,007


    The number of views exceeded one million.


    ¡ªMission Sess


    ¡ª10 million views on Siren¡¯s music video and 1 million views on Siren¡¯s choreography video has been achieved


    ¡ªYour reward will be given


    At the same time, a mission sess notification and reward notification sound rang out.


    ¡ªThe world line copses.


    Now, it was time for me to meet my members from other worlds.


    1. Reference to anime <i>Cardcaptor Sakura</i>. ?


    2. Korean names for Yukito Tsukishiro and Toya Kinomoto respectively in Cardcaptor Sakura. ?


    3. Attack of the Titan¡¯s Levi Ackerman. ?

 Chapter 185

    <h4>Chapter 185</h4>


    I heard the rm that the worldline was breaking. I prepared my heart and looked around my surroundings. I knew that the 15th regressor was Do-Seung since there was a total of fifteen semi-transparent figures connected to Do-Seung, and I just called thest one among them before. Yet, I didn¡¯t know who the twenty-seventh regressor would be. Would it be Woon? Dong-Jun or Yeon-Hoon?


    <i>Creak. </i>The door opened then and the first one to approach me was...


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon...?¡± It was Do-Seung again this time. I didn¡¯t know what would happen. Do-Seung stared at me wordlessly and I looked back at him warily. A short silence passed between us until Do-Seung opened his mouth.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°...Why?¡±


    ¡°Come here.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°...Let me just hug you once.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    Do-Seung just said he wanted to hug me. He was usually such a reserved guy. I hesitated, wondering what he was getting at but Do-Seung began to approach me.


    ¡°If you won¡¯te, I will go.¡± I didn¡¯t know whether it was because the person approaching me was Do-Seung or I just had a warped mind, but it felt like he wasing to hit me instead of hugging me.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon, you bastard!¡±


    <i>ng!</i>


    ¡°....!¡± True to my fears, Do-Seung swung his fist but I barely managed to block his attack with a frypan.


    ¡°Haa...aahh...this really hurts...¡± It seemed he received quite a lot of damage from the hard frypan and gripped his fist tightly in pain. It seemed this was a regressor who didn¡¯t have a good memory of me like the second regressor. I tried to suppress him with the frying pan when Do-Seung caught onto what I was doing and warned me.


    ¡°I dare you to hit me with the frying pan again.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I replied. Ignoring his warning, I tried to strike him hard on the head, but in that short moment, Do-Seung wrapped his arms around my waist tightly.


    ¡°...?¡±


    I thought he would push me down to the floor and punch me when he suddenly said, ¡°I wanted to see you, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    This wasn¡¯t some ply to get me within his reach but a genuine embrace.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I tried to hit you just before. But you really drove me crazy so many times...so, I just wanted to hit you once,¡± Do-Seung said.


    I stared at Do-Seung in bafflement. It appeared that the fifteenth regressor was someone who was better at expressing himself than the Do-Seung I knew.


    <i>Creak.</i> It was then, I heard the door open, and another person came out.


    ¡°Where...is this ce...? Just before, I...¡± The twenty-seventh regressor finally appeared, and I knew who it was just by his voice.


    ¡°Woon?¡± The twenty-seventh regressor was Woon. Simultaneously, he stared at Do-Seung hugging me.


    ¡°...What am I seeing...?¡±


    Seeing how this situation could invite misunderstandings, I pushed Do-Seung away from me, and then, Do-Seung whispered into my ear, ¡°Do I have to hide the fact that I¡¯m a regressor right now?¡±


    It seemed Do-Seung didn¡¯t realize that Woon was probably also a regressor like him. It seemed I needed to set things up straight first.


    ***


    I exined how Do-Seung was the fifteenth regressor and Woon was the twenty-seventh regressor. Perhaps, it was because the two realized that each other were regressors, their eyes seemed to turn teary.


    ¡°Ah...Woon.¡±


    ¡°Yeah...¡±


    ¡°Are you okay...?¡±


    ¡°No...¡±


    Even in my world, the two¡¯s rtionship was especially close. Not only did they spend a long time together as trainees, but they also shared each other¡¯s childhood stories. Thus, it appeared that they empathized with each other¡¯s hardships more strongly.


    ¡°You went through so much.¡±


    ¡°No, you went through more.¡±


    ¡°No...It might be my fault you suffered so much...¡±


    ¡°Let me interrupt you guys there,¡± I cut off the two¡¯s conversation. ¡°I know you guys are in the middle of an important conversation, but I have a couple of questions to ask.¡±


    If possible, I also wanted to let these two talk all day long. But right now, the worldline was only temporarily broken and wouldn¡¯t stay that way forever. I needed to retrieve all the information I could get in the limited time frame.


    ¡°Yes, ask, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°I will answer everything as best I can. Go on.¡±


    ¡°Okay, let me ask Do-Seung first,¡± I said and looked at Do-Seung. There was one most important thing right now.


    ¡°Do-Seung, do you remember everything when you regressed the second time?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I have all my memories from my regressions.¡±


    ¡°Then, do you remember how you tried to kill me then?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    I wanted to know how connected the regressors¡¯ memories were. Based on his reaction, it appeared that he had no recollection of trying to kill me when he was the second regressor.


    ¡°I definitely felt angry enough to want to kill you...but I never really hit you before.¡±


    ¡°Then, you don¡¯t have any memories of me calling you like this after your regression was over?¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time? You called me before?¡±


    ¡°...Hm, yes.¡±


    ¡°...Wow, that just gave me the chills.¡± With this, it was confirmed.


    Regressors shared memories during the period of their regressions¨C no, it didn¡¯t need to be shared but were naturally connected since it was all their memories anyway. Yet, they didn¡¯t recall the memory of me calling them after their regression. That was a bit strange since that meant there was a slight disconnect. I decided to pass over this point to ask my second question.


    ¡°So, you know you are the fifteenth regressor.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°And you didn¡¯t regress more times than that?¡±


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Then, is the number of times a person could regress decided?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    After receiving my question of whether one¡¯s regression count was set, Do-Seung parsed his lips. It seemed this was a sensitive question.


    ¡°...The count isn¡¯t decided.¡±


    ¡°Then, what happened?¡±


    ¡°You can choose it yourself. If you keep failing the missions and fail to save any of the members, the system asks you.¡±


    ¡°Does it ask if you want to stop?¡±


    ¡°No, it asks if you want to choose someone else to regress or if I want to try one more time. There¡¯s no option to stop.¡±


    Hearing this, I instinctively looked at Woon. Woon also looked at Do-Seung. All Do-Seung could do was hang his head low.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Woon...at that time, I thought you were the only one who could seed in the missions.¡±


    Woon looked a bit taken aback. Yet, his eyes soon softened as he said, ¡°...It¡¯s okay.¡± Then, he ced his hand on top of Do-Seung¡¯s shoulders and said, ¡°I understand. We have to finish these missions. It only made sense you made that decision.¡± Woon hugged Do-Seung and Do-Seung dug his face into Woon¡¯s shoulders.


    There was a short silence, and I waited a moment for Woon and Do-Seung to calm their emotions. Then, after they looked a bit more settled, I asked again.


    ¡°...I want both of you to answer now but how far do the missions go?¡± This was the question I wanted to ask above all.


    ¡°Before that, Tae-Yoon, what¡¯s your status in this world?¡± Woon asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s the first week of our debut.¡±


    ¡°Did you get the mission to reach 500,000 sales?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And did you clear it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we did.¡±


    ¡°Hm...you still have a long way to go...¡±


    ¡°...Sorry?¡±


    Woon stared at me intently. ¡°First of all, I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s an end to these missions.¡± Woon gazed right into my eyes as he continued, ¡°My mission even continued to reach first ce in the billboard HOT100. I couldn¡¯t seed in any of my missions after that and ended up losing all our members.¡±


    Billboard? First ce in HOT100? Was this some kind of sick joke? I thought, of course, the missions would end with us receiving a top national award or reaching 1 million sales. But the more surprising part was...


    ¡°And you managed to do...thatst mission?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we did.¡± Woon managed to go that far. I turned to Do-Seung since in terms of regression count, he regressed the most number of times.


    ¡°Do-Seung, how far did your missions go?¡±


    Do-Seung seemed to fumble with his memories a bit and said, ¡°We got the Grammy award as the Artist of the Year.¡±


    ¡°...¡± This was a step past above first ce in the HOT100. What in the world?


    ¡°The missions didn¡¯t end even after you went that far?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it didn¡¯t.¡± How could the missions not end after cing first on the billboard and receiving the Grammys? A heavy silence fell over the living room.


    ¡°...This is thest question. What were you doing before you came here? Both of you failed your missions. Can you tell me what happened right after you gave up? Did you keep living after the failure...or was there something else?¡±


    I pushed off my worries about my mission for now and went on to the next question. This was a question I mainly asked because of my curiosity about how the system worked. I wanted to know what happened to their worlds after they failed their missions.


    ¡°Ah...!¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s right...¡±


    Both Woon and Do-Seung appeared stunned then.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have any memories of...what happened after that...¡±


    ¡°Yeah...I just opened my eyes and found myself here...I heard that the worldline broke and a voice that told me to go meet Tae-Yoon...¡±


    Both Woon and Do-Seung didn¡¯t have any memories after they failed their missions. Then, a scary thought popped into my head. The idea probably urred inside Woon and Do-Seung¡¯s heads as well.


    ¡°...Did our world...get erased?¡± It was the possibility that their world could¡¯ve been destroyed altogether.


    ¡°Do you have any memories after failing yourst mission, Woon?¡±


    ¡°...No.¡±


    ¡°I also don¡¯t have any memories after picking Woon as the next regressor.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...Our worlds must have really gotten erased.¡±


    It was simple. Whether one chose the next regressor or decided to regress another time, the moment they failed thest mission, their world was discarded. The world line stopped at that moment. The two appeared to be in shock by this realization and Woon and Do-Seung had a hard time speaking again.


    ¡°Then, every time we regressed, we must have died each time too,¡± Do-Seung simply remarked. One world ended, and another world began. Since they had their previous memories, I thought their lives were reset. However, it seemed my members died in their worlds and were reborn into a new world.


    ¡°...Then, we must be like discarded memory files or something.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to word it like that, Do-Seung...¡±


    ¡°Then, how else can we describe ourselves?¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s true.¡± It was as Do-Seung said. From the system¡¯s perspective, the members in front of me right now were like files inside aputer trashcan that hadn¡¯t been cleared yet.


    ¡°Hm.¡± I looked at my members.


    <i>¡®They really did get discarded.</i>¡¯ I wasn¡¯t 100% certain of it, but I had an inkling that this could be the case. Just because they regressed didn¡¯t mean that their existences continued limitlessly. They simply became buried along with their world and the system only moved the memories. If I had to make an analogy, it was as if I made a copy of a file to edit and I added content to the copy file.


    Since the copy file was where the editing took ce, the original file naturally became useless. As a natural course, the original files went to trash, and Do-Seung and Woon¡¯s situations were like those discarded files. Do-Seung and Woon appeared shocked to realize that their worlds became destroyed after they failed their missions.


    ¡°Then...how many times...did I throw away a world...?¡± Naturally, they thought they ¡®threw away¡¯ the past worlds along with the people who used to live in that ce, the rtionships they built, and all the memories they made there.


    ¡°Woon and Do-Seung,¡± I said.


    ¡°...Hm?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    I nned to recover those discarded worlds.


    ¡°If I write over your memories onto this world, you would no longer be discarded.¡±


    ¡°Write over?¡±


    ¡°Our memories?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    I didn¡¯t want the memories of my members who had gone through so many struggles and hardships inside the numerous universes to protect the team from being discarded like trash. I wanted to save my members and that included my members from all universes. That was why I couldn¡¯t leave any memory behind.


    I didn¡¯t know the exact method I would go about to do this yet. Yet, since I saw the semi-transparent figures attached to those two now through Insight, I thought there was a possibility that I could find something. Especially in a situation when the worldline was broken, I thought I could do something.


    ¡°But will that really be helpful, Tae-Yoon...?¡±


    ¡°Think about it again, Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    It seemed the two thought differently, and Woon and Do-Seung struck back with their rebuttals.

 Chapter 186

    <h4>Chapter 186</h4>


    ¡°What?¡± I didn¡¯t expect opposition from the older members. What I meant by oveying their worlds over this world was to reawaken all the discarded memories of the worlds to this world right now, so that they could live in this world with dozens of regression experiences without having to perform missions as a regressor. This would help me, and I thought there was nothing to lose from my member¡¯s view as well.


    ¡°Would the system let that happen?¡± However, Woon wondered if the system would just let this be.


    ¡°Well...Seeing that he called us here, I think Tae-Yoon knows more about the system than at least I do. Honestly, I was so desperate to clear the missions, I haven¡¯t thought about finding out the system¡¯s identity or anything like that.¡± Even while having repeatedly regressed several times, Woon hadn¡¯t been curious about the system¡¯s identity.


    ¡°But what I realized after regressing many times was that...the system somehow drags you in the direction you want in any way possible. If you try to push back, they push you back with an even greater force.¡± The system must have damaged Woon a lot as his expression looked deeply concerned. He must have thought I was doing something very dangerous.


    ¡°I also think simrly to Woon. If you forcefully try to leave our memories here, we don¡¯t know what mission the system will throw at you.¡±


    ¡°Hmm...¡± I stared at Woon and Do-Seung. I could understand their worries as I also clearly felt the system¡¯s viciousness first-hand.


    ¡°Guys.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Have you ever fought with the system?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°...Is that even possible in the first ce...?¡±


    Although Woon and Do-Seung regressed many times more than me, I think I had greater experience dealing with the system. I didn¡¯t know why I had approached the system at a deeper level than Woon and Do-Seung. It might have been thanks to Yeon-Hoon who randomly came out from time to time to help me. Or it may also be because I fundamentally hated the feeling of being controlled by someone else.


    Anyways, although I regressed less than Woon and Do-Seung, I knew more information about the system than them. I said, ¡°If you risk your life and make a bet with the system, you can get a win at least once.¡±


    ¡°Risk your life?¡±


    ¡°Are you saying you¡¯re doing the missions with everything on the line?¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m talking about my real life. When I¡¯m on the verge of dying, the system bes my subordinate, not my superior. Of course, there is a condition that I need to die from a specific person, but... anyway, my point still stands.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...Are you crazy?¡± Do-Seung and Woon looked at me with sincere concern.


    ¡°I¡¯m not crazy.¡± I waspletely sane as I continued, ¡°If I don¡¯t die, the members will die. It¡¯s a game where people¡¯s lives are on the line, so there¡¯s nothing strange about it.¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon became speechless; they looked at me as if they were a bit terrified of me.


    ¡°Anyway, I think it¡¯s possible to ovey memories on top of this world if you guys want that.¡±


    ¡°What kind of life have you been living as a regressor...¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a bit scary, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°So shall we do it? Or not?¡±


    ¡°Hmm...¡±


    ¡°Well...¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon fell into thought. Frankly, I expected them to tell me to ovey their memories without hesitation as it was beneficial to us all either way. For me, I would be getting a fountain of information that would not dry out and a strong helper who could give advice in difficult situations. As for them, rather than feeling sad that their world ended like this, they could ovey their memories with this world and deal with the system with me here.


    However, every person had their own opinions and different ways they thought. Do-Seung and Woon seemed to ponder for a long time and then¡ªfinally made a decision.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t ovey it.¡±


    They came to this conclusion.


    ¡°No...why?¡± I couldn¡¯t understand their decision.


    However, from their point of view, their reasoning was clear.


    ¡°If we ovey our memories on top of this world...I think the Kang Do-Seung and Lee Woon of this world would feel like their bodies have been robbed out of the blue.¡±


    ¡°I also think the same as Do-Seung.¡±


    The feeling of robbing their body¡ªI could understand what they meant, but I said, ¡°But they¡¯re still you guys anyways. It¡¯s your body and face...¡±


    ¡°Just because the face and body are the same doesn¡¯t mean we¡¯re the same people.¡±


    ¡°If we have different memories and experiences, you can¡¯t consider us the same person.¡±


    ¡°But the essence is the same. The body that you guys are in are Kang Do-Seung and Lee Woon and not anyone else.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re essentially the same, but...¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It just feels a bit iffy.¡±


    As the conversation became more philosophical, Woon and Do-Seung both stopped talking. However, overall, they seemed reluctant to ovey their memories on the body they were in. I couldn¡¯t insist on my opinion on decisions like this. If I tried to persuade once and failed, I would be forcing my opinion on them if I tried anymore.


    Thus, I said, ¡°...All right.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I couldn¡¯t give you the answer you wanted.¡±


    ¡°If we get the chance someday, we¡¯ll see each other again.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung said this and were slowly getting ready to say their goodbyes.


    ¡°It was nice to meet you, Tae-Yoon. It¡¯s even more nice to see you alive and well like this.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s really fortunate that you¡¯re the regressor in this world. If you knew how much trouble you caused in my world...ha....¡±


    However, it felt like a shame to send them away like this. The opportunity to talk openly with the members about regressing like this was an extremely precious and valuable opportunity. I hadn¡¯t been able to tell my most difficult troubles to the people I wanted to rely on the most.


    Thus, for thest time, I asked, ¡°Guys, you said you don¡¯t want to ovey your memories on these bodies, right?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t persuade them again with the same words as before as then, I wouldn¡¯t be respecting their opinions and decisions. However, what if it was a different proposal?


    I asked, ¡°Then how about connecting the memories a bit rather than ovepping them?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Connecting?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    When I was meeting the second regressor before, Do-Seung had some memories of the second regressor after. While maintaining his ego in this world, he retained the memories of that time as his own. Later, when I looked at Do-Seung through Insight, I saw that the shape of the second regressor was closely attached to Do-Seung¡¯s body. At that time, I thought this happened because of some error. Or, it happened because of the fistfight between the second regressor and me.


    In any case, it seemed possible to connect some of the memories of the former regressors to the present body. I didn¡¯t know how that connection would work, but I thought it was worth trying. ¡°Do you want to try?¡¯


    ¡°How do you do it?¡±


    ¡°...Are you sure you can do it?¡±


    The fact that I was connecting their memories and not ovepping them seemed to have piqued their curiosity as they must have obviously not wanted their memories and world to disappear. I exined some of my abilities to them.


    ¡°In the past, I risked my life against the system and got full control of Insight.¡± I summarized only the most important information.


    ¡°...Wow...¡±


    ¡°...You¡¯re not normal here either, Tae-Yoon. How did you think of to get full control over Insight?¡±


    The members looked a bit shocked but didn¡¯t ask further questions.


    I continued, ¡°With full control over Insight, it¡¯s possible for me to provoke the system to some extent, and I can do some supernatural shenanigans.¡±


    ¡°Supernatural shenanigans?¡±


    ¡°For example this?¡± I used Insight to give an order to Woon. ¡°Step back.¡±


    Then Woon took three steps back. He looked at me, baffled, and Do-Seung looked almost shell-shocked.


    ¡°...I regressed in vain. I didn¡¯t even know how to do something like this.¡±


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon always read web novels, and now he can do superpowers like this.¡±


    ¡°...I read web novels in your worlds too?¡±


    ¡°Everyday.¡±


    ¡°You said you¡¯ll be a novelist when you retire like a mantra.¡±


    ¡°...Even if the worlds are different, I guess some things are always the same.¡±


    The members seemed to have now clearly recognized that my ability was quite different from theirs.


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying you¡¯re going to connect our memories to this world through Insight, right¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Can you do it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°Well...¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung pondered once again.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case...let¡¯s do it.¡±


    However, this time, they epted my proposal.


    ¡°But you have to make sure to retain Kang Do-Seung and Woon¡¯s egos from this world.¡±


    ¡°Just connect a very small part of our memories.¡±


    ¡°I got it.¡±


    I made Woon and Do-Seung sit side by side in the front and activated Insight with the two of them in my field of vision.


    Ziiing¡ª!


    I felt like the world stood at a standstill, and my mind sped up tremendously. I still couldn¡¯t get used to this feeling no matter how many times I went through it. I stared at Woon and Do-Seung. I saw many opaque and hazy shapes attached behind the two.


    There were 15 blurry shapes behind Do-Seung, which meant that he regressed 17 times. There were 17 shapes behind 17, indicating he regressed 17 times. Then Woon must have been the regressor until the 32nd one, and he must have regressed five more times after his current 27th form. Well, that was not the important part now. I approached the opaque shapes attached behind my brothers.


    I didn¡¯t actually touch it but used Insight to more deeply reach the figures. A total of 32 opaque shapes began to vibrate at once, and as expected, I heard system notifications go off.


    [Unauthorized ess.]


    [Unauthorized ess.]


    I ignored these rms and continued my work. The vibrations of the shapes got worse and worse, and soon, some of the shapes began to blur more and more. I gradually connected the shapes with blurred outlines to my members¡¯ bodies.


    A bright white thread flew to the members and stuck to them. After the first connection, my work speed elerated. For the 2nd, 3rd, 20th, 30th, and evenstly, the 32nd one, the system rang out a warning notification every time.


    [Unauthorized ess.]


    [Unauthorized ess.]


    [Unauthorized ess.]


    [Unauthorized ess.]


    ...


    I knew it was unauthorized ess as there was no way the system would allow this. However, I tried it because it seemed like I could do it. And with this, I was done with connecting all the shapes. It remained to be seen what the results would be.


    ¡°...Are you done?¡±


    ¡°...Nothing seemed to have changed?¡±


    When I deactivated my insight, Woon and Do-Seung seemed to have not felt any difference.


    ¡°The copsed world line hasn¡¯t returned yet.¡± However, I thought that these people wouldn¡¯t be able to feel the real difference, and only the original Do-Seung and Woon of this world would feel it after the world line returned and they woke up.


    ¡°Ah, yeah. That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we won¡¯t be able to feel it.¡±


    [The worldline will be recovered.]


    [Prepare for iing shock.]


    Just in time, I heard a notification that the world line was now restored. The members must have also heard this voice as they began to say their goodbyes.


    ¡°I guess it¡¯s time to say goodbye.¡±


    ¡°It was nice to meet you, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s not going to be a final goodbye, since I connected you guys.¡± I believed that we would be able to meet again in a different way.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°Then...I¡¯ll say goodbye by saying see you gain.¡±


    ¡°See you next time, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Take good care of yourself.¡±


    While saying myst goodbye to the members, Woon and Do-Seung gave me ast warning.


    ¡°Ah, regardless of everything, you¡¯ve challenged the system¡¯s authority so...Tae-Yoon, I don¡¯t know what kind of trials you might have to face. Prepare your heart and mind well.¡±


    ¡°Even if the system hasn¡¯t imposed significant sanctions so far, it won¡¯t let you continue to challenge its authority for long.¡±


    I replied, ¡°I got it. I¡¯ll prepare myself.¡± I prepared myself for another all-out war with the system.


    ¡°Then take care.¡±


    ¡°See you again.¡±


    With thesest words¡ª


    Ziiing-!


    The world line was restored.


    Thud.


    ¡°Geez.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung instantly fell to the ground. I already knew from several past experiences that my members fell asleep after being possessed. Now I need to carry them back to their rooms as if I didn¡¯t move them, I wouldn¡¯t know what kind of lies I would have to tell them. I tried to move them carefully to their rooms so that they wouldn¡¯t wake up but¡ª


    ¡°Hmm...¡±


    ¡°Ugh...¡±


    ¡°What the.¡±


    They woke up much faster than I expected.

 Chapter 187

    <h4>Chapter 187</h4>


    My members woke up earlier than I expected. I stared at the two nkly, not knowing what to do. I didn¡¯t know how to exin the situation when they were already awake.


    ¡°What...?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...?¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung looked at me for an exnation. They probably couldn¡¯tprehend the situation at all.


    ¡°Ah...¡± But I knew I couldn¡¯t panic. I needed to improvise a usible reason somehow that could exin why they were lying in the living room in the middle of the night.


    ¡°Did I sleepwalk again?¡± Fortunately, Do-Seung found his own exnation.


    ¡°Ah...yes, that¡¯s what happened.¡± I took the opportunity and nodded.


    ¡°Haa...I must¡¯ve been really stressed. But I only recall good things happening recently...? What is the deal?¡± Do-Seung pondered but I was able to avert the crisis this time. I only had one more person to tend to now.


    Woon was looking half-dazed. He didn¡¯t say anything to me or ask me for a reason. I wished he would just say something instead of just staring into space.


    ¡°Woon?¡± I worried if there was a problem and called Woon¡¯s name.


    ¡°...¡± Woon didn¡¯t respond. Fear crept into my heart then, and I wondered if something went wrong in the process of connecting the semi-transparent figures into them. Thus, rather than memories passing into Woon, his head could¡¯ve be screwed because of the overload of information. I kneeled and matched my eye level to Woon to confirm this.


    ¡°...I remember it now.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Woon¡¯s words were foreboding. Was there already an effect to connecting the memories? But why was this effect only showing on Woon and not on Do-Seung? All sorts of thoughts passed through my head in that instant.


    ¡°I came out to go to the bathroom...then, I suddenly got sleepy and slept on the sofa. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± Woon asked.


    Contrary to my worries, Woon had made up a whole tale to exin why he was out in the living room.


    <i>¡®That¡¯s not it all...¡¯</i> I thought to myself. Woon had neithere out to go to the bathroom nor slept on the sofa. He simply made up a story to connect the pieces to a puzzle, but I thought there was no need for me to refute him.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s as you say.¡±


    ¡°I used to do that when I was young...this is my first time doing that after bing an adult.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you are also overexerting yourself too, Woon,¡± I said.


    ¡°I think so.¡±


    Like that, Woon and Do-Seung came up with their exnations for finding themselves unconscious in the living room.


    ¡°We should quickly go to sleep since our schedule is packed tomorrow too.¡±


    ¡°I feel like I needlessly lost sleep time.¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon left to return to their rooms. Since I used the same room as Woon, I followed them andy on the bed.


    ¡°Good night, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°You too.¡±


    Woon and I pulled the nkets over ourselves and closed our eyes. Though it had been a long day, it was finally over.


    <i>¡®It was really hectic.¡¯</i> It had been crazy to meet two regressors at once, but I was satisfied to have gathered all the necessary information in themotion. The only thing that hung on my mind was whether the system would hit me with a counterattack.


    Woon¡¯s and Do-Seung¡¯s warnings remained in my mind. With control over my Insight ability, I was challenging the system in many ways. I changed the mission¡¯s content ording to my will and connected regressors from other universes to this world. All of this was probably not the direction the system wished for.


    If that were the case, it could be the start to an unpredictable mission. I didn¡¯t know what the system would do, but...


    <i>¡®I need to prepare myself.¡¯</i> I needed to affirm my heart and my mind so I wouldn¡¯t fall into a panic in an important situation.


    ***


    It was early at dawn. There was a 24-hour convenience store brightly lighting up a hill packed with one-room vis. As expected of a residential convenience store, there was little traffic early in the morning but the pay was much higherpared to noontime. Though more supplies came in during this time, the fact that one didn¡¯t have to deal with customers, which was the toughest task that came with the job, made this time frame more appealing to workers.


    The part-timer at this time, Kim Won-Joong sat in front of the stand while looking at his phone screen.


    <i>Creak</i>. The convenience store door opened, and a customer came inside. Kim Won-Joong took a quick nce at the customer and turned his eyes back to his phone. He was ying a mobile RPG game. While collecting the items that had fallen around his characters¡¯ surroundings, he didn¡¯t even spare another nce toward the customer.


    ¡°Check out please.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Check out, <i>please.</i>¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Excuse me? I need to check these out.¡±


    ¡°...Ah.¡±


    Kim Won-Joong was so focused on the game that he didn¡¯t notice the customer asking to check out his goods for a while.


    ¡°It¡¯s 12,500 won. You can stick your card in the front,¡± Kim Won-Joon said. Then, after the customer had paid and left, he murmured to himself while looking in the direction where the customer left. ¡°Ha...what a bastard. Pressuring me for the smallest things. I just got to the counter after organizing the supplies.¡±


    Kim Won-Joong then got his phone to y his game again when the convenience store opened.


    <i>Creak. </i>


    ¡°Ha...¡± He sighed. He couldn¡¯t believe another customer wasing so soon, and his expression was about to sour.


    ¡°I saw your face turn to shit because you thought I was a customer.¡±


    ¡°Ah, you surprised me there.¡±


    ¡°I came ''cause I was bored.¡±


    Then, seeing that it was his buddy from middle school, Kim Joong-Yeon, his face brightened.


    ¡°What are you up to?¡±


    ¡°I am just sending my yers to dungeons.¡±


    ¡°How much money did you spend on that game?¡±


    ¡°Not much. About thirty or forty.¡±


    ¡°If it was me, I would¡¯ve just bought a <i>nantendo</i> with that money.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s up to me.¡±


    Kim Won-Joon and Kim Joong-Yeon continued their conversation about games. It was then Kim Joon-Yeon finally brought up the topic he had been meaning to bring up.


    ¡°Hey, have you been keeping up with the news?¡±


    ¡°With what news?¡±


    ¡°You know about that annoying rich kid.¡±


    ¡°...Ah, Park Dong-Jun?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s been so long since I heard his name. What about him? Did he get hurt or something?¡±


    ¡°Do you think I woulde all this way to tell you something like that?¡±


    ¡°Then, what is it? Is he zipping in and out of Gangnam with a Ferrari?¡±


    ¡°No, listen to me,¡± Kim Joon-Yeon cut Kim Won-Joong off and continued.


    ¡°That bastard is an idol now.¡±


    ¡°...Are you kidding me?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s in a group called Siren or something.¡±


    ¡°Siren?¡±


    ¡°You never heard of them?¡±


    ¡°No, I did hear of them...¡±


    ¡°The song that¡¯sing out of the convenience store right now is their song, you idiot.¡±


    ¡°What? I just clicked the loop button for the chart¡¯s top hits...?¡± Kim Won-Joong searched ¡®Park Dong-Jun¡¯ and saw thousands of pictures and hundreds of articles at once. They all seemed to be praising Dong-Jun.


    ¡°Why are there so many posts going crazy over this guy saying he¡¯s so cute and all that?¡±


    ¡°He had always been pretty good-looking.¡±


    ¡°But it wasn¡¯t to this level. Looks like he got some work done.¡±


    ¡°I supposed he could¡¯ve done some touch-ups since he¡¯s a celebrity. You know his dad is loaded. His dad could¡¯ve paid for the surgeries.¡±


    ¡°Wow, but...he¡¯s seriously an idol?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Did he just do a broadcast with a girl group?¡±


    ¡°He even did a challenge with them.¡±


    ¡°...Fuck, I¡¯m so jealous.¡± Then, Kim Won-Joong continued while looking at the phone screen. ¡°I bet people don¡¯t know how fucked up his personality is.¡±


    ¡°I doubt it. He acts all cute for the cameras. Look at the posts he uploads on social media. I bet his fans think he is an absolute angel.¡±


    The two looked at Park Dong-Jun. Neither of them had good feelings about Dong-Jun.


    ¡°Wish someone would just bring this guy down.¡±


    ¡°So true.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t there other people besides us who can push him to his doom?¡±


    ¡°But seeing how nothing came up yet, that doesn¡¯t seem like the case.¡±


    ¡°Then, are we the only ones who know how messed up his personality is?¡±


    ¡°Seems like that is the case seeing how he¡¯s just working with no problems.¡±


    Saying this, Kim Won-Joon and Kim Joong-Yeon smiled at each other. It was then, that a secret n began to form in the convenience store at such an early hour.


    ***


    The next day after I met the fifteenth and the twenty-seventh regressor, we repeated the same schedule as before. We got our makeup and hair done at the salon and moved to our morning recording location. We were already bing used to rising early for our music broadcast schedule. It had been only one week, but it felt like we had been doing this for a month. And today, we also did a short, mini-fan meeting after finishing our morning recording.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Dong-Jun!¡±


    ¡°Woon!¡±


    ¡°Kang Do-Seung!¡±


    It was a mini fan meeting that unfolded in a small ce behind the broadcast station. Since we had only met our fans on stage or in the fan meeting rooms, it was our first time doing an event in a ce like this with our fans. We had a short conversation with them and yed all sorts of games. I never thought I would enjoy these fan service-like activities and previously thought I would engage in these activities like a job as an idol.


    But now that I was doing them, <i>¡®...It¡¯s actually quite fun.¡¯</i> It was a stream of light in our frantic and busy schedule. After doing a broadcast, doing events like this with our fans offline gave me more energy. Then, after our mini fan meeting ended, we moved to Yeouido to do a short schedule there before our music program in the afternoon.


    ¡°We have to move quickly to get there on time before lunch.¡±


    ¡°¡¯Ahhhh! This is crazy! So hectic!¡±


    ¡°Be more careful and stay calmer the more frantic you feel~¡±


    We took off our broadcast outfits and erased our makeup a little bit before getting into the car. This was what every day was like these days. After our morning recording, we rushed into the car like we were getting chased by somebody,pleted our next schedule, and returned to the studio again. There were hardly any days where we had only one program per day and we usually did more than two a day.


    ¡°Did you get the content of today¡¯s program through mail?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°You all will have to wander the streets and interview pedestrians. Then, go to a nearby famous restaurant. Don¡¯t be so nervous. Just think that you are going to have a tasty meal.¡±


    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡±


    ¡°Yes, I understand!¡±


    ¡°Park Dong-Jun, stop smiling so much.¡±


    ¡°...This is my usual expression?¡±


    ¡°You are smiling so wide after hearing that we going to eat.¡±


    Today¡¯s program at lunchtime was searching for tasty restaurants. Titled ¡®Neighborhood Eateries¡¯, it was one of the programs that were doing well these days. It also attracted a good amount of public attention and shots of the program often circted the inte before the program even officially aired.


    <i>¡®I won¡¯t get insulted if I eat the food too unappetizingly, right?¡¯ </i>At this point, this had been my biggest worry. I wasn¡¯t the type to eat food ravenously, and I thought I should observe how Dong-Jun ate and attempt to copy him¨Cit was then that the system gave me a sudden mission after a while.


    [Sudden Mission Activated]


    ¡°Hm?¡± I had been closing my eyes with my head leaning against the headrest, but I immediately sat up straight with this warning. I waited to hear the next words.


    [Settle controversies over Park Dong-Jun¡¯s attitude.]


    [Upon sess, no rewards]


    [Upon failure, halting of Park Dong-Jun¡¯s activities]


    ¡°...Damn it.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°You want a...Donut?¡±


    My members¡¯ warning that the system could counterattack was already bing a reality.

 Chapter 188

    <h4>Chapter 188</h4>


    <i>¡®Dong-Jun¡¯s attitude controversy?¡¯ </i>


    It was a problem that I had never expected. Of course, I knew celebrities were often embroiled in such controversies, but I firmly believed that this was not applicable to our group. The members I knew were not the type of people to purposely hurt others, and based on the information I heard from their parents in my previous life, there was no problem in their school days. Thus, I thought their past was squeaky clean.


    <i>¡®This might be dangerous...?¡¯ </i>There must have been some parts I didn¡¯t know as it was impossible for me to know all my members¡¯ pasts. In any case, an attitude controversy was a huge deal as if something went wrong, our group¡¯s image would be tarnished and eat away at our group¡¯s life span.


    <i>¡®In severe cases, we¡¯ll go downhill.</i>¡¯ For our case, this controversy could act as a key factor to dampen our upward trend, especially during our promotion period like now. If it had been during our inactive period, we could have taken the time to address the situation and let things settle down and make aeback when the public opinion became quiet.


    <i>¡®We¡¯re in trouble.¡¯ </i>In this case, we may have to even suspend our activities depending on the content of the attitude controversy, and the words, ¡®activity suspension¡¯, were powerful in their own right and could leave asting imprint on Dong-Jun¡¯s career for the rest of his life like a name tag. Moreover, the damage to Siren¡¯s image would also be serious.


    But this was the absolute worst-case scenario, and there was only one truth that I needed to immediately confirm.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s definite that an attitude controversy would drop on us.¡¯ </i>Someone would criticize Dong-Jun for his character, and there were only two possibilities that I could think of why Dong-Jun would be involved in this scandal.


    First, Dong-Jun did something that would be frowned upon by anyone because of his poor moral character. This was the worst possible scenario, but the solution to this was simple. He needed to announce an apology and halt all activities as soon as possible and take time for self-reflection.


    <i>¡®But I don¡¯t think...this can¡¯t be.¡¯</i> I wasn¡¯t sure, but my gut was telling me that this wasn¡¯t the case. The Dong-Jun whom I knew was yful, but he was not a person who would maliciously hurt someone. Then the second possibility was¡ª


    <i>¡®Some dude is ying a dirty joke.¡¯</i> Someone who hated Dong-Jun must be spreading rumors about him. Countermeasures were difficult in this case, but the outlook was optimistic as I could catch the person who spread the rumor and make them write a counter-exnation.


    The key was how quickly I could catch the culprit who spread such malicious rumors. Since this was a battle against time, it became meaningless to catch it toote as it would be after the title, ¡®member with an attitude controversy¡¯, would stick to Dong-Jun. I needed to quickly end this matter before that image stuck on him.


    <i>Sigh...</i> I swept my hair back and thought of the troubles toe. What I needed to check first was whether the attitude controversy dropped. I searched through all the SNS I used, but I couldn¡¯t find anything anywhere.


    <i>¡®There¡¯s nothing.¡¯ </i>There were spiteful words about Dong-Jun¡¯s attitude from a hater, but it wasn¡¯t the type to spread controversy as they were people who would portray even 5th-generation saints as demons if they didn¡¯t like them. I searched throughmunities that contained deeper conversations and even searched through some open chat rooms.


    Nevertheless, I saw no signs of any posts rted to Dong-Jun¡¯s attitude controversy. I just checked a lot of the haters who made hateful posts against Dong-Jun.


    <i>¡®I guess they didn¡¯t upload it yet.¡¯ </i>In cases like this, various evidence of bad behavior was scattered everywhere and then came to the surface with one, decisive testimony. However, there was nothing like that for Dong-Jun.


    <i>¡®If that¡¯s the case, he at least didn¡¯t act like a bully to everyone in school.¡¯ </i>This meant that Dong-Ju at least wasn¡¯t a person who would be remembered badly by everyone. Then my prediction that someone, who hated Dong-Jun would spread malicious rumors about him, got a little stronger.


    Since there wasn¡¯t any sign of ament that could cause an attitude controversy, there wasn¡¯t anything I could do right now. I thought, ¡®Do I have to wait?¡¯


    However, it wasn¡¯t my personality to just sit tight and wait. I was wondering if I should try something when before I realized it, we had stopped in front of a university in Seoul.


    ¡°We¡¯ve arrived!¡±


    Outside, there was a host and production team of <Delicious Restaurant in Our Neighborhood>.


    ¡°As soon as you get off here, we¡¯ll start filming.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t get too nervous when you get off, and all you have to do is say hello naturally and put on the mic.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll open the door when you¡¯re ready.¡±


    In ordance with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna¡¯s guidance, the members loosened their seat belts one by one. Although it was a broadcast shoot, I could see that they were all drooling. I guess everyone decided to have a cheat day just for this shooting after hardcore dieting. I would have normally smiled seeing them, but I had no leisure to crack a smile.


    <i>¡®What if the attitude controversy drops during the shoot? That¡¯s the worst.¡¯ </i>Although I wasn¡¯t done organizing my thoughts yet, the members were ready to jump in at any moment.


    ¡°Guys, are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Quickly! Let¡¯s go quickly!¡±


    ¡°Wow, I¡¯m really hungry now.¡±


    The members seemed ready to jump out instantly. Yeon-Hoon looked at me and asked if I was ready.


    ¡°...Yes, I¡¯m ready.¡± I couldn¡¯t say no in this atmosphere.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s go!¡± Soon, the door opened, and we got out of the vehicle.


    ¡°Hello!¡±


    ¡°Hello!¡±


    ***


    In an inte caf¨¦ in Seoul, Kim Won-Joong and Kim Joong-Yeon gathered together. They nned to begin the n they talked about all night at the convenience store yesterday.


    ¡°We really are going to do it? Like upload for real?¡±


    ¡°Ha...Yeah, let¡¯s do it. We need to get justice.¡±


    ¡°But what if we get sued by them?¡±


    ¡°I looked it up and it says they can¡¯t sue unless you mention their real name. Don¡¯t be scared. We¡¯ll never get caught.¡±


    ¡°But this is he scary now that I¡¯m trying to do it.¡±


    ¡°Then can you live while watching that bastard Park Dong-Jun on TV every day?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, thinking about that makes me really mad thinking.¡±


    The two went on Nacepann[1] while saying this.


    Frankly, at some point, the two didn¡¯t understand why they were going so far like this, and all they wanted was not to see someone they didn¡¯t like living a happy life. However, even then, there was no need to do something extreme like this...


    ¡°Wow, if I post this, Dong-Jun really won¡¯t be able toe out on TV anymore.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know.¡±


    At some point, it felt like their brakes were broken. No, it felt like the brake itself had disappeared altogether, and all they wanted now was to see Park Dong-Jun fall to the deepest gutter. They wanted to stand on top of the ce where Park Dong-Jun crashed andugh at him from above, saying ¡®I knew this would happen to you.¡¯


    If it was possible, they wanted him toe and kneel down in front of them. They continued to write while imagining their sweet fantasies.


    ¡°Wow, I¡¯m done.¡±


    ¡°Awesome. You wrote it so well.¡±


    Although it was an impulsive n that felt like someone was pushing them to do, they were sincerely happy, imagining Park Dong Jun¡¯s fall.


    ***


    <Neighborhood Eateries> program was a show that selected a specific area every week and explored local restaurants. Since we got off in front of a university today, I thought we would definitely explore famous restaurants around the university campus. Perhaps it was because college students were on the forefront of trends, the reactions here were much more intense than walking around the other streets.


    ¡°Kyahhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Crazyyy!¡±


    ¡°Wow! They¡¯re insanely good looking!¡±


    There were people who screamed while walking by, shed their cameras like crazy, and followed us as if they were entranced. Anyways, we were ced in a very dramatic situation. It was to the extent that arge number of people gathered to form a sphere around us and the hosts.


    ¡°Everyone! Where are the best restaurants here! We¡¯ll take exactly five suggestions!¡± The host asked the students here where the best restaurants were. The format of this show was to hear five different suggestions and pick the number 1 restaurant among those five suggestions.


    ¡°Hello, student over there! Can we interview you?¡± The host, who used to be a former announcer, skillfully picked out people to interview among the general public. The female student approached us with shining eyes as if she were ecstatic. She especially looked at Yeon-Hoon, and Yeon-Hoon must have felt her gaze as he gave her a bright smile.


    ¡°Wooooow! Crazy! That¡¯s crazy!¡± As expected of a college student, her reaction was intense.


    ¡°What is your name?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Park Eunju!¡±


    ¡°Nice name, Ms. Park Eunju. Then do you know the group Siren?¡±


    ¡°Yesssss! I love them so much! I watched all the episodes of The Showcase 2! I voted and told others to vote every single day!¡±


    I stared at Park Eunju, who was definitely an ENFP[2].


    ¡°Young people these days call them favs or was it¡ªbias? Anyways, who is your bias in Siren, Ms. Eunju?¡±


    ¡°What...Wow...You want me to pick here?¡± The female student looked seriously troubled by the host¡¯s mischievous question.


    ¡°I love everyone...deeply in Siren.¡± Then she overcame the crisis by giving a neutral answer.


    ¡°Then Ms. Eunju, where do you think is the most delicious restaurant around this university?¡± The host now asked the main question that fit the program¡¯s main mission.


    ¡°Well...um...I...If I had to pick just one ce...the student cafeteria!¡±


    ¡°Wow! The school cafeteria? It¡¯s the first time the school cafeteria has been chosen as the ce with the most delicious food on this program.¡±


    ¡°Our school has really good food!¡±


    ¡°Woow! Alright! Then, let¡¯s go, Siren!¡±


    We decided to move to the student cafeteria, but before we left, Yeon-Hoon asked the host, ¡°Would we be able to take a photo with our fan before we go?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. Of course.¡±


    With the host¡¯s permission, Park Eunju excitedly cheered and held up her phone. ¡°Wow, really? Amazing! Please hurry up and gather behind me.¡±


    ¡°Hahhahaha!¡± Dong-Jun burst outughing at her reaction.


    ¡°Here we go! One, two, three!¡±


    After Park Eunju¡¯s camera shutter blinked a few times, we moved to the student cafeteria under the leadership of the production team. ¡°Let¡¯s move on now.¡±


    ¡°Thank you! I¡¯ll treasure this picture for the rest of my life!¡±


    ¡°No problem at all and thanks for the suggestion. We¡¯ll enjoy our meal!¡±


    ¡°Make sure to eat Jjagechi. Jjagechi. That¡¯s super delicious.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! I got it.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Good luck with your school life!¡±


    ¡°Goodbye.¡±


    After saying farewell to the energetic Park Eunju, we arrived at the student cafeteria.


    ¡°Now that we¡¯re in front of the first eatery, what do you all feel?¡± Before entering the cafeteria, the host set up a moment for us to makements to provide content for the show. We stood in front of the building where the student cafeteria was located and started makingments one by one.


    ¡°It¡¯s my first time at a university, so I¡¯ve always wanted to try a university¡¯s school cafeteria. I¡¯m so excited!¡±


    ¡°Honestly, when I heard that we wereing to this university, I read a lot ofments saying that the food was really delicious, so I¡¯ll go check if it¡¯s really good and tell everyone my review.¡±


    ¡°As Siren¡¯s representative foodie, I¡¯ll urately quantify the cafeteria food¡¯s delicious factor into exact numbers.¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha! That sounds great, Mr. Dong-Jun! I like your spirit!¡±


    The atmosphere on the scene was good until at least Dong-Jun said his lines. It was time for me to say something when¡ª


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    Gasp!


    ¡°Right now, this is...¡±


    There was a suddenmotion on the side of the production team. Although they were exchanging information in a quiet voice so as to not interfere with the broadcast, it obviously sounded like a problem broke out. As a result of that, I forgot to make ament and looked at the production team. The members also looked at them with worried expressions.


    I felt it instinctively, ¡®it broke out.¡¯


    The situation that I was most concerned about broke out. I made eye contact with Dong-Jun, and he gave me a thoughtless grin. I wondered how long this smile could go...


    ¡®Damn it.¡¯ A fiery fire burned in the pit of my stomach; I was determined to finish this broadcast well ande up with a solution.


    ¡°Mr. Dong-Jun! Can youe over here for a second?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll stop the shoot for 10 minutes and go.¡± Did the problem get bigger than I thought? The filming was suspended.


    1. This is a reference to Nate Pann, a popr inte forum in South Korea. ?


    2. ENFP is a type of personality in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which is huge in Korea. ?

 Chapter 189

    <h4>Chapter 189</h4>


    The shooting was halted, and there was a slightmotion after the producers called Dong-Jun.


    ¡°Is there some kind of problem? Can you brief us on the situation a bit?¡± The host approached the producers and requested an exnation. Then, the producers nced in our direction and moved locations while taking only the host. In the end, the only ones remaining in the ¡®<i>School Restaurant</i>¡¯ were us four, excluding Dong-Jun. Of course, we could also sense that something serious was happening.


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°...Did somethinge up?¡±


    ¡°Will Dong-Jun be all right?¡±


    My members voiced their concerns while looking around their surroundings. Then, they looked worriedly at where Dong-Jun was taken. Dong-Jun was walking towards a conference room where producers often waited. I couldn¡¯t help but notice how small and lonesome Dong-Jun looked then.


    ¡°...What in the world is happening...?¡±


    My members appeared to die in anxiety seeing that everyone was sharing important conversations amongst themselves while excluding us.


    ¡°Give me a moment.¡± I took out my phone from my pocket and said, ¡°If a problem happened right now, maybe I can search for what it is.¡±


    My members nced at their surroundings after seeing me act. Using our phones while shooting was an implicit taboo. There were many cases when people left their phones to their managers before starting filming since casts using their phones instead of focusing on the filming gave off a bad impression.


    ¡°Is it okay for you to use your phone?¡± My members asked.


    ¡°The shooting has been suspended for the time being anyway.¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s true but...¡±


    My members were still diforted by the idea of using their phones before the cameras were removed. Yet, I knew that there was no way this whole scene would be aired on TV anyway. Furthermore, fewer people were looking at us now since the staff was controlling the site. Above all, I needed to use my phone right now.


    ¡°We need to at least know what¡¯s going on. I will check what happened for all of us,¡± I said. Since I knew what happened to Dong-Jun, I especially couldn¡¯t put my phone back down. I went into Bluebird first. As I thought...


    <i>¡®He¡¯s trending first...¡¯ </i>The trending feed on Bluebird was Park Dong-Jun¡¯s personality. There was no need for me to see more of Bluebird. If I saw pages of unfiltered raw responses here, I could lose my calm from the very beginning. Thus, to get a better and more exact sense of the situation, I went into NacePann[1]. As expected, it appeared the controversy began at this ce and I easily found the original post about Dong-Jun.


    ¡ªExposing S group¡¯s PDJ¡¯s personality. (I¡¯m his middle-school ssmate. I can show my graduation album and school ID as evidence.)


    Even from the title, it was asking to be clicked. It appeared the poster had been worried about getting sued and didn¡¯t write Park Dong-Jun¡¯s name tantly. Yet, using only his initials could have invited more views. This post was one of the most viewed posts on this website for today, and I clicked on it to read it.


    ¡ªI was in great agony before writing this post. It happened a long time ago, and I was afraid that we could be sued for telling the truth. Yet, we couldn¡¯t let the person who used to trample us in our childhood go on broadcast and receive so much love from the public.


    We were middle-school graduates with PDJ. We went to the same school in our third year but because of PDJ, myst year in middle school turned into a nightmare...


    It followed a very standard format of an ¡®expose post.¡¯ I didn¡¯t think exposed posts were necessarily bad, and the inte could be a viable and effective space to make certain people who needed to be held ountable for their past crimes pay.


    <i>¡®But hm...</i>¡¯ Yet, it was also a ce that could make even an innocent person a sinner however a random person liked. I read through the post. It was a detailed and believable story, and in summary, it went like this.


    Dong-Jun was the most influential person in the ss. Though he wasn¡¯t the ss gangster, he was someone who had the most authoritative voice among all his ssmates. And though he didn¡¯t dere that his family had a lot of money tantly, everyone could tell because he always came to school wearing expensive clothes, bags, and shoes.


    He also spent a lot of money on his friends and was always surrounded by them. When someone became close to Dong-Jun, it didn¡¯t take long for them to have a new set of running shoes. Sometimes, it was bags, and friends who were especially close to him came to school wearing new bubble coats. For middle-schoolers, these were huge presents, and because of that, Dong-Jun always had many friends.


    <i>¡®They make it sound as if Dong-Jun went around buying friends with money.¡¯</i> The post made Dong-Jun appear like an arrogant rich kid. The Dong-Jun I knew would never purposefully wear expensive goods to show off his riches, so buying expensive presents to gain friends was out of the question. He probably would¡¯ve just worn anything his parents bought him and thoughtlessly bought gifts for friends who asked for them.


    From my past life, I knew Dong-Jun¡¯s family had enough money to use it without a second thought. Thus, I read through the rest of the post. The writers of the post said that regardless of all that, they befriended Dong-Jun because his personality appeared to be good. Though everyone else befriended Dong-Jun to gain expensive gifts, they alone were his ¡®true friends,¡¯ ording to the post.


    Yet, there was a big difference between them and Dong-Jun. It was their families¡¯ wealth.


    ¡ªUnlike him, we both grew up in poor families. All the clothes, bags, and shoes we wore were far different from his.


    Dong-Jun was the rich kid while the posters were kids from poor families. At this point, I could tell what kind of image this post was trying to establish.


    ¡ªWhen PDJ realized that we were poor, he began to look down on us and treat us as his inferiors. He used his other friends to outcast us and tease us for being beggars. They didn¡¯t hesitate to insult my parents either.


    The post was saying that Dong-Jun used his wealth as a weapon to one-sidedly torment and bully two ssmates from poor families. The ims that Dong-Jun used other people to bully them set the message of this post and clearly established two sides: there was Dong-Jun who bought everything with money and the other side who were too poor to have anything. The structure became clearer as the post continued.


    ¡ªI have included our album pictures, graduation certification, and student ID below. If I find more evidence, I will upload them.


    The posters emphasized that they went to the same school as Dong-Jun again and ended the post. The post swarmed withments from below. Somements protected Dong-Jun and supported him and some criticized him saying that they saw iting from miles away.


    Otherments encouraged others to keep their neutrality for now while thements below them asked how they could keep their neutrality with evidence such as the graduation certification. All sorts of opinions and arguments were mixed to create amotion.


    ¡°You guys.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°...Is it more severe than we thought?¡±


    ¡°...Ha...it makes me worried.¡± I handed my phone to my members. I thought it would be quicker to show them than to tell them what happened. After receiving the phone from my hands, my members¡¯ expressions gradually darkened.


    ¡°What, how?¡± Yeon-Hoon struggled to form his words.


    ¡°What¡¯s going to happen to...Dong-Jun?¡± Woon worried about Dong-Jun.


    ¡°Haa...¡± Do-Seung seemed to have felt conflicted and stroked his face and sighed.


    ¡°I get why they halted the shooting.¡±


    ¡°This already spread all over the ce.¡±


    ¡°There are already ten thousand shares on this one.¡±


    ¡°At this point...I supposed everyone who would know saw it.¡±


    My members seemed to have realized the severity of the situation then. Though there were a lot of things I wanted to say, I held myself back. We were in a public setting right now, and though the shooting was halted, it wasn¡¯t canceled.


    <i>¡®The post only has ims and little evidence.¡¯ </i>Personally for me, I was leaning towards one side even more after reading this post. I thought Dong-Jun was the victim in this situation. It seemed not only me, but other people sensed it too, and quite a few people in thements thought the original posters were twisting the story a bit.


    The posters imed to have gotten bullied by Dong-Jun who used his great wealth. They said they were helpless in their poverty, and this set-up between the rich and poor was so tant and dramatized that it felt artificial in a way. Furthermore, there was no evidence or detailed stories specifying exactly how Dong-Jun tormented and bullied them. Even if they couldn¡¯t provide evidence for the events, the details of the bullying should¡¯ve been more thorough.


    Yet, they simply said Dong-Jun outcasted them and made other people insult their parents and look down on them. These were all general things. Furthermore, the only things they showed as evidence were that they used to be students of Cheong-Hyung Middle School.


    <i>¡®That¡¯s not evidence of violence.¡¯</i> The way to make a lie believable was to insert truths among the many lies. With just that one truth, it could cover up all the lies.


    <i>¡®Hm.¡¯</i> The post had too many holes to be bulletproof. Otherments expressed the same sentiment as me.


    ¡ªIf you write posts like this, shouldn¡¯t you write other evidence? You just made a bunch of ims and told us to believe you by saying you are a student of this school.


    <i>¡®I don¡¯t think we would end up in the worst-case scenario,¡¯ </i>I thought.


    Yet, the problem wasn¡¯t over just because we could avoid the worst-case scenario, and I didn¡¯t have an inkling of how I was going to solve this issue. I wondered if we should sue the posters for defamation and spreading false rumors or if we should find the addresses of these posters and try talking to them. Either way, I thought we would need to find the people hiding behind the screens first.


    <i>¡®This is giving me a headache.¡¯</i> I couldn¡¯t think of the most effective method.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    It was then Woon called me.


    ¡°Here¡¯s your phone.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    Woon called me to give me back my phone, and I put my phone back into my pocket. Then, Woon suddenly proposed, ¡°Do you want to go to the bathroom with me?¡±


    It was natural for one to go to the bathroom, but there was something about his tone and atmosphere that was...different from normal.


    ¡°...Woon?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s quickly go.¡±


    It was then that I became sure.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s a regressor.¡¯</i> The one who just spoke to me was Woon with the regressor¡¯s memories.


    ***


    Siren¡¯spany and a subsidiary of the Jaeil Group, Next Wave had been struck by a sudden catastrophe. It hadn¡¯t been long since they finished collecting all the rest of the shares that WD Entertainment possessed by half-ckmailing, but another huge incident broke out.


    ¡°Ah, yes. I am asking about the article that just went up...¡±


    ¡°We are still confirming the other party¡¯s stance.¡±


    ¡°We will prepare to make our statement as fast as possible.¡±


    In the entertainment businesses, where their main product was ¡®people,¡¯ a controversy about a person¡¯s image was the biggest catastrophe there could be. The head of Next Wave, Yoo Won-Dong, watched the situation and sat thoughtlessly on his chair. It hadn¡¯t been more than a couple of months since Yoo Won-Dong had been stationed as the Next Wave¡¯s boss. He had be a perfect machine for sealing Letters of Approval by now.


    If he was a proactive leader, he would¡¯ve personally jumped into the scene to clear this issue. Yet, for a machine that just stamped on documents, no such drive existed.


    ¡°Secretary Kim~ Come here right now and please brief me on the current situation simply and sintly~¡± he said.


    1. Probably a reference to NatePann which is amunity forum popr in South Korea ?

 Chapter 190

    <h4>Chapter 190</h4>


    Next Wave¡¯s office¡ªYoo Won-Dong scanned the materials his secretary brought him and received a briefing about the current controversy surrounding Park Dong-Jun. Not only did he receive a briefing from his personal secretary instead of the marketing or management team, he appeared veryx while listening. Furthermore, there wasn¡¯t a hint of nervousness in his face, and so on, which all highlighted what little interest Yoo Won-Dong had in the topic.


    He even appeared to be getting this briefing not for the purpose of solving this problem but to know the situation for appearance¡¯s sake.


    ¡°People iming to be Mr. Park Dong-Jun¡¯s ex-ssmates have written nderous posts on NacePann. The main message of the post is that Mr. Dong-Jun had led an organized bullying campaign against them.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    ¡°ording to our current findings after monitoring responses on Bluebird...¡±


    ¡°Hm. That¡¯s all right. I can search for that on my own.¡±


    ¡°I understand, sir.¡±


    ¡°How does the situation look to you, Mr. Kim? Does it look very serious?¡±


    ¡°Ah...well...¡±


    ¡°No, I supposed I shouldn¡¯t ask you but the marketing team. Hahaha. I¡¯m sorry. Please go and do the rest of your work.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡±


    After dismissing Mr. Kim, Yoo Won-Dong looked at hisputer screen again. After working in this field for a bit now, there were some things Yoo Won-Dong learned. First of all, he learned that the true responses came from BlueBird and there were many private ounts there. Thus, to assess true public responses, he needed to follow the private ounts, find the right search keywords, and so on.


    Though he was quite old enough to learn the culture of the idol market, Yoo Won-Dong collected resources and did his own studying by himself. Yet, he no longer had a passion to do more.


    ¡°This is serious.¡± After searching through Bluebird a couple of more times, Yoo Won-Dong had read the general atmosphere surrounding Dong-Jun¡¯s controversy. Posts about Dong-Jun were pouring out like a flood, but there was still a stream of hope left which was that the public¡¯s opinion hadn¡¯tpletely flipped to one side. It was because people weren¡¯t certain about the genuineness of the post yet. At this point, Yoo Won-Dong thought it was best to back off.


    He thought the marketing team shoulde to the truth of this issue and upload an apology letter by today; and if the issue didn¡¯t die then even after that, they could think about halting Dong-Jun¡¯s activities. It was a simple process to take, and there was a good reasoning behind it too.


    Thus, there was no need for him to stress about this too much. As he had always been doing since he transferred to thispany, Yoo Won-Dong checked the proposals sent to him and signed their letter of approval. It was like any peaceful afternoon from before.


    ***


    I arrived at the bathroom with Woon and searched my surroundings around the bathroom carefully. Since it was a bathroom that college students also used, I checked each of the stalls to confirm that no one was there. Fortunately, this was a bathroom in the corner, far from themon pathways that people take, and was empty. After finishing my preparations, I looked back at Woon again.


    Woon clutched my hand and shouted, ¡°...Tae-Yoon...!¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°It really...works!¡±


    ¡°...Yeah?¡±


    ¡°You know what you said about transferring our memories!¡±


    ¡°Ah...yes. it seems everything is well connected.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not just ¡®well connected¡¯. All the memories came in organized in perfect order¡ªfurthermore, in a way that doesn¡¯t affect the me from this world in the slightest.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    It seemed the work I didst time was quite impressive for Woon to speak this way. I had simply pressed on with all my might with Insight, but everything fit together. I wondered if all this was connected to my imagination somehow. It appeared the exact way to use Insight was to draw an image in my head.


    ¡°Then, how is it possible for you to pop out like this?¡±


    ¡°Ah, it just worked when I tried.¡±


    ¡°It just worked?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Even if it¡¯s me from another world, it¡¯s still me in the end. It seems I can naturally make the switch when I want to talk.¡±


    This was surprising. I thought Woon might feel some pain from the identity crisis so it was surprising that he could make such a natural switch. Perhaps, this was what a doctor would feel after seeing a patient recover sessfully from a difficult surgery. It made me proud somehow.


    ¡°Ah, so is there a reason why you came out right now?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Woon¡¯s expression changed, and he continued in a more solemn tone. ¡°You know this controversy with Dong-Jun? It¡¯s something I experienced around my twelfth regression.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± This was huge news. Perhaps, this was the key to solving this case.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t solve the issue then and failed the mission. Thus, Dong-Jun was expelled, and the team began to head toward doom.¡±


    Yet, rather than hearing something hopeful, this was despairing.


    ¡°That was how my twelfth regression ended.¡±


    ¡°That means you couldn¡¯t solve the case then.¡± Was he trying to give me a heads-up in case my future ended in the same way?


    ¡°I gained some information while trying to solve the case so I wanted to share them with you. Above all, I want to pay back those guys who wrote the posts again Dong-Jun. Because in the end...it was because of those guys that our team fell into doom,¡± Woon said and a faint rage wavered in his pupils.


    Woon looked around his surroundings again. It seemed he was wary about anyone listening to us, but as I confirmed before, there was no one here but us.


    ¡°First of all, I checked that the people who wrote the post lied about everything. You don¡¯t have to worry about Dong-Jun¡¯s character.¡±


    This was what I expected and nodded quietly.


    ¡°But it won¡¯t be easy to sue them since they only wrote Dong-Jun¡¯s initials.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s regretful.¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s not like...there¡¯s no solutions.¡±


    ¡°Could you exin?¡±


    ¡°The first solution is to contact Dong-Jun¡¯s past ssmates. Dong-Jun¡¯s ssmates appeared quitete in my twelfth regression. His friends gathered evidence and wrote a contrasting post to prove the original post¡¯s lies toote so Dong-Jun was already expelled by then. Furthermore, the public opinion had already sided against him too.¡±


    ¡°Then, I guess it¡¯s important to quickly get his past ssmates to write a contrasting post.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but there¡¯s a problem with that.¡±


    ¡°What problem?¡±


    ¡°Majority of Dong-Jun¡¯s friends are in the military or studying overseas.¡±


    ¡°...Haa.¡±


    ¡°They are all probably in their training units right now, so it won¡¯t be easy to contact them. The friend who was studying overseas also lost his phone, so he heard about the news in Korea toote.¡±


    ¡°...So, I will have to pass through those hurdles to make a contrasting post.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    This was very difficult.


    ¡°The second solution is to make the ims for defamation stronger to sue them.¡±


    ¡°How do I make the ims stronger?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s simple. It¡¯s to make the original post change its initials to Dong-Jun¡¯s full name. That will be sure-fire evidence.¡±


    ¡°But there¡¯s no way that will happen.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean there¡¯s no way? You have the ability. The ability tomand people with your Insight.¡±


    ¡°I can only use that if I personally meet the original posters.¡±


    ¡°I know the address.¡±


    ¡°...!¡±


    With that, the problem could be much more easily solved. But if I knew their address, there was something that was easier to do.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it make things easier to just order them to bring down their original post?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Or I could order to upload an apology post.¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    ¡°But why...ah.¡± I realized it then while speaking. It was so out of character for Woon to want to see the fall of others. It appeared that his fundamental personality changed slightly after regressing repeatedly.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s do both while we are at it.¡±


    ¡°Both?¡±


    ¡°I will make them change the initials to a full name to have a stronger im to sue and make them upload an apology post immediately afterward.¡±


    ¡°So, you will sue them after all that?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°...Isn¡¯t that going too far, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°How am I going too far? You are the one who made the suggestions and above all, it¡¯s those people who are bad for writing lies.¡±


    Woon quietly nodded. He probably recalled the time he had helplessly watched his team fall apart after failing the mission.


    ¡°Please tell me the address. But based on the post, it seems like there are two instead of one...Then, shouldn¡¯t I see them when they are together?¡±


    ¡°Ah, since the owner of the NacePann ID is one person, you just have to go to the convenience store where he works.¡±


    ¡°Then, just tell me where that convenience store is.¡±


    Woon did as I asked. Though he didn¡¯t give me an exact address, he gave me details that allowed me to easily deduce the specific store. Furthermore, this ce wasn¡¯t too far from my dorm. I could just go there by myself while riding on the subway.


    ¡°Since it¡¯s a night shift, you have to go in the night.¡±


    ¡°I guess I won¡¯t be able to sleep tonight.¡±


    ¡°You probably wouldn¡¯t have been able to after an incident like this anyway.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    I looked at Woon for a bit then. It was awesome that I could talk to Woon and receive his help in issues like this. It had really been a good idea for me to connect the regressors¡¯ memories.


    ¡°Ah, and this is myst suggestion but...¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°When you are nning to sue those guys, visit Yoo Won-Dong.¡±


    ¡°Yoo Won-Dong?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, if you don¡¯t give him some work to do at this time...¡±


    ¡°Go on.¡±


    ¡°...He will go astray.¡±


    ¡°...Excuse me?¡±


    ¡°There will be nothing more tiresome than having Yoo Won-Dong as your enemyter. It seemed like you calmed him down right now, but if you leave him like this, he could change to be on your opposing side.¡±


    ¡°What...are you seriously telling me a man who¡¯s over his fifties is going to go...astray...?¡±


    ¡°People usually get a bit younger the older they get. At least mentally.¡±


    ¡°...Haa.¡±


    ¡°Besides, getting Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s help in the suing case is good.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Ah, you didn¡¯t check Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s profile.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, what does it say?¡±


    ¡°His background is inw.¡±


    ¡°...Seriously?¡±


    ¡°He joined apany because he failed the bar exam, but he has many connections who are judges, prosecutors, andwyers.¡±


    It was shocking that aw student became the Next Wave¡¯s director. I supposed one never knew what kind of life they would live.


    ¡°Anyways, this is all the information I can give you about this. Do you have anything more to ask?¡±


    ¡°No, this is enough.¡±


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s go back on site. I will also make my switch after going there.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    I gained all the information I could. If I couldn¡¯t solve this case now, I would really be a fool. Now the problem wasn¡¯t whether I could really solve this case but how well I would go about it and how far I could push the original posters¡¯ life down.


    ***


    We returned to the shooting site, but the host and important staff were still gone.


    ¡°Today¡¯s shooting was canceled.¡±


    ¡°Ah...!¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    We heard that the shooting for ¡®Neighborhood Eateries¡¯ was canceled.


    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry. We will call you again for another date.¡±


    ¡°I sent more detailed information to your managers so you can hear what happened through them.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    The staff kept apologizing to us, but there was no need for them to be sorry. After all, this was all business in the end and businesses had to always minimize risks. Rather than continuing with the shooting and faring the risk of having to delete all the footage, it was better for them to find another team they could quickly call to fill the gap.


    ¡°But where¡¯s Dong-Jun?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    My members began to look for Dong-Jun then and Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna approached us.


    ¡°We already sent Ms. Dong-Jun to his dormitory.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    Dong-Jun already left before us.


    ¡°He...seemed to be in a critical state.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s also start moving.¡±


    We moved ording to Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna¡¯s instructions to the parking lot. Then, we got in the car and left the college campus. Usually, we would have been chattering away and making all sorts of noise after our schedule was over, but today, it was dead silent inside the car.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Ha...¡±


    ¡°Will Dong-Jun be all right?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon tried to move the car in the direction of our next broadcast destination when I stopped her.


    ¡°Ms. Seung-Yeon.¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the dorm.¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the dorm>¡¯


    ¡°But if we go now, Mr. Dong-Jun...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why we have to go.¡±


    There were some people who needed to be alone when they were hurt. At the same time, there were also people who had an even harder time when they were alone in their worst moments. Thus, I couldn¡¯t leave Dong-Jun alone right now.

 Chapter 191

    <h4>Chapter 191</h4>


    ¡°To the dorm right now?¡±


    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t we still have some time? There are over three hours left before the next recording starts.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true, but...Mr. Dong-Jun¡¯s condition is really not good...¡±


    ¡°How bad is it?¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t say anything but just looked out of it...I think it¡¯s better to leave him alone.¡±


    This made me feel like we should go to see him even more.


    ¡°Dong-Jun is the type to think the worst about things the more he is left alone. I think we should quickly go.¡±


    ¡°I hope Dong-Jun isn¡¯t thinking too negatively...¡±


    ¡°Haa...I think it will also be better for me to go too.¡±


    Do-Seung, Yeon-Hoon, and Woon all dered that they would go see Dong-Jun. The brighter a person¡¯s demeanor was, the deeper their shadow was. When a bright and cheery person entered into darkness, they crawled in deeper. I didn¡¯t know how much damage Dong-Jun suffered in thest couple of hours and wanted to check up on him.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s go to the dorm first...!¡±


    ¡°I will turn the car.¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna seemed to also understand our worries. They changed the direction of the car and moved to the dorm.


    ***


    The sound of the clock ticking rang across the living room. Park Dong-Jun felt the time exactly by its second and stared nkly into space. Time passed neither too fast nor too slow. Then, Dong-Jun raised his phone and checked the posts that talked negatively about him. Though he put on search bans and made efforts not to look anymore, there was probably no idol who wouldn¡¯t be able to find such searches despite that.


    ¡ªHe probably lived life on easy mode with real estate daddy¡¯s money


    ¡ªWhat really pisses me off is that even if we make a fuss about this, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that this bastard was born with a gold spoon in his mouth


    ¡ªHe gives me the chills every time I see him


    ¡ªWhy do guys like him keeping out to the public for attention? He doesn¡¯t deserve all the love he gets.


    Every word and line they said was right. If someone had really bullied someone in their youth ormitted crimes, Dong-Jun would¡¯ve thought the same as them. Yet, it was regretful that in this case, he was innocent. Of course, he wasn¡¯tpletely faultless nor did he live a life with no moral drawbacks.


    As a human, hemitted small wrongs and made mistakes here and there that could make some people look less kindly on him. But they were things that anyone could¡¯ve also done and could be looked over with just patience and understanding. Yet, what the public was using him of was: bullying, outcasting, violence, and organized tormenting¡ªand Dong-Jun could confidently proim that he had never done such things.


    ¡°...But who¡¯s going to believe...what I say...?¡± He was already a sinner- a devil at this point. Before he opened his mouth, many had already opened theirs and were shouting that they were the ones who were right. Not just one, two, or three but hundreds and thousands of people were blocking his mouth. Though they were anonymous posts made on the inte, they all seemed to choke the breath out of him.


    ¡°...Stop it...¡± Dong-Jun tried to put down his phone but couldn¡¯t. He continued to scroll down, search, enter links, and check. Then, he scrolled again, repeating the process. Whatever post he saw, he knew he would inevitably be hurt, but he couldn¡¯t stop. Perhaps, this was a form of self-harm, and if he had seen someone else do what he was doing right now, he would¡¯ve snatched their phone away.


    Yet, after bing the person in question, he couldn¡¯t stop. There was a phrase called ¡®confirmation bias¡¯, it described a tendency for one to only ept information that aligned with their thoughts while weeding out all the information that didn¡¯t. That was the current state of Dong Jun¡¯s mind.


    The inte was still debating about this issue. Some were still maintaining their neutrality and waiting for the final verdict. There was still nothing decided about Dong-Jun¡¯s sentence either. Yet, Dong-Jun had already judged that his situation was hopeless and everyone had already decided he was trash; and now, he was only taking in information that reinforced these thoughts. In the end, he was pushing himself into a deeper hole without anyone pushing him into it.


    He hadn¡¯t believed what happened even when the producers called him today at noon to tell him what happened. He still thought that it was a passing happening then and didn¡¯t think the shooting would be canceled because of that. After all, the ims made against him were too ridiculous and unfounded.


    Yet, things escted. More words were said, and false testimonies overflowed out. People began to criticize him in swarms.


    ¡°...No one will believe me...¡± And eventually, Dong-Jun lost hope in himself. Dong-Jun searched the inte for a while and repeatedly read posts that talked ill of him.


    <i>Flick. </i>It was then that someone snatched his phone away.


    ¡°Stop looking at it.¡±


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon...?¡±


    He had heard that the rest of the members were heading to the next shooting site right away while he would return to the dormitory to rest alone. Yet, the team¡¯s <i>maknae</i> was in front of him.


    ¡°...No, why is everyone here...?¡± The rest of the team was here. Now that his phone was taken from him, he gained a better sense of his surroundings. Someone forced him to stop crushing his own heart. Tears didn¡¯t flow in a time of true despair.


    ¡°Why are you looking at the nonsense that won¡¯t help you one bit? I mean, you didn¡¯t do any of these things,¡± Tae-Yoon said.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Tell me with your own mouth. Dong-Jun, did you really do what these ims say you did?¡±


    ¡°...No.¡±


    ¡°You really didn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t. I...<i>really</i> didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I trust you.¡±


    Tears flowed and burst out when one saw a stream of hope.


    ¡°...¡± Dong-Jun wordlessly chewed on his lips. Then, he hung his head and forcefully swallowed back his tears. His mind which had been heading to only one direction began to see other pathways. Bit by bit, he began to see his situation more objectively and Dong-Jun finally felt like he could breathe.


    ***


    When I returned to the dorm, Dong-Jun had his eyes glued to his phone as I expected. I quickly took his phone away and asked him to his face if hemitted the crimes the ims said he had. Though I heard a confirmation from Woon that these were false ims about his personality, my members could still have their doubts.


    My members could be worried about their teammates regardless of the truth, but we couldn¡¯t have a united front with just those emotions. We needed to share the same mindset and goal. Thus, I hoped that Dong-Jun would tell us the truth with his own mouth.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t. I...<i>really</i> didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I trust you.¡±


    Dong-Jun personally denied the ims and I replied that I would trust him. My members seemed to believe in Dong-Jun.


    ¡°...Don¡¯t worry, Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t do those things. There¡¯s no need for you to look so low when you did nothing wrong.¡±


    e here.¡±


    Do-Seung sat beside Dong-Jun and held Dong-Jun¡¯s hand. Woon took a seat on Dong-Jun¡¯s right side and wrapped his arms around Dong-Jun¡¯s shoulder. Seeing how Dong-Jun¡¯s body trembled and shuddered, it appeared that he was holding back his tears. At times like this, it was better to wait until all his intense emotions passed. A couple of minutester, Dong-Jun wiped his tears and said.


    ¡°...Thank you. I think I feel a bit better now.¡±


    ¡°Could you exin the situation to us first? Since we are a team, I think it will be more helpful for us to know more to solve the issue,¡± I asked. My members also appeared like they wanted to hear more too. Dong-Jun sighed deeply and began.


    ¡°Okay, so I also read the post on NacePann...those guys were really my middle-school ssmates and I was close to them for a short time too.¡±


    I was surprised that he used to be close to such criminals, but it was fortunate that he didn¡¯t use to be best friends with them.


    ¡°Of course, I wasn¡¯t close only with them. I was close to all of my ssmates at that time. Considering that, I honestly wasn¡¯t that close to them.¡±


    Though my time at school was short, I did hear of characters like that; such characters were so friendly and extroverted that they were close to every single person in the ss. Though they weren¡¯t best friends with everyone, they greeted and talked to each person. It seemed Dong-Jun was that kind of person.


    ¡°At that time, I think I was pretty immature and wanted to show off how rich I was. When kids recognized that I was wearing good clothes, I didn¡¯t outrightly show it, but it did make me feel good.¡±


    I thought this part was understandable.


    ¡°And among friends I was really close to, I took them to my house and if they wanted clothes that I didn¡¯t wear, I gave them away. I thought it was fine since I didn¡¯t wear them anyway.¡±


    There were parts of the post that were true.


    ¡°There was one time when I invited the guys who wrote this post.¡±


    I thought this would be the main part of this story.


    ¡°That day was my birthday, so I brought everyone in my ss who had the time to my house to have a birthday party. Like most middle-school birthday parties, there wasn¡¯t much to it. My parents gave me their card to order something tasty with my friends, so I just ordered pizza and chicken and yed games as much as I wished.¡±


    It also appeared true that Dong-Jun had brought these false users to his house.


    ¡°It was then...I caught them stealing clothes, shoes, and watches from my room.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°What the hell is wrong with them?¡±


    ¡°...Ha...these are some sickos.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe someone would go to a friend¡¯s house for their birthday party to steal their goods. It was normal for one to give gifts on someone¡¯s birthday instead of taking them. The issue was too fundamentally immoral to simply excuse the behavior because of how young they were and instead, hinted at their characters.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t just me, but my close friends and my other ssmates all saw them do it. That caused the problem.¡±


    ¡°What problem?¡±


    ¡°From then on, my ssmates stopped ying with those guys.¡±


    ¡°...So, was that the bullying and outcasting that the posters talked about?¡±


    ¡°...Yeah. I should¡¯ve also reached my hands out to them first and forgave them...but I was too young at that time and didn¡¯t want to forgive them.¡±


    ¡°...This is ridiculous.¡±


    ¡°Of course, you don¡¯t want to forgive them. Those guys were caught trying to steal your stuff on your birthday.¡±


    ¡°Did those thieves really write a post to expose you after all that?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    I expected Dong-Jun to be meless but I didn¡¯t expect the situation to be this unfair. It was as if the perpetrators and the victims were flipped.


    ¡°Then, where are your ssmates who can prove that? Can we ask them to make refuting posts?¡± Woon asked. Perhaps, it was because I talked to the regressor Woon today, but I somehow felt that question sounded a bit awkward.


    ¡°All my close friends went through great trouble to get enlisted into the military together so it¡¯s hard. I lost contact with another close friend after he went to study overseas and it has been a while since I contacted my other ssmates.¡±


    ¡°...Is there really no answer?¡±


    ¡°I think my friend would make refuting posts after some time...but I think that would take at least over a month.¡±


    My members began to ponder about what to do then. Yet, there was nothing we could gain by thinking here. I already had some solutions at my disposal too.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything wrong anyway,¡± I said.


    ¡°...That¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°So just endure until the truth is revealed.¡±


    ¡°Endure.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Show that you did nothing wrong and stand proud. Then, everything will return to normal. It¡¯s not like ourpany is just a ygroup that does nothing.¡± Though I nned to personally work instead of making thepany do so, I thought it was better to use thepany for now. Dong-Jun seemed to gain more life in his eyes.


    ¡°...Okay, I will endure it.¡±


    ¡°Just rest for today and try to calm yourself. We don¡¯t know how the situation will change tomorrow.¡± I didn¡¯t tell him that things would surely change dramatically by tomorrow because I would make it so.


    ¡°Don¡¯t fault yourself too much and take it easy.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Dong-Jun. We will put a request to thepany and dere your innocence.¡±


    ¡°Whatever happens, we won¡¯t give up on you so don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°You can just rest today and work with us tomorrow. Whatever anyone says, everything will get better after a short while.¡±


    My members supported me and told Dong-Jun to hold on for now. Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes turned teary again. Meanwhile, I couldn¡¯t wait for nighttime toe soon. I hoped that time would pass by sooner.

 Chapter 192

    <h4>Chapter 192</h4>


    After finishing the live music show, we came back to our dorm and had a quiet dinner. Dong-Jun joined us on the music show live that day; at first, he seemed to ponder about whether he should really go up or not more than thousands of times, but he finally chose to go on stage. However, I was not sure that choice had been right.


    ¡°Dong-Jun...are you okay?¡±


    ¡°...Yes, I¡¯m all right.¡±


    He seemed to have overheard someone talking about him while walking around the hall today. He had been fine while waiting to go on stage in the waiting room, but his expression looked a little nk since he went to the bathroom. Fortunately, the stage ended without any major problems, but he showed no facial expressions in any situation other than the stage. His face was still expressionless at dinner time.


    ¡°Should I take out more of this side dish?¡± The members prepared a regr dinner menu, not a diet meal, for Dong-Jun today. Nevertheless, Dong-Jun couldn¡¯t eat properly.


    After leaving half of the rice, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll go in and rest. Sorry for dampening the mood. I¡¯ll be all right soon.¡± Then Dong-Jun went into his room.


    The four of us left at the table exchanged nces. It was a taciturn sign to discuss how this issue could be resolved.


    ¡°...I¡¯ll go to the agency¡¯s CEO¡¯s office tomorrow and strongly appeal to him.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you. I don¡¯t think this is a matter that we can resolve by ourselves.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I agree. I want to go too, since I think this is a problem that will be solved only if the agency takes legal action.¡±


    The members all nned to go to Yoo Won-Dong and ask him to solve the issue, and this was the mostmon solution.


    Thus, I also said, ¡°I¡¯ll also go visit CEO Yoo Won-Dong.¡±


    However, unlike them, I didn¡¯t n to go with my members. In order to have an open discussion with Yoo Won-Dong, I needed to go alone. Thus, I nned to go to Yoo Won-Dong as soon as it became tomorrow morning after finishing all my preparations tonight.


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat first.¡±


    The members began moving their chopsticks again. However, because we were all worried about Dong-Jun, the members didn¡¯t finish their meals properly. Like this, we finished our meals in silence and put our utensils and tes in the sink.


    ¡°Since tomorrow is Monday, let¡¯s sleep tight until after 9 o¡¯clock. We have to save as much energy as we can at times like this.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And let¡¯s wake up tomorrow and go to work together around lunch.¡±


    ¡°I got it.¡±


    ¡°Good night.¡±


    ¡°See you tomorrow.¡±


    My members and I went into our rooms, promising to go to work tomorrow.


    ***


    It was 11 o¡¯clock at night. Woon was already asleep. I slowly got myself out of bed. From here, it was about a half-hour drive from where the people who posted Dong-Jun¡¯s libel were. It wasn¡¯t very close, but it wasn¡¯t very far off either. I came out of the dorm, wearing a hat deeply over my face and mask.


    Then I took a secluded path around the apartmentplex as much as I could and called a taxi. I had looked up the convenience store that Woon told me in advance. The taxi app told me it would arrive in about 5 minutes. I kept my head down even more, just in case anyone recognized me.


    Then I took out a pair of non-prescription horn-rimmed sses from my pocket and put them on. I bought it as a temporary measure to hide my identity, and I think I would get more attention if I wore sunsses at night. I couldn¡¯t get caught by anyone today, and I wasn¡¯t going to leave any evidence for people to identify me.


    ¡°I really can¡¯t recognize you after your disguise.¡±


    ¡°What the.¡± There was a big man standing behind me. ¡°Do-Seung?¡± All kinds of thoughts passed through my mind. Had he followed me now? I wondered what excuses I made. However, his next words erased all my worries.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not Do-Seung. I mean, I am Kang Do-Seung, but not this world¡¯s Kang Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± Just as Woon switched today, it seemed as if Do-Seung had switched. ¡°I roughly heard the whole situation in Do-Seung¡¯s body. You don¡¯t have to exin.¡±


    ¡°You can do that...?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the one who did this. Why are you surprised?¡±


    I didn¡¯t have a thorough grasp of what I did, so I was surprised.


    Do-Seung continued, ¡°Anyway, I waited until the night and followed you because I thought you would do something suspicious.¡±


    ¡°...Really?¡±


    ¡°I thought you might be nning something by the way you were deep in thought during dinner time.¡±


    ¡°Is it that obvious?¡±


    ¡°When you¡¯re deep in thought, you separate each grain of rice with your chopsticks. You didn¡¯t know?¡±


    ¡°...Why the hell do you know such a thing? It¡¯s annoying.¡±


    ¡°If you regress 15 times, you¡¯ll know even the condition of everyone¡¯s internal organs.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re joking.¡±


    ¡°You feel like something is pressing down your stomach every morning, don¡¯t you? It¡¯s reflux esophagitis. Stop pouring coffee into an empty stomach first thing in the morning.¡±


    I literally got chills this time. He even saw through the chronic condition that I suffered alone and hadn¡¯t told anyone. I couldn¡¯t even grasp what he experienced through his 15 regressions.


    ¡°So why did youe out today?¡± Do-Seung noticed that I had been nning something, but he didn¡¯t seem to know what I was going to do in detail. Well, if he knew that too, he would have been a god.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m going to order them to write an apology post and make them use real names to make it easier for us to file a defamationint by using Insight.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea. It¡¯s short and simple too.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m justying the groundwork so that situation can be overturned tomorrow,¡± I told Do-Seung the n I made with Woon today word for word. Then a question popped up in my head.


    ¡°Did you also have a mission like this? During your regressions?¡± I wondered if Do-Seung also had a mission that both Woon and I had.


    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t. This is the first time I went through something like this.¡±


    Do-Seung said that even though he regressed 15 times, Dong-Jun¡¯s attitude controversy never erupted. This meant that events were not always the same among all regressors.


    ¡®That¡¯s interesting.¡¯ Since he regressed 15 times, I thought this mission would ovep at least once, but it seemed anything was possible.


    Do-Seung asked, ¡°Did you call that taxi?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get on.¡±


    Do-Seung and I got on the taxi that arrived just in time. The taxi left towards the ce I had set up in advance. Do-Seung and I didn¡¯t talk at all during the ride, and we only thought about what was the best way to resolve this issue.


    ***


    Kim Won-Joongughed like a madman, relishing thements that criticized Park Dong-Jun one by one.


    ¡°Payment.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°I want to pay for this.¡±


    ¡°Ah, fuck.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    Kim Won-Joon identally spat out a curse word to a customer. While he was thinking this wasn¡¯t even a big deal¡ª


    ¡°Did you just say fuck to me?¡±


    ¡°Ah...no, sir. I was just talking to my friend...and identally said it. While texting him...¡± However, after realizing that the person in front of him was a big man, he quickly changed his attitude. Kim Won-Joong quicklypleted the payment and greeted the customer.


    ¡°That fucking bastard, he acts so fucking tough. Just cause he¡¯s a bit big...¡± After calming down for a while, he turned his eyes back to his phone.


    He hadn¡¯t expected Park Dong-Jun to be criticized this must from a post he had written himself. It felt as if an existence that stood far above and always looked down on him was falling to the same level as him from a lie he wrote. No, considering how he felt now, it felt like Park Dong-Jun was beneath his feet. It was an indescribable feeling to look down at an existence he had always looked up to.


    Kim Won-Joong smiled joyfully at the growing public criticism of Park Dong-Jun in real life. Frankly, the public criticism towards his post garnered as much public criticism towards Park Dong-Jun. However, Kim Won-Joon didn¡¯t care in the least about that. He only focused on the fact that his writing was ruining Park Dong-Jun¡¯s life and savored each and everyment criticizing Park Dong-Jun. And while he was consoling his inferiorityplex by watching videos made by trolls criticizing Park Dong-Jun¡ª


    ¡°Are you the one who wrote Park Dong-Jun¡¯s bullying scandal?¡±


    ¡°...Excuse me?¡±


    Two big shadows suddenly appeared in front of him. Kim Won-Joong took his eyes off his phone and looked up at the tworge men standing in front of him. Despite wearing a hat, mask, and sses and covering most of their faces, he could recognize who they were.


    ¡°...What? The hell.¡± He had looked at Park Dong-Jun all day today, and Siren was the group to which Park Dong-Jun belonged to. Thus, he instantly knew they were two members of Siren. He wondered why they hade to find him and what they were nning to do to him. While he was flustered and had no clue what they were nning¡ª


    <i>Ziiiiing¡ª!</i> His head suddenly began to ache like crazy. His vision grew blurry, and his body fell as if he was being sucked into a deep pit. In a situation where he felt like he couldn¡¯t lift a finger, onemand rang out with the intensity to burst his whole body.


    ¡ªChange the initials in the posts to real names.


    He couldn¡¯t think of anything else besides thismand, and he just carried out the orders that had been set.


    ***


    It was my first time using Insight tomand someone to do such a long and detailed task. The culprit, who wrote the post, was in the convenience store as Woon said. It wasn¡¯t difficult to identify him as the culprit as he had been looking at Dong-Jun¡¯s posts on his phone for a long time. He was even chuckling while watching a malicious and nderous video of Dong-Jun made by a cyber troll. Nevertheless, I used Insight to make sure that he was indeed the culprit.


    ¡ªFuck. Is there any way I can ruin this bastard¡¯s life even more thoroughly? It would be nice if I could just drag him down a little more. A little more, just a little more. Until his life is into fucking shambles...


    I saw raw, pure malice from his head. I was fuming as soon as I heard his thoughts and almost split his head then and there, but I barely managed to reel in my anger and said, ¡°Are you the one who wrote Park Dong-Jun¡¯s bullying scandal?¡±


    I asked him if he was the one who wrote the post about Dong-Jun. Honestly, I didn¡¯t even need to hear the answer. The moment he looked up at me, I saw fear on his face. I found it ridiculous that Dong-Jun was suffering so much from a person who was intimidated by a mere face-to-face encounter. I activated Insight without dy and gave orders.


    The first order was to change all the initials to real names. It was easy up to this point. The next part took a lot of my mental strength, and it was ordering him to write and post an apology with only the truth. Since it took time to write the post, and he had to write down the sentences himself, it required a lot of brain activity.


    I realized something new that day. The greater the brain activity needed for an order, the greater the rebound.


    ¡°Are you okay? You have a nosebleed...!¡±


    After all the orders were given, I got a serious nosebleed. While I was blocking it with my hand, Do-Seung took out a tissue from the convenience store and handed it to me. However, I couldn¡¯t stop from here. When the bastard in front of me finished writing an apology and even posted it, I used Insight for thest time today.


    ¡°Forget that you saw us and delete the CCTV records.¡± After giving orders up to here¡ª


    Ziiing¡ª!


    I didn¡¯t even try to stop, but my Insight broke.


    ¡°What the hell! Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    At the same time, I lost consciousness.

 Chapter 193

    <h4>Chapter 193</h4>


    Social media sites like Bluebird buzzed with the issue of Dong-Jun¡¯s personality.


    ¡ªOkay so did he do it or not?


    ¡ªI¡¯m going to remain neutral until the resultse out


    ¡ªBesides that post, there are loads of testimonies that Dong-Jun used to be a bully. How could you remain neutral despite that?


    Reply: Stop bringing fabricated evidence. The issue isn¡¯t set in stone and the only testimony that has some kind of evidence is the original post so stop spreading fake news.


    People were arguing heatedly about whether or not Dong-Jun led an organized bullying. Because there were some doubtful points in the original post, people were still fighting about what was true or not.


    Bluebird was the kind of ce where people didn¡¯t remain neutral on a topic and went on full-el mode when a post exposing someone was uploaded with enough evidence. Yet, the fact that even such a ce had conflicted sides showcased the dubiousness of the original im. Not only was there ack of evidence, but testimonies that came outter were proven as fabricated. Furthermore, people tantly made up stories from the first post.


    Yet, the fact that people were so conflicted about this matter also meant that it was also a very hot topic. And some people made their living by taking advantage of these hot topics. As if they had been waiting for the chance, people who wanted to raise their channels¡¯ following and views gathered videos rted to Dong-Jun and poured out low-quality content. Using testimonies that had high shock value but weren¡¯t even confirmed yet, they formed videos with clickbait titles such as, ¡®<i>True Face of a Rising Idol Star (shocking!)¡¯ </i>


    When one clicked such posts or videos, the most likedments all criticized the content for spreading information that hadn¡¯t even been confirmed yet; but the majority of the replies under thosements told them to stop shielding their idols. In all inte tforms where a person¡¯s anonymity and freedom of speech were protected, Park Dong-Jun¡¯s name was brought up at least once.


    Two sides who were for and against Dong-Jun fought strongly without one side gaining the upper hand¡ªthat was until 11 pm when things took a strange twist.


    ¡ª??? The expose post suddenly changed the initials to reveal Dong-Jun¡¯s name


    ¡ªAre they out of their minds?


    ¡ªAre they dying to get sued?


    ¡ªSince people keep yelling that they don¡¯t have enough evidence, maybe they are trying to show how self-assured they are


    Reply: If that¡¯s true, they are seriously dumb lol


    Reply: But this sounds like the most usible reason


    When the original post¡¯s initial title was changed to Dong-Jun¡¯s full name, people went into NacePann again to check the change. Naturally, traffic increased on the site again and while people flocked to the post, the original posters uploaded their apology letter.


    ¡ªHello, I¡¯m the one who first made usations against Siren¡¯s Park Dong-Jun¡¯s character. I apologize for causing amotion with false information.


    The users who were gathered at NacePann naturally clicked the post. The first thing they did was check if the original poster and the poster of this writing were the same person. It was a habit they gained after going through all the false testimonies and exposing posts all day long. After confirming that the post was made by the same ount, people began to read the content, and they fell into more shock the more they read through it.


    ¡ªShit, so does this mean everything is a lie?


    ¡ªAh...Ah seriously...I¡¯m sooo pissed


    ¡ªIt¡¯s because of these bastards that Dong-Jun¡¯s name was dragged through the mud all day long


    ¡ªWow, this is some crazy bastard


    Furthermore, the content of the post was appalling.


    ¡ªMy friend and I, who are behind the first post went to Park Dong-Jun¡¯s house in our middle-school years and were caught trying to steal his padded jackets, watches, and other items.


    Though the original post had written that they befriended Dong-Jun out of pure goodwill with no desire for material goods, it turned out the writers had been the greedy ones.


    ¡ªThat day, we went to celebrate Dong-Jun¡¯s birthday. Almost half of the ss was invited to his house for his birthday.


    The fact that theymitted these acts on Dong-Jun¡¯s birthday of all days was another aggravating point.


    ¡ªOur thievery was exposed in front of all our ssmates and from then on, we had trouble maintaining our rtionship with the rest of the ss. Rumors of what we did spread so that eventually, the whole school began to distance themselves from us.


    They confessed that the reason why they became outcasts was the result of their own mistakes.


    ¡ªFrom then on, our aimless rage all headed towards Park Dong-Jun. Even when we knew that we were the ones at fault, we poured all our anger and frustrations on him. It¡¯s only now that we finally realize our wrongs and ugly behavior. I know we won¡¯t be forgiven but we apologize to everyone. And above all, we apologize to Mr. Park Dong-Jun who probably suffered the most damage from us.


    With those words, the apology letter included a couple of pieces of evidence of their identity and behavior. They were screenshots of messages that Kim Won-Joong and Kim Joong-Yeon texted to one another. The messages contained content that supported the post.


    ¡ªHe should¡¯ve just shared his goods at his birthday party lol


    ¡ªDoesn¡¯t he know that sharing is caring?


    ¡ªRich people are the stingiest


    ¡ªPeople need to learn not to be so selfish, so they don¡¯t get stabbed in the back


    ¡ªI want to grind all the people who outcasted us and drink them like a smoothie


    Since the messages included the transmission date and time, they were sufficient evidence. People who read the post shared it in their ounts or sent it to their friends. On the other hand, the ounts that had raised controversy around Park Dong-Jun quickly kept their posts hidden or deleted them. They were quickly retreating after sensing that the other side was winning.


    ¡ªDamn the fact that all these bastards deleted their posts to avoid getting sued seriously pisses me off


    ¡ªWhere are all those guys saying that they saw through Dong-Jun¡¯s shady personality since day 1?


    ¡ªAh, I feel so angry...they bombarded him with insults when nothing was certain


    ¡ªThe people behind the original posts are so evil that it¡¯s infuriating


    ¡ªI literally lost my love for humanity after going through this experience


    ¡ªI thought I wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep today because I was so angry, but I¡¯m d everything was resolved fast. I think I can sleep now...


    Like that, in thiste hour past 11 pm, the problems connected to Park Dong-Jun quickly began to be sorted out.


    ***


    Thest memory I recalled was losing my mind after using Insight at the convenience store. Thus, I thought I would be near the convenience store or at a hospital when I woke up. Yet, after gaining my senses, I didn¡¯t find myself at a hospital, convenience store, or even on the streets. It was an infinitely ck space with no end in sight from above, below, front, or back. I could tread forward, but since there was no direction in this space, I would only be imitating the motion of movement.


    <i>¡®Am I in aa?¡¯</i> I couldn¡¯t judge because I wasn¡¯t a doctor, but that was the first thought that came to my mind. It seemed my brain became overburdened after using Insight excessively and eventually copsed. If that was the case, that would be a serious problem. I had a stage to perform and schedules to carry out. We didn¡¯t even finish our second week of activities, and I didn¡¯t even hold up a first-ce trophy on a music show with my members. Yet, I still had my consciousness.


    <i>Ziiing¡ª!</i>


    Just in case, I used Insight, and I felt the same feeling of tion I got whenever I used the ability, and the space around me began to vibrate. And as the space began to shake more, I used my Insight more strongly. I didn¡¯t know what kind of space this ce was, but I didn¡¯t suffer any side effects from using Insight as I did in reality.


    Perhaps, I suffered those side-effects because I tried to use Insight with a human¡¯s body in reality. Yet, this current ce was certainly not a space that belonged to reality, and the body I had right now was simply a mental image formed from my mind.


    <i>Riip¡ª!</i> The space shook roughly until cracks began to form. Once the cracks formed, they widened by themselves and stretched out like spider webs.


    <i>Shaaa¡ª! </i>Eventually, the ck space surrounding me faded away, and the ce where I ended up was...bright as the stars but also limitlessly dark.


    <i>¡®...What is this ce?¡¯</i> It was the vast unknown with no beginning or end in sight. Its vastness overwhelmed me and seemed to choke the air out of my breath. It was different from the pictures I saw in textbooks but there was no other word but ¡®the universe¡¯ to describe this space. And in the middle, there was a long string with its middle cut.


    Because it felt like it was within my reach, I extended my hand but soon realized the distance between the string and me was too great. It looked like a step away from a nce, but it was a step that I could never take. I extended out my hand again and heard the system¡¯s clear voice.


    [You are not permitted to approach.]


    Its voice seemed to ring through my entire body.


    <i>Shaaa¡ª!</i> I felt a dizzying sensation that made it feel as if I was falling to the end of this universe.


    ¡°Haa...haaa...where do I need to go to find a hospital? My brother is really sick...¡±


    ¡°Oh my! Is that all blood?¡±


    ¡°Yes, so please, where is the hospital...?¡±


    ¡°Give me a moment. There¡¯s a hospital with an emergency center if you go straight.¡±


    ¡°...Thank you!¡±


    I returned to reality. I was on Do-Seung¡¯s back, and Do-Seung was conversing with a middle-ageddy in the middle of the streets. Do-Seung began to run with me on his back. Even though I was on his back, I could feel him running until his heart felt like it would burst. His entire body was already soaked with sweat. Before Do-Seung ventured further into the main streets, I pulled Do-Seung back.


    ¡°...Do-Seung, I woke up.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Are you okay? Are you hurting anywhere?¡± Do-Seung sat me down in front of a wall and pestered me with questions.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine. But did you catch a lot of people¡¯s attention on your way here?¡±


    ¡°Is that what you are most worried about in this situation?¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t be good to have an articlee out about this.¡±


    ¡°No one saw us. I only moved through alleyways and the only person I met was thatdy just before.¡±


    ¡°Thank goodness...¡± I calmed my breath. Truthfully, I was still suffering from a painful headache.


    ¡°We should get new clothes first.¡± My nose bled so much that the front parts of my t-shirt were dyed red.


    ¡°You have to go to the hospital first. Are you out of your damn mind?¡±


    ¡°The hospital is just going to tell me that there¡¯s nothing wrong with my body. Don¡¯t you also know since it¡¯s rted to the system?¡±


    ¡°Still...if you lost this much blood, shouldn''t you get a check-up at the hospital...?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±


    ¡°Haa...¡± Do-Seung sighed deeply and stared at me. Then, he ced his hand on my shoulder and gripped it tightly.


    ¡°Whether you are a regressor of your world or not, why do you always fall over after over-exerting yourself...?¡±


    ¡°I did...?¡±


    ¡°...Ha...there¡¯s no point talking to you about this.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just catch our breaths here and return home in a taxi,¡± I said.


    Do-Seung looked at me like he was sick of talking to me.


    [Mission Sessful]


    [You put Park Dong-Jun¡¯s controversy to rest.]


    The system notified me that I sessfully cleared my mission.


    ¡°Park Dong-Jun¡¯s controversy has been sessfully put to rest. The system just told me Ipleted the mission.¡±


    ¡°...Is that all that matters to you right now?¡±


    ¡°Of course, it matters. I made all that fuss to hear this.¡±


    Do-Seung shook his head. ¡°Haa...I have no energy now. I¡¯m not going to switch with Do-Seung from this world for a while now. How do you live like someone who regressed a hundred times after regressing just one time?¡±


    ¡°Everyone is different. Also, can you go to that store and buy a white T-shirt for me before you make the switch?¡±


    ¡°You really are relentless.¡±


    Do-Seung pressed his hat down deeply and walked towards the store. I leaned my head against the wall and looked up. I couldn¡¯t see a single star in the city, yet what lingered in my mind was the universe I saw in my unconscious state. There was one long string inside the universe that was cut off in the middle. I wondered what that could mean.


    [New Mission]


    ¡°...Haa.¡± It was then, this damn system threw me another mission.

 Chapter 194

    <h4>Chapter 194</h4>


    I held back my curse words and listened to the mission¡¯s contents. Seeing that it wasn¡¯t a surprise mission, I predicted that this mission had someone¡¯s life on the line.


    [Reach number 1 Triple Crown on Music Charts in three months]


    [Upon sess, progress to next mission.]


    [Upon failure, death of Park Dong-Jun.]


    I couldn¡¯t believe they were giving me a mission with Dong-Jun¡¯s life on the line after I just finished a mission with Dong-Jun involved.


    ¡°It¡¯s too much.¡± I knew that the system was void of human emotions, but this was too cruel. Yet, I knew the conditions couldn¡¯t be changed simply because Iined. For missions with lives on the line, I couldn¡¯t even touch the penalty.


    ¡®I wonder if I can add conditions though?¡¯ I wondered but I was in no condition to do that right now. If I used my Insight ability anymore today, I could really fall into aa. Thus, I thought more about the mission the system threw at me.


    ¡®Triple Crown.¡¯ The title could be interpreted in multiple ways. First, it could mean to reach first ce for a song three weeks in a row in a music show. It could also mean to get first ce three times in one week from three different music shows. The word ¡®triple¡¯ or ¡®quadruple¡¯ had a more set meaning in the sports world but in the idol world, the word had a slightly different meaning every time period.


    At one point, the title was awarded to a group that won first ce in three specific music shows, but these days, the title was awarded to groups who won first ce three times in a row. Thus, I wanted to ask the system what the exact standard was.


    ¡®But there¡¯s no way it¡¯ll tell me.¡¯ The system was anything but nice. Thus, the only thing I could do was to make my ns so that I would fulfill both qualifications. My group had to win first ce three times in a row in a show and also win first ce in three different music shows in one week. In other words, I needed to aplish not just a Triple Crown but a ¡®Triple Crown All-Kill¡¯ to safely seed this mission.


    ¡®That¡¯s tough.¡¯ Since idols groups with enough fame and fandom easily reached first ce in a music show, Triple Crown could appear easy, but there were a lot of tricky parts about this mission.


    First of all, we would only be able to reach first ce three weeks in a row or three times in a week only if we were the most impactful group in thiseback. We wouldn¡¯t be able to aplish it unless we stood out the most among all other idol groups. Thus, many of the songs that achieved Triple Crown weren¡¯t just popr to idol fans but the general public. And if we needed to aplish ¡®Triple All-Kill¡¯ on top of that, things got even tougher.


    ¡®It basically has to be the song of the year.¡¯ The song couldn¡¯t just be popr but the hit song of that year. The fact that only about ten groups or singers had aplished a Triple Crown All-Kill spoke to the difficulty of this task. In short, though this mission appeared simr to the mission of reaching 500,000 album sales, the difficulty was much higher than that.


    ¡®First, it will be impossible to reach Triple Crown for our current album.¡¯


    Though our music rankings and our first week of sales were great, it was very unlikely we would reach the Triple Crown. We would probably contest for first ce with Only One and neither group would be able to gain the Triple Crown title. Thus, this meant that in three months, we needed to release another song that would be a mega hit among the general public and sweep all music shows¡¯ charts.


    ¡®This is driving me crazy.¡¯ If we managed to do that, we could probably aim to this year¡¯s Daesang[1]. As I felt conflicted over these matters, Do-Seung returned.


    ¡°Here, I bought a short-sleeve t-shirt.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± I checked the T-shirt that Do-Seung brought me. Though I had asked for a white one, he brought me a ck T-shirt. Perhaps, he read my face and Do-Seung added, ¡°There was no white one, so I got a ck one. I know I didn¡¯t consider your personal taste. Just wear what you are given, punk.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything.¡±


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    I took off the shirt I was wearing.


    ¡°Hey!¡± Do-Seung yelled seeing me just throw off my shirt. I thought it didn¡¯t matter since no one was on this narrow side of the alley, yet Do-Seung spread his arms wide to cover me. Of course, it wasn¡¯t like I would be fully hidden with that kind of shabby attempt.


    ¡°What are you hiding me for? There¡¯s no one.¡±


    ¡°Do you have no feeling of shame or embarrassment?¡±


    ¡°Of course I do. But the current situation doesn¡¯t warrant it.¡±


    I quickly changed into the ck t-shirt and shoved the shirt I had been wearing into my pockets. It was then I realized that the Do-Seung in front of me was someone who regressed fifteen times. I thought I could ask him about the Triple Crown.


    ¡°Did you perhaps get the Triple Crown mission?¡±


    ¡°Triple Crown?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Of course, I did. That one...was a serious headache.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Anyways, that¡¯s what you got just now?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°...But this is too early.¡± Do-Seung looked at me worriedly. It appeared that this mission wasn¡¯t one that usually popped up at this time.


    ¡°It usually came up after we got a <i>Daesang</i>. That¡¯s too difficult to achieve for a group that just debuted.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± I was surprised to hear that he got the mission after receiving a Daesang. Shouldn¡¯t the former be easier to achieve?


    ¡°That Triple Crown mission isn¡¯t to get first ce three weeks in a row or to win in three shows.¡±


    ¡°Then, what is it?¡±


    ¡°Well...it changes every time. This is the mission that the damn system gives you whenever it wants you to fail a mission.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°If you get first ce three weeks in a row, it tells you to get first ce in three music shows and vice versa.¡±


    ¡°So, it just changes the rules ording to its taste?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a mission that came out both in my sixth and seventh regression, and I failed the mission each time after winning three weeks in a row in the sixth and winning three music shows in the seventh.¡±


    ¡°...It really is a bothersome mission.¡±


    ¡°Only after we reached Triple Crown All-Kill in my eighth regression, I got the rm that I seeded in my mission.¡±


    ¡°So, I guess All-Kill is really the answer.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s the safest way. If you don¡¯t, it will keep finding ways to fail you.¡±


    With this, it became clear. This was the mission where I had no choice but to achieve Triple Crown All-Kill.


    ¡°I mean, it wouldn¡¯t go so far to make you get a music chart all-kill in Korea, America, and Japan to get a Triple Crown.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    If this mission was really requesting me to get a chart-all-kill in three different nations, I would really attempt to use the Insight to kill this system bastard.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go for now.¡±


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go.¡±


    Do-Seung and I rechecked our hats and masks and called the taxi with our apps. That was how the long and eventful night passed.


    ***


    The Next Wave office was in a festive mood.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think things would be resolved so cleanly and well.¡±


    ¡°They didn¡¯t pull down their articles even after all the fuss we made but now, they are just bringing them all down.¡±


    ¡°People sure are cunning.¡±


    ¡°Sigh. It really is a relief.¡±


    The Next Wave¡¯s staff had been rolling their feet not knowing what to do when Dong-Jun¡¯s controversy broke out, but now that the problems became resolved on their own, they were overjoyous. Yet, in such a situation, there was a person maintaining the same energy from beginning to end.


    ¡°Everyone sure is in a good mood.¡±


    ¡°Ah, hello director.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so stiff around me. Just carry on what you¡¯ve been doing.¡±


    It was the Next Wave¡¯s representative, Yoo Won-Dong. Aftering to work, he surveyed the atmosphere of thepany building and returned to his own office room. His employees were aware that little actions like these that Yoo Won-Dong did was a form of microaggression, and all of the employees who had been chatting in thepany¡¯s cafeteria and lounge returned to their own office spaces and began working.


    The noisy office building instantly turned quiet and it didn¡¯t take more than thirty minutes for the ce to feel like just a normal working space.


    Yoo Won-Dong sat in his own seat and searched the news that had delighted his employees.


    ¡°...I can¡¯t believe this incident ended just like that...¡± He should be happy that a problem rted to an artist under him was resolved but there was a strange regretful and empty feeling in his chest. Once again, a problem was solved perfectly without his intervention. It appeared that there had been a part of him that wanted to personally take charge and resolve this issue.


    Yoo Won-Dong snorted and leaned his back against his chair. What could an old guy like him do in such a young and vibrant market? That was what people under him were supposed to do. Though it hadn¡¯t been a couple of months since he was ced as the representative of Next Wave, Yoo Won-Dong hadpletely and fully realized what kind of position he was in.


    ¡°I¡¯m just a figurehead.¡± He was only a boss in title and didn¡¯t do much work. Meetings about new businesses, projects, and so on were finished by the hands-on staff; and what could be considered the core of this management business such as album producing and broadcast activities were done by the Siren members themselves. In short, there was nothing he did. The atmosphere wasn¡¯t too different at the Jaeil group¡¯s main branch.


    Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s goal was to be one of the heads of the Jaeil Group one day. Though he was a representative of Jaeil Group right now, he wanted to be a head not in a subsidiarypany like this but at the main branch such as a director in Next Wave¡¯s motherpany, JI Entertainment. Or perhaps, a director at Jaeil Foods or any group that had the name Jaeil Group in it.


    At first, Yoo Won-Dong thought he had been ced as the head of Next Wave as a final test.


    ¡°Were they actually trying to teach me my ce?¡± Seeing how in the JI ENM, the chemistry between the current boss and the executive staff was great, his transfer appeared to be a trap to keep in the backlines of the entertainment business.


    They just wanted him to ept the achievements that his underlings made and build up his career that way. Then, after doing so for some more years, he would probably be given a vice-director role in ENM as an honorable mention of sorts until he was expelled after one or two years.


    The passion that had been fueling his career past fifty was finally losing its heat and quickly too. At this point, he was beginning toe to terms with reality and thinking this sort of life wasn¡¯t too bad. He reached a position that the majority of employees wouldn¡¯t be able to reach in their entire lifetimes.


    As long as he didn¡¯t get too greedy and covet an important spot in the main branch, he would be able to maintain his position as the head of Next Wave for quite some time. In other words, he would be able to rake in wages on a couple of millions of won while not doing much. It was a destiny he should willingly and dly ept...


    ¡°...But it sure is boring.¡± Perhaps, it was ridiculous that he was still trying to find joy in his work at his age. But he realized it when he was pushed off from hisst position. He missed the vicious political battles,peting for higher numbers, and the pressure of reaching sales at the main branch. Others might be shocked out of their minds to hear this, but this was the kind of person he was.


    Yoo Won-Dong pulled himself up and dived into the inte world again. Before he realized it, he was living the same life patterns as a shut-in living in a basement. After surfing the web for a while, his secretary knocked on the door.


    Knock, knock.


    ¡°What is it?¡± He wondered if there was anyone he was supposed to be expecting and searched his schedule mail, yet there was no meeting he missed.


    He looked at his secretary again, and the secretary said, ¡°Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon came and would like to have a meeting with you, sir. Should I let him in?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    The secretary¡¯s answer waspletely different from what Yoo Won-Dong expected.


    1. One of the highest awards that an artist or group could receive in Korea ?

 Chapter 195

    <h4>Chapter 195</h4>


    Hearing that Tae-Yoon requested a meeting brought up unpleasant memories for Yoo Won-Dong. The scenario had been simr then¡ªthe pivotal point when he threw away all his passion for his job and became an office shut-in. It was the time when he was thoroughly mmed for his coboration idea with JayQueen and was given the signal to shut up and do what he was told as Siren did all the work.


    Siren members hade to him for a meeting then too. Yet, that had been simple, one-sided ckmail on the premise of a meeting. They just didn¡¯t have any weapons in their hands, but they basically mugged him.


    From that point on, Yoo Won-Dong had to be careful whenever he made any propositions, and his ideas were often shut down. He had to ask his subordinates multiple times whether he made the right suggestions and in the process of doing that, he gradually lost his spotlight and authority as thepany¡¯s director.


    Before he realized it, he lost his say in meetings. It wasmon forpanies to operate without the aid of higher-ups and natural for employees under management to insult their superiors.


    Yet, regardless of the talk that went back and forth, it was the management¡¯s job to brazenly lead the meetings and highlight the main issues at hand. Yet, now that everyone in Next Wave mocked Yoo Won-Dong for having no sense in this entertainment business behind closed doors, he couldn¡¯t keep that kind of bold attitude.


    The fact that he knew nothing about the entertainment business had already been exposed after the JayQueen incident. After that, rumors spread that he called his direct subordinates a hundred questions at a time to make sure his suggestions were eptable.


    And the mostmon phrases that his employees said were, ¡®<i>No, boss, that''s not what you do...¡¯</i> or <i>¡®If you look at the resources here, you will know...¡¯</i> Just by their way of talking, one could tell what the Next Wave¡¯s employees thought about Yoo Won-Dong.


    Instead of a trustworthy director who supported their work, Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s position shifted as the final boss gate that people had to ovee to progress their business. And that was how the general mood, which was¡¯ We can only work after persuading that fifty-something boomer who doesn¡¯t know a thing about the entertainment business!¡¯ was well-established inside Next Wave.


    Aware and sick of this, Yoo Won-Dong soon became a processing machine that simply stamped documents for approval one after the other. He asked, ¡°...Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon ising for a meeting?¡±


    ¡°Yes, he is requesting it.¡±


    It was just like that time. The only difference was that instead of the entire Siren group, Tae-Yoon wasing by himself. Yet, Tae-Yoon had been the one who led the conversationst time too. This seemed to mean that the situation wouldn¡¯t be any different from before.


    ¡°Haa...¡± Yoo Won-Dong closed his inte tabs and thought deeply. He worried what his employees would say if he refused this meeting and also worried about what kind of ckmail he would hear this time if he epted it. As he pondered longer about this, someone knocked on his door.


    <i>Knock, knock, knock.</i>


    Though he didn¡¯t answer, the door opened.


    <i>Creak.</i>


    ¡°Can Ie in?¡± Tae-Yoon peeked his head in and openly pressured him, as if he was asking how long Yoo Won-Dong was going to make him wait.


    In the end, Yoo Won-Dong had no choice but to let hime inside. ¡°Ah, hahaha! Mr. Tae-Yoon! Pleasee in. I heard that you wanted to meet me. Why don¡¯t youe and take a seat.¡±


    ***


    As soon as it became 9:30 am, I walked up to the Next Wave¡¯spany building. 9:30 am was the time that I chose after some calctions. Aftering to work at 9 am, Yoo Won-Dong might take about 15 minutes to brew the coffee and organize his desk. Then, he would probably take another ten minutes surfing the inte before officially starting his work.


    Thus, I thought 9:30 pm would be the time when he finished organizing his surroundings, and since he might have some morning meetings starting from 10 am, I strategically thought I had to go before then. Honestly, I knew I should''ve called in to arrange a meeting with him beforehand, but the situation was too urgent for me to do that.


    <i>¡®In the first ce, it¡¯s strange that he didn¡¯t call us when one of his artists got into a scandal,¡¯</i> I thought. Yet, when I arrived at the ce, I didn¡¯t receive an answer even after fifteen minutes had passed. It was then that I realized.


    <i>¡®...Is Yoo Won-Dong perhaps, wondering if he should have a meeting with me?¡¯ </i>It seemed Yoo Won-Dong was hesitating to meet me because ourst meeting ended unfortunately for him. Still, I couldn¡¯t believe he was holding back from meeting an artist under hispany, which could be considered one of the most important tasks for a boss. Thinking that I would just waste time at this rate, I decided to take action.


    <i>Creak.</i>


    Only after I opened the door and pushed my head in, he weed me in.


    ¡°Ah, hahaha! Mr. Tae-Yoon! Pleasee in. I heard that you wanted to meet me. Why don¡¯t youe and take a seat.¡± Based on his expression, tone, and gaze, it seemed my predictions had hit the mark.


    <i>¡®He really seemed to have been hesitant.¡¯ </i>I read the worries remaining on Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s face.


    ¡°Secretary Kim, you can leave while I talk to Mr. Tae-Yoon for a bit? Mr. Tae-Yoon, what would you like to drink? Coffee?¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine.¡±


    ¡°Okay, then why don¡¯t you drink some water.¡± Yoo Won-Dong handed me a water bottle.


    ¡°Ah, thank you.¡± I took the water bottle and ced it on the corner of the table and then stared at Yoo Won-Dong.


    ¡°You must know why I came, director.¡± I wondered if he was even aware of the scandal that happened in our group. There was a reason for my doubts. Something about Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s face changed. When we met him before, Yoo Won-Dong looked like a general from a period of peace. He was like a plump general exploding with confidence and enjoying the peaceful days out of war.


    Yet, now, all confidence seemed to have been sucked out of him, and he looked just like anymon soldier who warily looked at his surroundings while filled with useless worries. Thus, I thought he might have been too upied by his surroundings to check up on us.


    ¡°Ah, aren¡¯t you here because of the scandal involving Mr. Dong-Jun?¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir. That¡¯s what I came here for.¡± Fortunately, it seemed he was aware of the current events.


    ¡°I was originally nning to call you all around here today and ask for your opinions on how to resolve this matter.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°But because the situation dramatically became overturned this morning, I was nning to call you after assessing the situation first.¡±


    ¡°Ah...yes, sir.¡± I couldn¡¯tpletely believe his im that he would¡¯ve called us even if he finished assessing the situation.


    ¡°Anyways, it seems like that matter was resolved well...So could I ask the reason for your visit so early in the morning?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s something that I want to request, sir.¡±


    ¡°...A request?¡± Yoo Won-Dong flinched and looked surprised upon hearing this.


    ¡°Yes, a request. Am I not supposed to make one?¡±


    ¡°...No, no. You certainly can. My position is meant to listen to your requests.¡±


    I searched Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s face carefully. Though he tried to hide it, a hint of happiness bloomed on his face just from the word, ¡®request¡¯. I wondered what sort of treatment he was receiving in thispany that he was reacting like this, and I got a better sense of his situation. I thought about Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s change of expression just now, the strange atmosphere at thepany, and the reason why Yoo Won-Dong had appeared hesitant to meet me right now.


    <i>¡®Is Yoo Won-Dong getting...bullied in hispany right now?</i>¡¯ I wondered if it was right to summarize Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s situation with such middle-school terms, but there was no other way to describe it. That was probably why he hadn¡¯t been able to hide his joy after hearing what I said. But more than the bullied kid of the school, his situation seemed closer to a director who lost his position.


    <i>¡®But it¡¯s understandable since thest time we came to see him, we warned him not to try anything funny and support us from behind.¡¯ </i>


    After screwing up in the first project he proposed as the head of thispany, Yoo Won-Dong was currently under a heavy self-reflection; and this was enough of a basis for the employees to start doubting his abilities as their superior. Yoo Won-Dong not onlycked an understanding of the entertainment business but also had no practical sense, and it seemed clear that his position at thepany decreasedpared to even the management heads here.


    Considering all that, he probably hesitated to see me since he didn¡¯t know how he would be screwed over today.


    <i>¡®I think I understand why Woon told me that it will be tiring to have Yoo Won-Dong as my enemy now.¡¯ </i>He wasn¡¯t doing anything now because he was too nervous or anxious, but if this negative situation continued, he would likely be a big obstacle to our activities. I stared straight at Yoo Won-Dong.


    ¡°There¡¯s an urgent request we need to make to you. We need your help.¡±


    ¡°You need my help urgently?¡±


    I thought I should take this opportunity to really be close to Yoo Won-Dong¡ªeven if I had to suck up my pride, I needed to extend my hand out to him.


    ¡°Actually, it isn¡¯t ¡®we¡¯ but ¡®I¡¯ who need your help.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± I thought I saw something that looked like passion wavering in Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°I am wondering if we could...sue the people who wrote the post about Dong-Jun through thepany. I don¡¯t know what my members think, but I don¡¯t want those people to get offpletely clean,¡± I brought up the topic of suing.


    I saw Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s face cloud with worry after hearing me. Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s vulnerabilities began toe up to the surface then.


    ¡°Ah...Then, let me try talking to our legal team and ask the marketing management if that sort of suing will be helpful to ourpany¡¯s image before progressing. They are the professionals in these types of matters...¡±


    Though he was the boss, he was trying to leave the decision-making to management. It was then I became a hundred percent certain that currently, Yoo Won-Dong had a smaller voice than the management under him.


    ¡°No, I would like for you to decide, sir.¡±


    ¡°Me?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Truthfully, I also know that this is quite a provocative proposal. It isn¡¯tmon for people to sue those who have already uploaded apology posts.¡±


    ¡°It certainly is.¡±


    ¡°Yes, so...I don¡¯t want it to make it appear as Dong-Jun is the one suing but the Next Wave. Thepany could be on the stance that it suffered big losses because of the nderous post and sue the original poster. I would also like this to be done in secret, so no one knows.¡±


    ¡°Hm...¡±


    ¡°Is it not possible?¡±


    ¡°...There¡¯s nothing you can¡¯t do with thew since provisions all depend on how you interpret it. It¡¯s not difficult to make this event secretive either.¡± He sounded rather like a scummywyer, but it appeared that Yoo Won-Dong with hisw background didn¡¯t think the premise was impossible. I knew that Yoo Won-Dong had this level of strength and connections.


    There was a saying that even if a rich person fell to ruins, their wealth would carry over three generations. Even if Yoo Won-Dong was being treated like an outcast here, he was still a big figure in the rest of society. He had the means to seal all the journalists¡¯ mouths from spreading the news about the suing and bring the two who ndered Dong-Jun to court. There was a reason why he rose to such a high position in a gigantic corporation. Yoo Won-Dong looked to be deeply pondering with his lips tightly closed. Then, opened his mouth again.


    ¡°...All right. Let¡¯s try it.¡±


    <i>¡®What?</i>¡¯ Yoo Won-Dong who had looked like a lost soldier appeared hopeful again. He was the kind of person who just needed some recognition.


    <i>¡®He¡¯s so simple.¡¯</i> Did people really be simpler the older they got?


    ¡°I hope we can share more conversations about personal concerns like this from now on,¡± Yoo Won-Dong said and smiled more brightly than ever before. That was how the mood between Yoo Won-Dong and I became much brighter than before.


    ¡°Should we eat lunch together, Sir Tae-Yoon?¡± He even addressed me as ¡®sir¡¯ instead of ¡®Mr¡¯ and suggested eating a meal together.


    ¡°Ah, I already made ns to eat with my members for lunch.¡± I thought it was going too far to have lunch with him after this but seeing that Yoo Won-Dong appeared to be in a good mood, I decided to make another request.


    ¡°Ah, and after we finish our activities for ¡®<i>Blue Summer Night</i>¡¯, we would like to release an album tracklist. What do you think about using around 500 million won* for our next activities? My goal is to reach Triple Crown.¡± [1] I thought I spoke nonchntly, but it appeared the sum I asked for was quite big.


    ¡°...What? Excuse me, Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡±


    But truthfully, this was the main reason I came to meet him. There was the deal about suing but the Triple Crown mission had Dong-Jun¡¯s life on the line.


    ¡°500 million won, sir. I would like to start the next activities as fast as possible. Honestly, 500 million won iscking, and I wanted to ask for 700 million won.¡± I decided to push harder seeing how flustered Yoo Won-Dong was.


    ¡°...Sorry?¡± Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s face turned pale. His expression seemed to ask, <i>¡®What is this bastard trying to do this time?¡¯</i>


    1. around 538,205$ ?

 Chapter 196

    <h4>Chapter 196</h4>


    Yoo Won-Dong looked at me with a pale-stricken expression. Since I¡¯ve been dropping bombs at every meeting, he now seemed genuinely terrified of me. However, his expression changed quickly as he didn¡¯t seem intent to immediately discard his favorable impression of me.


    ¡°7 million won...hmmm. Well, we¡¯ll think about it first. Since we spend more than 7 million won every activity period, I¡¯ll just consider your request as spending about 7 million won on the nexteback.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong changed my request to a more usible request in his own way; as the nexteback budget became 7 million won, not 7 million won for follow-up activities with B-side tracks. Like this, my request becamepletely standard as idol groups like us usually used between 5-10 million won ineback activities. About 2-3 million won was used for music video production, 1-2 million won for promotion, 1-2 million won for stage production, and 1-2 million won for music broadcasting, makeup, and hair setting.


    From this standard, 7 million won was a very reasonable eback¡¯ budget. Yoo Won-Dong was interpreting my proposal as the next eback¡¯ proposal, not a proposal for ¡®follow-up activities with B-side tracks.¡¯ However, I wasn¡¯t making a reasonable request right now. I was saying I wanted to spend 7 million won for follow-up activities with B-side tracks from the same album, not aeback.


    ¡°No, Director Yoo, I wasn¡¯t talking about spending 7 million won for our nexteback.¡±


    ¡°But you said follow-up activities.¡±


    ¡°Honestly, you could consider this as aeback if you really wanted to, but I¡¯m not talking about aeback. I¡¯m talking about follow-up promotions in a row with a B-side track.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°So, I¡¯m telling you we¡¯ll do follow-up promotions in a row with a B-side track, and I¡¯m asking you to allocate 7 million won for that.¡±


    ¡°...Are you telling me to spend twice as much as usual on one album?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Are you asking to use 7 million won after making all our album sales?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Even though there isn¡¯t much expectation for additional profits?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Usually, the most efficient way was to make an album and use it several times during the promotion period. After four weeks of broadcasting activities, idol groups could do tours and festivals with these songs and cash in right away like this. However, what would happen if an additional 7 million won was allocated to the same album?


    It was very difficult to expect clear profits like that by using double the money for one album.


    I said, ¡°Sir, don¡¯t look at the trees but the forest. The money you invested now maye back a hundred or thousand times in the future.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong looked at me as if I was trying to sell him drugs. However, I couldn¡¯t show myself wavering and stayed firm in my stance. ¡°We¡¯re not the only ones taking such a drastic move, and there are actually quite a few teams that take two promotion periods for one album.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m aware of those cases because I¡¯ve been briefed on it, but there aren¡¯t cases where an agency uses 7 million twice, and it usually ends with continuing the promotion period a few more weeks on music shows with songs that generated good responses in an album. That¡¯s not something that requires 7 million won.¡± I was surprised that he was knowledgeable about these business aspects better than I thought. I guess I shouldn¡¯t sell drugs recklessly to him.


    I continued, ¡°I n to produce a new music video with 7 million won and promote it on arge scale.¡±


    ¡°So, what I¡¯m asking is why do you have to produce a new music video and promote it on arge scale so badly?¡±


    Frankly, we were entering the domain of sophistry from here on. I needed to get a Triple Crown to save Dong-Jun¡¯s life. In other words, I nned to throw as much as 7 million won in the air to achieve a Triple Crown, and I needed to convince Yoo Won Dong of my ns as logically as possible.


    ¡°...I¡¯ll first start by telling you that Triple Crown is our goal,¡± I revealed my goal right away.


    Yoo Won-Dong tilted his head at my unexpected goal.


    ¡°To be exact, an all-kill is my goal. A Triple Crown all-kill.¡±


    ¡°Why is that your goal?¡±


    ¡°Director Yoo, do you know how many groups have achieved the Triple Crown all-kill?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s something that needs to be shared by the proposer.¡± Now that we were on the topic of budget, Yoo Won Dong¡¯s wording got sharper. His manager mindset must be kicking in.


    ¡°There were only nine groups.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not a lot.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an honor that only the group that produced the most popr song that year can have.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a nice honor to have, but if the profit iscking, the value of that investment won¡¯t be worthwhile. Who would spend 7 million won on something that¡¯s nothing but simple honor?¡±


    ¡°But sir, don¡¯t you need that honor more than anyone else?¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s brows twitched at my remarks. Frankly, I was surprised that my words matched like puzzle pieces from start to finish; I spat the words out as they came to mind, but the conversation was flowing in my favor more than I intended.


    I said, ¡°Sir, hasn¡¯t your position in thepany faltered after the abolition of the previous project?¡±


    ¡°...It must have been serious enough to reach even the artist¡¯s ear.¡±


    ¡°So, sir, don¡¯t you need an honor like an All-Kill Triple Crown right now? If you trust us and invest, I¡¯ll bring that honor to you.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong looked at me even more like a drug dealer than before. However, what changed was that I could now see a glimmer of hope in his gaze. Yoo Won-Dong pressed his brows and fell into thought.


    ¡°Anyway, in short, what you want is to get an additional budget of 7 million won to do follow-up activities in a row, right? For the Triple Crown all-kill.¡±


    ¡°Yes, if you believe in us, we¡¯ll show you the results.¡±


    ¡°Can I ept this as a request that the artist strongly wants? Even if you don¡¯t achieve your goals, we can consider this as an opportunity to build a partnership between thepany and he artist.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct.¡±


    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll consider the matter favorably and get back to you again.¡±


    ¡°...Sir, are you certain that it¡¯s in a favorable light?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll look at it very positively.¡± Yoo Won-Dong stared at me as if he wanted me to leave now.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell me this because you trusted me? I¡¯ll seriously consider this proposal to repay our artist¡¯s trust.¡± However, excluding his fatigued expression, he made quite a touchingment at the end.


    It seemed as if he was slowly establishing himself as the president of an entertainment agency. I wondered if those who remained passionate even after 50 years of age still had a lot of room for growth. Of course, I wasn¡¯t especially moved by Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s growth or anything like that.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll wait for your reply for now.¡±


    ¡°For now?¡±


    ¡°If I don¡¯t like it, I¡¯lle back.¡±


    ¡°Ha...geez.¡¯


    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡± I got up from my seat, and Yoo Won Dong looked at with an incredulous look.


    ¡°Ah, leave the suing business to me and don¡¯t mind it anymore. I¡¯ll definitely take care of that.¡±


    ¡°Yes, thank you.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong organized our conversation right before I headed out.


    ¡°I¡¯ll seriously consider the 7 million budget and give you an answer again.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then, get home safely.¡±


    ¡°Yes, thank you.¡± I came out of the director¡¯s office. When I came out, some of the staff stared openly at me, but I paid no heed to their stares and headed outside the office building. After I got a taxi, I thought about what would be going on in my dorm. I thought it would be chaos there right now as they must have confirmed that the public opinion on Dong-Jun changed 180 degrees during dawn.


    I couldn¡¯t wait to go and watch their reactions.


    ¡®I should talk to them about the follow-up activities and quickly persuade them.¡¯ At the same time, I nned to get a confirmation of follow-up activities that I talked to Yoo Won-Dong about but not to my members. ¡®I should talk to them about the follow-up activities and quickly persuade them.¡¯


    Although it felt like the order had flipped, I thought that it wouldn¡¯t matter if I met my goal in the end.


    ***


    While Bong Tae-Yoon was talking with Yoo Won-Dong and negotiating a 7 million won proposal, Siren¡¯s dorm was in a festive mood.


    ¡°Dong-Jun! Dong-Jun! Dong-Juuuun!¡± The first person who got up was Woo Yeon-Hoon. He checked his phone as soon as he woke up and after seeing that the whole issue had been resolved overnight, he immediately ran out of his room.


    ¡°Whaaat?¡± As a result, Kang Do-Seung, who shared the same room with him, also woke up in surprise.


    While causing amotion, Woo Yeon-Hoon quickly ran into Park Dong-Jun¡¯s room. Park Dong-Jun was quite tiredst night as the controversy had kept himte at night and muddled his mind. However, he had no choice to get up when Woo Yeon-Hoon suddenly rushed towards him.


    ¡°...Yeon-Hoon? What¡¯s going on...¡± Dong-Jun wondered why he was making such a fuss in the morning. He thought that Yeon-Hoon might be purposely acting over-energetic to lift his mood. Even Kang Do-Seung came into his room together with Yeon-Hoon. Seeing that both of their hair was in aplete mess, they seemed to have just woken up.


    Since he had just woken up, Park Dong-Jun had a hard time understanding Woo Yeon-Hoon. However, as his mind slowly gained focus, a couple of words began to register in his mind.


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°The controversy is over!¡±


    ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all over!¡±


    Dong-Jun heard everything but couldn¡¯t immediately understand what Woo Yeon-Hoon was saying. He couldn¡¯t believe that the controversy was over so quickly and wondered if this made sense. Park Dong-Jun hadn¡¯t monitored the inte since yesterday evening as the situation wouldn¡¯t get any better by just looking at it.


    Soon after, Dong-Jun turned on his phone and entered SNS. All the articles that criticized himst night were deleted, but above all, the fans¡¯ments, which hadn¡¯t been visible, began to catch his eyes.


    ¡ªDong-Jun must have had a hard time


    ¡ªIt¡¯s a huge relief that it got resolved really quickly; if not, he would have gotten trauma from it


    ¡ªI feel so sorry for how unfair It must have felt, without being able to say anything


    ¡ªLet¡¯s not talk about this anymore. It¡¯s going to be traumatic for Dong-Jun too


    Although thesements have been consistently posted even during the controversy, Dong-Jun¡¯s mind had instinctively glossed over them. However, they began to catch his eyes now that the controversy was over.


    ¡°Ah...¡± Dong-Jun was so shocked that the only word he could say was ¡®ah.¡¯ After finally calming his surprised, he said, ¡°What happened...?¡±


    How could the public opinion overturn so much overnight?


    ¡°I think it¡¯s because of this.¡± Kang Do-Seung, who was standing in the back and yawning, replied for Woo Yeon-Hoon. He showed the page he found on his phone and handed it to Park Dong-Jun. A picture of Nacepann¡¯s post was on his phone screen.


    ¡°The original post has been deleted, but the screenshot is still on the inte. It seems like the writers got too scared and dashed after writing an apology post.¡±


    Park Dong-Jun immediately read through the apology post. ¡°Ha....¡± Then he breathed a deep sigh of relief. He was relieved that what he was most concerned about didn¡¯t happen. He said, ¡°That¡¯s a huge relief.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it is.¡±


    ¡°I really...I thought our team would be ruined cause of me.¡±


    ¡°What, no. Why would it be ruined?¡±


    ¡°There are many cases where groups that lost their momentum in their rise end up not being able to make a rebound.¡± Park Dong-Jun finally revealed thoughts that he had pent up inside. ¡°So if this controversy didn¡¯t get resolved within a week, I nned to leave the group on my own.¡±


    Both Woo Yeon-Hoon and Kang Do-Seung became speechless at Park Dong-Jun¡¯s resolve.


    ¡°So...it really is a relief.¡± As soon as he said this, tears began to drop from Park Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes one by one.


    Woo Yeon-Hoon silently hugged Park Dong-Jun, and by the time their emotions were settled down, Yeon-Hoon found something interesting in the phone that Kang Do-Seung handed over. The portal window that Kang Do-Seung searched for the screenshot of the original post was still open on his phone, and Woo Yeon-Hoo unintentionally saw the search records there.


    ¡ªHow tofort a friend


    ¡ªWen fiernd having hard tiee


    ¡ªWhen fiend is having a hard time


    ¡ªWise sayings that helps people who are sad


    ¡ªHealing attractions near Seoul


    ¡°What? Did you search for things like this tofort Dong-Jun, Do-Seung?¡±


    ¡°...Ah.¡±


    At that moment, Park Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes also moved to Kang Do-Seung¡¯s phone screen, and Kang Do-Seung¡¯s face turned beet red.


    ¡°No, this is not, I mean. I thought I needed to protect the group.¡±


    ¡°Wow, I¡¯m getting goosebumps all over my body.¡±


    ¡°...What the hell, punk? Even when I¡¯m being nice.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s giving me goosebumps that you¡¯re searching for stuff like this.¡±


    ¡°...This bastard.¡± Kang Do-Seung shook in anger with his fist clenched, and Park Dong-Jun smirked while staring at this sight.


    ¡°You can¡¯t hit someone who just came back from the dead.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not human if you yell at me today. Right, Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    ¡°Yep, yep. No one can say anything bad to Dong-Jun today.¡±


    ¡°....Ha...Patience...¡± With Park Dong-Jun teasing Kang Do-Seung, Kang Do-Seung trembling in anger, and Woo Yeon-Hoon babying Park Dong-Jun¨Cit was a hectic morning.


    Lee Woon, who woke upte, made amotion without knowing that the three already talked about the controversy¡¯s resolution. ¡°No waaaaaay! Dong-Juuuun! The apology postpletely overturned the public opinion...Huh?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve already heard everything, Woon.¡±


    ¡°Oh, really?¡± Lee Woon smiled awkwardly and then gave Dong-Jun a tight hug. ¡°You went through a lot, Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, Woon.¡±


    ¡°But where¡¯s Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, where is he?¡±


    It was only then did four members of Siren realized that their maknae had been gone since early in the morning.


    ***


    I got out of the taxi and went up to the dorm. I started searching for my phone while going up the elevator. I saw that the public opinion on Dong-Jun had beenpletely overturned. While I was trying to immerse myself in my sense of aplishment after realizing that we had won the public opinion battle¡ª


    ¡ªHuh? Bleshu¡¯s debut teaser just got released


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s up with Bleshu¡¯s teaser quality??? Insane


    ¡ªAre all the groups from The Showcase 2ing out this summer?


    ¡ªHahahahha But what¡¯s up with Bleshu? Did their agency have this much money?


    ¡°...What the.¡± A name that I had forgotten for a long time suddenly appeared in my SNS. Bleshu¡ªit was the same group that appeared in The Showcase 2 with us.

 Chapter 197

    <h4>Chapter 197</h4>


    Bleshu¡¯s teaser video came up. I quickly went into social media and checked Bleshu¡¯s debut schedule. Their debut date was July 11th. It appeared that they had nned to debut right after us since Only One and Siren¡¯s current album activities ended on July 4th. They were revealing one teaser at a time starting from today. Seeing this, I felt conflicted again.


    <i>¡®Why now of all times?¡¯</i> I nned to continue our activities right after this one to achieve the Triple Crown¡ªno, not just a simple Triple Crown but a Triple Crown all-kill. I had to aplish that for the system to not find any faults with my results and to ept my work as a mission sess. Yet, a ¡®moderately¡¯ strong enemy appeared in our way of achieving that.


    <i>¡®They don¡¯t have a small fandom either.</i>¡¯ It was fortunate that I didn¡¯t see articles saying that Only One would move on to their next activities. If they were also joining the scene, I would¡¯ve really needed to scrap my ns and look for another opportunity. Yet, Bleshu wasn¡¯t quite a force strong enough for us to put a stop to everything.


    They definitely did have poprity and fame. After Only One and us, they would probably be the new male idol group that made the most impact this year. If I made a rough estimate, I thought they could get around 150,000 sales. Only One and Siren simply had an unbelievable number of sales, and 150,000 was enough for a new group to get the ¡®Rising Star¡¯ award for that year.


    Thus, it was only natural that it hung on my mind that a group of this level was debuting at this time. We needed to get first ce three weeks in a row at three important music shows, but...


    <i>¡®Would we really not lose even once? Really?¡¯ </i>Though we probably wouldn¡¯t lose to Bleshu in the attention and poprity we could garner, if we lost first ce to them even once, my efforts to seed in my mission would turn into nothing. Thus, I needed to be especially cautious.


    I could find another date for our next activities to avoid Bleshu. Rather than us going from one album to the next, we could make some gap in between.


    <i>¡®But what...?¡¯ </i>Yet, if we avoided Bleshu, another battlefield came into the picture.


    <i>¡®Why are so many girl groups doing aeback in August?¡¯ </i>Now that I thought about it, 2022 was the year when masses of girl groups made their debut oreback. Not only were new groups going to make an impact, but this was the time when groups, who had dominated a generation for over seven years, would also be making a specialeback. All sorts of people¡¯sebacks were clustered around August and September.


    <i>¡®That means I won¡¯t even be able to dream of the Triple Crown if it¡¯s not July.</i>¡¯ My head hurt to the point that it felt like it was splitting. It was another mountain to climb after another mountain.


    Now that we were getting essedparatively instead of objectively, it seemed to suck the life out of me. Thinking all this, I couldn¡¯t even go back home and circled in front of the entrance door. Perhaps, I was too focused on my thoughts that I didn¡¯t realize how much time was passing.


    <i>Creak.</i>


    ¡°I will see if Tae-Yoon is outside and if he is, I will bring him.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go together.¡±


    ¡°It will catch too much attention if we go in a group.¡±


    The entrance door opened, and Yeon-Hoon came inside.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Tae-Yoon?¡±


    I awkwardly met Yeon-Hoon in the middle of the apartment¡¯s hallways.


    ¡°Hey guys! I found Tae-Yoon!¡± Yeon-Hoon said and pulled me inside.


    ¡°Ah.¡± Though I hadn¡¯t yet organized my thoughts, I was pulled into the living room.


    ***


    I had no idea that things would escte to this level.


    ¡°Where did you go so early in the morning, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°I feel like you keep sneaking outside these days.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I pretended not to notice that you went out at night and came back inte...where did you go again this morning?¡±


    ¡°How suspicious, Bong Tae-Yoon~¡±


    My members ced me on the living room floor while they sat on the sofa side-to-side and interrogated me. I didn¡¯t know how things led up to this. I thought since Dong-Jun¡¯s name had been cleared, all my members would be jumping up and down in excitement, thinking about what kinds of delicious food to eat.


    After all, I did work hard enough to receive that sort of wee and treatment; I recalled the nosebleed I had after making the posters write the apology post. It felt unfair that I was getting interrogated like this after all that work, but then, I soon came to understand why they were acting like this.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you dating someone?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked in a half-certain voice.


    ¡°...Sorry?¡¯


    What in the world? Me¡ªdating? I was so shocked that I couldn¡¯t close my mouth. But it seemed they interpreted my shocked expression to someone whose secret was revealed.


    ¡°You...! Bong Tae-Yoon! How dare you date!¡±


    ¡°You bastard!¡±


    ¡°What are we going to do with him!¡±


    ¡°Do you understand what this time is like for us? Huh?¡±


    My members all looked ready to beat me up.


    ¡°No, wait, you all. Why are you all so sure? I¡¯m not dating anyone!¡± I understood why they sat me down in the living room and interrogated me as soon as they came back home. I would¡¯ve also done that if I thought one of my members was dating someone.


    Of course, I wasn¡¯t saying that they should never date forever, but if they were going to do it, they should do it cautiously after around twenty years with someone who didn¡¯t make a fool of the fans. Yet, they certainly couldn¡¯t do that right now.


    Thus, even though I understood my members¡¯ responses, I said, ¡°I am really not dating. I swear. Please put down that baseball bat, Do-Seung. Please. And when did you get the mosquito Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    ¡°...You really aren¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°...Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Do you have proof?¡± It seemed my members still didn¡¯t believe me.


    ¡°Give us evidence, quickly.¡±


    But how could I provide evidence for a nonexistent issue?


    ¡°Ah, look at my messenger app.¡± This was all I could show to clear my usations. My members took my phone and checked each of the chatrooms.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...Wow.¡±


    ¡°...This is too much.¡±


    ¡°Do you not have any friends, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°You know, that¡¯s a very hurtful thing to say.¡±


    ¡°Ah, sorry! I was just genuinely concerned about you.¡±


    The members responded after seeing my bleak friend count and chat rooms. The only chat rooms I was part of were the Siren group chat room, another one with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, an individual one with each of my members, andstly, Kang Hyun-Sung. For any other person, it was normal for the number of chatrooms to pass multiple scrolls. Yet, most of my chat rooms were captured with just one scroll.


    ¡°How could you not have any other friends?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really add people to my friend list.¡± Since I didn¡¯t even add brand ounts that businesses ran, my friend list was emptier than most people. It seemed my members thought it was unlikely that someone with such a small social life could date and ced their weapons down.


    ¡°You all realized that I¡¯m not dating, right?¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t date but you should make some friends, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°...¡± I wondered how I could when there was no one to meet and responded with silence.


    ¡°Then why do you keep going outside these days¡ªlike this morning or yesterday night?¡± Woon asked the question that hadn¡¯t been resolved yet.


    ¡°I wrote on our group chat that I¡¯m going for a jog.¡±


    ¡°At night too?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you jog in the morning? ¡®Jo¡¯ for the Chinese character that means morning, and ¡®Ging¡¯ for running.¡±


    ¡°Dong-Jun, you still believe that false inte meme?¡±


    ¡°...Seriously?¡±


    ¡°But why are you going on such long runs?¡±


    My members didn¡¯t seem to believe that I only went out for a jog. I had expected them to wonder at some point since I kept acting on my own. Thus, I did make some preparations.


    ¡°Um...I do jog but truthfully, I also...¡±


    ¡°Also, what?¡±


    ¡°...I go out to eat.¡± Using believable excuses and evidence, I decided to utilize basic human psychology.


    ¡°You go out to eat?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    Then, I showed my members the pictures on my phone. Most of the pictures were of tasty restaurants near the dorm and the food there. And yesterday, I took pictures from restaurants that were a bit farther away. I didn¡¯t actually go to these restaurants but just downloaded them off the inte in high quality.


    And since I thought I would be suspected if I just downloaded the pictures as they were, I used the phone¡¯s basic editing functions to slightly alter the angle or size of the pictures. As a result, it clearly looked like pictures that I took myself.


    ¡°I was never that interested in food, but I think I¡¯ve been getting stressed these days. I keep craving food.¡±


    ¡°...Hm.¡±


    ¡°...Wow, that looks good.¡±


    ¡°Be quiet, Dong-Jun.¡±


    My members appeared quite serious.


    ¡°Okay, I understand. But you have to control your diet while we are in the middle of our activities. Let¡¯s try to restrict ourselves from now on.¡±


    ¡°Tell me if you get too hungry. We can find diet recipes and make them together.¡±


    ¡°Message me separately if you are truly hungry.¡±


    ¡°Park Dong-Jun!¡±


    ¡°...Just kidding. We should just look for a diet recipe together.¡±


    My members said and looked at me a bit pitifully. In the end, I was the <i>maknae</i> of the team and was still in my growth phase. It was hard to tell since I was neen, but nevertheless, they probably felt bad that I was going out by myself to eat. After all, humans were animals who experienced critical stress when they were deprived of one of the three things: food, sleep, and clothes.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for interrogating you first thing in the morning.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat something tasty for breakfast to make up for it.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s already past 11 am...toote to have breakfast. But nevertheless, let¡¯s just have something tasty.¡±


    ¡°Do we have a schedule in the afternoon?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s quickly eat and prepare, guys.¡±


    My members suggested eating good food as a prize for finishing the interrogation. But before that, there was a part of me that wanted to hear somepliments for the work I did.


    ¡°The rumors surrounding Dong-Jun disappeared. Did you all check the situation?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we made a fuss this morning because of that.¡±


    ¡°Seriously...I didn¡¯t think everything would get resolved so well.¡±


    ¡°I feel like we can eat chicken today, right? My scandal died down and if it¡¯s not today, when can we eat chicken?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s eat it today.¡±


    ¡°Wow, really?¡±


    ¡°Chicken breast poke is also chicken.¡±


    ¡°...Let¡¯s kill Kang Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s have something tasty and light today as brunch¡ªnot something that feels so much like diet food today.¡±


    ¡°Wow, Woon is an angel.¡±


    ¡°Devils usuallye in the form of angels, Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s so cringy.¡±


    I felt thoroughly rewarded for yesterday night¡¯s work to just hear my member converse like this. I was prepared to do anything to maintain this sort of everyday life. Yet, a message that broke this peace came up in the chatroom.


    ¡ªI just heard Mr. Tae-Yoon visited thepany this morning. I heard that he discussed with Director Yoo about this album¡¯s follow-up activities. Should we also have a meeting about this today? I will reserve a conference room after your noon schedule.


    It felt like Ms. Seung-Yeon dropped a bomb.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...Bong Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°I thought you just went to restaurants...?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    I realized then I had forgotten to tell Yoo Won-Dong to keep our entire meeting this morning a secret. I only told him to keep the deal about the suing confidential and forgot everything else.


    ¡°Exin yourself.¡±


    This was very troublesome.

 Chapter 198

    <h4>Chapter 198</h4>


    ¡°What in the world does this mean, Bong Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°You met the Director this morning?¡±


    ¡°Follow-up activities? Are there follow-up activities that we don¡¯t know about?¡±


    ¡°Did you...lie about going to famous restaurants and going for a jog?¡± The members approached me and narrowed down the scope of my lies. Everyone¡¯s expressions looked hurt by betrayal; in particr, Yeon-Hoon was still holding the fly swatter.


    I thought about how getting hit with the handle of that fly swatter really hurt. No, it would be a relief to end this matter with just a few hits. I said, ¡°Guys, please calm down and listen to my story first.¡±


    I needed to resolve this issue with words somehow; whatever excuse or sophistry I used, I needed to persuade them first. Although my situation had be quite ridiculous, I needed to save myself, and above all, if I didn¡¯t persuade them now, we wouldn¡¯t be able to do follow-up activities and get a Triple Crown.


    Thus, I said anything on my mind. ¡°I...want to win the Daesang this year.¡± I chose words that seemed rted to the current issue as much as possible but were strong enough to generate a strong reaction. Daesang was an honor that a rookie who debuted that year could never dream of.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°...Grand Prize?¡±


    ¡°What, are you serious?¡±


    ¡°What...the hell are you talking about?¡± The members seemed to have fallen for my provocation. I used that opportunity to take away the fly swatter in Yeon-Hoon¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Whaaat? Hey, give me back the fly swatter.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s solve this by words...by talking, Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon red at me briefly but nodded and sighed in the end. ¡°But you really want to win the Daesang? Seriously?¡±


    ¡°What, how can we get a Daesang right away in the year we debuted?¡±


    ¡°Who in the world got a Daesang right away in the year they debuted?¡±


    I agreed with all their doubts and questions. Honestly, until just now, I hadn¡¯t even thought about winning the Daesang this year, as it was a wish I made about a minute ago. However, as soon as I dropped this topic, I would fail to persuade them of the reason why I went to see Director Yoo in the morning. I needed to do my utmost best to clutch onto this excuse.


    ¡°Were there any other artists or groups that sold over 500,000 copies in the first half of this year?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re asking this suddenly?¡±


    ¡°Hmm...¡±


    ¡°...Hold on a second.¡±


    ¡°...There wasn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°There wasn''t.¡±


    The members seemed to have realized that we were the most popr idols in the first half of this year and far surpassed the level of rookies.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter whether we¡¯re rookies or not anymore. If we continue this trend well, and if we increase our activities a lot more than others in the second half of this year, we¡¯ll be able to aim for Daesang.¡± This was not actually sophistry but quite a logical persuasion. In fact, the group that won Daesang in 2022 before I regressed was a rookie group.


    It was a girl group that debuted that year, and their situation was simr to ours in many ways. The beginning of their debut garnered a lot of attention and poprity, and their follow-up activities continued for almost one month to two months, and they dominated the music scene by avoiding famous singers. As a result, they ended up receiving the Daesang besides being a rookie group.


    ¡®Come to think of it, wasn¡¯t that group¡¯seback in July?¡¯ It seemed their group¡¯s fate changed after I regressed. Anyway, it was possible to win Daesang even despite being a rookie, and we were definitely better than the girl group in many aspects.


    ¡°We¡¯ve shown the best impact we can show as rookies, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°If we don¡¯t lose this flow and continue our follow-up activities without a break, and then after a month of rest, release a mini album or a double-title single album, regr album, and repackaged album, we might be able to win the grand prize this year.¡±


    ¡°...Are you crazy?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, that might not be a n to win Daesang but a way to assassinate Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°What...How many songs do you want me to write, Bong Tae-Yoon?¡±


    The members gasped at the ridiculous schedule I proposed. Even if I were in their position, I would have cursed after listening to this crazy schedule. We may die from overwork within 10 years if we continue with this schedule. However, I didn¡¯t n to live like that for the rest of my life either. Just one year. No, it was actually about 6 to 8 months. It was apletely doable time period that anyone could do.


    Above all, I knew my members very well. ¡°But guys, don¡¯t you think we could really win Daesang if we aplish that schedule?¡±


    They were on the defensive because of how surprised they were, but all my members had a strong desire to improve and seed as idols. In the past, when they first came out in The Showcase 2, their mindset had been to just get their names out to the public and garner attention before their debut. However, after winning The Showcase 2, their mentality seemed to have changed.


    Now, they realized they could really win if they tried, and they could get closer to their dreams. They probably began to have thoughts like this, at least a bit.


    ¡°Guys, it¡¯s the grand prize. As far as I know, there has never been a rookie that won the grand prize, at least in the revamped music industry. Don¡¯t you want to give it a try?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°The Grand Prize.¡±


    ¡°...It would be amazing if we got it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it would be no joke.¡±


    The members¡¯ expressions began to grow more excited, as they probably imagined us receiving the Grand Prize. In particr, the corners of Do-Seung¡¯s mouth twitched a little.


    ¡®Is he already making up his eptance speech inside his mind?¡¯ Our ck cat seemed quite imaginative, and I couldn¡¯t miss the timing now.


    ¡°Right now, we¡¯re being recognized as a simr group to Only One.¡±


    ¡°Yep, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°If we continue our follow-up activities without a break this time, we can be far ahead of the public in terms of public awareness. That¡¯s how we can gradually widen the gap.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°And at the end of the year, while we get the grand prize, the best Only One can get is the rookie award.¡± I tried to provoke them a bit more by using our rivalry with Only One.¡± However...


    ¡°Ah, but I¡¯ll feel sorry for Only One then...¡±


    ¡°They will probablypare themselves directly to us...¡±


    ¡°If we try to go too far ahead by ourselves, won¡¯t they also go overboard topete with us?¡±


    ¡®I made a huge mistake.¡¯ I forgot for a moment how nice these people were.


    ¡°But I would be really happy to receive the Grand Prize.¡±


    ¡°If we get it...I think I¡¯ll be overjoyed.¡±


    ¡°Honestly, as Tae-Yoon said, I don¡¯t think it would bepletely impossible if we tried a little harder.¡±


    ¡°If we don¡¯t get a good footing in our first year of debut, we won¡¯t be able to continue next year anyways. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a bad idea to work a bit harder this year.¡±


    The previous build-up seemed to have left a clear impression on the members, and they eventually agreed with my n to win the Grand Prize. Their eyes were like racehorses who wanted to sprint towards the target. This was a satisfactory situation, and I thought I should slowly wrap up this conversation.


    ¡°That was why I went to the boss in the morning andid the foundation for Siren¡¯s Grand Prize.¡± I thought the conversation would now end smoothly with everyone agreeing to work hard to win the Grand Prize, but the members weren¡¯t so easily appeased.


    ¡°But you still shouldn¡¯t have done that, Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Why did you go to see the Director alone without consulting us?¡±


    ¡°Above all, it¡¯s hurtful that you even showed us pictures of restaurant food to lie to us.¡±


    ¡°Wow~ Bong Tae-Yoon~ Did you get these food pics from the inte? After I changed the angle a bit and zoomed in, they looked the same as the ones you showed me~¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon, do you want to go to the gym with me?¡± The members didn¡¯t easily let me off the hook.


    I asked, ¡°...What do you want me to do?¡±


    ¡°Go over there and stand there with your hands up.¡±


    ¡°...For real?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, go and raise your arms.¡± I wondered if this was really fair punishment, but I went to the corner of the living room and raised my hand. This was the first time I received a punishment like this since elementary school. I felt a keen sense of embarrassment that I was doing this after I was all grown up.


    ¡°Good job!¡±


    ¡°Nice.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re good at raising your arms~¡±


    This alone gave me huge mental damage, but they also wanted to take a picture of me holding up my arms.


    ¡°What, taking a picture is a bit¨C¡±


    ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°...Yes, do what you want.¡±


    ¡°Yep, of course. We will.¡±


    My moment of humiliation was forever left in the data, but the most humiliating part was that they posted this picture in a group room where Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were.


    ¡ªI won¡¯t ever lie to my members again. (Photo of Bong Tae-Yoon raising his arms.jpg)


    ¡ªhahhahhahahahahhahhahaha


    ¡ªOh my...Mr. Tae-Yoon...haha


    Like this, my disgraceful history was revealed to Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, and theyter shared with me that they showed this photo to every employee they met at the agency.


    ***


    After finishing the schedule for that afternoon, we moved towards ourpany. It was for a follow-up meeting that Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna talked about in the morning. As one of the key speakers of the meeting, I shared a lot of my opinions. Frankly, most of my suggestions were made on the spot, but I had to package them as if I had thought about these ns for a long time, as my concept was a maknae, anxious to receive the Grand Prize.


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°I think we can do it if we just have enough budget.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, marketing is certainly important.¡±


    ¡°Challenges will be important as utilizing Tictactok or Utube is extremely important.¡±


    ¡°In the end, it would be most important to extensively target teenagers and those in their 20s and 30s.¡±


    The members agreed with my opinion that we needed to do activities that would garner enough attention to obtain an all-kill Triple Crown.


    ¡°Then you want us to choose a song from our B-tracks?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Instead of making a new one?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time to make a new song, and personally, I think that song had a lot of potentials.¡±


    ¡°That song?¡± I told them the song I was thinking of, and the members nodded as if they understood my perspective.


    ¡°Yeah, this song¡¯s reviews are great right now.¡±


    ¡°We barely promoted this song, but it keeps going up in the charts.¡±


    As such, our meeting on follow-up activitiessted quite a long time. In the second half of the meeting, I talked less, and my members dominated the conversation much more. Despite everything, my members were more serious about being idols than me. And after a three-hour meeting like this, we finished our follow-up meeting past ten o¡¯clock.


    ¡°Let¡¯s end today¡¯s meeting for now.¡±


    ¡°I think we have to decide more detailed matters after seeing the budget being executed by thepany.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your hard work~¡±


    ¡°Thank you, everyone~¡±


    Although we didn¡¯t produce any significant results, it was a meaningful time when my team members¡¯ opinions and goals all came together.


    ¡°Wow, we didn¡¯t even have dinner and had a meeting.¡±


    ¡°I wanted to eat something delicious for dinner today...¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know! Let¡¯s hurry up and eat something delicious! Ate-night snack!¡±


    ¡°We have to go to a music show tomorrow, Park Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°...Wow, you¡¯re seriously too much.¡±


    My members and I got in the van parked in the parking lot. It was a personal car driven by Yeon-Hoon, and it was the car we had brought from WD Entertainment before.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just endure tonight and eat something delicious tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Even if we get a bit swollen, we¡¯ll be less bloated in the morning than eating at night.¡±


    ¡°Ohh!¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s definitely eat what Dong-Jun wants to eat for breakfast tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Then...is <i>mxianguo</i> okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Wow, Yeon-Hoon...! I¡¯m touched...¡±


    ¡°What, are we really going to order <i>malxiangguo</i> because Park Dong-Jun wants it? Really, for tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Just let him eat what he wants for just one day, Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°Ha...I guess it can¡¯t be helped...¡±


    While the members talked about eating high-calorie food for breakfast tomorrow, I was silently listening to them in the background. I wondered how long a peaceful evening like this wouldst.


    [A surprise mission.]


    <i>¡®Shit...¡¯</i> Saying the word peaceful was now forbidden as it was almost like a trigger. I wondered what kind of surprise mission it was.


    [Get first ce on tomorrow¡¯s music show.]


    [Upon sess, regain Precognitive Vision.]


    [Upon failure, Insight will be retracted.]


    ¡°...Damn it.¡± This was a mission with Insight on the line, and at the same time, it was also a mission to regain Precognitive Vision. Furthermore, the date grabbed my attention.


    ¡®It wants us to win first ce tomorrow?¡¯ This was quite a serious issue, and there was one thing I needed to address right now.


    ¡°I¡¯mpletely against...eating <i>mxianguo</i>.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon?¡±


    I needed to stop everyone from eating salty food in the morning.

 Chapter 199

    <h4>Chapter 199</h4>


    ¡°You are against <i>mxianguo</i>...?¡± Dong-Jun stared at me like he was going to kill me this instance while Do-Seung looked relieved. I felt bad for ruining the team¡¯s great atmosphere like this, but I thought I would have no other chance but now. We needed to get first ce in tomorrow¡¯s music show, so it didn¡¯t make sense for us to have <i>mxianguo</i>.


    Even if the number of people doing text voting decreased a lotpared to before, there were enough people to decide between first and second ce. This was especially the case when Only One and I were maintaining almost equal ranks in terms of streaming counts, album sales, music video views, and so on. In cases like this, the result could be decided on how many of our fans decided to vote by text on that day; and on such a day, we couldn¡¯t go out with our faces puffy from eating <i>mxianguo</i>.


    Of course, some people could say that I was going overboard, but I was on a mission with Insight on the line. I couldn¡¯t ignore even the smallest worries.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m against it,¡± I repeated.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, please park the car. I want to get out and ¡®educate¡¯ our <i>maknae</i> a bit.¡± Dong-Jun said angrily.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, please park the car on the streets fast. I would also like to educate Dong-Jun <i>hyung</i>.¡± I also didn¡¯t back down. In terms of who was more desperate, it was me. Dong-Jun just needed to hold back from eating what he wanted once while this mission had my team¡¯s destiny on the line. I had no confidence in aplishing all these future missions without Insight.


    ¡°What did you say!¡±


    ¡°I said, ¡®<i>You can¡¯t have mxianguo</i>¡¯!¡±


    ¡°Both of you calm down.¡± Instead of Yeon-Hoon who was driving, Woon tried to mediate between me and Dong-Jun. Though there was no need to calm me, Dong-Jun was genuinely heaving. It seemed he really wanted to eat that <i>mxianguo</i>. Considering that he was the type to relieve his stress by eating, it was understandable why he was reacting this way. Thus, I thought I needed to appease him instead of punishing him at a time like this.


    ¡°Dong-Jun, I¡¯m sorry for shutting you down like that with no exnation,¡± I said.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°But I also have my reasons.¡±


    My members didn¡¯t know that I was aiming for first ce in tomorrow¡¯s music show, so I thought I should share my goal with them first.


    ¡°You know that this is our second week of activities now. It¡¯s the time when we could go up as possible candidates for first ce.¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    With the words, ¡®first ce¡¯ the other members besides Dong-Jun focused their attention on me. Some people got first ce on a music show every time, but for a newly debuted group like us, it was different. It would be a sort of proof that we had finally established our positions as idols. In a market where tens and hundreds of groups debuted and disappeared without a trace, this was especially significant.


    ¡°Though it¡¯s not confirmed yet, what if we go up as candidates as first ce? Then, wouldn¡¯t we alle up on the camera at the end of the show? Do you want all of us toe out with puffy faces then?¡±


    I didn¡¯t tell them that we needed to get first ce at all costs since that kind of pressure might do more harm than good. But it was important to make them think.


    ¡°If we stand next to Only One looking worse than usual, will Sailors want to vote for us?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have to get first ce for sure, but we need to make Sailors want to keep seeing the screen.¡±


    ¡°...I was persuaded.¡± Dong-Jun sighed and dered, ¡°I won¡¯t eat <i>mxianguo</i>.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes...¡±


    It was such a fast deration of defeat that Do-Seung and Woon appeared surprised.


    ¡°It really hit me to hear this from our <i>maknae</i>. I¡¯m sorry Taeyoon. I was childish.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine.¡± That was how our <i>mxianguo</i>motion came to an end. Now, there was only one issue remaining.


    ¡°But will we really reach first ce?¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°First ce...¡±


    It was the question of whether we could really get first ce in the music show tomorrow.


    ¡°Will it be possible for us to be considered as candidates for first ce?¡± Yeon-Hoon said unconfidently.


    Yet, I was sure. <i>¡®We would definitely be able to be...candidates for first ce.</i>¡¯ It wasn¡¯t a problem for us to be candidates. In terms of our album sales, music rankings, music video view count, and so on which were all important standards to be candidates for first ce, there was almost no group above us right now.


    Furthermore, ¡®Surprise Missions¡¯ never tended to be thepletely impossible types. The system threw out missions that considered the general situation and one that was within our reach. In other words, it waspletely possible for us to be first-ce candidates.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s very usible,¡± I said.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then...can somebody find the score breakdown for tomorrow¡¯s music show?¡± The music show that was going to air tomorrow was GBS¡¯s ¡®<i>The Music Show</i>¡¯.


    ¡°Give me a moment~¡±


    With Yeon-Hoon¡¯s request, Dong-Jun found the breakdown of the scores and told Yeon-Hoon. This was how it was: Song Ranking-40%, Album Sales-10%, Music Video Views- 20%, On-site Voting-15%, and Text Voting-15%.


    Compared to other music shows, ¡®T<i>he Music Show¡¯</i>s score gave a lower percentage on song rankings and a higher percentage count to on-site and text voting. In other words, it was harder to get first ce with just the results of one¡¯s previous activities before the show.


    ¡°All we can do right now is try to get more text votes.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    There was nothing more we could do about music rankings, album sales, music video count, and so on right now. Even if we did something more now, the people who won¡¯t buy our albums wouldn¡¯t go out of their way to get something like how people who didn¡¯t listen to our music would suddenly y our song.


    Perhaps, the people who listened to our song could buy more albums and listen to the song more times, but it wouldn¡¯t be able to influence the music show that was going to happen tomorrow.


    Thus, realistically, we could only bet our life and death for first ce with the text voting.


    ¡°What can we do to raise the number of text votes for us?¡±


    ¡°Should we upload pictures and information about voting on social media?¡±


    ¡°Of course, we have to do that, but...I feel like we have to do something on top of that.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    I began to ponder about what we needed to do so that we could all get first ce.


    ¡°Should we upload something funny? We could do it as a fan service and try to appeal to the general idol fan audience.¡±


    ¡°A funny video?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    I thought the audience we needed to target for this text voting were people outside of our fandom. Since I didn¡¯t know how many people who weren¡¯t part of our fandom would vote for us, we couldn¡¯t make the video too tantly targeting outside groups but make it funny to spread beyond just our fandom.


    ¡°The fandom size between Only One and us is simr. So, even if we mobilize everyone within our fandom, we would result in simr numbers as Only One. Thus, I think it will be important for us to try to bring in fans from the outside,¡± I said.


    ¡°A funny video.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°Something funny...¡±


    My members seemed to think about what the funny video could be.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Bong bong boroboro Bong Bong.¡±


    My members¡¯ gazes all fixed on me, and Dong-Jun said, ¡°It¡¯s funnier for the usually not funny kid to be funny.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    With his foreboding words, I realized that things were going to turn from bad to worse.


    ***


    In Only One dorm''s living room, all the Only One members gathered to spend their personal time. ¡®Gathered¡¯ and ¡®personal time¡¯ sounded like an oxymoron in the same sentence but Only One somehow managed to achieve that. They each sat on the sofa and looked at their phones, watched a drama, read a book, or chatted with a personal friend. Though they were together, they didn¡¯t do anything besides being ¡®together.¡¯


    The Only One members were spending their personal time like thisrgely because of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s doing. Because Kand Hyun-Sung was quiet and didn¡¯t enjoy group activities unlike the rest of the members who were talkative and liked acting in groups, unrest began to brew inside the team. Thus, after the team members advocated to spend at least the evening time together like a team, this sort of paradoxical team and personal time was established.


    <i>¡®If the main purpose is for us to be together, let¡¯s each do our own thing in the living room,¡¯ </i>Kang Hyun-Sung had told them.


    <i>¡®...But that¡¯s not what we sre saying.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®I¡¯m saying we should at least do that.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®...Ah!¡¯</i>


    It was then Only One members realized that Kang Hyun-Sung wasn¡¯t making a request orpromise but making an order. From that day on, the members all gathered during the evening and did their own thing. In the beginning, the members felt great dissatisfaction about this arrangement. They thought, <i>¡®How could this be a group activity?¡¯</i> When they first proposed this change, they had been imagining something like ying futsal, going on a walk in Hangang, or visiting an exhibition together. Nothing seemed to have changed in the end.


    ¡°Is there anyone who wants to eat a light dessert?¡±


    ¡°Me.¡±


    ¡°Me.¡±


    ¡°Me too~¡±


    ¡°Everyone calcte your calories for the day before eating.¡±


    ¡°All right~¡±


    Yet, soon, Only One realized howfortable and easy this arrangement was. With it, it was possible tomunicate in a group immediately and after they finishedmunicating, they all went back to doing their personal activities again. Furthermore, there were other benefits. If they wanted to do something with other people, they could also immediately gather those interested.


    ¡°I am going to do a needle felt. Who wants to do it with me?¡±


    ¡°Oh! You ended up buying it?¡±


    ¡°It came in a package yesterday.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do it together. It looks fun.¡±


    As Park Young-Ho took out amb needle felt package, Kim Ju-Hyun sat in front of the table and helped him set the ce up. Like that, the Only One members had perfectly adjusted to the rule that Kang Hyun-Sung made. Furthermore, this setup showcased its greatest advantages when they had to share information.


    ¡°Uh? What?¡¯


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Did something happen?¡±


    Only One member Kim Si-Woon gasped while looking at his phone. He made a sort of the sound one would when they saw something they didn¡¯t expect. Only One members stopped what they were doing and looked towards him. Kang Hyun-Sung also closed his book and looked at Kim Si-Woon.


    ¡°Um...A post about Siren popped into my feed while I was doing social media...but what¡¯s this?¡±


    ¡°Siren?¡±


    ¡°What did they do?¡±


    Hearing the name ¡®Siren¡¯ piqued all the members¡¯ interest. For them, Siren was the rival whom they needed to beat but also arade whom they felt a sense ofpanionship with. In a way, they felt like strangely close rtives one would sometimes meet only for the holidays. Thus, they all couldn¡¯t but crane their ears to the news.


    ¡ªPlease spare me (Bong Tae-Yoon)


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°Spare me?¡±


    ¡°What does this mean...?¡±


    ¡°Did Mr. Tae-Yoon lose in a game or something?¡±


    They couldn¡¯t guess what was happening at all.


    ¡°Hyun-Sung, do you still keep in contact with Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Not too often.¡±


    ¡°Can you ask him what this is about?¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung took the phone from Kim Si-Woon¡¯s hand and stared intently at the screen. Tae-Yoon was telling the camera to save him.


    ¡°It¡¯s not really my business,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said and gave Si-Woon¡¯s phone back.


    Simultaneously, he thought to himself, <i>¡®Are they doing this for the music show tomorrow?¡¯</i>


    But even Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t predict all the fuss that Siren would make that night to beat them in a music show.


    ***


    I returned to the dorm with my members. I didn¡¯t think I was a funny person but I couldn¡¯t change my members¡¯ thoughts.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, you have toe out from the front.¡±


    ¡°The person who people expect the least needs toe out.¡±


    ¡°Then, you have to at least give me a rough idea of what I should do or a script. How would it be funny for me to juste out on a video?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you it could. It could just be funny for you toe out.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, Dong-Jun?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know either, but I just got a feeling.¡±


    It seemed all my members wanted to sacrifice me for aedic effect. At this point, it seemed the purpose of making a funny video was in the back corner of their minds and they just wanted to offer me as a sacrifice. The goal was long missing in their minds and they only strived to fulfill their heinous hopes and desires. Thankfully, we reached one conclusion after going back and forth in the meeting.


    ¡°Ah...I really can¡¯t do this. I really don¡¯t think this is it.¡± The problem was that I still couldn¡¯t ept it.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have time.¡±


    ¡°We have to upload this by tonight.¡±


    ¡°Sacrifice yourself for the greater cause, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    This was probably the only team that enforced such a sacrifice on their <i>maknae</i>.

 Chapter 200

    <h4>Chapter 200</h4>


    Siren¡¯s fans were puzzled by a video posted after midnight.


    ¡ª???


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s this?


    ¡ªWhat did they post at this hour?


    ¡ªWhat is this?


    Although there was no set time for idols to make posts on social media, it was notmon for them to post something at midnight during the peak of their activities as they had to wake up at 3 am every day during this time to get their makeup and outfits fitted and rarely stayed up at midnight. However, Siren went as far as uploading a video, not just a written post, on their social media.


    ¡ªSiren¡¯s mental training. Be strong against fact bombs! (Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s part)


    The title of the video was like this, but the thumbnail was beyondme.


    ¡ªWhat did our babies do again lol


    ¡ªTae-Yoon hahhaha


    ¡ªWhat the heck is this?


    ¡ªHahahhahah


    ¡ªWhat did they make the <i>maknae</i> do again? Hahaha


    Bong Tae-Yoon was standing straight in the thumbnail of the video. However, theposition and image quality felt like watching an amateur homemade video from more than 20 years ago. Bong Tae-Yoon stood awkwardly, and due to shooting him at a close-up, slightly high angle, his legs looked shorter while his upper body looked longer, and his head looked 1.3 timesrger than usual. Since Y2K was popr these days, it seemed as if they had purposely lowered the video quality as a kind of video technique. However, they had reproduced the Y2K aesthetic too faithfully.


    ¡ªWeren¡¯t they in kindergarten back then?


    ¡ªHahahha how do know this type of aesthetic haha


    ¡ªWho told Tae-Yoon to stand so awkwardly like that ahhahahahahahahhahahaha


    ¡ªTae-Yoon look confused af


    ¡ªPls stop making the maknae do all the weird stuff lol


    People who saw the thumbnail couldn¡¯t help but click on the video. When users clicked the video, Bong Tae-Yoon stood in the same position, and the only difference was that he now moved and talked. However, the content of the video was more shocking than the thumbnail.


    ¡ªMr. Bong Tae-Yoon, you¡¯re an agent on a difficult mission.


    ¡ªMe?¡¯


    ¡ªYes.


    ¡ªBut I¡¯m wearing pajamas?


    ¡ªYes. The mission is to infiltrate into the public and learn the standard of living of ordinary citizens in the Republic of Korea.


    ¡ª...Is that something you even need to use a special agent to find out...


    ¡ªBe quiet!


    This ridiculous conversation had the power to make the listener think about what in the world they were looking at. The main subjects of the conversation were Bong Tae-Yoon and Yeon-Hoon. Although Park Dong-Jun usually took the lead inedic sketches like this, it hadn¡¯t been long after his controversy, so they wanted to be careful for a few days, and Yeon-Hoon took the lead instead.


    ¡ªBut the mission¡¯s content is a bit strange.


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s so strange about it.


    ¡ªAren¡¯t usually North Korean spies given the mission to learn the standard of living of ordinary citizens in the Republic of Korea?


    ¡ª...Ah!


    ¡ªNo...


    ¡ª...


    ¡ª...Comrade! Watch your mouth!


    ¡ªMy goodness.


    The fans were puzzled by Siren who continued a bizarre, impromptu skit.


    ¡ªWhat am I watching right now?


    ¡ªWhat in the world?


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s wrong with them lol


    ¡ªI¡¯m so confused that I can¡¯t evenugh


    ¡ªIt¡¯s super funny to me hahhahahahah


    Usually, groups posted a standard message asking for votes tomorrow on the eve of a music show. They also attached some selfies for their fans. However, the day before the music broadcast, Siren posted a low-quality video that seemed to have been made from WindXws Movie MakXr. The content was even more crude.


    ¡ªComrade, from now on, go outside and learn about the lives of those South Koreanpatriots.


    ¡ªAre you seriously going to make me into a North Korean spy now?


    ¡ª...Don¡¯tugh!


    The content of the video began to be increasingly bizarre.


    ¡ªWe¡¯ve received intelligence that South Koreans like fun content.


    ¡ªWhy is that even intelligence? Which country doesn¡¯t like fun content?


    ¡ªIf you make usugh, we¡¯ll let you go on a mission.


    ¡ªAm I now in the position to beg for a mission?


    ¡ªNo...That¡¯s...


    ¡ªYou just told me to leave earlier.


    ¡ªAckkkk! Do-Seung!


    In the end, Yeon-Hoon had to step down, and Do-Seung took his ce.


    ¡ªI, your instructor, is gravely disappointed in you, trainee.


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t this the South Korean army now? I guess any soldier is fine.


    ¡ªGet down and do push-ups now!


    ¡ªWow...


    Bong Tae-Yoon made a hollowugh and got into pushup format.


    ¡ªFollow me. I¡¯ll obey at one, and my superiors at two. Start, one!


    ¡ªI¡¯ll obey...


    ¡ªTwo!


    ¡ªMy superiors.


    ¡ªOne!


    ¡ªI¡¯ll obey...


    ¡ªDo it on your own now.


    ¡ªDo it on your own now.


    ¡ª...I told you to do it on your own.


    ¡ªDo it on your own.


    ¡ªDon¡¯t copy me but do the one and two automatically!


    ¡ªOne, two.


    ¡ªNo...stop annoying me!


    The concept of the video was for Bong Tae-Yoon to be one-sidedly knocked around by the Siren members, but Bong Tae-Yoon used his logical reasoning to batter down his opponents and continued the conversation in his favor. In the end, Lee Woon had no choice but to appear as thest batter.


    ¡ªSir, you don¡¯t have to do push-ups.


    Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s face was brightened by Woon¡¯s friendly and respectful tone, which was different from the coercive tones so far.


    ¡ªAs long as you make usugh, we¡¯ll end this without further training.


    ¡ªMake you guysugh?


    ¡ªYes.


    Bong Tae-Yoon began to be flustered by Woon¡¯s earnest and honest request. It was the first time Bong Tae-Yoon lost his pace.


    ¡ªI feel taken aback...after receiving such a normal request like this.


    ¡ªWhat!


    ¡ªThen are you saying we¡¯re abnormal, Bong Tae-Yoon!


    ¡ªBe quiet, you two.


    ¡ªThis is mutiny!


    ¡ªShow respect to your superiors!


    ¡ªHow can you guys talk about respect when you haven¡¯t even enlisted yet?


    ¡ª...


    ¡ª...


    Woo Yeon-Hoon and Kang Do-Seung received critical damage after hearing that they hadn¡¯t enlisted yet and closed their mouths. Then Bong Tae-Yoon fell into thought by himself; it seemed as if the members were feeling burdened by the heavy task of making othersugh.


    ¡ªThat...


    Right before Bong Tae-Yoon was about to say something.


    sh.


    The screen suddenly cked out with a veryme sh- effect. It was ame effect that was probably one of the basic effects set in WindXws Movie MakXr. After that, the screen turned on again, and an unexpected scene appeared.


    ¡ªAha Whaat...Tae-Yoon...ahhahahhaha!


    ¡ªBong Tae-Yoon...you¡¯re crazy...hahhahahha!


    ¡ªAh...ahh...I feel like my stomach will rip...for real...


    There was no Bong Tae-Yoon, who seemed to be the subject of theedy, but only Siren members on the ground. The cameraman taking video of the Siren members also seemed unable to hold back hisughter as the camera shook.


    ¡ªPfff. Hmpff.


    By the sound of trying to hold back hisughter, people figured out that the cameraman was Park Dong-Jun. Like this, there was no Bong Tae-Yoon and only Siren members, who were exploding inughter due to Bong Tae-Yoon. The crucial part was now why the group had exploded like this.


    ¡ªWhat, where is Bong?


    ¡ªWhat in the world is going on here...


    ¡ªHow can they cut that part?


    ¡ªEven though it¡¯s such a messy edit and it hurts my pride to admit this but I¡¯m super curious about the next episode


    ¡ªSo what did Bong do?


    ¡ªhahahhahhahaha what¡¯s with these guys ha


    ¡ªSeriously, what are they doing? Haha


    ¡ªEven though the video quality is so poor, I keep watching it because of how ridiculous they are haha


    ¡ªSo how did Bong Tae-Yoon make these guysugh


    ¡ªAh, pls stop messing with me. Hurry up and release the cut video :0


    ¡ªMy hands are seriously shaking; guys I¡¯m not joking :*) pls hurry up and release the video haha;


    People poured our demands for the cut video, but Siren¡¯s SNS remained quiet after they posted that one video. However, after about an hour¡ª


    ¡ªWe¡¯ll release Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s hriousedish video if we win first ce on tomorrow¡¯s music show.


    A post was made on Siren¡¯s SNS at 1 am.


    ¡ªWow, I guess they really want to win first ce hahahha


    ¡ªHa...Seriously...guys...


    ¡ªhahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahah


    ¡ªLet¡¯s work hard...like Siren, who after winning first ce in The Showcase 2, uploaded aedish video to win first ce on a music show...


    ¡ªWhen was Siren¡¯s concept to keep ppl on their toes?


    Although all kinds of pledges were made by groups before the music broadcast, Siren was the only group that promised to upload a humorous video.


    ¡ªLegendary promise made in real-time by a boy group


    ¡ªA secret video would be released when they win first ce on a music show...fan¡¯s curiosity explodes


    ¡ªThe double life of idols who seemed innocent


    SNS pages and Utube creators, who were crazy about views, began to scoop Siren¡¯s video like crazy. Thus, it quickly spread among not only Siren fans but other idol fandoms and even to the general public. When the next morning came, the number of views of the video posted by Siren reached more than 500,000 times.


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s with the number of views?


    ¡ªWhy is the view count so high?


    ¡ªJust how many ppl watched this???


    ¡ªPls just let Siren keep their embarrassing moments among us lol


    ¡ªwhat in the world


    The number of views of Siren¡¯s video reached more than 500,000 views.


    ¡ªBut didn¡¯t that channel with a lot of views illegally upload that video?


    ¡ªYep, that¡¯s right lol


    ¡ªseriously, they¡¯re going too far.


    The ce where Siren posted their video was Bluebird, but it was on a Utube channel that Siren¡¯s video reached 500,000 views. Even the process of how Siren¡¯s humorous video spread was ridiculous.


    ***


    While waking up at dawn and washing up, we checked the aftereffects of our video on the inte, including Bluebird. Everyone fell asleeptest night because we were filming and editing, but the reaction from our video was more than enough to offset.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, did you see this?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°The number of views is insane right now.¡±


    ¡°But we have to report the channel after today¡¯s music show, since they illegally uploaded it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true but...Wow, I didn¡¯t expect it to be this much.¡±


    The reaction of our video was so good that the members made a huge fuss about it in the morning. Frankly, I didn¡¯t think our video was that funny while filming itst night, and I thought the members were bad at skits the whole time we were filming. It was so obvious that their concepts didn¡¯t match, and they were making up anything in their minds.


    Thus, I also roughly said anything on my mind and tried to give advanced humor as much as I could when they instructed me to make themugh.


    I really didn¡¯t think it was that funny, but my members loved it so much, and in particr, Dong-Jun was the number 1 contributor to yesterday¡¯s video.


    ¡°People are going crazy about that part you cut out.¡±


    ¡°Good job, Dong-Jun.¡±


    ¡°I told you; I¡¯m good at things like this~¡±


    It was Dong-Jun who suggested cutting out that part, as our original goal had been to post the whole video up. In the first ce, we didn¡¯t even intend to edit it. However, Dong-Jun watched thepleted video, said it was too t, and took out hisptop and edited it on the spot. He purposely lowered the video quality to make it feel intentionally very homemade and narrowed the shots to make the angle even more awkward and forced. Moreover, he even used WindXw Movie MakXr on purpose, saying that it should not have a professional feeling to it at all.


    <i>¡®With this kind of impact, we can win first ce.¡¯ </i>Only One and our record, music chart, and music video views were mostly tied. Only One had different areas that they were better at than us, but if we added all the parts up, we would be almost tied. Therefore, it was crucial to lead the real-time text voting, and with this amount of feed, I thought we would definitely gain an advantage in text voting.


    <i>¡®Let¡¯s wait for now.¡¯</i>


    I decided to calm down a bit and wait for the music show today, and we busily moved from dawn for the pre-recording shoot. We got our makeup done, set our hair, and put on our outfits. Then we sat in the waiting room of the music show, trying to rx individually, and checked the choreography again. Since we needed to win first ce today, we took extra care of our appearance and all aspects of the performance.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±


    Woon and Yeon-Hoon, who were using their phones behind me, uttered ominous words at the same time.


    ¡°Ohhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Amazing!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    Then they looked at the screen and beganughing their head off. I wondered what was going on.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Look at this! Only One edited and uploaded aedy video like us!¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°This is so funny.¡±


    They said Only One followed us and posted aedy video. I hurriedly took out my phone and checked Only One¡¯s SNS.


    <i>¡®Damn it.¡¯</i> I couldn¡¯t help but sigh at the number of shares and views they received in an instant.

 Chapter 201

    <h4>Chapter 201</h4>


    The video that Only One uploaded was amassing a great number of shares and views and was rising to one of the social media¡¯s hot topics. I clicked on the video.


    ¡ªCollection of Only One¡¯s Daily Life


    The format of the video was quite different from ours. As the title said, it was a collection of funny videos from their daily lives rather than an acted-out scene. It appeared that the group¡¯s <i>maknae</i>, Park Young-Ho went around their dorm with the camera often, and the video showcased realistic sides of the members.


    <i>¡®I thought these guys had boring personal lives.¡¯ </i>Since<i> </i>Kang Hyun-Sung held the group under his iron fist, I thought they would live mundane and uninteresting lives. Though they appearedxer these days, it was rare for a group to act so carefree and light if someone very authoritative acted as the center of the group.


    ¡ªKim Ju-Hyun, get up. You have a schedule to meet.


    ¡ªUhughhh...ughhh...


    ¡ªKim Ju-Hyun.


    ¡ªUghuhhhh.


    ¡ªIf you don¡¯te down in five minutes, you¡¯ll bete.


    ¡ªThen, let me sleep... four minutes more...I will go in one minute...


    ¡ª...Are you out of your mind?


    ¡ªUghahhhughahhhugh


    ¡ªHaa...


    The atmosphere in their dorm was quite different from what I expected. As Kim Ju-Hyun struggled to get up, unable to ovee his sleep, it seemed Kang Hyun-Sung went to wake him up. I thought everyone would immediately jump out of their beds on time because they were scared of Kang Hyun-Sung, but that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. Kim Ju-Hyun showed no signs of getting up even after a warning or two.


    ¡ªYoung-Ho, bring the spray.


    ¡ªYes, sir!


    ¡ªDon¡¯t you remember? We agreed to use the spray if you don¡¯t get up on time.


    ¡ªUghahhhughah


    ¡ª...You really are out of your mind.


    In the end, Kim Ju-Hyun pressed the lever of the spray right on Kim Ju-Hyun¡¯s face. What Kang Hyun-Sung said while doing that was the real highlight of the scene.


    ¡ªFlowers are going to grow on your face at this rate, Ju-Hyun.


    ¡ªApufuuuu


    ¡ªYour face is like a flower.


    ¡ªPufuuuuruuu


    ¡ªWe don¡¯t need to grow a flower here. We can just keep watering you like this.


    ¡ªUh...please spare me....


    ¡ªAre you awake now?


    ¡ªYes, for real this time. I really am.


    ¡ªGo and wash your face.


    ¡ªYes, sir!


    ¡ªHahahaha


    How could anyone describe him as anything but crazy? Yet, it appeared all the Only One members simply thought of Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s behavior as funny. They all clutched onto their stomachs to hold back theirughter, and it appeared that people on social media also thought lightly of the matter. After all, it wasn¡¯t like Kang Hyun-Sung had tortured his member with water but simply sprayed some water on his member¡¯s face; and based on what he said, it seemed all the members had agreed to do this beforehand.


    ¡ªYou were filming this, Young-Ho?


    ¡ªYes!


    ¡ª....Just keep this to yourself, okay?


    ¡ªOkay!


    This was the first video in the collection of funny videos, and as expected, there was the next video. Like the previous video, the main characters of this video were also Kang Hyun-Sung and Kim Ju-Hyun. The only difference was that their background was inside of the car now. It seemed this event took ce after the water spraying the morning shown in the previous video.


    ¡ªJu-Hyun is sleeping again.


    ¡ªHuh? Really?


    Kim Ju-Hyun appeared to be falling asleep again but inside the car, and the person sitting next to him was coincidentally Kang Hyun-Sung. While dozing off, Kim Ju-Hyun unknowingly tilted his head towards Kang Hyun-Sung. Usually, people would have lent a shoulder at times like this but Kang Hyun-Sung stretched out one finger and pushed Kim Ju-Hyun¡¯s head away from him.


    ¡ªPft!


    ¡ªHaa!


    ¡ªHmph!


    Because of how elegant and graceful Kang Hyun-Sung looked while doing that, all the members had to hold back theirughter.


    ¡ªKim Ju-Hyun.


    ¡ªUhahhhh.


    ¡ª...Is he really a zombie?


    ¡ªUghahhhh


    ¡ª....Sigh


    In the end, Kang Hyun-Sung moved his finger away and let Kim Ju-Hyun use his shoulder. I skipped the video to scan the highlights. There were clips of Only One members sharing entertaining conversations while eating, clips of them having humorous encounters while going out on a walk in the middle of the night, and funny scenes of them exercising on the weekends. They were all funny and natural moments of their daily life, and it appeared that this video more sessfully satisfied their fans¡¯ wants.


    ¡ªOur guys are ying so worry-free TTTT


    ¡ªlolol Can anyone else open their eyes like Onion Koongya* like Kang Hyun-Sung? [1]


    ¡ªhahaha Hyun-Sung stop looking at your members with those kinds of eyes


    ¡ªHaa...I like Hyun-Sung¡¯s soulless eyes...


    ¡ªWhat kind of existence is Ju-Hyun in Only One? Hahaha


    ¡ªI feel like Kim Ju-Hyun stole everyone else¡¯s sleep


    ¡ªHow could a person be sleeping in 2/3 of the videos they are caught in? Haha


    ¡ªThinking about Young-Ho working hard to film all this makes me smile like an aunty


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t Young-Ho¡¯s voice so cute?


    ¡ªPlease upload more videos like this.


    The fans passionately cheered, seeing the daily lives of Only One members that were rarely revealed to the public. It appeared Only One¡¯s strategy was to strike the iron while it was hot and revealed the conditions for the next video¡¯s release.


    ¡ªUpon winning first ce in today¡¯s music show, we will release part two of ¡®Collection of Only One¡¯s Daily Life¡¯!


    Those guys had the same condition as us, which was that they would only release the next video if they ced first in ¡®<i>The Music Show</i>.¡¯


    ¡°Haaa.¡± I turned off the video. I didn¡¯t want to say this but... <i>¡®They sure are seasoned pros.¡¯ </i>


    It was probably Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s idea to release this collection. He was probably the only one in Only One who exactly deduced the type of content that the fans wanted.


    <i>¡®This is dangerous.¡¯ </i>We were benefitting from the early start of uploading our video first, but I didn¡¯t know when things could overturn. Only One¡¯s video was quickly raking in views and moreover, other fandoms who stayed updated on our news because of the rivalry storyline between Only One and us were probably going to be drawn to Only One¡¯s video as well. In the end, even this matter could end at a standstill.


    <i>¡®Do we have to do something more?¡¯ </i>I thought hard. I wasn¡¯t confident about doing something in this situation. We had already done enough of appealing to other fandoms in the idol market with funny videos. Thus, where could we pull in a great portion of the text-voting pie?


    <i>¡®Do I need to pull in the male fans portion of the pie?¡¯</i> That was all I could think of. But how in the world could I pull in the portion of male fans who liked girl groups? Even if we danced hard enough to break the stage, those kinds of people preferred a single heart hand gesture from their favorite idols. Shooting a challenge video with a girl group seemed to be the better option but that didn¡¯t seem all that effective either.


    In some ways, the difficulty of drawing in male fans was harder than being chosen by the public. It was then that something came to my mind.


    <i>¡®The public¡¯s pick?¡¯</i> I realized that I had missed something important then. Though reports said that idols were now just a culture for manias, there still had to be some people outside the idol culture who watched music shows. Trying to get their votes could be an easier task, or another good option could be to try to bring back people who had some experience in the idol culture but had left it because their lives got too busy.


    <i>¡®Hmm.¡¯</i> Then, I needed to think of a method to get the public¡¯s pick.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon? What¡¯s with your expression? Is there a lot on your mind?¡± It was then someone very handsome popped in front of me.


    ¡°Ah.¡± As soon as I saw Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face, I realized that I had thought too hard and deeply about what the general public wanted.


    <i>¡®People like things that are pretty and handsome.¡¯ </i>If that was what the public wanted, then there was a person who had the best mainstream asset in front of me. It seemed like I had to take one more video.


    ***


    Kang Hyun-Sung collected his breath in the waiting room after finishing his morning recording. Since he was on the sofa, the rest of the Only One members naturally sat around him.


    ¡°Hyun-Sung, the responses for the video are really good.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Everyone is raving about how funny you and Ju-Hyun are.¡±


    ¡°...I guess people find that funny.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a humorous part about you that you don¡¯t realize.¡± Young-Ho babbled next to Hyun-Sung and began to monitor the videoments. As he said, the responses for the clips they uploaded today weren''t bad.


    Yesterday night, Kang Hyun-Sung thought Tae-Yoon had gone crazy. He wondered why a guy like Tae-Yoon was suddenly acting like this when he wasn¡¯t the type to. Though cing first on a music show was great and important, it was nothing to stake one¡¯s life on in Siren or Only One¡¯s current situations. They would probably win first ce back and forth throughout this whole week. One day for them and another day for Siren, just like that.


    In short, there was no need for them to go so far as to secure the first ce trophy for ¡®T<i>he Music Show</i>¡¯. Yet, Kang Hyun-Sung recalled how he sometimes couldn¡¯t understand Tae-Yoon¡¯s behavior. There was a time when Tae-Yoon suddenly called him and requested him to pick him up at a faraway highway. Thus, Kang Hyun-Sung had nned to just gloss over the matter thinking it was one of those moments when...


    <i>¡®Their view count for their video keeps increasing.¡¯ </i>Seeing how many views Siren¡¯s video was gaining and how quickly they were rising to hot topics, Kang Hyun-Sung thought things could be dangerous. It didn¡¯t matter whether the two groups went back and forth for first ce, but it would be a big problem if Siren stole all the first-ce spots from them. Once the public made a mental note that Only One was below Siren, things would snowball into bigger consequences. Thus, he asked each of the members if they possessed some videos for safekeeping.


    <i>¡®We have loads.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®I have so many.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®Besides you, we¡¯ve all been filming.¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®...That¡¯s good.¡¯</i>


    Kang Hyun-Sung then found out that all his team members had been filming team videos except for him. Thus, they chose the funny ones among them to make aption video. After finishing the video, they realized that most of the videos were shot by Park Young-Ho. Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t know what was funny about these videos but his members aggressively insisted that they needed to include those videos in the final product.


    Seeing how theirption video was going head-to-head with Siren¡¯s humorous video, it could be said this was a mission sess. Thinking that he had quelled all the urgent fires, Kang Hyun-Sung decided to leave the issue of who won first ce to the heavens. Yet, after they ate lunch and took a short break, Siren uploaded another video.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Sirens uploaded one more video.¡±


    ¡°What? Seriously? The quality of this...is no joke.¡±


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    This video was uploaded not just on Bluebird but Siren¡¯s official Utube channel, NewStargram, and so on. Seeing this video, Kang Hyun-Sung instinctively realized what sort of state Tae-Yoon was in.


    <i>¡®It seems he will die if he doesn¡¯t get first ce today.¡¯ </i>


    Kang Hyun-Sung could tell that Tae-Yoon was more desperate than anyone right now.


    ***


    I requested Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon to rent out a studio for us. Since we finished our early morning recording and didn¡¯t have any schedule in the afternoon, we had the time. Furthermore, the reason I asked to rent out a studio was that there was a video we needed to film at this very moment.


    ¡°They have all the instruments and everything there right?¡±


    ¡°They said they manage the ce and do the tuning every day, so we can use them immediately.¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung, you said you know how to y the guitar right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, since I began song-producing with guitar.¡±


    ¡°Then, I will y the piano.¡±


    ¡°...You are really going to y it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I know how to.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d never seen you do it.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±


    cing first today in a music show could decide the fate of my group members since if I lost Insight, I would be losing my biggest weapon to fight against the system. Thus, I needed to do everything I could.


    ¡°How did you say I should set the camera, Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Ah, I can do that personally. Please just turn it on.¡±


    The person who boasted of the greatest price-value photocard, fame, and visuals in our group was Yeon-Hoon. Yeon-Hoon was the sort of person that even people who didn¡¯t know idols well knew, and he was getting the spotlight as the rising star of his generation. And if I had to pick the time when he showed his coolest side, it was when he sang. Thus, I nned to fire up the social media once more using Yeon-Hoon before our music show.


    ¡°Please just trust in me one more time,¡± I said. I was very desperate. I prepared to make a face-cam video that maximized only Yeon-Hoon¡¯s strengths. And if things didn¡¯t work out despite all this...


    <i>¡®It¡¯ll be like the world telling me to just go and die.¡¯</i>


    There were no other options.


    1. A vegetable-themed animation character known for its pure-looking but crazy eyes ?

 Chapter 202

    <h4>Chapter 202</h4>


    Yoon Seung-Yeon, who was Siren¡¯s road manager, stared at Bong Tae-Yoon while he was busily setting up his camera. Even though she didn¡¯t have much experience in this field, she had heard a lot of stories while walking around like who had a messy personal life from so and so group or who caused a lot of trouble in another group. In severe cases, she heard about someone who habitually took drugs or got pregnant before marriage. She heard all kinds of dirty rumors that she didn¡¯t want to hear.


    Yoon Seung-Yeon had no choice but to hear these stories even though she didn¡¯t want to hear them. This was an industry that was extremely difficult to stay clean and pure, and at the same time, it was a ce that enjoyed another person¡¯s downfall the most. It was a ce where even if a person debuted with their innocence, all their innocence disappeared in two¡ªno, just one year. The entertainment industry conducted this type of environment.


    Celebrities started at a young age, and it was a ce where extremely good-looking people frequently met. Furthermore, it was possible to acquire astronomical sums of money every quarter, and there was a guaranteed leisure time as celebrities worked between active and inactive periods. Yoon Seung-Yeon wondered how many people could keep their innocence with all these conditions.


    Yoon Seung-Yeon was not criticizing those who were in a rtionship as dating was only natural for young people. However, if they fell astray into crime ormitted acts that were difficult to ept by societal standards, they crossed a river of no return from then on. Committing those acts was not the only problem, as in a way, it felt like the passion and innocence of when those idols first debuted were gone as soon as theymitted those immoral actions.


    While walking in corridors, parking lots, and smoking lots, Yoon Seung-Yeon had encountered a couple of idols, who had a few years of experience under their belt, with soulless, dead eyes. For a hundred percent of them, rumors about them began to spread around in the broadcasting industry in less than 11 months.


    <i>¡®I wondered what would happen if there was someone like that among Siren.¡¯ </i>That was what Yoon Seung-Yeon was most wary of. She wondered if there would be anyone among Siren who would cross that line. They were okay now, but after experiencing such steep sess, she wondered if they wouldn¡¯t be led astray even once.


    Siren became the hottest new boy idol group in the idol industry in about half a year. She didn¡¯t know if it was God¡¯s help or the back-breaking efforts of each member, but their entire situation changed dramatically. They washed away the image of struggling idols in the beginning, and even changed their small, corrupt agency to arge, sessful agency. They were now a group that sold 500,000 initial copies and had more than tens of millions of views on their music videos.


    In terms of potential value, Siren¡¯s value exceeded tens of billions of wons, and if they maintained this form for a few years, they may reach hundreds of billions of wons. During this process, she thought that there might be one person who may be led astray, and she wondered who this person may be. Since Yoon Seung-Yeon didn¡¯t have supernatural fortune-telling powers, she couldn¡¯t know the future. Since she also wasn¡¯t that shrewd at reading people, she couldn¡¯t predict it either.


    However, if she were to pick the most unstable-looking person in Siren, one person stood out to her the most.


    ¡°Ms. Seung-Yeon, would you be able to turn on the light switch?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yes.¡±


    It was the <i>maknae</i>, Bong Tae-Yoon. By unstable, she didn¡¯t mean that she thought him likely tomit crimes or create a negative image for the group. Instead, he had a precarious atmosphere as if he was always walking on a thin line somewhere. It was impossible for her to even imagine how much struggle and suffering a 19-year-old had to experience to be like this.


    <i>Flick. </i>


    While turning on the lights, Yoon Seung-Yeon sincerely wished that this group would shine brightly forever.


    ***


    We finished setting up the camera and lighting without external personnel. An actual camera and lighting director would be shocked by our skills, as in an instant, we set them ording to how professionals would make them.


    <i>¡®If I lose Insight, I wouldn¡¯t be able to do stuff like this anymore.¡¯ </i>I wouldn¡¯t be able to perform these miracles after losing Insight, and another reason not to lose Insight was engraved into my heart. I looked at the finished screen and called out to my members.


    ¡°Look at the screen. What do you think?¡±


    ¡°...Bong Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°What are you really?¡±


    ¡°What...¡±


    ¡°As expected of a Bong, you¡¯re good with the cameras...¡±


    Even my members were shocked by the camera set-up as the angel and color of the lighting were all professional level.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, go and sit down.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yep! I got it.¡± Yeon-Hoon sat on a stool chair in the center of the studio. I set the camera again so that Yeon-Hoon¡¯s body could fill up the camera screen. After fine-tuning the lighting again, the final setting waspleted in about 20 minutes.


    ¡°But Tae-Yoon, is it really okay if I sing by myself?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What about the others?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll reveal itter on. We can¡¯t reveal everyone at once. We still have 5 more music shows and 3 weeks of promotions.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    The video that we shot today at the studio was Yeon-Hoon singing our title track by himself. <Blue Summer Night> was a seasonal song that matched the summer season and was a great song to listen to on a drive. In fact, Do-Seung said he wrote it with this in mind while writing the song and hoped that this song would ring out in the vehicles of vacationers. The top line was made to feel cool and refreshing, and the tempo was set to medium so that people could sing along easily.


    As a result, many people wanted an acoustic version of this song as soon as it was released as many people also drove at night, not just during the day. However, this song was too lively to listen to at night. Thus, a lot of acoustic arrangements with a slightly lowered tempo were released on Utube. However, they were not official but versions made by fans.


    And fortunately, Kang Do-Seung, an all-around genius, also made an acoustic version of this song as well. We were going to record and release an acoustic version of ¡°Blue Summer Night,¡± which had been floating around unofficially so far.


    ¡°Dong-Jun, can youe here and press the camera button?¡±


    ¡°Okie.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go over there and y the piano.¡± I went in front of the piano installed the score and activated Insight. It felt like I was using a cheat key every time I used Insight.


    <i>¡®Should I rather use this to take the college schstic ability test and enter medical school?¡¯</i> In about five seconds, the information on how to y this song on the piano entered my brain.


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll start recording!¡± Dong-Jun pressed the camera recording button, and Do-Seung and I started ying.


    The prelude to the acoustic version of ¡°Blue Summer Night¡± rang out in the studio. Yeon-Hoon, who was sitting on the stool, quickly grasped the appropriate emotion for this song. Even though we had never recorded the acoustic version before, he was already grooving with the song like he had sung it many times before. Yeon-Hoon was a genius in quickly understanding and immersing himself in any song.


    When the song started after the prelude, I thought, ¡®I¡¯m d we¡¯re filming this.¡¯ It had been a hassle to set everything up, but I was d that I went ahead with my idea.


    ***


    A video as posted on Siren¡¯s official Utube, Newstagram, Bluebird, and so on just past lunchtime at 1 pm¡ªa leisurely time after lunch whether someone was at school or work. It was a time when anyone, whether they were working or students, could watch a video leisurely. People naturally checked the video posted by Siren.


    Last night, they posted aedic video that confused viewers whether they wereedians or idols, but this time, they posted a video that was quite reminiscent of singers.


    ¨C<Blue Summer Night> Acoustic ver. (Woo Yeon-Hoon)


    It was an acoustic version of ¡°Blue Summer Night,¡± and Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face filled up the thumbnail. Although it wasn¡¯t a close-up shot of his face, it was a pretty tight bust shot. The creator seemed to have wanted to openly show Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face, but since it would have been awkward if there was just a close-up face, he made apromise to do a bust shot.


    ¨CFuck what¡¯s with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face (shocked)


    ¨CWow. Haha As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I screamed


    ¨CHis face is a gift from god


    ¨CI almost screamed while working at my job


    ¨COur cutie peach pie...fight me if he¡¯s not the cutest, brightest angel...?


    People began sharing the video and posting on their feeds from the thumbnail alone. Every time Yeon-Hoon came out on a show, people said it was legendary, but the extent of his legendary visuals was off the charts this time.


    ¨CI think he looks handsome in a different way every time hees out on camera


    ¨CThey say you lose your memory when you see a handsome man... They say you lose your memory when you see a handsome man... They say you lose your memory when you see a handsome man... They say you lose your memory when you see a handsome man...


    ¨CHis face is number one in the 4th generation of male idols.


    This was the result of Bong Tae-Yoon setting up the camera and adjusting the lighting to make only Yeon-Hoon shine. While the thumbnail provided primary shock to viewers, the next wave of shock was waiting for them once they clicked on the thumbnail.


    After starting the video, the first melody they heard was the prelude to the acoustic version of ¡°Blue Summer Night.¡± It was originally a bright and cheerful summer song that reminded listeners of the peak of summer, but after being rearranged, it gave off a coolness like the early summer night. The tempo was also changed to a slower tempo, and the prelude seemed to give a rxed impression as much as possible.


    ¡ªThis is a new story between you and me


    ¡ªThat we willplete together


    ¡ªSO GOOD, I already get a feeling


    ¡ªThis is a moment that can¡¯t be reced


    ¡ªA drama that can¡¯t be seen again


    ¡ªRight now, there¡¯s only us


    The moment the piano was added on top of the acoustic guitar sound¡ªWoo Yeon¡¯s voice resonated in the ears of the people who watched the video or used earphones.


    ¡ªWow, his voice...


    ¡ªI¡¯m speechless fr


    ¡ªWow...seriously...Yeon-Hoon is too crazy


    His voice was on a different level from the unofficial acoustic sounds that were previously released on Utube. As soon as listeners heard the first verse, the emotional lines conveyed by Yeon-Hoon in the acoustic apaniment resonated in people¡¯s ears. It was a voice that raised people¡¯s immersion to the peak from the very first verse, and people¡¯s attention waspletely focused on the song from the very first verse until the end of the video.


    ¡ªThis summer night, TONIGHT~


    ¡ªLet us gather the ends of this night


    ¡ªSO GOOD, TONIGHT~


    ¡ªThis was the day I had been waiting for


    Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s emotional delivery began to draw an increasingly clear and specific image.


    ¡ªThis blue sparkling summer is ours¡ªooh¡ª


    ¡ªBLUE SUMMER NIGHT


    ¡ªA zing passionate, summer night


    ¡ªchillingly spreads


    ¡ªLook at the end of this world


    Woo Yeon-Hoom seemed to spout out each line of lyrics so that listeners coulde up with the same image as him. During their leisure, the image of a cool summer night naturally formed in the minds of all listeners. However, before he moved on to the second verse¡ª


    Click. The video abruptly cut off.


    ¡ªThe second verse will be released if we get 1st ce on today¡¯s music show.


    The world¡¯s most evil words came up on screen.


    ¡ªWTF

 Chapter 203

    <h4>Chapter 203</h4>


    ¡ªYou guys are joking with me right?


    ¡ªHahahaha this is so funny hahaha...not really


    ¡ªThis is crossing the line


    ¡ªGuys...I¡¯m not kidding. Please release the full version quickly


    ¡ªI was watching this with a goofy grin on my face but as soon as the song got cut off, my expression turned ice cold


    ¡ªShould I say Next Wave is doing a good or bad job?


    ¡ªBut this is driving me crazy? Can somebody who can mimic Yeon-Hoon¡¯s voice sing the second part?


    ¡ªHahahaha


    ¡ªHaa...I want to kill the person who nned this


    ¡ªIs the person who nned this a genius or a psychopath?


    ¡ªIs there anyone who would go to rob Next Wave¡¯sputer with me?


    ¡ªFor the person who nned this video, I hope that you will get as many blessings as well as punishments


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s video garnered even more attention and buzz than Tae-Yoon predicted. Not knowing that it was actually Tae-Yoon behind this video, manyments poured curses at the video creator. Since there weren¡¯t many videos of Yeon-Hoon singing with all he had yet, it was very precious content for the fans. Thus, they were angrier that such a video got cut in the middle. Moreover, there was something else that irritated them further.


    ¡ªWhy did the font and video quality suddenly be like a homemade IMxvie?


    ¡ªHaa...


    ¡ªThey are seriously trying to piss us off


    The video maintained a quality that only professionals would¡¯ve shot until the end when its quality shot down to the level of a funny video that had its subtitles added just yesterday. Shocked by the quality of the subtitles, people fumed even harder but even this part about subtitles was Tae-Yoon¡¯s idea.


    He wanted to create more buzz about this issue however he could and tried to think of any sort of tricks. In the end, his efforts were sessful as after the video release, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s song video became number one on trending.


    That wasn¡¯t all. Since the video was fundamentally of high quality, it began to spread across the inte at a very fast rate.


    ¡ªLook at the ss of this male idol group¡¯s main vocalist


    ¡ªSiren¡¯s main vocalist¡¯s singing skills are unbelievable


    ¡ªTop-tier male idol make waves with shocking skills


    Always waiting for the next hit news, channels took the video and spread it at the speed of light intending to pull in some views before their videos were reported. Thus, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s singing video quickly spread and reached people¡¯s ears.


    ¡ªWow, crazy. Why are their songs so good?


    ¡ªThis is the acoustic version. The original is something else.


    Reply: Ah, for real?


    Reply: This song is in 1st or 2nd ce on the music charts right now. You didn¡¯t know?


    Reply: I usually don¡¯t listen to idol music


    Even the ordinary public who didn¡¯t know idols well began to watch the videos and draw in responses.


    ¡ªWow, he¡¯s seriously good at singing...


    ¡ªGuys who are good-looking should also not sing so well...


    ¡ªAmong the people I listened to these days, I think he¡¯s the best


    ¡ªSoren?


    Reply: No, Siren


    The video began to spread among men who didn¡¯t have much interest in idols. Not only did these sorts of live singing videos attract a much higher number of men than women, but the majority of channels that took Yeon-Hoons¡¯ videos and uploaded them to their channels targeted a majority male audience. Of course, the male audience in these channels didn¡¯t start voting on a music show just because they saw Yeon-Hoon¡¯s video.


    ¡ªWhy aren¡¯t they revealing the second verse?


    Reply: They said they will release if they get first ce on a music show or something


    Reply: Are you going to do it?


    Reply: With what?


    They simply reacted to the text that came out at the end of the video and didn¡¯t take any action. Yet, it wasn¡¯t like there was no effect to the video spreading among men.


    ¡ªMy boyfriend suddenly sent me a link asking if this was the group I liked


    ¡ªMy mom¡¯s son also suddenly contacted me, asking if they were the Siren guys


    ¡ªMy dad suddenly asked me too


    The men shared Siren videos with the people around them and acted as messengers. As the people who watched Yeon-Hoon¡¯s video diversified, the video began toe up on people¡¯s algorithms more often. At a speed much faster than Siren¡¯sedy skit video, the video¡¯s views increased. The video also had a positive effect on other milestones.


    Siren¡¯s ¡°Blue Summer Night¡± which had been circling first and second ce became fixed at first ce, and the music video¡¯s views increased by 10% continuously. Of course, since this all happened on the day, it was still uncertain whether these numbers would be considered for <i>¡®The Music Show</i>.¡¯ Yet, this was all positive signs for Siren and the battle for first ce between Siren and Only One seemed to lean towards Siren¡¯s favor.


    ***


    After filming Yeon-Hoon¡¯s acoustic version of the song and uploading it, I ate ate lunch. Even though it was lunch, I didn¡¯t eat anything heavy. On other days, I would¡¯ve eaten something with more sodium but today I couldn¡¯t.


    ¡°We are going up as first-ce candidates for the first time. My face can¡¯t look puffy...¡±


    ¡°But...I really crave kimchi stew right now.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°Kimchi stew with egg roll together. It¡¯s the perfectbination.¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°Then, sprinkle some seaweed kes on steaming rice and pour some kimchi stew in it and mix it...¡±


    ¡°Block that devil¡¯s mouth!¡±


    ¡°Umph!¡± Do-Seung put his hand over Dong-Jun¡¯s mouth. Yeon-Hoon, who had almost been enchanted by Dong-Jun¡¯s nonsense, finally regained his senses. Today, we would be chosen as candidates for first ce ande out in the ending performance. Since we got contacted with the news after our filming, this was an irrefutable fact.


    After we heard the news, we threw away our n to eat half of a normal meal and immediately moved to sds. We used one-third of our sd dressing so that we had the minimum amount of seasoning to pass this food through our mouths. After a meal like this, our stomachs didn¡¯t feel much different from before and after a meal. Though there was a faint feeling of our stomachs filling more full, it made us doubt if we had really eaten something or not.


    ¡°Can we really get first ce today?¡±


    My members talked while we moved to the music broadcast¡¯s waiting room. It seemed they all couldn¡¯t believe whether or not we would really be able to ce first.


    ¡°If you aren¡¯t sure, look at the numbers. The numbers don¡¯t lie,¡± I told my members. I understood that they were anxious. I was also anxious- no probably more worried than them since I had Insight on the line. Yet, whenever I thought that I stared at the numbers and indexes and calmed my heart.


    ¡°Based on the numbers, it would be strange if we didn¡¯t get first ce.¡±


    ¡°Only One is also here.¡±


    ¡°If you think of the text voting, we are safe.¡±


    ¡°But Only One has more public awareness than us.¡±


    ¡°Though they are better known by the public, I¡¯m sure more people would vote for us.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true but...¡±


    It seemed Yeon-Hoon would stay anxious no matter what he heard. At times like this, it was Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna who could help him more than us.


    ¡°I...know I may be overstepping my boundaries, but there¡¯s actually a strange jinx going around this entertainment business.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. A music show jinx.¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon spoke while driving, and Ms. Hyuna also supported her.


    ¡°A jinx?¡±


    The mention of a ¡®jinx¡¯ piqued our curiosity.


    ¡°It¡¯s something we heard while working on-site or going to salons...¡± It seemed Ms. Seung-Yeon wanted to highlight thest bit because she made a long pause. ¡°They say that idols win first ce in a music show if their manager steps on gum.¡±


    But what she said was so simple and disappointing considering how much she dramatized it¡ª<i>¡¯ something big happened if they stepped on gum</i>¡¯. It was like the jinx that said students got epted to schools if they ate <i>yeot</i>[1]. This sort of jinx was all attached to examination days.


    ¡°So, did you step on a gum?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°We both didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Then, why did you bring this up?¡±


    Furthermore, those two dered that they didn¡¯t even step on a piece of gum. I wondered why they were bringing this up and just raising our overall nervousness.


    <i>Creak. </i>Yet, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna parked the car as soon as they arrived at the broadcast station and went outside.


    ¡°Give us a moment.¡±


    ¡°We wille back soon.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    The two returned around ten minutester and were chewing something. Everyone realized it then.


    ¡°Are you chewing on gum?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What...?¡±


    ¡°More importantly, we attached some gum to our shoes.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    I thought they would spit their gums to stick them on their shoes but they already came after doing that.


    ¡°It¡¯s because it doesn¡¯t look too hygienic to spit out gums and step on it. Furthermore, it''s sort of embarrassing. So, we came after doing it in private.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    We all came out of the car and Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna showed us the bottom of their shoes.


    ¡°Just in case, we attached the gums on both sides.¡±


    ¡°Since we stuck gum on four shoes in total, perhaps, this means that you guys will win first ce four weeks in a row.¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°Is everyone feeling a bit more loose now?¡±


    With Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna¡¯s help, my members looked much morefortable than before.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m much less nervous now.¡±


    ¡°Of course, you guys will win first ce. We stuck gum in four ces.¡±


    On my members¡¯ faces, a smile that looked much more at ease came up. I also knew that this was just a silly belief that people had, but I was touched by the fact that there were people who thought so much of us, and I could feel their strong faith and trust in us.


    <i>¡®How nice.¡¯</i> This was a veryforting feeling.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. You guys have to warm up and prepare for the stage.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°Ohhhh!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get first ce today!¡±


    My members and I moved to the waiting room.


    ***


    After finishing their live performance, Only One returned to the waiting room.


    ¡°Haa!¡±


    ¡°Ahhh!¡±


    ¡°Yayy! It¡¯s over~¡±


    They all felt much more rxed after finishing what could be considered the biggest part of their schedule, the music show. Though this wasn¡¯t the official end, one could say the important parts were all over.


    ¡°Did Siren members go up?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Should we monitor them?¡±


    ¡°Turn it on.¡±


    The group to go after Only One was Siren. Since this was a live broadcast, if they just turned on the TV and set it to the right channel, they could immediately check Siren¡¯s performance. As always, Siren¡¯s performance quality was great. Today, they wore sailor uniforms instead of school uniforms, and seeing this, an image came to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s mind.


    <i>¡®The introductory performance?¡¯</i> It was the first episode of <i>The Showcase 2. </i>


    When Kang Hyun-Sung had first seen Siren¡¯s performance at that time, he thought,<i> ¡®...This is dangerous.¡¯</i> In other words, he thought Siren could steal their first-ce titles. Not just him but other groups thought the same and ranked Siren asst ce in their first meeting. Yet, if he had to confess the truth now...


    <i>¡®They should have been first ce.¡¯</i> Siren should¡¯ve taken first ce in the introductory performance. Perhaps, karma wasing back to bite them now.


    ¡°They will get first ce again today.¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°Us?¡±


    Only One members asked Kang Hyun-Sung if he meant that they were going to get first ce, but Kang Hyun-Sung replied firmly.


    ¡°Not us but Siren.¡±


    1. A sticky Korean traditional confectionery. It¡¯s like taffy. ?

 Chapter 204

    <h4>Chapter 204</h4>


    I finished the live performance of the music show with my members.


    ¡°Kyahhhhh!¡± During the ending pose, cheers poured out from the audience. I was a bit out of breath, and my vision was slightly blurred under the bright fluorescent light. Although everything was hectic and crazy after the stage was over, I felt strangely overwhelmed with emotions. After finishing the ending pose, I made eye contact with the members.


    Everyone had a smile on their faces as if they were satisfied with our good performance. We greeted the Sailors who watched our stage in the audience seats and then moved backstage.


    ¡°Haaaa! It¡¯s over!¡± Dong-Jun eximed as soon as he came backstage.


    ¡°Great job.¡±


    ¡°Great job everyone.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much.¡±


    We thanked all the staff we met while moving to the waiting room.


    ¡°We¡¯ve managed to get through another day.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, for real.¡±


    ¡°Well done everyone. It¡¯s been an especially long day.¡±


    While sitting on the sofa, we all encouraged and uplifted each other for a day of hard work. However, we could feel in the air that our minds were not preupied by these remarks.


    ¡°...We¡¯re all thinking about the same thing, right?¡± The first one to mention it was Dong-Jun.


    ¡°...Of course.¡± Do-Seung spoke next.


    <i>Sighhh. </i>Yeon-Hoon let out a nervous sigh.


    ¡°...It¡¯s all going...to work out...¡± Woon¡¯s murmuring rang out in the waiting room as if he was trying to do self-mind control. There was only one topic that we were so pressed about¡ªwhether it was possible to win first ce on today¡¯s music show.


    Since we just came down from the stage, there was only one group left until the end. The ending group was not a group with more album sales or music video views than us. However, since it was a reunion of a boy group that had been at the top of the music industry seven years ago, the broadcastingpany set the ending stage for them as a courtesy.


    We were happy about not having to go through a strange war of nerves with Only One to get the ending stage. Anyway, the ending performance would be over soon, and then the only thing left would be the first-ce announcement. Since we were nominated for first ce today, we also got time to do an interview in the middle of the live broadcast.


    The host asked each group leader about their pledges, and Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sung recited the pledges that the public already knew.


    ¡ªWe will upload Tae-Yoon¡¯s humorous video and my cover video!


    ¡ªOur group will post the second part of theedic video on social media if we win first ce.


    I thought they would give out pledges within my expectations, but Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to have thought their pledge was too weak as he revealed one more option to it.


    ¡ªWe will also reveal our members¡¯ natural morning routine that has never been revealed anywhere yet.


    It felt simr to the collection of humorous videos they had originally released, but it was tailored to a more specialized topic. At thatment, there was a round ofughter or cheer from the audience. After that, the interview ended with each group¡¯s point choreography. I wasn¡¯t very nervous until the interview for the first-ce candidates, but now that the time has finallye, my heart felt as if it was being squeezed tightly.


    ¡°Oh? The seniors¡¯ performance is almost over.¡± Yeon-Hoon, who had been nkly watching the TV, said.


    The performance of the group that decorated the ending stage from above was almost over. Soon, when the stage waspletely over¡ª


    ¡°Please be on standby for the first-ce announcement! Pleasee out to the hallway and wait!¡±


    The first-ce announcement was just around the corner.


    ***


    A Siren fan was sitting on her bed, watching a music show on her phone. She already did real-time text voting and early voting in advance and had even taken away all her friends¡¯ phones, parents¡¯ phones, and younger brothers¡¯ phones to vote. Frankly, she wasn¡¯t the type to so actively vote as she was the type to think that while it would be great if her idols won first ce, she didn¡¯t think her voting would make such a big impact.


    In the first ce, she was a light fan rather than a ¡°heavy¡± fan, and she was the type who just bought an album when they came out with aeback or only did the lucky draw in a pop-up store. However, she couldn¡¯t help but be overly engaged in Siren¡¯s first-ce title.


    ¡°Please...Our guys are really desperate right now...God...please...¡± While watching those videos, she felt Siren¡¯s desperation. She didn¡¯t know what made them so desperate. Honestly, even if they didn¡¯t get first ce today, they could get first ce on another day. However, Siren was as passionate as if their group¡¯s life or death was dependent on winning today¡¯s music show. As a result, they were even able to attract Siren fans who were not very interested in voting and even those who were not ardent fans due to the attention they attracted on the inte.


    One negative aspect was that as much as Siren fandom fired up, Only One¡¯s fandom also fired up.


    ¡ªKeep our kids in first ce!


    ¡ªLet¡¯s give them first ce


    ¡ªI¡¯ll peacefully pass to the afterlife after seeing Hyun-Sung cry from receiving a trophy :*(


    It felt like the topic of which group would win first ce was set as a form ofpetition between Siren fandom and Only One fandom. Since their debut date was the same, it felt like even these small matters were being treated aspetition. It felt like they would only win this game if their group won first ce on a music shadow faster than the other group since their debut date.


    Whatever it was, the Siren fan didn¡¯t think this was bad as it felt thrilling. Just in time, the ending performance ended.


    Gasp! ¡°They came up!¡± All the idol groups, including first-ce candidates, came up on stage in unison.


    The host came out and said the same lines. ¡°We will now reveal this week¡¯s first ce candidates, Siren and Only One¡¯s scores!¡± The host began to disclose important points one by one in determining first ce. They first revealed the music score, which ounted for thergest portion of the pie.


    ¡ªSiren: 8,095


    ¡ªOnly One: 7,894


    Siren had the lead, but the difference wasn¡¯t big. The next one was the album sales score.


    ¡ªSiren: 2,092


    ¡ªOnly One: 2,504


    Although Only One took the lead for this, it was hard to say they had a significant lead. It was the same for the music video score.


    ¡ªSiren: 3,522


    ¡ªOnly One: 3,401


    Those who could quickly calcte would have added all of these scores in real-time, but most ordinary people couldn¡¯t calcte these scores so fast in their minds. Siren fan also followed the scoreboard, thinking that they were almost tied. Moreover, even their early voting scores were simr in this aspect.


    ¡ªSiren: 1,502


    ¡ªOnly One: 1,485


    While Siren and Only One fans were watching from the edge of their seats, the real-time text voting scores were finally released at the end.


    ¡ªSiren: 3,997


    ¡ªOnly One: 1,755


    ¡°What?¡± For the first time, there was a noticeable margin. While lying in bed, she got up halfway from her seat. She started to feel it¡ªalthough she hadn¡¯t calcted the exact scores, she felt that Siren would get first ce. Sure enough¡ª


    ¡ªSiren: 19, 208


    ¡ªOnly One: 17,039


    In the final score, Siren took first ce with a pretty noticeable gap.


    ¡°Kyahhhh!¡± She rose from her seat and cheered. Her whole body trembled even though she wasn¡¯t the one to win first ce.


    ***


    <i>Boom!</i>


    Flower petals fell from the sky. We also noticed on the monitor that we were getting a little higher scores. However, since we couldn¡¯t calcte them in real-time, we stayed silent. However, once the final score came out, we confirmed that we scored higher than Only One¡ªsomething hot rose from my insides. Soon after, flower petals fell with a bang, and cheers were heard from all sides.


    ¡°This week¡¯s No.1 is Siren¡¯s ¡°¡¯Blue Summer Night!¡¯ Congrattions!¡± We managed to win first ce once again.


    ¡°Ah...ahh...¡± I didn¡¯t know if I was surprised or happy, but I couldn¡¯t speak properly. I didn¡¯t think I would be surprised even if we won first ce. I had expected it somewhat, and I had created all kinds of fuss to get first ce. However, once we really received it, it felt like someone just punched me hard straight to my heart. I turned my head and looked at my members.


    ¡°Hmph! Huhh! Baww....¡± Yeon-Hoon was already crying.


    ¡°Ha...¡± Do-Seung was pretending to look at the flower petals while pushing back his tears.


    ¡°Ahhhhhhh!¡± Dong-Jun screamed as if he had no intention of hiding his joy.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it...¡± Woon looked at us and covered his mouth as if he couldn¡¯t believe this situation.


    ¡°Gather around, boys...¡± At that time, Yeon-Hoon gathered us while crying. As if we were attracted to mas, we naturally approached Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°Well done...well done, guys.¡±


    I felt something inside me stir by his words. Even though it was a very typical phrase, I felt the lump that had been locked up inside me for a long time. I thought about my days as a trainee, wondering whether I would be able to debut or not, and The Showcase 2, where every week was a fiercepetition. I felt that I finally made it here after getting through all those moments.


    Dong-Jun, who had been cheering, also started to shed tears now, and Woon secretly wiped away his tears with his palms.


    ¡°Here...the trophy...!¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    We forgot to get the trophy because we were too busy gathering together. It was our first glorious trophy at a music show. As soon as Yeon-Hoon held the trophy as our group¡¯s representative, a microphone was pushed to him. They were telling him to say his thoughts about winning first ce.


    ¡°Hmph. Hum. Yes.¡± Yeon-Hoon pushed away his tears and calmly began, ¡°This first ce...We really worked hard to receive it, so we¡¯re so, so happy to get this award. Our members worked so hard and...¡±


    I thought that he might start crying again, but he managed to calm down and said, ¡°I want to thank our managers, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, who always support us, and all of our Next Wave family members...¡± Yeon-Hoon continued his eptance speech by listening to all the people he was grateful to. Seeing that they were alling out smoothly like this, Yeon-Hoon must have nned a script in advance because he thought he would win first ce today.


    After he finished the thank you list, Yeon-Hoon shouted in a brighter voice, ¡°We¡¯ll continue to do our best! Thank you!¡±


    The host left just in time, and the melody of our song resonated on the stage as the encore. At that moment¡ª


    [Mission sess.]


    [You won first ce on a music show.]


    [Your mission reward will be given.]


    The system was now giving a reward for winning first ce on a music show.


    <i>¡®Why now of all times...¡¯</i> Come to think of it, I had overlooked this part. The system was going to give Precognitive Vision back...


    <i>¡®That hurts like hell.¡¯</i> It was a pain that I couldn¡¯t hide, and I was currently on stage for a music show. What would happen if I got Precognitive Vision here? I would be broadcasting myself getting tortured live in front of everyone. I couldn¡¯t ruin our historic moment of first ce like this. Perhaps this choice was almost instinctive; in line with the system¡¯s notification that I would receive a reward, I instinctively activated Insight.


    <i>Ziiing¡ª</i>


    And this choice led to a type of error.


    <i>¡®Huh...?¡¯</i>

 Chapter 205

    <h4>Chapter 205</h4>


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    [You aren¡¯t permitted...]


    I just used Insight as a reflex. The reason for it was nothing big. I simply activated it because it looked like it would hurt; the mechanism was sort of like how a person would curl up instinctively if they thought they would get hit.


    Thus, I was astounded by what happened next. It appeared the moment I used Insight almost at the same time the Precognitive Vision was imbued back into me, and that triggered some activation error. Though I was standing on top of the stage just a moment ago, I was standing in the middle of a universe now.


    <i>¡®This isn¡¯t even funny anymore.¡¯</i> Since there was a time when I came to a simr-looking space before, I wasn¡¯t too surprised. A long liney in front of my eyes. It was the cut line that I saw before that had been ced in the middle of the universe. The more I tried to reach it, it seemed to drift farther away so that I couldn¡¯t approach it.


    Things were different now because I was able to approach a bit closer to this line. The line that had moved farther away no matter how far I stretched out my hands was firmly standing in its spot now.


    <i>¡®What in the world is that? What is this?¡¯</i> I felt confused by the perplexing situation. The only thing certain was that this was a pivotal moment of sorts that even the system couldn¡¯t predict. At this point, I thought the system was like aputer, and at that moment, thisputer seemed to be experiencing some kind of malfunction.


    I had wondered since before what this long line in the middle of this vast universe was. After thinking of all sorts of possibilities, I supposed that it could be something like a world line. This was my imaginationing from an ex-web-novelist.


    This was a long line, made by the intertwinement ofrge destinies in various worlds. Worlds moved ording to this line and removed things that moved away from this line. That was the kind of scenario I would¡¯ve made if I was its writer. It appeared my suppositions hit the mark as I began to see various images and scenes the closer I looked at it. It was as if it was weing me.


    <i>¡®...Is this really a world line?¡¯ </i>


    The images showed pivotal moments of humanity and included small, daily life moments too. I extended my hand towards the line.


    <i>¡®...This is insane.¡¯ </i>Though I had just touched it for a second, too much information poured into me. With this, I became certain that this was really the world line. In a sense, this was like an archive that saved all of humanity¡¯s history.


    Inside this archive, everything from huge, historical milestones in human history to very trivial moments in life were recorded. The moment I touched it, I stood in the middle of a battleground, sat under the table of one family¡¯s dining table, attended a couple¡¯s marriage ceremony, and witnessed someone¡¯s murder.


    Some scenes were so monumental that anyone would consider it a historical event while others felt so menial that I wondered if they would even influence the world line. And now back to the problem: if this long line was the world line, what in the world was that disconnected point?


    I walked towards the disconnected point¡ªno, rather than walking in real life, I simply thought about it. Like that, my body which seemed to be a mere fabrication of my thoughts moved in that direction. I stood right in front of the point where the world line broke. And when I saw that point...


    <i>¡®...What?¡¯</i> The worldline that had been cleanly organized as one line was scattered all over from that breakpoint. I felt overwhelmed by the worldline which extended out as if it would cover the entire universe. It looked as if a spider web had spread out from it or a crack formed on an egg. I reached my hand towards the area¡ªto the specific point where the line split into different parts.


    <i>¡®...What...seriously?¡¯</i> This was the traffic ident that happened on our way back from our trip to Sokcho. There had been too many regressors from that point for the world line to continue as one line. Different strands extended out from that point and I assumed that they must be the various universes that my members had lived. I slowly walked towards it.


    Some strands stretched out far and suddenly stopped, and other ones stretched beyond it until they disappeared too. There were also strands where its angles were twisted and turned into veryplicated angles. Just by seeing the shape of this strand, I had a good guess of what kind of world that was. Though I was walking between different worldline strands, I felt a simr feeling as walking in a grave.


    It felt empty, lonely, and a bit fearful and sentimental. I walked further and stopped in my spot. Among the numerous split parts extending all over the ce, there was a strand that looked out of the ordinary.


    <i>¡®Could it be?¡¯ </i>After the Sokcho traffic incident, the worldline¡¯s strands were spreading all over the ce. It wasn¡¯t clumped together but dispersed. Yet, the strand at the very end was eating up a considerable number of strands.


    <i>¡®No, instead of ¡®eating up,¡¯ it¡¯s been forcefully attached.¡¯ </i>The area looked as if someone had forcefully glued other strands to that one strand. I sensed it instinctively then.


    <i>¡®That¡¯s me.¡¯ </i>I didn¡¯t even have to stretch my hand to see its contents. This was the strand that showed my world. The other strands attached to it were Woon and Do-Seung¡¯s strands.


    <i>¡®Though I pulled Woon and Do-Seung¡¯s strands to my side, what are all these other strands?¡¯ </i>Besides mine and the strands attached to it, to whom did the countless other threads belong? There were a total of five members in my group; four excluding me. Since I pulled half of the people in this group to my side, I should¡¯ve at least half of the world strands attached to mine. Yet, the strands attached to mine were extremely minusculepared to the rest of the strands remaining.


    <i>¡®This means someone must have regressed thousands¡ªno, probably more times than that.¡¯</i> I felt goosebumps on my arms and felt curious about the other world lines. Who exactly does this worldline belong to? Dong-Jun? Yeon-Hoon? Or somebody else? It was then a familiar voice spoke.


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    <i>¡®Why now of all time?¡¯</i> I couldn¡¯t even check the vast number of worldline strands I just passed. I quickly tried to see them but the recovered system didn¡¯t permit me to approach. Again, I began to drift farther away from the worldline the closer I tried to get to it. Then, I felt my whole body fall. I was falling from this universe-like space. Like before, this wasn¡¯t a pleasant feeling.


    I watched as the world line drifted farther away from me even to the very moment I fell. If that was the world line and if I sporadically moved closer to it and grabbed all the lines to my side...


    <i>¡®...Will the missions end?¡¯ </i>I thought I could reach the core of something that the system desired from me. I red at the world line till the very end. Eventually, I returned to the top of the stage and the system progressed to ry my gifts.


    [Return of Precognitive Vision has been canceled.]


    [Sess reward has been changed.]


    [Processing new sess reward.]


    [Thank you for your patience.]


    Though I simply used Insight to avoid the pain, it seemed I achieved a rather big milestone of sorts.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, here is your mike...¡± Yeon-Hoon handed me the mike. It was then I realized the situation I was in and what I needed to do. Because I had spent quite a long time in the universe and looking at the worldline, I had forgotten what I¡¯ve been doing. We needed to do an encore stage after winning first ce in the music show.


    <i>¡®But this is bad.¡¯</i> It appeared that the majority of my group members including the main vocalist couldn¡¯t sing properly because they were crying too much. In the end, I took the mike and led the encore stage.


    ***


    While Siren did the encore stage to win first ce, a homeless-looking man entered a contactless motel in a remote alleyway at Eunpyeong-gu. The man appeared to be in his early fifties, had a full, long beard, and looked to have thrown anything on for clothes. He normally wouldn¡¯t have been permitted inside an ordinary motel but in a contactless motel with no one at the front desk, he was able to lodge as long he paid money.


    The man took the room key and entered the room he reserved. He showered, shaved, took off the clothes he was wearing, and took out new clothes he seemed to have bought from a supermarket. With just that outfit change, the man¡¯s impression significantly changed. He tied his long oily hair tightly backward and cleanly got rid of the beard that had nketed his whole face.


    Then, the man gathered the clothes he had been wearing and other items into a stic bag. With his change of appearance, it was difficult to discern if he was the same man before and after entering the motel. The man sat at the edge of the bed and pulled out his phone. His phone¡¯s screen was cracked and there was dirt on it, so it was doubtful if it would really work. Yet, after he connected it to a charger and waited a bit, the phone activated.


    As soon as the phone turned on, the man immediately went to the inte and searched the keyword:


    ¡ªSiren


    Then, his searches became more detailed and eerie.


    ¡ªSiren¡¯spany


    ¡ªSiren members¡¯ personal information


    ¡ªSiren¡¯s dorm


    ¡ªSiren in real life


    ¡ªSiren stalkers


    ¡ªSiren Bong Tae-Yoon


    These keywords felt slightly awkward for a man in his fifties to search, yet the man pulled out a notebook and began to write information on it. The man¡¯s name was Kang Seok-Du. He turned fifty-two this year, and he was the truck driver who almost crashed Siren¡¯s car.


    ***


    Using Insight, I was able to fulfill the main vocalists¡¯ parts quite splendidly. I knew that I couldn¡¯t suddenly sing too well since my members could start to suspect me and my position couldn¡¯t ovep with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s. Yet, this was an emergency so it couldn¡¯t be helped. And if my members questioned me, I could just say that my singing skills improved as we kept doing our activities. Though I had been refraining myself while using Insight to avoid suspicions, I sang my heart out today.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°...What happened?¡±


    ¡°You are performing on your own...?¡±


    My members eximed in amazement. Then, from the second verse, my members stopped crying and I was able to put down my mike. With that, we finished our encore stage and came down. Though it had been hectic and full of tears, I could say this for sure¡ª


    ¡°We are firrrst!¡±


    ¡°Ahhh!¡±


    ¡°We did it! First ce!¡±


    I felt an electrifying feeling take control of my entire body. I wanted to indulge in this feeling a bit longer when the system suddenly intervened.


    [Halting Reward Calctions.]


    I wasn¡¯t mad because the system was going to give me a reward.


    [Canceling Reward.]


    [You have received an additional mission.]


    [Adding new mission]


    [Enter Billboard HOT100 in three months.]


    [Upon sess, no rewards.]


    [Upon failure, Kang Do-Seung and Lee Woon would die and their worldlines would separate.]


    ¡°...What?¡±


    My whole body felt instantly cold after hearing about the mission.

 Chapter 206

    <h4>Chapter 206</h4>


    I must have heard the mission wrong. When I wanted to listen to it again, this damn system kindly recited the mission. However, it was the same content even if I heard it again. Our group needed to enter the Billboard Hot 100 within three months. In the event of failure, Do-Seung and Woon would die, and the worldlines that I worked hard to attach together would be separated from me.


    Furthermore, there was no reward for this ridiculous mission. With this level of bnce, the system was basically just pushing me to die. Why did this missione out? There was only one thing that came to mind.


    ¡®Was it because I approached the worldline?¡± The only reasonable answer to this ludicrous situation was because I had seen the worldline in that short moment. Since I saw something I shouldn¡¯t have seen, I thought the system was telling me to pay the corresponding price or die. I had never lost strength in my legs after hearing a mission, but today, my legs lost strength on the way down to the backstage.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°What? What happened?¡± Thanks to Do-Seung holding me, I didn¡¯t fall on the stairs.


    ¡°Did Tae-Yoon almost get hurt? Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Are you hurt?¡±


    ¡°Is it because you¡¯re tired...We should really eat a lot of nutritional food today.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s really have a cheat day today!¡±


    ¡°...Well, it would be good to eat something delicious on a day like this. Haha.¡± Since I couldn¡¯t ruin this atmosphere, I went along with my members¡¯ vibes. Dong-Jun and Yeon-Hoon smiled brightly and moved to the waiting room while Do-Seung and Woon, who supported me, were left behind.


    I said, ¡°Let¡¯s go too guys. Since this is a day to celebrate, let¡¯s only leave good memories.¡± I didn¡¯t want to ruin the members¡¯ mood on the day we won first ce. But...


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon, are you okay?¡±


    ¡°What happened to you?¡±


    They held me back. I stared at Do-Seung and Woon and instinctively realized the change.


    ¡°Guys?¡±


    ¡°Did...you get a weird mission?¡±


    ¡°What in the world did you get?¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon were currently switched with their regressor state.


    ***


    I moved to the emergency stairs with Do-Seung and Woon. The most deserted ce around here was currently here. It was time for everyone to get off work, and there was no structure here worth taking amemorative photo. After checking that there were no people up and downstairs, we began conversing.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Woon talked first.


    ¡°...I got the Billboard Hot 100 mission.¡±


    ¡°Billboard?¡±


    ¡°Right now?¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon¡¯s eyes widened as soon as I mentioned the word ¡®Billboard¡¯.


    ¡°It¡¯s a mission that shouldn¡¯te out now?¡±


    ¡°That mission should havee out after getting the grand prize...Why is thating out for you when you guys just won first ce on a music show?¡±


    Just as I expected, it was not a mission that should have popped up in our current circumstances. I also told them the failure penalty for this mission.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to die?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the first mission where two people die at the same time...¡±


    Although the separation of the worldline was also a penalty, I didn¡¯t reveal that information. Our conversation would get too long if I exined that information, and I thought it might not be the information that I needed right now.


    ¡°...Why is only your regression¡¯s progress strange?¡±


    ¡°It feels like...the system is out to get me.¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon looked at me with concern.


    ¡°Do you have a n in mind?¡±


    ¡°No. I just heard the mission, so I didn¡¯t have any time to make ns or whatsoever.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the time limit?¡±


    ¡°Three months.¡±


    ¡°You have to get into the Billboard Hot 100 in three months...¡±


    ¡°Geez...¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon¡¯s expressions looked deeply troubled.


    ¡°How long did it take you guys to first enter the Billboard chart/¡±


    ¡°In our third year.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°After getting a grand prize after the end of our second year, we first got into Billboard 200 in our third year with our full albumeback.¡±


    ¡°I think getting into Billboard 100 took a little longer than that.¡±


    My future looked even more bleak after hearing them. Even my members who regressed multiple times and overcame all kinds of strenuous trials entered the Billboard chart in 3 years. Furthermore, they said it took them a bit longer to get into Billboard 100 after first entering the Billboard 100 chart. Thus, in other words, entering the Billboard Hot 100 within three months was basically telling me to give up the mission and start my regression from scratch.


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Hmm...¡±


    ¡°I really didn¡¯t want to tell you this but...It may be better for you to quickly give up on this mission.¡± Do-


    The members must have thought the same as me as they told me to give up on the mission.


    ¡°Regression is difficult the first time, but once you do it the first time, you get a bit used to it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it might be better to give up when such a ridiculous mission like thises out. If you regress because of someone else¡¯s failure or because of an external incident, hatred will only grow in your heart.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Since you¡¯ll be failing because of how ridiculous the mission is, you don¡¯t have anyone to me even if you fail. Regressing might be the answer for this kind of situation.¡±


    I looked at Woon and Do-Seung. I knew that they weren¡¯t wrong but...


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Hmm...¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m...not going to regress twice.¡± I didn¡¯t want to lose what I had already lost twice. Woon and Do-Seung could say that because they had already regressed multiple times. However, I felt extremely reluctant to follow their advice, considering that I hadn¡¯t even gone through the first regression yet.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to end everything with this one regression to the best of my ability.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...End?¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung looked at me curiously when I said the word finish.


    ¡°But there¡¯s...no end?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you that the missions don¡¯t end?¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung seemed to think that I was dreaming a hopeless dream. I also knew that ording to my members, the missions didn¡¯t end. Whetherwe got the Grammys or made a new world record, the system kept giving new missions as if they were testing us how long we could hold out.


    ¡°All we can do is..repeat our lives as many times as this system allows. So instead, we can at least be happy for that amount of time.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s easier if you think of it as being given multiple opportunities even though no one lives till the end.¡±


    I stared at Woon and Do-Seung. For the first time, I got a different feeling from them and me. I had always thought of them as strong and supportive advisors who had my back, but I had forgotten one fact.


    <i>¡®That¡¯s right...This is normal.¡¯ </i>They were people who had already regressed more than 10 times. It was only natural their hearts had been damaged in the process, and I was sure that a part of their humanity had been worn out. I had overlooked this aspect.


    I looked at them again but with a new-found affection and regret. Although I respected and liked Do-Seung and Woon, I had the mind of a person who only regressed once.


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to think like that.¡± I thought that ironically, from the moment I repeat my regression, I would move further away frompletely clearing the missions. Although it might be hopeless, I tried to think about the moment when the missions would be over.


    ¡°Then...How are you going to end these endless missions?¡± Woon asked.


    ¡°First...I don¡¯t have a specific method in mind, but I¡¯m going to take a simr approach to what I¡¯ve been doing.¡±


    ¡°What have you been doing?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to keep challenging the system, try to figure out the system¡¯s mystery, and if I continue with that, I¡¯ll probably find a gap in the system at least once. You guys know it too¡ªthe system is not perfect. If it was perfect, your memories wouldn¡¯t have been oveid with this world.¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon silently listened to me without a word. It was true that they had regressed much more than me, but I was the one who dug deeper into the system.


    ¡°...I can¡¯t argue against that.¡±


    ¡°Since you¡¯ve been solving the missions in a different way than us...I¡¯m sure the result would be different from ours.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seungughed a bit bitterly as they spoke.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go back to the beginning...How do we reach that Hot 100 mission?¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to regress again, you have to aplish that mission anyhow.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Shall we first each tell you the songs that made it to the top 100?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re our songs in the end.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung said they would tell me the songs that made it to the top 100.


    ¡°Although I don¡¯t know how you would use this information, I think it would help if you know about it.¡±


    Although there was no guarantee that a song would make it to Billboard 100 just because it was good, it was also true that the probability of getting in that chart increased if it was a good song.


    ¡°Then would you be able to record the top line and overall mood of that song?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Take out your phone.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung sang the future hot 100 song on my phone. It wasn¡¯t very impressive because they sung it tly without any apaniment, but...


    ¡°...Guys.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    I asked, ¡°Did I write the lyrics of those songs?¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°As expected, a lyricist recognizes his own song.¡± Surprisingly, I must have also written lyrics in another universe.


    I was able to notice it quickly because I¡¯ve never seen anyone else use those words or sentences in song lyrics other than myself. But that wasn¡¯t the important part.


    ¡°Then...Shall we go to the waiting room now?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go for now.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll turn on a v-live right away, right?¡±


    ¡°Since we won first ce today, we have to turn it on for the fans.¡±


    I paused before opening the emergency stairway door. Then I asked a question that suddenly came to mind.


    ¡°But right now, you two are switched with the Woon and Do-Seung of this world, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°Then if you switch back to the original Do-Seung and Woon...How would they remember these conversations we had?¡±


    ¡°It naturally blurs out.¡±


    ¡°Blurs?¡±


    ¡°The memories are changed into old memories that feel just out of reach like smoke covering up a picture.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. The important parts are gone, and I think they just remember vaguely where they went.¡±


    It seemed like a very convenient ability. Or maybe the system that managed this universe naturally created that buffer zone so that various data didn¡¯t collide against each other. Well, I thought it would be enough if it wasn¡¯t a problem right away. I was going to open the emergency door and go out to the waiting room when¡ª


    <i>Creak.</i>


    The door opened outside before I could open it. I grabbed the door handle and tried to turn it around, but I was pulled outside instead. The person who turned the door outside the emergency stairway door was no other than¡ª


    ¡°Huh? What? Were you all here? Yeon-Hoon and I¡¯ve looking for you guys forever~¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    It was Dong-Jun.


    <i>¡®But wait a minute... ¡®</i> Woon, Do-Seung and I had conversed right behind the door just now, and Dong-Jun was behind this door.


    <i>¡®Considering where he was, he definitely heard us?¡¯</i> Anyhow I looked at it, Dong-Jun must have 100% overheard our conversation.

 Chapter 207

    <h4>Chapter 207</h4>


    Dong-Jun stared at me with a goofy smile on his face. It was as if he was trying to show on purpose that he didn¡¯t hear anything. I could be overly interpreting Dong-Jun¡¯s usual expression because I was paranoid, but I didn¡¯t know what to think. Dong-Jun walked forward, maintaining a smile on his face. Woon and Do-Seung followed closely from behind with slightly tense expressions on their faces. They knew each other¡¯s secrets and were trying to be discreet.


    <i>¡®I think something like this happened before.¡¯</i> I felt a strange sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. When I met Do-Seung as the first regressor at the dorm, I remembered Dong-Jun suddenly popping out and dering that he would order mtang in the morning. I was relieved that the matter had passed like that...


    <i>¡®But maybe he found out then?¡¯</i> Once I started, my worries racked up on top of one another. Dong-Jun opened his mouth then.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon said we should do a v-live as amemoration for our winning first ce in the waiting room.¡±


    ¡°Ah, really?¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great.¡±


    ¡°Not for too long but for around twenty to thirty minutes.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t be bad to have it for longer.¡±


    ¡°But there are other people who have to use the waiting room too.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I see. We have to make space for them.¡±


    A very awkward and stiff conversation continued. It seemed Do-Seung and Woon were trying their hardest to make a normal conversation, but the more they did this, the more awkward they appeared. I needed to get to the bottom of this matter since if Dong-Jun had heard, this conversation would be pointless anyway.


    ¡°Dong-Jun, did you hear the conversation we had outside the emergency door?¡± I asked tantly.


    Woon and Do-Seung turned toward me in shock. Their expressions seemed to be asking if I had lost my mind, but I wondered when else I could ask him. Dong-Jun looked back too and said in a carefree expression.


    ¡°Yeah, I did~¡± Dong-Jun¡¯s tone and expression didn¡¯t seem to match the content of his words.


    ¡°Oh...so you heard?¡± I didn¡¯t expect his response at all. I had expected him to go, ¡®<i>Huh? I didn¡¯t hear anything?¡¯ </i>or at least, hesitantly,<i> ¡®Yeah....I heard...¡¯</i>- not this bright exmation of <i>¡®I did~¡¯. </i>


    If he really heard the conversation that passed between me, Woon, and Do-Seung, he shouldn¡¯t have appeared so carefree but more astounded and confused by the situation. It was me who was baffled by his response now. We walked in silence across the hallways.


    ¡°But I didn¡¯t hear what you all said too well. The door¡¯s sound-blocking function is great~¡± Dong-Jun said. He was saying he heard us but not too well. Hearing this, I felt relieved. Woon and Do-Seung continued like they had been waiting for it.


    ¡°Ah, really?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha....yeah...the door is thick...¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t talk too much. We just talked about the choreography and the song. You know since the three of us are in charge of the song production, lyrics, and choreography. That¡¯s why...¡±


    I didn¡¯t know why Woon and Do-Seung failed to grow their lying skills after regressing so many times. Anyone listening to them could tell they were lying. Rather than intervening, I decided to watch from behind.


    <i>¡®Dong-Jun heard us properly.¡¯ </i>All I could think right now was that Dong-Jun was ying with us, but I wondered what that would lead to. It wasn¡¯t like Dong-Jun would suddenly change and try to harm us if he learned the truth. Thus, I nned to watch what happened for now.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the waiting room first. Yeon-Hoon was wondering where you all are.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes, yes.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Yeon-Hoon must be waiting. Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go in~¡±


    We all headed there. When we opened the door, we found Yeon-Hoon waiting for us.


    ¡°What! Where did you go, you guys! Dong-Jun and I have been looking for you guys for so long.¡±


    ¡°We just had some things to talk about.¡±


    ¡°What? Without me and Dong-Jun?


    ¡°Yes...well...it¡¯s nothing big.¡±


    ¡°It makes me feel a bit left out...¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We will tell you before we go next time,¡± I sloppily exined to Yeon-Hoon and sat on the waiting room sofa.


    ¡°Let¡¯s turn on the v-live! We need to show off our first-ce trophy and thank our fans.¡±


    Like that, we began to prepare for our live broadcast with Yeon-Hoon taking the lead.


    ***


    The live broadcast ended after twenty minutes. Because there was a strange tension between me and Dong-Jun and I had heard a terrifying mission at the emergency stairs just before, I thought wouldn¡¯t be able to focus on the live broadcast. But after I looked at each of thementsing up on the chat box, I quickly forgot everything else and focused on the broadcast.


    ¡ªCongrattions on winning first ce!!


    ¡ªSiren first ce!!


    ¡ªYou guys worked so hard


    ¡ªAhhhh This is only the beginning for Siren


    There were just some short linesing up on a small screen, but thesements touched my heart. I could sense the fans¡¯ genuine feelings, congrattions, and worries in thements. I thought this was the reason why some idols became addicted to doing v-lives. Since this was a broadcast that we decided to start at the spur of the moment, we didn¡¯t talk for too long. The most important thing we talked about was, of course, us winning first ce, and while we talked about how we each felt after winning first ce, Yeon-Hoon burst into tears.


    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for you all, we wouldn¡¯t even have been able to dream of this. Since <i>The Showcase 2</i>...you really...hmph...¡±


    The mention of ¡®<i>The Showcase 2</i>¡¯ was the trigger for Yeon-Hoon. He cried when the show was mentioned on stage, and in his head, that time had probably been the hardest but most fulfilling time of our lives. Yet, the problem was that when Yeon-Hoon cried, Woon and Do-Seung also began to tear up. The only ones who didn¡¯t cry were me and Dong-Jun.


    ¡°Our older members are so happy.¡±


    ¡°They are so in tune with their emotions.¡±


    Because of their crying, we paused the broadcast temporarily; and by the time they calmed down, Dong-Jun progressed the broadcast.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, how do you feel about winning first ce?¡±


    ¡°First of all, I think this is a miracle that happened thanks to our Sailors. Furthermore, it¡¯s a reward for our team who have worked so hard and busily until now. With this, I hope that our bond grows even stronger and we can stay close until we retire.¡±


    ¡°Ah~ You are already thinking about retiring on your first win?¡±


    ¡°<i>Yes</i>.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ask me any questions?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Dong-Jun, how do you feel today?¡±


    ¡°I would also like to thank our Sailors first. If it wasn¡¯t for you all, I wouldn¡¯t even have been able to dream of achieving something like this,¡± Dong-Jun said while looking at the chat box. Then, he turned to me while continuing, ¡°After winning first ce today, all our memories of hard times during our trainee days and debut feel like a blur. It was a valuable and happy event that made me forget all the bad memories.¡±


    I almost doubted my ears, hearing Dong-Jun speak. Since I couldn¡¯t express my surprise on v-live, I controlled my expression. He just said that it was as if his memories got blurred. That was thest thing Woon, Do-Seung, and I said while we were under the emergency stairs. Was that just a coincidence? I thought it was unlikely.


    ¡®Like a blur¡¯ wasn¡¯t amon expression people used. I nced at Woon and Do-Seung. It appeared those two were currently this world¡¯s Do-Seung and Woon and not their regressors. They showed no change of expression while looking at Dong-Jun.


    ¡°How does Woon feel after winning today?¡±


    ¡°Me? Well, I also really...¡±


    Like that, the v-live continued with Dong-Jun leading it. Woon stopped in the middle of his speech to cry, and Do-Seung also teared up while speaking and moved his head away. Soon afterward, we had a short interaction with the fans on the chats.


    ¡°See you all next time!¡±


    ¡°We will see you soon!¡±


    ¡°We are going to upload part 2 of the cover video and Tae-Yoon¡¯sedic script soon!¡±


    ¡°See you~¡±


    The v-live came to an end, and after it was over, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came in while holding a cake.


    ¡°Congrattions Siren!¡±


    ¡°We could only get this because we were in a hurry, but we thought we should get a cake for a day like this.¡±


    ¡°Wow...¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much.¡±


    ¡°This is awesome.¡±


    My members looked touched seeing the cake that Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon brought. Dong-Jun was usually the first one to respond in the presence of a high-calorie food like this, but this time, he simply stood in the back quietly.


    <i>¡®Haa...This is giving me a headache...</i>¡¯ Since my doubts started, every little thing that Dong-Jun did looked suspicious.


    ***


    After the live broadcast ended and we shared the cake with the staff, we returned to our dorm. Since we didn¡¯t have a fan meeting today, we could go home earlier than usual. And on our way, we talked more than usual inside the car.


    ¡°For our next album...¡±


    ¡°The song¡¯s concept...¡±


    ¡°I think for the dancing...¡±


    It seemed winning first ce today really set a fire in my members¡¯ minds, and they were already talking about the next album.


    ¡°Before that, we need to do some activities with our album¡¯s track songs too.¡± Though thinking about the next album was great, this took precedence. After all, I needed to get rid of the death g missions first.


    ¡°Ah, of course~¡±


    ¡°We need to seal the win with follow-up activities.¡±


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    It was great to see how high my members¡¯ morale was. We soon arrived at the dorm and Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna greeted us off while we got on the elevator.


    ¡°Ahh~ We are home!¡±


    ¡°We really went through so much today.¡±


    ¡°Today felt so long...¡±


    ¡°Good work you all!¡±


    My members all slumped into the living room and conversed while rolling on the floor. Then, my members all went to take a shower one by one. There were a total of three shower rooms in this dorm: one in the living room and one each in the two big rooms.


    ¡°You guys shower first. Tae-Yoon and I can wash ourselvesst,¡± Dong-Jun said.


    ¡°Oh, what? Why are you suddenly acting so serious?¡±


    ¡°Not as serious as the weight you pull at the gym.¡±


    ¡°...You know how to make a joke.¡±


    After the members got into the showers, the only ones remaining in the living room were Dong-Jun and I. Dong-Jun and I sat on the sofa while looking at each of our phones. Usually, Dong-Jun would¡¯ve tried to provoke me or even poke my side with his toes. That was the sort of personality he had.


    Instead, Dong-Jun asked me, ¡°Should we go out for a bit, Tae-Yoon?¡± Then, when I stared at him, he asked, ¡°Don¡¯t we have something to talk about?¡±


    We did have things to talk about but how far did he know? Thus, I was trying to fish out the scope of his knowledge when Dong-Jun began, ¡°Tae-Yoon, what is it about the regressors? And the second regression and Billboard Hot 100? And why will Do-Seung and Woon die?¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    There was nothing to fish. Dong-Jun heard our entire conversation.

 Chapter 208

    <h4>Chapter 208</h4>


    I was too stunned to speak. I had thought he overheard our conversation to some extent as he seemed to know that Woon, Do-seung, and I shared a suspicious conversation on the emergency stairs. However, I hadn¡¯t expected him to know the whole story.


    ¡°Shall we go out? Bong Tae-Yoon?¡± Dong-Jun suggested going out, and I had no choice but to follow up.


    ¡°Get ready quickly ande out.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    I got up from my seat after taking my phone and wallet. While going out, I kept thinking of how to safely ovee this situation, and what kind of attitude I should take in my conversation with Dong-Jun; whether it was right to open everything or not. My mind was muddled with thoughts but I had to go for now. I had no choice but to face this challenge head-on.


    ***


    The ce where Dong-Jun and I headed was the old van we brought from WD Entertainment. We took the car key while Yeon-Hoon was taking a shower. Frankly, we had no choice but to use this van as there were a lot of people everywhere around here, and there would be one or two people who would recognize us. Dong-Jun took out the memory card in the ck box before saying something.


    ¡°They do this in the movies,¡± Dong-Jun said.


    ¡°Ah...Yes.¡± It seems like even at a moment like this, he was still yful.


    Dong-Jun and I sat at the back seat, and I kept making eye contact with Dong-Jun through the rear-view mirror.


    ¡°Can you tell me everything you heard first?¡± Even though it seemed like he heard everything, I still needed to check.


    ¡°What I heard?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I heard everything from the beginning.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°I heard you talk about how the Billboard Hot 100 entry mission came up, and if you fail that mission, Do-Seung and Woon will die.¡±


    ¡°...¡± It was dizzying to hear my mission from someone else other than a fellow regressor.


    I looked into Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes through the rearview mirror once again. He smiled brightly and continued, ¡°And I heard that Do-Seung and Woon are some kind of different regressors? And I think I heard you guys talk about multiple regressions and things like that.¡±


    He really heard everything from start to finish. My hands began sweating now.


    ¡°At first, I thought you guys were talking about a game because of how unrealistic it sounded. I thought the three of you were making some kind of game.¡±


    ¡°Making a game?¡±


    ¡°You know, TRPG or something.¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    ¡°But while hearing you guys, it seemed like you weren¡¯t talking about a game but things that are happening in real life. But no matter how much I thought about it, the content was so realistic that I¡¯m quite confused even now.¡± Dong-Jun looked quite calm for someone who said he was confused.


    I wondered where to even start. Would he believe me even if I told him everything now? No, even if he didn¡¯t believe me, I had a way to make him believe. I could use Insight andmand someone, and he would have no choice but to believe in me after witnessing a supernatural ability. However, I wondered if it was a good decision for me to reveal all of this now.


    I turned my gaze towards the window. The parking lot had a somewhat bleak atmosphere. People always died in ces like this in the movies. After getting side-tracked for a bit, I dragged my mind back to the urgent matter at hand.


    Dong-Jun was currently staring at me. Ipared the two¡ªreason for me to tell him versus reason for me to not tell him. However, when I thought about the reason why I shouldn¡¯t tell him...


    ¡®<i>...Is there a reason?</i>¡¯ Dong-Jun was a trustworthy person. I thought he had a stronger mentality than the other members, but above all, he was not the type of person to harm me. I didn¡¯t think it was necessary for me to keep this a secret since he already knew everything. Of course, I didn¡¯t have to open everything, I thought I could at least give him the answers to his questions.


    ¡°It¡¯s awkward to say this because it feels like I¡¯m saying movie lines but...¡± I calmly began, and Dong-Jun also listened to me with a serious attitude. ¡°I¡¯m from the future, not in a very distant future but about five years from now.¡±


    When I finished speaking, Dong-Jun pretended to be calm at first but then slowly opened his mouth and made a hollowugh. He said, ¡°This isn¡¯t a surprise prank, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°For real? You¡¯re really from the future?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I swear.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your evidence?¡±


    ¡°Hmm...¡± Was there anything I could quickly use as evidence? If there was something I could use right now, I could mention future information.


    ¡°Other than the apartment in Gangnam, you have one more apartment in Gwacheon and Yongsan under your name, right? They would lose 2-3 billion won next year as interest rates increase. It doesn¡¯t matter if you sell them or not but keep that in mind.¡±


    ¡°...Did I tell you that I had apartments in Gwacheon and Yongsan?¡±


    ¡°No, I just heard it directly from your father¡ªin the future.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    At the time, Dong-Jun¡¯s father said he would let me live in one of the apartments under Dong-Jun¡¯s name. I didn¡¯t know if it was because he felt sorry that I was the only one who survived or he saw Dong-Jun through me. Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes widened as he heard about the apartment; he looked quite shocked.


    ¡°...Ha. It must be real.¡± Dong-Jun couldn¡¯t say anything for about a minute and looked at the ground with his mouth slightly open.


    ¡°You said you came from the future 5 yearster, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What were we doing 5 yearster? Did we enter the Billboard and get the grammy by then?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Everyone died except me.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡± Dong-Jun¡¯s expression stiffened as I revealed additional details. ¡°Die?¡±


    ¡°Do you remember when we went to Sokcho together before our debut?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Originally, we got hit by a truck on our way back and everyone died¡ªexcept me.¡±


    ¡°By the truck that narrowly missed us that day?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Sigh... Dong-Jun clenched his fist with the shocking information. ¡°..Then...What did you do afterwards...¡± Dong-Jun seemed worried about what I did in the future after everyone died.


    ¡°At first, I just lived a life that was basically as good as dead...I even thought about really dying...but then I began writing.¡±


    ¡°Writing?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It may be hard to believe, but I wrote a web novel. It sold pretty well too.¡±


    ¡°...Geez.¡± Dong-Jun seemed to realize I was softening my words to lighten the mood. ¡°Then you know the future to some extent, right? Even till the point?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°No wonder...I thought you suddenly became too mature from the day we went to Sokcho. And you became too smart.¡±


    ¡°Haha...¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s 5 years, you must have been 24. Then aren¡¯t you older than me? Should I call you <i>hyung</i>?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be gross.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon <i>hyung</i>~¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    ¡°...You¡¯re no fun.¡± Dong-Jun and I went back to the main topic at hand after lightening up the atmosphere.


    Dong-Jun asked, ¡°Then what¡¯s with the Billboard mission, who would die, and second regression and all that.¡±


    ¡°After I regressed, the mission is something that I constantly get from an unidentifiable system. And if I don¡¯t achieve a goal, someone from our group dies.¡±


    ¡°Do they really die?¡±


    ¡°Yes, for real.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°And about the second regression and so on...that part is a littleplicated...¡± I didn¡¯t exin everything to Dong-Jun. I just told him that Woon and Do-Seung were regressors from another universe but somehow their memories were transferred to this world. Therefore, I told him that their self-identities as regressors from another universe and self-identities of this world who didn¡¯t know anything co-existed in a careful bnce. I left out all theplicated parts about transferring memories from other worlds thanks to my Insight ability.


    ¡°Then I must have also regressed in a different universe?¡± Dong-Jun was curious about himself in another universe.


    ¡°Probably so.¡±


    ¡°Then...My memories there can also be connected to me in this world <i>somehow</i>.¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s right.¡±


    Dong-Jun precisely pointed out the part that I specifically omitted from my exnation as if he knew that I was responsible for that event instead.


    ¡°If that happens to me too, tell me directly that I now have memories of a regressor from another universe.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s me anyway. Why would I feel ufortable about changing into me?¡± Dong-Jun said and grabbed me by the shoulder. ¡°And if you get a mission, share it with me. Don¡¯t try to carry it all by yourself.¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡± I looked at Dong-Jun. It was the first I¡¯d been so honest with someone in this world who wasn¡¯t a regressor. I felt reassurance from just this fact.


    ¡°Then the current mission is to enter the Billboard, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Is it to enter the Hot 100?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct.¡±


    ¡°Do you have a fixed time limit?¡±


    ¡°Three months.¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s insane.¡± Dong-Jun¡¯s expression became serious when he heard the mission.


    ¡°If you fail, Do-Seung and Woon will die, right?¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    ¡°...This is crazy.¡±


    After talking about regressors, Dong-Jun and I naturally shifted to talking about how to clear the mission.


    ¡°To reach the Billboard Hot 100, the local reaction in the U.S. is more important than the local reaction in Korea.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°I think our schedule will be too tight to enter the U.S. market in three months...¡±


    ¡°So I thought it might be better to make them call us there than trying to enter the market...¡±


    Like this, we began to have a lengthy discussion about how we can get into the Billboard Hot 100.


    ¡°...Hold on, Tae-Yoon.¡± Dong-Jun suddenly cut me off, and his gaze was directed towards outside the window, not me. I had a foreboding feeling.


    ¡°Did we lock our car?¡±


    ¡°What? The car door?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t, right?¡± Dong-Jun said this out of the blue. I wondered why he asked me if I locked the car all of a sudden.


    ¡°Lock the car door!¡± As soon as he shouted¡ª


    <i>Tap! </i>He locked the car door right away.


    <i>Bam! Bam! Bam! </i>


    Someone tried to open the back door of the van and failed. I looked back in amazement, and the person who was standing there was...


    ¡°What the heck...¡± It was a familiar face I had met once in the Sokcho Expressway and once again in the hills nearby¡ªthe truck driver.


    ¡°Why the hell is that bastard here...¡± One part that was different about him was that his appearance had be a bit cleaner.


    Whoosh! And he was holding a baseball bat. The man swung the baseball bat with all his might. No matter how old the van we were in now was, it was still a car. I thought there was no way the ss could break with a single hit from a baseball bat. However...


    <i>Crackkkk¡ª!</i>


    Nearly 80% of the ss was damaged by that single swing.


    ¡°Who the hell are you!¡± Dong-Jun shouted. Then he quickly took out his phone and pressed 112. The man pain no heed to him and swung his baseball bat one more time.


    <i>Bang!</i>


    ¡°Dong-Jun! Get off!¡±


    The manpletely smashed the window this time. Then the man¡¯s hand quickly moved inside the car and soon, he released the lock himself and opened the door. Fortunately, Dong-Jun had opened the van¡¯s door on the other side, and we had left first.


    ¡°Run, Dong-Jun!¡± The most important thing right now was to get out of this underground parking lot, and we had to move to a ce where there were a lot of people as it would be crazy to confront him one-on-one.


    ¡°Aghhhh! Why is the van parked on the 3rd basement floor!¡± The problem was that car was too deep underground for us to quickly go above ground. Dong-Jun and I frantically climbed up the parking lot and then looked back.


    ¡°Dong-Jun! Go up quickly by yourself!¡±


    ¡°What the hell, man?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll try to stop him somehow so please call the police.¡±


    ¡°Do you seriously think I¡¯ll go just because you told me to?¡±


    ¡°Come on, just go! Going right now would be helping me!¡±


    ¡°...I¡¯ll be senseless too actually believe that!¡±


    ¡°Just go! I have a n.¡±


    ¡°Are you crazy? Just fight him together then! If two people rush at him, we might be able to catch one person!¡± Dong-Jun didn¡¯t seem to properly assess this situation. That man was not an ordinary human. If we fought him together, the damage may be doubled. However, I didn¡¯t think Dong-Jun would listen to me with just words, so I activated Insight.


    <i>Zing¡ª</i>


    I used Insight.


    ¡ªGo up and call the police.


    I told Dong-Jun to leave me alone and call the police. Only then did Dong-Jun speed up and go up. I looked at the truck driver running towards us after sending Dong-Jun away. It was the first time I¡¯ve faced him since our fight at the hill. I thought he wouldn¡¯t be able to move for a while because his muscles in both arms were all torn up, but he came back in a much healthier state than even back then.


    ¡®What the heck.¡¯ I red at the man. He was about 175 cm, and he was likely around 80kg. If I fought him one by one, I thought, ¡®I would definitely lose, since he has a weapon.¡¯


    I didn¡¯t even think about hand-to-handbat in the first ce. Instead¡ª


    <i>Ziing¡ª!</i>


    I used Insight again. All I had to do was keep the truck driver here for a bit while Dong-Jun called the police outside. I gave out an order with Insight on.


    ¡ªDrop your weapon and get down on the floor.


    The man seemed to falter a bit but slowly started toy on the floor. I just needed to hand in here a little longer. However, the man took a deep breath.


    Swooosh.


    Then he screamed and refused the order I gave with Insight.


    ¡°<i>Ackkkkkkk!</i>¡±


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    Soon, Insight was ripped off by sheer force.


    ¡°...That¡¯s crazy.¡± This was getting a bit serious, and I had no other way now.


    ¡°Ah.¡± I tried to run, but was it because Insight was forcefully released without my will? My legs gave in for a bit, and the man took that opportunity to swing the baseball bat as hard as he could.


    <i>Swoosh! </i>

 Chapter 209

    <h4>Chapter 209</h4>


    <i>Bam¡ª!</i>


    The parking lot rang with a heavy thud. I felt a dull pain but fortunately, the watch on my wrist blocked the man¡¯s baseball bat.


    <i>¡®I thought my arm was going to break...!¡¯ </i>Though the baseball bat aimed for my head, I was able to block his swing with my arm by a hairbreadth. Yet, the man didn¡¯t stop with one attack. I supposed that was expected since he wouldn¡¯t have rushed at us like this to hit us once and leave the area. The man¡¯s goal was clear: it was to kill us.


    ¡°...You said it was because it was your mission to kill us, right?¡± I asked.


    This meant the man wouldn¡¯t stop swinging his bat until we died. When I met this man at Yasan before, I confirmed that there was another ¡®system¡¯ attached to him. Unlike the system that gave me missions, this mission appeared to move in a different operating system. Furthermore, the mission that this man received from the system was probably, <i>¡®theplete annihtion of Siren¡¯. </i>


    Like how I struggled with all my might toplete my missions, this man was probably doing the same for his missions. In the end, I couldn¡¯t avoid this confrontation with him.


    ¡°Where are the others?¡± The man ced his bat down for a moment and asked. ¡°Since this is a game that will end only once I kill you all, call all of your buddies.¡±


    ¡°You think I will be crazy enough to call them?¡± I red at the man. This man¡¯s personality and tone changed significantly since Ist talked to him. He was almost a different person now.


    The man looked at me with no emotion on his face. He had the face of a skilled and experienced murderer. Then, the man threw away his baseball bat and took out a knife with a de that was one hand-length long.


    ¡°Well, I nned to kill you first...since that¡¯s the mission. I will kill the others a bit more slowly.¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    I thought I could deal with him somehow when he was holding the baseball bat, but this changed everything. I definitely couldn¡¯t be stabbed with that knife; if he happened to slice my face with that, my life as an idol was over. I felt conflicted. Should I turn around and make a run for it?


    No, I tried that before and was caught in an instant. I didn¡¯t know how but this man was much stronger than he appeared; it was probably the benefits he got from his system. This meant that I needed to buy as much time as I could in this spot.


    It was then the man said, ¡°Don¡¯t think of buying time.¡± He must have read my mind and knew that the police coulde if he wasted any more time here. The man began to approach me while gripping his knife. If I couldn¡¯t escape, I needed to stop him.


    <i>Zing¡ª!</i>


    Though it was removed once, I activated Insight again. I didn¡¯t try to force amand on this man again since it seemed the man had the power to forcefully take my Insight off thanks to his system.


    <i>¡®This is the only way I can get that bastard.¡¯ </i>If this bastard¡¯s system strengthened his physical stats, my damn system gave me Insight. My power maximized not just the hardware of my body but its software. And with Insight, it wasn¡¯t hard to analyze him. His knife was aiming towards my stomach, and I slightly raised my hand above his hand that was gripping a knife. I didn¡¯t need to use much strength since all I needed to do was change the direction of the power that wasing my way.


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    The man¡¯s knife meaninglessly grazed the air.


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡± After a fruitless first attack, the man made his second attack. He gripped his knife in reverse and drew a diagonal line. He moved so fast that I heard cracking noises from the man¡¯s body. He was probably exerting power beyond his normal physical capabilities, but while I used my Insight ability, I could clearly see the trajectory of his knife. With just a slight step backward, I evaded his attack.


    The man¡¯s attacks came at me incessantly. He swung his knife down and forward, aiming for my head. Then, he grabbed his knife in reverse and tried to sh my shoulders. Then, he regripped his knife in its original direction and aimed for my heart. My eyes caught all the knife¡¯s trajectories. Simultaneously, I thought I would¡¯ve died five times if I hadn¡¯t used Insight.


    The man¡¯s physical abilities were truly astounding. Though time slowed down to the point I thought the world had stopped when I used Insight, the man¡¯s movements were the only thing that moved. In other words, he was swinging his knife so fast that it would¡¯ve been impossible for ordinary people to even see properly.


    Yet, the fight between me and him would result in an obvious end. The ability this man possessed couldn¡¯tpare to my power over Insight, and he would eventually sumb to mine. No matter how quickly and deeply he swung his knife and aimed for my critical parts, my Insight told me all his movements¡¯ trajectories and the way I could evade them. Like before, I just needed to wait until this man pushed his own physical body to ruins.


    Since he was overexerting himself right now, I thought veins would begin to burst from the muscles all around his body. As expected, I saw arge, thick vein pop out of the man¡¯s neck. His body would soon destroy itself. The attacking this time was aiming at my side. I saw the trajectory I should take to evade.


    ¡°Hmp!¡± The man¡¯s arm muscles swelled up like it would burst any moment.


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    <i>¡®What!¡¯ </i>The forward thrust that had been aiming for my side suddenly changed trajectories and began to climb upwards to my face. The stabbing attack quickly changed to a slicing form midway. This movement far surpassed the limits of a human body and I saw the man¡¯s arm eerily bend.


    <i>Slice¡ª!</i>


    The sound of something slicing resonated chillingly across the space. I reflexively touched my face to make sure.


    <i>¡®Ah...¡¯ </i>Thank goodness. My front bangs just got a bit sliced. If my face had been sliced, it would¡¯ve been a catastrophe. Besides that, it was the first time the man surpassed my Insight with his speed. It was at that point I realized that my Insight ability wasn¡¯t invincible. I had nned to keep evading until this man fell on his own, but it seemed I had to change my tactics. There was no other way out.


    <i>¡®Even if it¡¯s bothersome, I have to do something.¡¯</i> Before the police came, I needed to use defensive techniques to restrain the man. The man looked at me with a malicious smile. There was no emotion on his face but bloodthirst. The man made his way towards me again. His knife aimed for my face from above and then, below in a diagonal line.


    ¡ªStop.


    Just for a moment, I used my Insight to make amand. I didn¡¯t think it would really work but it was possible to restrict the man¡¯s movements momentarily.


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    ¡°Haaaah!¡± The man screamed and resisted mymand again. My Insight was about to wear off soon.


    <i>Whoosh¡ª!</i>


    But before any outside forces did, I deactivated it first. Then, I could minimize the side effects of my legs giving in. Thus, before the man¡¯s knife reached me, I used my Insight again.


    <i>Zing¡ª! </i>Time slowed down again, and I looked at the man¡¯s right arm, which was holding the knife. His arm must have felt the strain of our non-stop battle, and he must have drawn out even more power to resist mymand just now. I saw that the moment he resisted mymand, his swelled-up arms deted quickly.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s now.¡¯ </i>This was the moment when his arm was at its weakest. I grabbed the man¡¯s arm that wasing towards my face. I normally wouldn¡¯t have been able to pull his arm towards my direction because of how strong he was. But because of how much power he had drawn up just now, it probably was difficult for him to immediately gather more strength to fight me back. Then, after grabbing both the man¡¯s wrist and forearms, I twisted it like I was rolling a cloth.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Simultaneously, I spun his body so it fell over.


    ¡°Ahhh!¡± The man screamed and the knife he was tightly grabbing fell to the floor.


    <i>Boom! </i>The man¡¯s body mmed into the floor. This was my chance to strike. I kicked the knife far away and was about to jump over the man¡¯s chest when I realized...


    <i>¡®I got counterattacked when trying thatst time.¡¯</i>


    Thus, I quickly changed my mind and stepped on the man¡¯s right wrist with all my might.


    <i>Crunch!</i>


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± This was the weakest area on the man¡¯s body right now since it was the part he used the most. Thus, if I just ruined this part of him, he wouldn¡¯t be able to make additional attacks. Rather he swung his knife or bat, he needed to have a proper hand to attack, and it wasn¡¯t like he would be able to wield the same prowess and power in his non-dominant left hand either. In short, I had to cut off his most important mode of attacking.


    <i>Crunch!</i>


    <i>Crunch!</i>


    <i>Crunch!</i>


    I didn¡¯t feel safe with just stepping on it once and repeatedly stomped down on his wrist. I put my feet down every time with the determination to make the man unable to use his wrist ever again while thinking that my members would only be safe if Ipletely crushed his wrist. I specifically focused on one point to attack.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± The man¡¯s screams grew louder. He extended his other hand to grab my ankles.


    <i>Flick. </i>But I moved away from his reach with just one step backward.


    ¡°Haa...ha...ha...¡± The man heaved hard. It seemed to be a side-effect of overusing his power. Furthermore, his right wrist was a hundred percent broken now, as evident by the way it listlessly dangled from his arm. It was time for me to block him now. I nned to hold him back until the police came but the man began to suddenly run.


    <i>Dadadaada!</i>


    ¡°What?¡±


    <i>¡®He¡¯s running into the inside of the parking lot?¡¯</i> He wasn¡¯t running away but going in deeper. I wondered what sort of weird behavior this was.


    <i>Brooom¡ª!</i> I heard the car¡¯s engine from far away where the man disappeared.


    <i>Screeech¡ª! </i>The man dragged an old, worn-out vehicle quickly past me. In an instant, the man disappeared from the parking lot. The only things he left behind were his baseball bat and a knife. Did he run away after sensing that things were hopeless? Or did he take the car to catch Dong-Jun? If that was the case...


    ¡°No.¡± I couldn¡¯t let that be. I thought I needed to also get out of this parking lot to chase after him when Dong-Jun called me from away.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    The police rushed in from behind.


    <i>¡®Did he know this would happen...and run away?¡¯</i> I thought. It seemed clear why that man suddenly ran.


    ¡°Where is that man? Where did that crazy guy just run!¡± Dong-Jun said agitatedly.


    ¡°Ah...he ran away. He was the one who just took that worn-out white car outside the parking lot just now.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What did you say? A worn-out car?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Do you remember the type of car?¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s an Avante.¡±


    Hearing this, the police made a call on their radio and said that the criminal was riding an old white, Avante. It seemed he was guiding the other police in the vicinity.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you okay? You are all right, right? No problems?¡± Dong-Jun scanned my body thoroughly and checked if I was hurt anywhere.


    ¡°Yes...I¡¯m fine.¡± I finally was able to let down my guard and slumped down from my spot.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡± Dong-Jun supported me so I didn¡¯t copse to the floor. It was then, I saw three figuresing into the parking lot.


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Park Dong-Jun?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Dong-Jun!¡±


    It was Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, and Woon. They all came down to the parking lot with pajama wear. They all looked at us quizzically like they couldn¡¯t understand the situation. It was expected since they found me with my knees on the ground with Dong-Jun supporting me when they just came down to the parking lot.


    ¡°What in the world...happened...?¡±


    It already gave me a headache thinking about how I would have to exin the situation to them.

 Chapter 210

    <h4>Chapter 210</h4>


    Dong-Jun and I were sitting awkwardly in the living room of our dorm. The members were sitting side by side on the sofa.


    It was 1 am right now. It becamete after I went to the police station, exined the situation in detail and filled out some documents. And the members had waited for me and Dong-Jun until this time. They waitedte in the night for us to exin what happened in the underground parking lot today. The members hugged Dong-Jun and me after we returned from the police station, and after they carefully checked that we had no injuries, they sat us on the floor of the living room.


    Since then, the members had been sitting on the sofa while Dong-Jun and I sat on the floor, enduring this silence without saying a word. Yeon-Hoon was the first to speak up.


    ¡°...What happened guys...? At the underground parking lot?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°The key was missing so I went down to see if I left it in the van...Do you guys know how shocked I was?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Haha...¡±


    ¡°What in the world happened? Why was Tae-Yoon copsed on the floor, knife and baseball bat scattered around, and the police there.¡±


    From the members¡¯ point of view, they were probably very confused as they saw us with the police while going down to the underground parking lot to find a car key. Naturally, they would be worried about us that we were caught up in some kind of dangerous situation and be upset that we didn¡¯t share such important information with them. However, it was not like we had anything to say in particr.


    First of all, I reported this incident as a random attack. I had also told Dong-Jun, who went to the police station with me, that it had been a senseless, unprovoked attack. The policed didn¡¯t seem to believe me as they argued that judging by how the man stayed hidden behind a car and attacked me, it seemed more like a nned crime. And even Dong-Jun told me that he thought it was doubtful that it was a random attack.


    However, the only thing I could tell them was that I had no rtionship with that man, and since he had no reason to hate me, this incident could only be exined as a random attack in a fit of violent passion. Therefore, the police said they would investigate this crime with that as a probability. However, they didn¡¯t believe it was a random attack even till the very end and seemed to have thought that someone else who had a grudge on me might have hired that man through a broker to harm me.


    Of course, what the police thought was none of my business, and the most important thing for me was to persuade Dong-Jun on the spot. As we left the police station, Dong-Jun repeatedly asked me, ¡°Is it really a random crime? You never met him face-to-face before?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°You saw it too. He suddenly broke the window and attacked us.¡±


    ¡°No...But the chances of being subjected to this kind of unprovoked attack are too slim. And it¡¯s like...I think I¡¯ve seen him somewhere before...¡±


    ¡°But I never met him before. And I haven¡¯t made any particr enemies in my life. Of course, there is someone who hates me, but they¡¯re not the type of person to hire a broker to do this. They don¡¯t have the guts to do that.¡±


    In the end, Dong-Jun responded, ¡°Yes...I see...I¡¯ll call it a random attack, for now.¡±


    At first, I thought about telling Dong-Jun that the man was the truck driver who almost killed us as we overcame a dangerous situation with him together. However, I didn¡¯t want to make him feel anxious by letting him know that someone was aiming for our lives. Above all, that man had said, ¡®I have to kill you first anyways, since that is the mission¡¯.


    Thus, I thought that the members would be rtively safe if they were by themselves. So I decided not to tell Dong-Jun for now. Anyway, besides that, it was time for me to repeat the im that this incident had been a random attack to Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, and Woon.


    ¡°I got involved in a random attack.¡±


    ¡°Random attack?¡±


    ¡°At the parking lot?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that usually happen in the streets...?¡±


    ¡°Well, criminals don¡¯t care about the location.¡±


    The members still looked doubtful, and they didn¡¯t look fully convinced by my exnation. But what else could I say from here? I decided to push ahead with my im.


    ¡°First of all, I never met that man and neither did Dong-Jun. Someone might have hired him to attack us, but...Neither Dong-Jun nor I did something so bad to the extent that someone would do that to us.¡±


    Since Dong-Jun had heard these excuses nonstop whileing back from the police station, he just listened to my exnation with an indifferent expression. On the other hand, Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, and Woon looked very conflicted.


    ¡°But...The probability of being the target of a random attack is...¡± This was the first question they had, and this was the same question that Dong-Jun posed earlier.


    Thus, I was able to answer even more shamelessly,¡± Even though it¡¯s a rare possibility, it¡¯s still something that happens. I was just extremely unlucky...that¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°But even then...¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no point in talking about the probability when it already happened.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true...¡±


    ¡°Even though I was involved in a random attack, isn¡¯t it fine that I came back uninjured?¡±


    The members seemed to be slowly epting my exnation. Frankly, they were not trying to interrogate the truth out of us but just wanted a brief exnation of what happened to us, so there was no need for us to debate about the authenticity of my im. The members finally looked a bit more rxed.


    ¡°You¡¯re really feeling okay, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t get hit anywhere, right?¡±


    ¡°Ah...I did get hit on my arm a bit but...¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    I quickly added, ¡°Oh, but I¡¯m not injured.¡± I thought I would be taken to the hospital right away if I said I was injured. Then I might not be able to sleep tonight and have to go out for pre-recording without sleep tomorrow.


    I hurriedly calmed my members down and continued, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for making you guys worried. But we didn¡¯t expect it all either.¡±


    ¡°Yeah...¡±


    ¡°You guys have nothing to apologize for.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s not you or Dong-Jun¡¯s fault.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for asking you like I¡¯m interrogating you even though you two are the victims.¡±


    ¡°No, I understand. Since this is a perplexing situation, I would also want to assess what happened first.¡± We quickly went into reconciliation mode, and honestly, there was nothing to reconcile or make up; we were just all shocked by the sudden catastrophe that happened today.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go to bed for now. Since tomorrow will probably be a busy day.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Did you tell Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna that you went to the police station?¡±


    Dong-Jun and I stopped at Yeon-Hoon¡¯s words. We forgot to report it to them because we had been so busy with the sudden assault.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah.¡±


    Since we stopped at the same time, the rest of the members looked at us with worried expressions.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t tell them.¡±


    <i>Sigh...</i>


    ¡°Geez...¡±


    ¡°Now, that¡¯s a problem.¡±


    The members and I were now in a dilemma. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were probably sleeping right now. Since they had the same schedule as us, they were also sleep-deprived every day. If so, was it right for us to call them now and wake them up? Or was it better for us to tell them what happened tomorrow morning since it was already over? However, I soon realized that it was pointless to even ponder about these two choices.


    <i>Ziiing¡ª</i>


    Dong-Jun and my phone began vibrating, and the callers for each phone was Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna. It was then guilt began rushing in.


    <i>¡®Because of us...They couldn¡¯t even sleep and stayed awake.¡¯ </i>Dong-Jun and I answered the phone with a heavy heart. Soon, a worried and tense voice could be heard over the phone.


    ¡ªMr. Tae-Yoon! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Should we go to the dorm right now? All the members are okay, right? I heard that you guys were not hurt anywhere but...¡±


    I didn¡¯t know who they received information from, but it seemed they roughly knew about today¡¯s incident.


    ¡°Ah...Yes, we are okay. You don¡¯t have toe to our dorm. I¡¯m with the members right now, and I¡¯m not hurt anywhere.


    ¡ªHa...Thank goodness. But we still have something to discuss with you, so Seung-Yeon and I will be heading to the dorm now.


    ¡°Discussion?¡± I wondered what they had to discuss.


    ¡ªOh, did you not check your SNS yet?


    Ms. Seung-Yeon said, and it was then I realized we were public figures and celebrities. ¡°Oh.¡± There was no way that people didn¡¯t know we went to the police station and were attacked by an unidentified assant.


    <i>¡®This is driving me crazy.¡¯ </i>This was so basic, but I had so much to take care of that I forgot about it. I entered SNS with a nervous heart.


    ¡°Wow.¡± And then I was able to confirm that Dong-Jun and I dominated the real-time rankings.


    1. Siren Random Attack


    2. Siren Police Station


    3. Bong Tae-Yoon Ambush


    4. Park Dong-Jun Ambush


    If there was already this amount of buzz, it would only be a matter of time before it spread throughout the Inte.


    ***


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came to our dormte at night. There were two main topics we needed to discuss. The first was whether we were going to participate in the pre-recording and music show tomorrow¡ªno, this early morning since it was past 12 o¡¯clock. This was the topic we had to discuss first, and this discussion ended in a sh. Dong-Jun and I were adamant about doing it, and Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon wanted us to rest if possible.


    ¡°You have to consider not only your physical condition but also thepany¡¯s image. If people know that you two were attacked by an unidentified assant and then go to a pre-recording and do a show right away, thepany¡¯s image will take a serious hit.¡±


    ¡°And you two might be fine now, but you don¡¯t know how your physical condition will be when you wake up tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Since you two are also sleeping reallyte, I think it would be better to take a break from the music show tomorrow. I¡¯m sure the producers and staff will understand, considering the situation.¡±


    Like this, our team decided not to go on a music show tomorrow as a group. Furthermore, besides the music show, all of today¡¯s schedules were canceled; the radio and Utube appearance were all canceled.


    ¡°From now on, let¡¯s decide on the words to post on our official ount.¡±


    The second topic of discussion was deciding on the words to post. Since everyone knew that we were the victims of a random attack, we decided that Dong-Jun and I should make a post respectively. After talking about all the necessary measures, it became 3 a.m.


    ¡°Let¡¯s proceed like this for now...and get some rest tomorrow. We¡¯ll also go to work tomorrow morning to just make a report and take half a day to get some rest, so don¡¯t worry about us.¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for all your work. It must have been tiring.¡±


    ¡°Not at all.¡±


    After that, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna returned, and we were the only ones left in the dorm again. Since we did nothing wrong, news about this would probably quiet down in time. So there was nothing much to worry about that. However, there was a different reason why everyone stayed in the living room and nervously nced at each other instead of going back to our respective rooms. It was a pity that our schedules were canceled due to the assant¡¯s attack. But...


    ¡°...We have a day off tomorrow...?¡± We got a day off unintentionally. As soon as Dong-Jun said ¡®we have a day off tomorrow¡¯, everyone¡¯s gaze dizzyingly shed against each other in the air.

 Chapter 211

    <h4>Chapter 211</h4>


    Everyone just kept warily ncing at each other. It was a very awkward and ufortable time. I liked that we got some break time but because the reason for it wasn¡¯t good, we didn¡¯t feel so happy about it. Yet, there was one person who didn¡¯t appear all that concerned.


    ¡°Though we are resting because of an unpleasant event, it is still a rest day. Now that we finally have a break, let¡¯s take the time to rest~¡± Dong-Jun said and slumped his body into the sofa.


    It was as Dong-Jun said. Though the reason for it wasn¡¯t good, this was our precious day to rest. Using this day effectively could have a positive influence on our activities in the long run. We could take the time to rest, discuss ideas for our next activities, or do the things we had been thinking about doing but couldn¡¯t for a while.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. If we are going to rest, we shouldn¡¯t do it in a bad mood.¡±


    ¡°I mean we aren¡¯t the ones who did anything wrong. It¡¯s that criminal who is the problem...¡±


    ¡°Since it came to this, should we have some healing time, especially for Tae-Yoon and Dong-Jun? They must be really shocked by what happened.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, and Woon began to share ideas. I didn¡¯t really care whatever idea they came up with. I was fine with doing nothing like this, going somewhere, or eating whatever. I was most satisfied by the fact that I could sleep past 9 am tomorrow.


    ¡°Should we think about it after sleeping? We¡¯ve been awake for 22 hours now.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yeah. That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°We should sleep first.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to sleep~¡±


    I stopped my members¡¯ meeting by suggesting sleep first. We each went to our individual rooms and unfolded the nkets.


    ¡°Good night, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°You guys went through so much today. It could¡¯ve been a really big deal...but let¡¯s try to erase those bad memories by making new ones tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for saying that.¡±


    ¡°No problem. Good night.¡±


    After exchanging greetings with Woon, I fell asleep. Perhaps, because all sorts of crazy events happened today, I fell asleep in an instant.


    ***


    The first thing I did after waking up was write a post on our official fan caf¨¦ site. The post I made was what I wrote with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna yesterday. I didn¡¯t just write down what they told me like a machine but discussed the best word choices to calm and rx our fans before putting them down. After I uploaded the post, the situation showed signs of improvement.


    ¡ªWhat in the world...How could they get attacked on the day they win first ce...?


    ¡ªI think our guys are going to do really well?


    ¡ªThis is just the rain before the rainbow


    ¡ªThank goodness no one got hurt


    It felt like fans were feeling more turmoil because the news was released right after we experienced our first win. It was probably like going from heaven to hell in just a couple of hours.


    <i>¡®I feel like being our fan...is not an easy ride...¡¯ </i>That¡¯s what came to my mind today. If it was up to me, I wouldn¡¯t be keeping up with such a stress-inducing group like ours. Thus, I felt more grateful and sorry to the fans who liked us.


    ¡°Did you put up the post?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s eat first.¡±


    Do-Seung prepared breakfast after a long time. The menu was soybean paste stew which we ate since our trainee days. The taste was exactly the same as the one I tried to copy before I regressed and often ate. Though I called this soybean paste stew, it wasn¡¯t a 100% pure soybean paste stew and was slightly different from the ordinary kinds. But whether it was authentic or not, it didn¡¯t change the fact that the stew tasted amazing.


    ¡°Wow...this is really tasty.¡±


    ¡°Why do I feel like it has been so long since I ate this?¡±


    ¡°Do-Seung, do you want to open a soybean paste stew restaurant? I will invest.¡±


    ¡°Stop kidding around.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a crime that we are the only ones enjoying this...¡± Dong-Jun said and took a tofu and a piece of beef brisket, ced them on his rice, and began to mix them. Then, he put a big spoonful of the mixture and shoved it into his mouth, and gasped in pleasure.


    ¡°Wow...I feel like you could exin your whole reason for existence with this soybean paste stew.¡±


    ¡°My whole reason for existence is just a stew?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s so great that it could exin this stew.¡±


    ¡°...Is this even apliment?¡±


    Everyone had a peaceful smile as we enjoyed our rare, leisurely mornings. Then, after spending thirty minutes on breakfast, we didn¡¯t get up right away and lounged around for a while. Not only were we full after just eating, but we also didn¡¯t want to move busily on a precious break day. Then, our conversation naturally led to what we should do for the rest of the day.


    ¡°Should we go watch a movie together?¡± The first suggestion was made by Woon to watch a movie.


    ¡°A movie?¡±


    ¡°A movie I want to watch just came out.¡±


    ¡°Hm...but we are supposed to be resting from our broadcast schedules today. Wouldn¡¯t it make a bad impression if we went to see a movie then?¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s true.¡±


    We shot down the first idea. Of course, even if we went to watch the movies, it wouldn¡¯t lead to a scandal or anything like that. But it could provide a good bait for the haters who wanted to find anything to hate on. Thus, it was best to not give them anything totch onto.


    ¡°Should we borrow a car and go on a drive?¡± Yeon-Hoon made the next suggestion.


    This was not a bad suggestion but...


    ¡°I had the ident yesterday at the parking lot, so going to ride a car the very next day is a bit...haha...¡± Dong-Jun showed some resistance to it. It seemed he was reluctant to go down to the parking lot after the ident yesterday.


    ¡°What is there for all of us to do together...?¡±


    ¡°Should we y games together?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s been so long since I yed games, I don¡¯t even remember how to y.¡±


    ¡°Hm...¡±


    It was then my eyes caught the soybean paste stew in front of us.


    <i>¡®Soybean paste stew?¡¯</i> An idea suddenly came to my mind then.


    ¡°Should we make soybean paste stew?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about suddenly?¡±


    ¡°We just ate.¡±


    ¡°No, not for us.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°I think it will be good to also treat Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon with it. And maybe to our fans.¡±


    ¡°Ah...!¡±


    ¡°Oh...!¡±


    My members looked quite taken aback by my idea.


    ¡°...That¡¯s so nice of you...?¡±


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    I felt a bit taken aback by my members¡¯ dumbfounded reactions. Personally, I thought this soybean paste stew contained a lot of my group¡¯s history. It was the meal we mostmonly ate and the menu that I most often thought about. Thus, I simply wanted to share it with the people who supported us.


    ¡°I get that you want to share it with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna but how are you doing to make it for our fans. It¡¯s not like we can go to our fans and personally make it for them,¡± Dong-Jun asked me the exact details of my n.


    ¡°Ah, I thought we could follow the recipe and make something like a meal kit. We could give one pack to Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon each. Then, we could also share it to the fans tomorrow morning at the pre-recording.¡± If we prepared meal kits, we could easily give them away as gifts.


    ¡°Oh...!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea.¡±


    ¡°I should quickly organize the recipe.¡±


    ¡°And also buy the ingredients.¡±


    ¡°If we are going to make it, should we buy a sealing machine while we are it? You know like the ones that restaurants use and package it like a real store meal kit?¡±


    ¡°My house has a vacuum packaging machine. Should I get that guys?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think we will definitely need that.¡±


    ¡°This is...making me excited...!¡±


    The scale of my n was bing bigger and bigger. Once I made the suggestion, everyone began discussing how they could increase the quality of the soybean paste meal kit.


    ¡°Should we stick our pictures inside the meal kits?¡±


    ¡°Good idea.¡±


    ¡°Ohh.¡±


    ¡°Let me find some useable pictures...¡±


    At this point, this could be a Siren good, and it was sort of funny that we were having a discussion that could be made in apany¡¯s merchandise team about goods development in front of our dining table.


    ¡°Okay then, after I organize the recipe, let¡¯s go to the mart.¡±


    ¡°Ohhh! A trip to the mart~¡±


    ¡°We will probably the only ones who will offer soybean paste meal kit as presents to our fans.¡±


    That was how our n to give away soybean paste meal kits came to fruition.


    ***


    After Seung-Yeon and Hyun finished giving their briefing about the recent incident at thepany, they went to sleep right away. Because they didn¡¯t have the energy to go back home, they reserved a ce near thepany to stay for the night together. Since they had been doing this whenever Siren¡¯s schedule got too long, they were used to it and didn¡¯t feel any difort.


    ¡°Ugh...Why am I tired no matter how long I sleep?¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s because we aren¡¯t sleeping routinely.¡±


    ¡°Haa...I got another pimple here.¡±


    Because of how wrecked their sleeping and waking schedule was, they were suffering from several ailments. But of course, thepany waspensating them with a good wage, bonuses, and so on for all the work they were doing. After joining Next Wave, their wages gradually climbed until they renewed their contract and received almost two times more than they did in their previouspany.


    Though two times sounded like a lot, their original point ofparison was shockingly small and their current wage was just within the ordinary range of what employees at a bigpany might get. With this change, the two realized how little WD Entertainment had given them.


    ¡°Then, should we check out first?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Seung-Yeon and Hyuna went outside their rooms after organizing it.


    ¡°Then, see you tomorrow in front of Siren¡¯s dorm.¡±


    ¡°See you~¡±


    The two greeted each other and were about to separate in front of the subway station when¡ª


    Zing¡ª


    Zing¡ª


    The two¡¯s phones simultaneously rang. The caller was Tae-Yoon. When they got a call from Tae-Yoon, they got worried that there was some big trouble. The two stayed together and checked the message in front of the subway. Yet, in contrary to their worries, the content of the message was quite normal...


    ¡ªIf you didn¡¯t eat dinner yet, do you want to eat together at the dorm?


    It was a dinner invitation.


    ¡°Dinner?¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    ¡°Should we go first?¡±


    Siren members were offering them dinner in their rare break days, and they had no reason not to go. Furthermore, they were curious about what meal Siren would¡¯ve prepared for them. In the end, they arrived at the dorm and opened the entrance door.


    ¡°Oh, you guys are here!¡± Yeon-Hoon was the first one to greet them. But the thing that grabbed the two more than Yeon-Hoon¡¯s visuals was the smell of the ce.


    ¡°The whole house smells like soybean paste...¡±


    ¡°What is this...? Did you set up a soybean paste factory?¡±


    Simultaneously, they heard.


    ¡°Come on, give me the next kit!¡±


    ¡°All right!¡±


    ¡°Press it with the sealing machine!¡±


    ¡°Hey, this one isn¡¯t vacuumed properly.¡±


    ¡°Ah, if you leave that there, I will do it again.¡±


    While sitting in the living room, each of the members was packing good ingredients, vacuuming them inside bags, and sealing them into packages. It was like they were in a food factory. There was a huge pile of soybean paste stew meal kits stacked in one corner of the living room.


    ¡°Do you want to go after eating one of the meal kits we made? Of course, you can just take some to bring home, but we also wanted to treat you,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and made Seung-Yeon and Hyuna sit.


    ¡°Haa...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s good we brought cameras with us...¡±


    Seung-Yeon and Hyuna were already showing signs of being a workaholic.


    ¡°You guys should¡¯ve told us if you were nning to do something like this.¡±


    ¡°You are going to gift these to your fans tomorrow, right?¡±


    ¡°Wow...this is going to really cause amotion on social media tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone else would¡¯ve put this much effort into fan gifts...¡±


    ¡°This is amazing guys.¡±


    The two didn¡¯t even think about eating soybean paste stew and took out a camcorder and installed it in the room.


    ¡°We should add this as a behind clip that we were nning to upload next week.¡±


    ¡°Or we could make this a separate video to upload.¡±


    Though it was their break time, Siren and their managers were making their own work to do and doing it as usual.

 Chapter 212

    <h4>Chapter 212</h4>


    It was the day of Siren¡¯s pre-recording. People who came to observe as audience members gathered in front of the broadcasting station and were keeping order. Among those who got closer after seeing each other in several events together, they all spoke about the same topic.


    ¡°Dong-Jun and Tae-Yoon are okay, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I hope so...¡±


    ¡°A person I know is a reporter who wrote an article about that and they said Dong-Jun and Tae-Yoon weren¡¯t hurt. I heard the criminal just pretended to threaten them and ran away.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m so d then.¡±


    ¡°When I first saw the article, I was like what in the world...And I thought my heart was going to drop.¡±


    The topic of their conversation by far was Bong Tae-Yoon and Park Dong-Jun¡¯s attack by an unidentified assant. Someone had made a nonsensical post that Siren¡¯s fortune was filled with bad luck on social media in the past, but considering recent events, it felt as if there was some credibility to those words. It was crazy that Siren¡¯s win on a music show and a mysterious attack happened on the same day.


    The Siren fan knew that Siren was walking a different path from other idols, but she felt anxious because this seemed true in both good and bad ways.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s think of it as the worst being over.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, true.¡±


    ¡°I think their recognition increased after they came out on the news and stuff...¡±


    ¡°What if they¡¯rebeled as ambushed idols now?¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s going too far.¡±


    People tried to interpret this issue in the best possible way.


    ¡°When something good happens, something bad happens, and the opposite is true vice versa.¡±


    ¡°At this rate, what if they really get the Grand Prize at the end of this year?¡±


    ¡°Then, that will be amazing.¡±


    While people busily conversed to endure the boring waiting time, they saw Siren¡¯s fan manager dragging arge box on a wheelbarrow. Judging by how the fan manager came back after doing an attendance check, it meant only one thing. It was even more evident by the box behind them.


    ¡°Everyone! I¡¯ll be passing the gifts prepared by the members! Please stay in order!¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°Awesome!¡±


    Siren was doing a ¡°return¡± gift. It was obvious that they prepared these gifts during the one-day off they had yesterday. The fans couldn¡¯t believe they prepared a gift for fans on the one day they had a day off. Their hearts already started beating fiercely even before they received it. At the same time, they began to imagine what kind of item it may be. Was it an expensive sandwich that they gave out before? Or a lunch box?


    Whatever it was, they were overjoyed as they were not happy about getting a gift but just the fact that they were ¡®getting¡¯ something. But...


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Ah?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    An item that no one expected was ced one by one in the hands of fans.


    ¨CSiren¡¯s signature soybean stew-paste!


    ¨CA premium soybean stew paste meal kit that contains Do-Seung¡¯s secret recipe that you can¡¯t taste anywhere else!


    It was a soybean paste stew meal kit that was meticulously packaged with a sealing machine. The content of the meal kit contained broth, beef brisket, packet of vegetables, and a sauce that appeared to be soybean paste. The amount looked to be about 2-3 servings. But above all, the picture on the meal kit was by far the best.


    ¡°Are they ambassadors for soybean paste stew meal kit?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, right? Hahahaha!¡±


    All the Siren members were dressed in white shirts like a photo shoot and holding a meal kit. The fans didn¡¯t know who did it, but the background of the picture had been neatly cropped and pasted on top of the meal kit.


    ¡°They¡¯re all dressed up like they¡¯re advertising for cosmetics products, but why are they holding soybean paste stew in their hands instead?¡±


    ¡°Wow. Why is Do-Seung so good looking in this picture?¡±


    ¡°Is Do-Seung¡¯s personal color soybean paste stew meal kit?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s up...with that...¡±


    People poured out positive responses to the unusual ¡°return¡± gift that no one had expected. Furthermore, it wasn¡¯t even amonly mass-produced product, and it was clear to the fans that the members had made each of them by hand. Even the exnation on the soybean paste stew said that it contained Kang Do-Seung¡¯s secret recipe. The gift was especially appropriate, considering that rumors about Kang Do-Seung¡¯s soybean paste stew recipe had spread among Siren fans before.


    Siren members were seen eating soybean paste stew on the show, and when fans saw even Bong Tae-Yoon, who had a small appetite, finish his rice in an instant with the stew, everyone realized that it must be no ordinary soybean paste stew and desperately sought the recipe. However, even if they desperately tried to make it, they couldn¡¯t as it was impossible to infer the recipes from only the scenes that were aired.


    However, by receiving the meal kit, the fans now had a chance to try Kang Do-Seung¡¯s soybean paste stew, which the members had eaten themselves. Everyone busily took out their phone and took photos.


    ¡°This is amazing, for real.¡±


    ¡°Wow, I had no ns to eat anything, but I¡¯m suddenly hungry now.¡±


    ¡°I was nning to go to McNald after this, but I should go home and boil this.¡±


    ¡°If I cook this, I think my mom and dad will eat it all.¡±


    ¡°You should buy a portable stove and boil it in your room.¡±


    ¡°Are you a genius?¡±


    People excitedly talked about the meal kits and quickly posted pictures of the items on social media at the same time. They wanted to spread this news widely to the public. What kind of group would think of making a homemade meal kit on their day off for their fans? The fans wanted to let as many people know about Siren¡¯s gift out of gratitude and pride in their idols.


    ***


    While waiting for the pre-recording, my members and I sat in the waiting room and looked at the reactions of our gifts posted on social media. We had already finished our outfit fitting, makeup, and hair setting, and we now had about 10 minutes left to go up on stage. However, no one got up from their seats because they wanted to see more of the fans¡¯ reactions right before we went up.


    ¡°The fans really liked our gift.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so d.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a fan who said she¡¯s going to bring a portable stove home.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    Honestly, we hadn¡¯t given that anything special considering the selling price, it would probably be only about 15,000 won. I was sure that almost everyone would be able to buy a 15,000 won meal for someone that likes them so much. However, I felt proud and happy that our fans liked our small gift so much.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go and work even harder today!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s really crush the stage today.¡±


    ¡°Ohhhh!¡±


    ¡°We got this, Siren!¡±


    The members showed a 100% increase in morale and strengthened their resolve to do well in the pre-recording. Honestly, we didn¡¯t have to raise our morale so much for a pre-recording, but it was definitely better than doing a sloppy job.


    ¡°Siren, please be on standby!¡±


    ¡°Yes~¡±


    We came out of the waiting room under the guidance of the production team. After we went on stage, we shared a casual conversation with our fans. I couldn¡¯t hear them too well because I wore an in-ear, but it was possible to share a basic greeting.


    ¡°Please enjoy the soybean paste stew!¡±


    ¡°I pressed the sealer! Really hard!¡±


    ¡°I packaged them!¡±


    ¡°The recipe! It¡¯s mine!¡±


    We each boasted to our fans about our roles in making the soybean paste stew meal kit. The fans poured out various reactions every time we said something, but it was hard to exactly what they said. I could only infer what they said through the shape of their mouth and the muffled sounds. After we finished our greeting, our performance began in earnest.


    The song, ¡°Blue Summer Night, which we had now be very familiar with, rang out. We continued the choreography that we had done on stage and practiced many times. Whenever the fan¡¯s cheering chant reached through my in-ear, I had to force myself to hold back myughter. However, unlike me who held back myughter, Yeon-Hoon looked at the fans with a big smile. In the end, I stopped repressing myugh and followed Yeon-Hoon by looking at the fans while praying hard that only happy days like these would continue.


    ***


    After the pre-recording, we had no choice but to busily move again. We had to do the filming that was dyed from yesterday, and of course, we also had to fulfill the schedule nned for today. After the pre-recording we finished the morning radio schedule without having time to eat breakfast and then moved back to the next entertainment schedule. There wasn¡¯t enough time to eat lunch, so we ended up eating kimbap in the car.


    After that, we went to a music show again. We did the performance one more time on a live show, and we saw Only One on today¡¯s show. Since both of our groups were first-ce candidates, we¡¯ve been called to all kinds of events. The Only One members rushed towards us and worriedly asked whether Dong-Jun and I were hurt by the madman who ambushed us. Whenever that happened, we had to say several times that we were okay and were not hurt.


    In particr, Kang Hyun-Sung sneaked over to me and secretly asked me if I was really okay. I wondered what in the world was wrong with this guy, but I ended the conversation by saying I really was okay. After that, wepeted with Only One for first ce until the end of the show, and the first ce today went to Only One, not us.


    ¨CThis week¡¯s first ce is Only One¡¯s <First One>! Congrattions!


    Only One members¡¯ eyes widened in surprise as they hadn¡¯t expected to win first ce. Even Kang Hyun-Sung, who seemed indifferent, looked at me with surprise. The question was, why did he look at me at that moment? Well...I didn¡¯t think too much about this as people just looked at anyone when they were surprised. We left the stage to give way for Only to enjoy their victory. Although it was a shame that we couldn¡¯t win first ce that day, there was no time for us to feel disappointed.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon! Look over here!¡±


    ¡°Dong-Juuuun!¡±


    ¡°Yeon-! Hoon-! Here-!¡±


    ¡°Woooon!¡±


    ¡°Do-Seuuuung!¡±


    On that day, we had a fan signing event andmunicated with the fans. It was nice to win first ce, but I likemunicating with the fans a bit more.


    ¡°I ate soybean paste stew today!¡±


    ¡°Really? Then did you alsoe to the pre-recording today?¡±


    ¡°Of course! That soybean paste stew was delicious.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Do-Seung is really good at cooking.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, what other food do you like besides soybean paste stew?¡±


    ¡°Hmm...I like braised short ribs made by Yeon-Hoon¡¯s mom.¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s very detailed.¡±


    ¡°What about you, nuna?¡±


    ¡°Hmm...I...¡±


    After a few fan signings, I felt like I was getting better and better. I still felt the excitement and tingles, but it felt like only unnecessary anxiety disappeared. After that, we performed our side-tracks in front of the fans. The fan signing event concluded by taking pictures together.


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡±


    ¡°We worked extremely hard today, roger-¡±


    ¡°Where did you pick up that weird way to speak, Park Dong-Jun?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s my choice, roger-¡±


    ¡°...How aggravating.¡±


    We returned to our dorm and fell on the floor or on the sofa to destress at the end of the day. A very ordinary period of activity that was nothing special wasing to an end.


    ***


    The next day, we gathered together and kept our promise to the fans before we did our pre-recording. I uploaded the deleted part of Siren¡¯s humorous video and part 2 of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s cover of ¡°Blue Summer Night¡±.

 Chapter 213

    <h4>Chapter 213</h4>


    Siren uploaded the videos they promised to upload for winning first ce, and after countless shares, those videos began to spread all over social media. The video that spread the most widely across the public was Yeon-Hoon¡¯s cover of ¡®<i>Blue Summer Night¡¯</i>. It was expected that a cover video would reach the public the farthest because it was made for that purpose. Even for people who didn¡¯t know Siren too well, the public who had already seen Yeon-Hoon¡¯s cover video rushed to see part 2.


    ¡ªAhhhhh there¡¯s part 2 now?


    ¡ªYeah, this is the one


    ¡ªSo, did Saren get first ce?


    Reply: They are Siren!


    ¡ªHe really is crazy good at singing


    ¡ªNo but the singing isn¡¯t the important part; his face is crazy


    ¡ªThe song was so good that I listened to it again after putting on my sses


    ¡ªWhy do guys like him not be famous?


    Reply: ? He¡¯s in a new group that sold over 500,000 copies in the first week of sales?


    Though the first part of the video had attracted quite the buzz, the video¡¯s full version rose in poprity even faster. It was to the point that in the public¡¯s mind, Siren became strongly established as the group, ¡®where that good-looking guy who is also good at singing¡¯ is in. Before, Only One had more public awareness than Siren but with this video, Siren¡¯s awareness slightly surpassed them.


    More urately, it wasn¡¯t really Only One but Kang Hyun-Sung who was well-known by the public. In other words, this meant that people were starting to remember Woo Yeon-Hoon more than Kang Hyun-Sung. It was especially encouraging that broadcast program channels left recruitmentments on the Utube video. Shows like<i> Late Night Live Hall</i> that was famous for calling singers in the night-time to sing live or<i> Karaoke 2nd Time</i>, a music quiz variety show that centered around ying at karaoke rooms, leftments under the video.


    ¡ªPrince of the Sea, Mr. Yeon-Hoon, we are desperately waiting for your appearance


    ¡ªYour Highness, Prince Yeon-Hoon, we sent a request to yourpany and are waiting for your reply :)


    The writers of broadcastpanies had already realized that Yeon-Hoon could be the new stimulus they needed in the predictable and set variety show business. Below thosements, Siren fans and the program''s fans asked for Yeon-Hoon¡¯s appearance. And while Yeon-Hoon¡¯s video was triggering such a wave of attention, Siren fans were trying their best to block ¡®Siren¡¯sedy skit video¡¯ from spreading to the public.


    ¡ªMust protect this video at all costs! So that nobody can see it!


    ¡ªShare it only in your unofficial ounts!!


    ¡ªIf this video gets out while people are fanning over Yeon-Hoon, it will be the death of me


    ¡ªHow could they release a cover and skit video at the same time??? Ahahahah


    ¡ªTae-Yoon poisoned his group!!


    The fans reached a consensus that while Yeon-Hoon¡¯s video was attracting all sorts of positive reception, they needed to keep this video under the radar. And because fans only shared the video in their unofficial ounts, the video didn¡¯t pop up on people¡¯s feeds as often as it was shared. Yet, the number of shares it received from unofficial ounts was considerably high and at least on Bluebird, it boasted of more shares than Yeon-Hoon¡¯s cover video. And the general response to the funny video was:


    ¡ªWas Tae-Yoon¡¯s character always like this?


    ¡ªNo hahaha How could he notugh and act so calmly?


    ¡ªSo funny how everyone else keeps burst outughing every time Tae-Yoon talks


    ¡ªIt¡¯s funnier because he doesn¡¯t seem to have any intention of being funny


    ¡ªHow can you call thisedy? Hahaha Does Tae-Yoon not know the meaning of edy¡¯?


    The general response said the video was quite funny. The part 2 of Siren¡¯s funny video began not too differently from the previous video. No, it began in the same way because they had just edited part 2 with the previously uploaded video together. Thus, people viewed the video from the start with the mindset that they were rewatching a masterpiece. Then, the video eventually reached the part where it was cut off before. After being told that this stupid impromptu y could end if Tae-Yoon made themugh, Tae-Yoon opened his mouth.


    ¡ªUm...


    It was what no one expected.


    ¡ªDong-Jun, stop eating m hot pot.


    He suddenly attacked Dong-Jun, who wasn¡¯t doing anything, out of the blue.


    ¡ªHuh?


    ¡ªUgh?


    ¡ªWhat?


    ¡ªIf you eat so much m hot pot like you are doing right now, you are going to get a hole in your stomach. It could really be dangerous.


    ¡ª...Huh?


    ¡ªHahaha!


    ¡ªNo...Tae-Yoon!


    ¡ªHow is thisedy!


    Dong-Jun, who had been holding the camera, just muttered,<i> ¡®huh...?</i>¡¯ in astonishment while the rest of the members burst in btedughter at Tae-Yoon¡¯s unexpected attack. Yet, Tae-Yoon¡¯s verbal assaults didn¡¯t end there.


    ¡ªDo-Seung, stop groping to the music when you are walking alone.


    ¡ª...What...what did you say?


    ¡ªWhen you groove with your headphones on, it¡¯s a bit embarrassing. You know our concept is more youthful and refreshing.


    ¡ªPft!


    ¡ªHaaaaa!


    ¡ªThe king of grooves! Kang Do-Seung!


    ¡ªStop it!


    Tae-Yoon brought up Do-Seung¡¯s small habit that he only did in secret


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon, stop singing while you are in the shower. The bathroom isn¡¯t your karaoke. Also, washing for so long isn¡¯t good for your skin.


    ¡ªAh...?


    ¡ªAnd stop having a whole fashion show in the morning. It¡¯s upsetting that you take care of yourself so well with that kind of face.


    ¡ªMe...?


    Tae-Yoon brought up Yeon-Hoon¡¯s bad habits.


    ¡ªWoon, you think we don''t know that you sometimes admire yourself in the practice room mirror while we aren¡¯t there?


    ¡ªWhat...!


    Tae-Yoon also brought up Woon¡¯s weakness.


    ¡ªDong-Jun, also...


    ¡ªStop...Stop it, Tae-Yoon...


    ¡ªDo-Seung, you also...


    ¡ªAre you out of your mind...?


    ¡ªWoon...


    ¡ªTae-Yoon...


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon...


    ¡ª...I¡¯m sorry...I really am


    Tae-Yoon¡¯s verbal assaults didn¡¯t stop there and continued. Though everyone hadughed in the beginning, they all looked out of it by the end. Like they had received significant mental damage, they all sat soullessly. And after doing his full, Tae-Yoon shamelessly made it seem like all of his actions had been for show to make a humorous video.


    ¡ªThat is all. Did everyone have fun?


    They burst into humorlessughter while looking at each other and theirughter soon turned into feats of madughter, shouting, and pping. Theyughed because they were baffled that Tae-Yoon had attacked them after they told him to make themugh. Afterughing senselessly for a while, they copsed to the floor.


    With this, they found out Tae-Yoon¡¯s sense of humor. He forced people tough in bafflement by damaging their minds. Whatever it was, Tae-Yoon seeded in making his membersugh and aplished the mission they gave him.


    ¡ªHow nice and chill can a team be that the<i> maknae</i> can say stuff like that and be forgiven?


    Reply: Don¡¯t package this so nicely. It¡¯s not that the team¡¯s atmosphere is nice but that the <i>maknae</i> one-sidedly assaulted his members


    Reply: This is <i>maknae </i>on top fr


    ¡ªThis isn¡¯t a humorous video but an assault video


    ¡ªBut seeing the members¡¯ responses, it seems Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t say anything wrong


    ¡ªWhy are you spilling internal secrets instead of a funny video?


    ¡ªBut is it all right for Tae-Yoon to just speak so boldly like that? He¡¯s the <i>maknae</i>


    Reply: It really does seem like <i>maknae</i> is on top in Siren haha


    ¡ªWe have to make sure this doesn¡¯t spread anywhere else and enjoy it amongst ourselves


    ¡ªI feel like they just exposed their personal lives to us...haha


    ¡ªI wanted to know you guys better but not this much...Tae-Yoon hahahaha


    ¡ªDong-Jun and I did have a simrity


    Siren fans enjoyed the video more than anybody else but agreed amongst each other that they would keep this to themselves. Like that, the video was shared many times but the speed at which it spread across the inte was significantly slower; and even when it spread, it rolled back and forth within Bluebird.


    Then, after revealing their videos, Siren achieved their second first win trophy in the next music show. It was a great win in consecutive days and the Siren members led the encore stage with much more calmness than their first win. Naturally, they had another live broadcast to celebrate their win, where they did a cake <i>mukbang* [1] </i>and took the time to exin their edy video¡¯.


    ¡ªI...don¡¯t like m hot pot <i>that </i>much


    ¡ªThat¡¯s a lie


    ¡ªIt¡¯s not a lie!


    ¡ªIf we extract your blood, m would probablye out


    ¡ªAh...Come on, Tae-Yoon!


    ¡ªI don¡¯t really go around grooving all the time


    ¡ªShould I show rebuttal videos as evidence?


    ¡ªDon¡¯t!


    ¡ªI also...don¡¯t sing in the shower...


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon, are you seriously going to lie about that?


    ¡ª...Sorry...


    ¡ªI also don¡¯t look at the mirror so often...


    ¡ª<i>Beep. </i>That¡¯s a lie


    Yet, the more the members tried to exin themselves, Tae-Yoon intercepted and blocked their attempts. Thus, there was not a single usation that was overturned. Like that, a new nickname formed for each of the members.


    Yeon-Hoon was ¡®Bathroom Song Master¡¯.


    Do-Seung was the ¡®Asian Groove King¡¯.


    Woon was ¡®Training Room Princess¡¯.


    Dong-Jun was ¡®Gangnam-gu M King¡¯.


    Tae-Yoon was ¡®The Walking Fact Machine¡¯.


    Afterward, the second week of activities ended with Only One getting first ce on Saturday and Sunday music shows.


    ***


    It was Saturday night when the second week of activities met its end. However, we couldn¡¯t spend the day just resting. We had to do many fan meetings sincest week and had an eventful and fruitful schedule where we won first-ce trophies three times.


    ¡°Haaa.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s work again.¡±


    ¡°We can do it!¡±


    Because of that, we felt fired up to do more even at a time when we could rest. My members burned with the passion to improve and their state had a big influence on their decision. The Sunday night we finished our second week of activities, we didn¡¯t return to our dorm and went straight to thepany. There, we rented a conference room and connected ourptops with a conference monitor.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s talk about the next activities¡¯ concept and direction of the song we want to take!¡±


    The main topic of today¡¯s meeting was about our next activities. My members were fully convinced by my opinion that we could get this year¡¯s grand prize with the progress we were making. My members¡¯ eyes were burning in passion to get this year¡¯s grand prize all the time now. This was the state I wanted them to be in. If they maintained this condition and we continued to set new records every time we did our activities...


    <i>¡®Triple Crown All-Kill and entering the Billboard Hot 100...could be possible.¡¯</i>


    We might be able to clear the two death g missions in three months at this rate. And while we burned up with passion for our ns, we noticed a figure reflected on the other side of the conference room¡¯s ss wall.


    ¡°Huh? Who¡¯s that?¡±


    Eventually, someone opened the door and came inside.


    ¡°You all are doing a meeting at this time? Haha, how passionate.¡±


    It was Director Yoo Won-Dong.


    1. An eating show ?

 Chapter 214

    <h4>Chapter 214</h4>


    Yoo Won-Dong opened the conference room door and came inside.


    ¡°Hello, Director Yoo!¡±


    ¡°Ah...hahaha.¡±


    ¡°Sir, you¡¯re still here...at thiste hour.¡±


    ¡°...Hahahaha.¡±


    Then the members got up in a hurry and greeted Director Yoo Won-Dong. I knew exactly what type of situation this was.


    ¡®It¡¯s like when a clueless adult joins a group of kids ying with each other.¡¯


    A situation that was not helpful to anyone unfolded, but Yoo Won-Dong looked at us with a proud face.


    ¡°It¡¯s good to see...you guys working together for a better future like this.¡± He looked thoroughly impressed by us. Did he originally have this kind of character? He seemed like a indifferent businessman through and through, but he suddenly seemed like a girl full of sentimental emotions.


    He asked, ¡°What kind of meeting were you guys having? May I hear the agenda for today¡¯s meeting?¡±


    ¡°Oh...it¡¯s not so grand to be an agenda...But we were gathered here to brainstorm our follow-up concept and ideas.¡±


    ¡°Follow-up activities?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°But I haven¡¯t approved the budget yet.¡±


    ¡°Oh, but I heard that the n was in the process of being reviewed, so we were nning to set a more detailed concept with the approval in mind.¡± Yeon-Hoon answered Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s questions one by one as the group leader.


    Yoo Won-Dong looked a bit concerned that we were having a meeting when the budget hadn¡¯t been reviewed yet as his expression darkened.


    ¡®Come on, there¡¯s no way they won¡¯t approve our follow-up activities.¡¯ Although it would need a substantial amount of budget, there was a good probability that it would be approved as we just needed to produce results by getting a Triple Crown. Thispany as well as Yoo Won-Dong were not fixated on making a lot of sales. Since there were many affiliates in Jaeil Group that made much better money, there was no need for Next Wave to also work harder in producing sales.


    Since this business was just beginning, it was more important to show tangible results in the entertainment industry than sales. Therefore, it was no means a losing business to support our efforts to get the Triple Crown all-kill. When I had a one on one meeting with Yoo Won-Dong before, it was this part that I tried to appeal to him.


    Yoo Won-Dong also seemed to agree with me. So I was sure that the word, ¡®no¡¯, wouldn¡¯te out of his money, but at the same time, I thought, ¡®I don¡¯t know yet.¡¯


    There was nothing that was 100% sure. Then Yoo Won-Dong said, ¡°Let¡¯s do it. Let¡¯s burn 700 million won.¡± He said to spend 700 million won with a big smile.


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°Wow, our budget is 700 million won...¡±


    In the end, Yoo Won-Dong approved our budget here. If he was going to easily approve it like this, I wondered why he hadn¡¯t approved it before. Then he said, ¡°How much time do we have to prepare for the music video or marketing activities?¡±


    ¡°I think we have about three weeks left.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, the schedule is tight.¡±


    ¡°But I think it¡¯s a sufficient time frame if we just push hard enough.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s first work out the detailed timeline with the working-level staff and...May I hear what concept you want to do?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not telling you to present it to me, but I want to listen to you guys brainstorming from the side. Please rx and take it easy.¡± There was no way he didn¡¯t know that the moment he told us to rx and take it easy, we could do anything but that. When Yoo Won-Dong sat down with his butt on top of the chair, a tense air formed between my members and me. It was a mutual rescue request for someone to step forward and resolve this dilemma.


    Yeon-Hoon seemed like he was stepping up first. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to say something, but I intercepted. ¡°First of all, our follow-up song is <Blue Ocean>. It¡¯s also the B-side song that has been on the chart the longest.¡±


    The members looked at it with slightly surprised eyes. It seemed they were all surprised that I was trying to continue the meeting without a script in front of the Director. However, I couldn¡¯t avoid this situation now. I didn¡¯t know Yoo Won-Dong very well, but I knew that this person was a wily, old fox. He was feeling a bit discouraged now, but his nature didn¡¯t change easily.


    It was clear that although he said he would approve our 700 million won budget, if he didn¡¯t like our brainstorming and meeting, he would take back his words. He wouldn¡¯t have to think hard to find a way to not give us the budget he promised as this whole matter would end if he just said they concluded that this was an unreasonable expenditure.


    Therefore, we needed to continue this meeting with a bit more responsibility as Dong-Jun¡¯s life and in the long-run, our group¡¯s fate were on the line.


    ¡°Why are you using that song as your follow-up song?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a song that has been in the top 50 for a long time without any promotion. Many of our fans have also said that <Blue Ocean> should have been the title song, so I think the song¡¯s quality and appeal factor have already been proven.¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Okay. And your goal is to get a Triple Crown All-Kill with that song?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct. I think it would be possible if we have a sufficient budget to support us.¡±


    ¡°Then would you be able to tell us what marketing strategies you¡¯ve been thinking of and the stage concept?¡±


    ¡°First, we need a marketing tactic that canprehensively target teenagers and people in their 20s and 30s. We¡¯ve been thinking about creating a challenge and making it a trend.¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Yes, a lot of people do that these days. It¡¯s a marketing tactic that I agree with, but do you have a different marketing tactic in mind? If your goal is the Triple Crown All-Kill, shouldn¡¯t you have something more unique?¡±


    How the heck do I think of an unique marketing tactic here now? While hesitating for a moment, Woon stepped in and came up with an idea, ¡°What don¡¯t we do a beach tour?¡±


    ¡°Beach tour?¡±


    ¡°The song itself is called ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯, so I think it would be better to sing it on the beach. I think our activity period would also ovep with summer vacation.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm.¡± Yoo Won-Dong nodded as if he thought this idea was great. However, he immediately brought up a concern, ¡°But would you be able to pull off that schedule? You would have to go all over the country after the pre-recording.¡±


    ¡°...Ah!¡±


    He had a point as it was physically impossible for us to do. However, thanks to Woon¡¯s idea, another idea came out from my side. ¡°Then why don¡¯t we make a beach...instead of going to the beach?¡±


    ¡°Make a beach?¡±


    ¡°We can open ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ pop-up zones in major locations in Seoul like Gangnam, Jamsil, Yeouido, Hongdae, and Itaewon, using a beach motif.¡±


    ¡°....Ohh.¡±


    ¡°I think it would be important to decorate the space as much as possible so that you can feel like you¡¯ve been to the beach in the city center. I think it¡¯s better to actively use media art if possible. As I spoke, I began to embody and solidify the idea more and more. ¡°I think it would be good to release sand on the floor, shoot a beam on the wall and y a video of waves crashing, and record the actual sound from the beach and y it.¡±


    Now that the theme was set, the members began to actively participate in the brainstorming process and began toe up with ideas.


    ¡°The smell! I think the smell of the ocean shoulde out! Of course, it shouldn¡¯t really smell like the ocean, but I think it would be nice to have a diffuser that only contains the best smells from the ocean.¡± Yeon-Hoon threw in ideas about the smell.


    ¡°Since it¡¯s a pop-up zone in the city, why don¡¯t we make a winding path to the main stage like a maze? Healing spots are more valuable when you discover them than when you discover them right away.¡± Dong-Jun came up with an idea.


    ¡°If we¡¯re going to spread sand on the floor, I think it would be a good idea to let people enter barefoot, since they would feel like they¡¯re really at the beach if they could touch the sand as well.¡± Do-Seung also suggested an idea.


    A pop-up zone. Although I was the one who suggested this idea, it felt like I hit the spot for Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s personal taste. He liked things that were tangible and very conspicuous. It was natural because he was in the manager¡¯s position that needed to produce results. In that sense, a pop-up zone was the number one marketing tactic in terms of visibility.


    ¡°The idea of bringing a beach here...That¡¯s nice. Then will the music videoe out at the end of the pop-up zone?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s probably the case or maybe we can y a teaser.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s perfect for marketing. Hahaha.¡±


    As expected, Yoo Won-Dong seemed to love the idea. Yoo Won-Dong looked at us with a big smile.


    ¡°I stayedte at work because I had a lot of documents to read today, but I think it¡¯s a good thing that happened today. I was able to have such a meaningful time with the Siren members like this.¡± Judging by his words, he seemed pleased that we produced the result of the pop-up zone with us here.


    He continued, ¡°I¡¯d love to hear the concept brainstorming, but...I think it would be too tactless of me to stay longer here. I would actively listen to the artists¡¯ opinions in that regard. Please try to realize your dreams as much as you want.¡± He was so pleased by the results that he was now telling us to fulfill our dreams to the fullest.


    But if we actually did this, I was sure he would tell us there was not enough money. Anyway, I was d to at least hear him say this.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll be going. You don¡¯t have toe out. It¡¯s gettingte so make sure you guys don¡¯t push yourselves too hard and go back to your dorms.¡± Even though I had no ns to see him off, I was d that I didn¡¯t have to go out. Like this, Yoo Won-Dong left the conference room satisfied.


    <i>Sigh...</i>


    ¡°I was really surprised...¡±


    ¡°Haaa.¡±


    The members were finally able to rx after Yoo Won-Dong left and drooped down to their chairs. However, we couldn¡¯t end things on this note and brought up our energy again.


    ¡°Shall we...finish our meeting?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°We got this!¡±


    We began the concept meeting, which could be said to be the main topic of today¡¯s meeting.


    ***


    When the next day came, we shared yesterday¡¯s meeting content with Ms. Seung-Yeon, Ms. Hyuna, and the A&R team, including the fact that Yoo Won-Dong came and approved the 700 million won budget. Sure enough, everyone said they were surprised to find that the budget had been approved when they came to work in the morning.


    Anyway, now that we got the money and a rough sketch of the concept had beenid out, there was no need to dy our activities now. Furthermore, the song was already out. Now that the biggest and steepest mountains have been climbed, it was time to splurge on the money.


    ¡°We¡¯ll pick a list ofpanies and get some proposals for this pop-up zone today.¡± First of all, we were going to quickly decide on thepany that would create the pop-up zone that Yoo Won-Dong loved so much.


    ¡°Shall we go with the music video director who worked on the title song? They are probably free right now as they are always posting themselves ying on social media.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that sounds great!¡±


    ¡°That director is really good at directing.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think so too.¡±


    The music video director was also quickly decided. The outfit sponsorships, makeup proposals, and outfit proposals were quickly decided based on big data umted by the working-level staff. Overall, since people who were knowledgeable about the work and infrastructure for the entertainment industry were gathered, the work proceeded quickly. Since we had enough money and the direction was clear with expert human resources, everything was smooth sailing.


    The only problem was that the meeting, which started at 10 a.m., continued until 10 p.m. because everyone was so passionate. When we left thepany after the meeting, the members looked at the pitch-ck streets and murmured:


    ¡°...Is this magic?¡±


    ¡°The day...disappeared?¡±


    ¡°Who used the Time Stone? Come out and quickly reveal yourself.¡±


    But we had a meaningful day, so we were satisfied by that.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go home first~¡± Yeon-Hoon said while going down the parking lot. After that, we all got on the junk van that we always took.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go home, wash up, and go to bed. We have to work tomorrow too.¡±


    ¡°It feels like we¡¯ve been robbed of a holiday.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s not toote to take a break after we die!¡±


    ¡°...Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    On our way back to the dorm, I habitually went into Bluebird to monitor responses. I wondered what kind of issues there were in the entertainment industry these days. However, what I saw as soon as I went in was¡ª


    ¡ªBleshu¡¯s teaser is out.


    It was a teaser for Bleshu¡¯s activity period, which would ovep with our follow-up activity period.

 Chapter 215

    <h4>Chapter 215</h4>


    I looked at Bleshu¡¯s debut teaser. It was a short teaser not more than 15 seconds, and if I had to say my thoughts on it...


    <i>¡®...What is this?¡¯ </i>I was taken aback.


    From the title of the song, <i>¡®</i>Big Ocean¡¯, I felt an ominous feeling since it ovepped with our main song,<i> </i>¡®Blue Ocean<i>¡¯.</i> Since it was an assortment ofmon words, I thought it could just be a coincidence. Yet, even the main melody of the teaser was very simr to the ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯. Of course, there was a slight difference in the instrument variety and tempo they used, but none of that mattered when the melody was the same.


    If the melody was the same, one wouldn''t even get used of giarism but tantly stealing a song. The fundamental core of the two songs was the same. Furthermore, even the teaser¡¯s video was simr to ¡®<i>B</i>lue Summer Night<i>¡¯</i>, and there was a scene of them jumping into the school ssroom while wearing school uniforms. Anyone could see its uncanny simrity with our past music video.


    The type of uniform they wore and the school they were at were different. Yet, the handheld camera moves were simr, and the sizes of some of the shots were the same. For example, there was a shot of five figures caught in one frame but cut off at the waist. Only the details were different but the general framework was like copies of each other. Of course, since we weren¡¯t the first ones to do camera moves like these nor had ownership of them, everyone could use them but...


    <i>¡®...Something feels off.¡¯</i> I couldn¡¯t shake off this unpleasant feeling, and I needed to make sure if other people felt the same. I went online to check my fandom and Bleshu¡¯s fandom feeds.


    ¡ªI feel like I have seen this framework before.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s a melody I heard somewhere...


    ¡ª?? Did Bleshu cover ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯?


    ¡ªWhat in the world


    Our fans were making amotion, saying that anyone could see that Bleshu copied us. I felt relieved that I wasn¡¯t the only one feeling this way and went to check Bleshu¡¯s fandom¡¯s side. I expected people there to take Bleshu¡¯s side no matter what, but it wasn¡¯t what I expected.


    ¡ªWhat in the world?


    ¡ªWhat seriously? They didn¡¯t even give us any room for doubt haha


    ¡ªIs G&B Entertainment out of their minds?


    ¡ªHahaha Fuck, isn¡¯t thepany absolutely out of their minds? Why are they just tantly copying another group?


    ¡ªDid we ask them for something super high-quality? We just wanted our guys to debut. We would¡¯ve given our money and followed them if they just debuted but why must they make it so hard to be their fans? It¡¯s so icky


    ¡ªYou think it makes sense that they have to be hated for giarism in their first-ever debut?


    ¡ªHa, this makes me so damn furious


    Bleshu¡¯s fans were actually angrier than our fandom. If I thought about it, it made sense. These fans must have been patiently waiting for Bleshu¡¯s debut. Since Bleshu came from a smallerpany, they probably thought it would be fortunate if Bleshu just debuted at all. And if they did that, their fandom which had increased in size thanks to <i>The Showcase 2</i> could support them.


    Yet, thepany failed to grasp what the fans really wanted. In their attempt to produce the highest quality product with their limited resources, they decided to copy another group¡¯s high-quality product. At that point, the quality of their product became meaningless. The moment they were marked as thieves, who stole someone else¡¯s art, the value of their creation dropped to the pits no matter how high the quality of the goods was.


    Idol fans who were especially sensitive to moral issues wouldn¡¯t open their wallets for a creation with dubious origins. In short, it was as if Bleshu¡¯spany, G&B Entertainment, had thrown away their most important cash-cow, Bleshu, by their own will. I felt two sorts of emotions stir-up while looking at this video. First, I pitied the Bleshu members. Second, I felt a bit of relief.


    <i>¡®We won¡¯t have any problems with the Triple Crown All-Kill.¡¯</i> Though I felt guilty for feeling a sense of relief, it couldn¡¯t be helped. I had my members¡¯ lives on the line and this wasn¡¯t the time for me to be swallowed up by my feelings. But pushing my feelings aside, I thought I needed to share the current situation with my members first.


    ¡°Hey guys.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Did you see Bleshu¡¯s teaser just now?¡±


    ¡°Ah, Bleshu¡¯s teaser is up?¡±


    ¡°Awesome!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m serious!¡±


    ¡°Those guys are finally debuting.¡±


    Except for Yeon-Hoon who was driving, my members unanimously pulled out their phones and looked at Bleshu¡¯s teaser.


    ¡°Ahhh! I also want to see!¡± Yeon-Hoonined regretfully while clutching on the steering wheels. But as the teaser yed on their phones and my members¡¯ faces darkened, Yeon-Hoon also sensed that something was wrong.


    ¡°...You guys? What¡¯s with your expressions? It¡¯s as if you saw something you shouldn¡¯t...¡± The mood inside the car was so dreary that Yeon-Hoon asked worriedly. The person who looked most serious was Do-Seung. He watched the teaser video not once but repeatedly.


    Then, he aggressively pulled the earphones off his ears and asked, ¡°Is this giarism?¡±


    Do-Seung was the one who produced ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯, and since this issue was about whether someone stole his creation or not, he was most sensitive to it. My other members¡¯ responses besides Do-Seung¡¯s weren¡¯t great either.


    ¡°Hm...¡±


    ¡°The clothes, angles, settings, and...um, just everything...¡±


    They also felt something about the video was off in ways they couldn¡¯t fully exin.


    ¡°...Is it that serious? The giarism? Who did they copy?¡± Yeon-Hoon, who hadn''t seen the video yet didn¡¯t know what was going on. In the end, he stopped his car on the side of the road and saw the teaser video.


    ¡°...What¡¯s going to happen to Bleshu? They just debuted...¡± Rather than rebuking Bleshu for copying us, he worried that their debut might be ruined. I empathized with this somewhat since I doubted Bleshu was at fault for this giarism issue. It was probably thepany who ordered them to do this. The mood inside the car turned more solemn.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wait a bit longer. This is just the teaser.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we have to see the full version.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t be sure of it yet.¡±


    My members agreed to not make up our minds about this matter yet. After all, the full version could bepletely different from the teaser or only small parts of it could be simr. There was no problem for a debut teaser video to bepletely different from a music video. No, it didn¡¯t even have to bepletely different but just different enough for people to acknowledge their originality. Like that, we just decided to think positively.


    ***


    We continued our busy days after that. This was our third week of music show and broadcast activities, and on top of that, we had to film for a music video for our follow-up activities. It wasmon for idols to sleep five hours or less during their activities period but right now, there were many days when we went outside not having slept even two hours properly.


    In our third week of activities, we shared the first ce spots with Only One again. The funny thing was that we always got three trophy wins each without one side getting more than the other. I didn¡¯t know whether the music shows were ying a joke on us or Only One and we were neck in neck inpetition. But since no side lost, we could meet Only One with less difort.


    ¡°Let¡¯s work hard today too!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°Good luck on your performance!¡±


    Only One greeted us amicably and we did the same.


    ¡°Good luck to you guys too!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s have a friendlypetition today too!¡±


    ¡°Good luck!¡±


    ¡°You got this.¡±


    Though we and Only One had positive feelings for each other, we weren¡¯t very close and remained congenial business partners.


    <i>¡®But what¡¯s with Kang Hyun-Sung?¡¯ </i>That guy always just smiled from behind, epted our greetings, and disappeared. He didn¡¯t even add a simplement, wishing us good luck and only epted our cheers. I thought he would respond simrly today too when he suddenly said:


    ¡°Hope you do well today.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°I said ¡®<i>hope you do well¡¯.</i>¡±


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    He suddenly stood beside me and told me to do well in today¡¯s performance. His gestures seemed to indicate that he would smack me if I didn¡¯t perform well today. Eventually, we separated from Only One, and our team also walked up to the stage.


    ***


    With today¡¯s show, our three weeks of music show activities were over.


    ¡ªThis week¡¯s first ce is Siren¡¯s ¡®Blue Summer Night¡¯! Congrattions!


    We were first ce. We were now able to skillfully say our thoughts on winning first and led the encore performance. Then, after finishing that performance, we returned to our waiting room. After changing our clothes to daily wear, the only thing we wanted was to quickly return home. Since we just finished shooting our music video yesterday, we just wanted to rest.


    ¡°Good work today too!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the dorm~¡±


    Just at the perfect timing, Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon came to pick us up. On the way to our dorm, my members were already falling asleep after going through everything that happened today. Since they had slept about two hours every day for thest couple of days, they now had the habit of sleeping whenever they got in the car. I also felt drowsy but didn¡¯t sleep. It wasn¡¯t easy for me to sleep inside the car after experiencing the ident at Sokcho.


    Of course, I also slept when I was incredibly tired but I wasn¡¯t at that level yet. I leaned my back against the seat cushion and looked at my screen. Bleshu¡¯s teaser still hung on my mind. Since Bleshu pushed themselves into a pit for their debut, I was a step closer to my goal of Triple Crown All-Kill, but it didn¡¯t make me all that happy. In <i>The Showcase</i>, Bleshu was the only group who reacted positively to us from the very beginning.


    I also thought Bleshu had the skills, talents, and potential to achieve sess and personally wanted them to do well.


    <i>¡®I suppose they only have theirpany to me.¡¯</i> Perhaps, if we didn¡¯t transfer to Next Wave, we might have suffered the same fate as them. After thinking all this, I was also nning to sleep a bit when¡ª


    <i>Zing¡ª</i>


    As soon as I turned my phone screen off, the device vibrated.


    <i>¡®What?¡¯ </i>I pulled my phone back out and checked the message.


    <i>¡®...Hm?¡¯</i>


    ¡ªDid you see Bleshu¡¯s teaser?


    The message was from Kang Hyun-Sung. It had been a very long time since I got a message from him.


    <i>¡®What? Why is he suddenly messaging me?¡¯ </i>He didn¡¯t contact me a single time the whole time we did our activities but was suddenly contacting me out of the blue. Did he want to spend time with me or something? Since I didn¡¯t have anything to say, I nned to ignore him today or respond to him about five hourster. I thought Kang Hyun-Sung wouldn¡¯t send me another message after getting ignored.


    ¡ªInstead of thinking about ignoring my text right away, do you want to talk for a bit?


    Damn, him and his mind-reading skills. I felt goosebumps on my skin.


    ¡ªI heard that you were nning to do follow-up activities right after this one. What are you thinking?


    ¡°...What is he getting at?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung already knew we were going to do follow-up activities right away. This was supposed to be something only we knew. If he was trying to get my attention and force me into a conversation, he seeded.


    ¡ªWho did you hear that from?


    I wrote a message with a bit of a peeved tone and sent it. And I got a reply that pissed me off even more.


    ¡ªAs I thought, I have to get on your nerves a bit to get a reply.

 Chapter 216

    <h4>Chapter 216</h4>


    I was already tired, but I felt even more tired after getting angry. I pressed between my brows and looked at the phone screen. He said he needed to get on my nerves for me to reply.


    <i>¡®...How annoying.¡¯</i> He informed me that confidential information about our group was being leaked to just receive a reply from me. I didn¡¯t feel good because it felt like I was getting yed by him.


    ¡®Who the hell leaked information...¡¯ I thought I should set a time to address this directly to thepanyter, but for now, I thought I might as well hear the reason why Kang Hyun-Sung contacted me.


    ¡ªWhy did you contact me?


    ¡ªAm I not allowed to even contact you?


    ¡ªYes.


    ¡ªI was thinking of getting coffee with you if you have the time today.


    ¡ªCoffee?


    At this time? Dinner had long passed, and it was nowte at night. But above all, I hadn¡¯t slept properly for several days and wanted to just go home and quickly sleep. I nned to tell him to let¡¯s meet next time but...


    ¡ªAren¡¯t you curious about our follow-up ns?


    <i>¡®...Damn it.¡¯ </i>I thought this guy might really be able to read minds, seeing that when I was about to suggest seeing at another time, he knew just the right cards to y for me to continue the conversation.


    ¡ªWe strategically ovepped our promotion periods with this album, but we should avoid the next right. Don¡¯t you think the same?


    He was right. The rivalry between us would only be effective until this activity, and if it prolonged, it would only increase fatigue among our fans. In the end, rest was not an option for me.


    <i>¡®I have no choice but to go out.¡¯ </i>


    ¡ªYes, let¡¯s meet. Let me know the location and time.


    After a t reply, I thought about taking a quick rest in the car, but I couldn¡¯t even fall asleep immediately after his subsequent reply.


    ¡ªThe location is your dorm¡¯s parking lot. Tell me when you¡¯re avable. I¡¯ll pick you up.


    He was going toe and pick me up in person.


    ¡ªOkay.


    I finally closed my eyes after replying to him for thest time.


    ***


    Kang Hyun-Sung put his phone in his pocket. It was quite a short distance from the broadcasting station to their amodation. They had just got on the car, but they were already passing by the entrance of their dorm.


    ¡°I like Sunday shows cause I can go home early.¡±


    ¡°I want to quickly wash up and go to bed.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so exhausted...¡±


    All of the Only One members were nodding off because of how fatigued they were. Among them, only Kang Hyun-Sung waspletely awake. While sitting in the passenger seat, he turned around to check the members¡¯ condition.


    ¡®They¡¯re 10 seconds away from passing out.¡¯ Kang Hyun-Sung had anticipated this situation and had told his members hundreds of times to develop their physical strength even before their debut. Although they could increase their stamina, albeit slowly by doing aerobic exercise in the morning or climbing on the weekends and doing interval running while taking proper nutrition, No one followed Kang Hyun-Sung.


    At a loss what to do, Kang Hyun-Sung had bought good nutritional supplements for fatigue and liver, but no one ate that properly.


    ¡°Let¡¯s all take nutritional supplements until the next activity period.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung thought that the problem might be the location of the nutritional supplements on the table. If he left it in front of the entrance with a water bottle, he thought they might take one pill while going out.


    ¡°...Even my dad doesn¡¯t take nutritional supplements to this extent...¡±


    ¡°...What did you say, Young-Ho?¡±


    ¡°...No, it¡¯s nothing.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung turned back his head and looked at the front again. His members¡¯ stamina was a problem that he could take his time to solve. The problem right now was what to talk about with Bong Tae-Yoon after meeting him. Honestly, he had already decided the main topic he wanted to discuss¡ªit was to share general information about their next activity n. Currently, none of the fourth-generation male idols had as much impact and poprity as them.


    Therefore, in the idol industry, people were grouping Only One and Siren in a separate category as 4.5 generation idols. In other words, since they had no other rivals in the same generation, if Siren and Only One coordinated their activities well, both sides could maintain their heyday for a long time without a major slump.


    Of course, the prerequisite depended on whether each group¡¯s form stayed consistent and they continued their activities without any scandal or major incidents.


    <i>¡®I¡¯m sure they can do it.¡¯ </i>From what he observed, Siren and Bong Tae-Yoon were not the type of group to self-destruct for stupid things. Siren was a partner that they had done activities together for a long time and a suitable pacemaker for their group.


    Thus, he kept contacting andmunicating with Bong Tae-Yoon. Since the very structure of the current idol industry was centered on Siren and Only One, the purpose of today¡¯s meeting was to report their future trajectories between each other.


    <i>¡®But...Hmm.¡¯ </i>Frankly, that wasn¡¯t the only purpose of today¡¯s meeting. Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t know everything about Bong Tae-Yoon, but he thought he had a good grasp of his character. Bong Tae-Yoon was cold and calctive, but as far as his group was concerned, he was more altruistic and sacrificial than anyone else. He didn¡¯t seem to have much attachment for idol activities but seemed to be very attached to his group.


    He was also the type of person that didn¡¯t likeining and showing his weak side, so he didn¡¯t request other people¡¯s help. ¡®But there¡¯s something off about him.¡¯


    There were times when Bong Tae-Yoon deviated from the characteristics he listed above. For example, during this promotion period, Bong Tae-Yoon suddenly posted aedic video all of a sudden or nned a cover video. Previously, he had also suddenly asked Kang Hyun-Sung to pick him up on a highway near Sokcho.


    Although people didn¡¯t always move within his expectations, Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s actions were so far beyond that range of expectations that he was quite taken aback.


    <i>¡®Is he getting chased by someone?¡¯</i> He had thought this before and wondered if someone was threatening to kill him if he didn¡¯t act like this right now. If he tried to think of it more realistically, he thought that Bong Tae-Yoon might be struggling with financial problems and might get into serious trouble if he didn¡¯t immediately achieve a certain level of achievement and receive this amount of ie.


    Thus, Kang Hyun-Sung nned to ask about these parts if he could. He didn¡¯t know if he could help, but he thought he could at least hear Bong Tae-Yoon out.


    ¡®<i>It¡¯s quiteplicated.</i>¡¯ Frankly, there was no need for him to be curious about this. Bong Tae-Yoon was a stranger, and there was nothing more headache-inducing than being deeply involved in another person¡¯s business. However, he couldn¡¯t help but be bothered, and it was better to ask him directly than keep worrying about him like this.


    ¡°We¡¯ve arrived~¡±


    Just in time, the manager of Only One parked his car in the dorm.


    ¡°Ughh~¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re here~¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to shower first. I really can¡¯t back down this time.¡±


    ¡°Then shall we take a shower together?¡±


    ¡°...Just wash up first.¡±


    ¡°Nice.¡±


    While Only One members exchanged conversations like this and went up their dorm, Kang Hyun-Sung checked his phone again.


    ¡ªOkay.


    There was a text message from Bong Tae-Yoon. He put his phone back in his pocket after reading it.


    ***


    I took a shower first as soon as I arrived at the dorm with my members. It was really nice that there were many bathrooms in the dorm, so it didn¡¯t take us long to wash up. It already was 10 pm when I took a shower andy down. The members went straight into their room without even chatting today.


    ¡°Guys, I¡¯m going to bed.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m off to bed.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep.¡±


    ¡°Good night~¡±


    Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, Woon, and Dong-Jun all went to sleep right after they showered as if they had nned it beforehand. Since I shared the same room with Woon, I carefully checked to see if he really was asleep. However, I was able to confirm that he was deep asleep without having to observe him for long.


    ¡°Ummm...You move the arms...like this here...¡± He was talking in his ears.


    ¡®Is he teaching us how to dance even while he¡¯s sleeping?¡¯ Anyway I looked at it, he was using words when he used to teach us how to dance. If he was teaching us even in his dreams, I wondered when on earth Woon was ever going to rest. I cautiously got up on bed and changed my clothes. Then I sent a text to Kang Hyun-Sung.


    ¡ªI have time.


    His reply came back in 10 seconds.


    ¡ªIf I text you,e down.


    After about 20 minutes passed, I received a text message that I might get from a delivery driver.


    ¡ªI¡¯ll be there in 5 minutes.


    When he told me he would pick me up, I thought he mighte riding on a car instead of driving it.


    ¡®Did he buy a car?¡¯ I began to have my suspicions that he might have called me here today to show off his car. However, this suspicion immediately disappeared after five minutes.


    ¡°...It¡¯s a taxi.¡±


    ¡°...Is there a problem?¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung came in a taxi, and it was the call taxi that he introduced to me before. It was the taxi that requested a hefty price for confidentiality.


    ¡°Get in.¡±


    ¡°Where are we going?¡±


    ¡°Where there are no people,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said and pushed me inside the vehicle.


    After that, the ce we arrived was Gangnam of all ces. I said, ¡°I thought you said it was a ce where there are no people.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as there are no people where we are.¡±


    Soon after, the taxi entered the underground parking lot of a building.


    ¡°Get off.¡± After getting out of the car, I saw an elevator directly connected to the underground parking lot.


    ¡°...You¡¯re not going to do anything weird, right?¡± From this call taxi to this suspicious space, it made me think that he was going to drag me to the dark world.


    ¡°...We¡¯re going to a caf¨¦ that my friend runs.¡±


    ¡°...Oh.¡±


    ¡°This is just the back door for employees. Since people might see us if we go through the front door, we came here.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t imagine anything strange.¡±


    When we took the elevator up, there really was a caf¨¦, and the caf¨¦ owner seemed to really be Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s friend as they briefly greeted each other with their eyes. Honestly, I was a little surprised that even this guy had a friend. Well, that was beside the point.


    ¡°This is a room caf¨¦ on the second floor. It¡¯s soundproof, so it¡¯s good for conversation.¡± The ce where Kang Hyun-Sung guided me was a room caf¨¦. Unlike other room cafes, the structure waspletely blocked by walls from top to bottom, and considering the very thick walls, I thought the sound instion would definitely be good.


    Kang Hyun-Sung had already ordered a drink as there were two cups of Americano on the table.


    I said, ¡°Did you order without asking for my opinion?¡±¡±


    ¡°It has the lowest calorie. Were you nning to eat something?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°If you want decaffeinated, drink this. I ordered one of them decaffeinated.¡±


    ¡°...It¡¯s fine.¡± Whether I drank decaffeinated or not, I was on the verge of fainting so I just drank the americano in front of me. I drank one sip of americano and asked, ¡°So, what¡¯s Only One¡¯s future n? Since it¡¯ste, let¡¯s quickly wrap up and return home.¡±


    ¡°Before that, I have something I¡¯d like to ask you first.¡± However, Kang Hyun-Sung shifted the conversation to another topic.


    ¡°Well...Are you desperately in need of money or something like that?¡±


    ¡°...What did you say?¡± Since it was such an unexpected topic, I gave apletely unfiltered reaction.


    Kang Hyun-Sung also seemed to have found his question ridiculous as he made a hollowugh and said, ¡°No, I just asked because you¡¯re working so hard like you¡¯re being chased by someone. If you¡¯re in a hurry, just forget about it.¡±


    ¡°...Ah...Yes.¡± But it was my turn to be surprised. ¡®Why is he so


    Since I was being chased by the system, the feeling that Kang Hyun-Seung received was notplete nonsense.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s get straight to the point. What¡¯s Siren¡¯s goal for this year? And what¡¯s your overall n?¡±


    ¡°You want us to start first?¡±


    ¡°Well, does the order matter?¡±


    ¡°Since you called us, Only One should start first.¡±


    ¡°Well, that makes sense. Then if I tell you our ns first...¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung said and took the tablet PC out of his bag. I was a bit surprised that he had prepared so thoroughly. I thought I had nothing to lose by listening to their ns in detail when¡ª


    [A surprise mission.]


    [Break the recorder under the desk.]


    [Upon sess, no reward.]


    [Upon failure, this conversation will be leaked.]


    ¡°Wait a minute.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t say anything.¡±


    The system helped me for a long while. There was a recorder here.

 Chapter 217

    <h4>Chapter 217</h4>


    ¡°Why? Is there something wrong?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung asked why I cut him off.


    ¡°<i>Haa...</i>¡± I sighed and fumbled my hands below the table. How is there a recorder? What kind of ce was this caf¨¦?


    <i>¡®Moreover, why is nothing easy these days?¡¯</i> I felt like the number of tiresome things I had to do these days increased. Perhaps, it couldn¡¯t be helped since I was a regressor chosen by the system, but it felt like I couldn¡¯t rest a day peacefully without something getting on my nerves.


    ¡°What are you doing? What are you looking for below the table...?¡± Seeing me move my hands below the table, Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to have caught what I was doing and closed his mouth. Then he mouthed the words.


    ¡ªA recorder?


    I nodded and then saw Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s face pass with slight dread. I wondered why he would feel such an intense emotion when I recalled, <i>¡®Ah, he said this ce was his friend¡¯s caf¨¦</i>.¡¯ I got an inkling of what led to this situation.


    <i>Tap. </i>It was then I felt something made from stic attached to the center backside of the table. I ripped it off and saw that it was a recorder just as I had expected.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s here.¡¯ </i>I surveyed the recorder¡¯s model carefully. Seeing how there was nothing like an antenna or something simr on its exterior, it didn¡¯t seem like it had the function to record and simultaneously transmit information to outside sources in real time. Yet, just in case, I took a picture of the machine and searched for the type of model it was. It was a device that only allowed simple recording as I expected.


    ¡°I think we can talk. It seems like it doesn¡¯t simultaneously send out the recordings.¡±


    ¡°...Is that so.¡±


    I looked to see if there were any otherponents attached to the recording device and found none. It seemed this recorder was an all-in-one device, and the only method to deal with it was to destroy it whole. I ced the recorder on the floor and stomped on it with all my might. Then, there was a loud,<i> ¡®crunch!¡¯ </i>and stic debris scattered all over the floor. But just in case, I ground the remains with my foot, wrapped it with a napkin, and ced it into my pocket. With this, we escaped the recording crisis and the system told me of my mission sess.


    [Mission sess]


    [You sessfully destroyed the recorder.]


    Kang Hyun-Sung nkly stared at the space where the recorder was. Then, he quickly regained hisposure and got up.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go somewhere else.¡±


    ¡°Is there anywhere else to go?¡±


    ¡°Anywhere will be better than here.¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t have a ce in mind and just head out, it could cause amotion.¡±


    ¡°I can borrow a rental car nearby. There won¡¯t be any problems if we take out the ck box memory.¡±


    I supposed there was a way like that. It would be lessfortable than talking in the caf¨¦ but it was a good method.


    ¡°I will make the reservation first.¡±


    While Kang Hyun-Sung rented a car with an app, I fumbled with the recorder debris in my pockets. I thought about what would¡¯ve happened if our conversation had been recorded and released to the public.


    First of all, since confidential information was leaked, ourpanies would raise a huge fuss. We would have to change the majority of our schedule and ns so that they would differ from the information released to the public and the cost of that would amount to more than a couple thousand and hundred-thousands of wons.


    Furthermore, it wouldn¡¯t help our image at all if it was leaked that we shared a conversation like this. It could make us appear sly or deceptive. Before my thoughts became more depressing, I said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Besides, no matter how heavy my heart felt, it couldn¡¯tpare to Kang Hyun-Sung. I followed Kang Hyun-Sung outside.


    ***


    Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s rented car was near the caf¨¦. Kang Hyun-Sung went to get the car while wearing a hat and a mask and I waited for him in the parking lot. Eventually, Kang Hyun-Sung arrived at the parking lot with the car and I got on it.


    ¡°Did you take out the ck Box memory?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I did.¡±


    ¡°I heard doing stuff like that could lead to problems.¡±


    ¡°They won¡¯t open it up as long as we don¡¯t have any idents.¡±


    With the car, we were about to make our way out when I saw the caf¨¦ owner running towards us. He was the man whom Kang Hyun-Sung greeted with his eyes before, and the man looked at us quite devastatedly.


    ¡°Hyung-Sung, could youe out for a bit, so....¡± The caf¨¦ owner was about to say something but Kang Hyun-Sung disinterestedly stepped on the gas pedal. Eventually, the car started, leaving the caf¨¦ owner behind.


    The car smoothly zipped past the highways and Kang Hyun-Sung simply looked forward without saying anything.


    ¡°Are you all right?¡± I asked out of politeness.


    ¡°...Yeah, well,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung replied like he wanted me to keep asking questions.


    <i>¡®Haa....¡¯</i> I thought while looking at Kang Hyun-Sung. If I counted my time before the regression, this guy was younger than me. Thus, I thought I should talk to him like I was talking to a younger brother.


    ¡°Are you really okay?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t he someone you were close to?¡±


    ¡°...Hm. Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then, I think it will be difficult for you to feel okay. Isn¡¯t that right?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    I thought he should admit it at this point. His expression seemed to scream he was in pain but he was trying with all his might to not admit it. I wondered what he was trying to do. Then, Kang Hyun-Sung appeared to ponder for a long time before he opened his mouth.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine since things like this happen often. I suppose it wasn¡¯t meant to be a longsting rtionship. I¡¯m d I was able to find that out fast and end it, so I¡¯m grateful to you.¡±


    I stared at Kang Hyun-Sung wordlessly. I thought it would be rude of me to ask more, but Kang Hyun-Sung was the one who continued.


    ¡°He wasn¡¯t someone I knew from way back but someone I got to know while working as Yours. I went to his caf¨¦ often and he approached me asking if I was Yours¡¯ Kang Hyun-Sung. After a couple of conversations like that, we became close,¡± Kang Hyung-Sung began to exin how he got close to the man.


    ¡°From that point on, we contacted each other from time to time. He even offered a space on the second floor if I had anything important to talk about. And today was the first time I used that second floor.¡±


    I got the gist of the situation then.


    ¡°But he took that chance...to attach a recorder. How much would he get from the press if he sold the recording that he would act like this...seriously?¡± I murmured.


    This seemed to be themon way celebrities lost connections. At some point, they kept finding their private information leaked to the public and after some search, they found that the culprit was among the people around them.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why all the people I meet after debuting are like this.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s face looked dark. I didn¡¯t know Kang Hyun-Sung well, but in my past life, I had kept up with Only One news, and in my current life, I shared a couple of conversations with him. In short, although I couldn¡¯t say Ipletely knew the man, I knew him to some degree.


    Though the Kang Hyun-Sung I saw was cold and calctive, he was also the type to get lonely. He always put a distance between himself and people, that distance seemed to have been formed not by his own will but was a form of survival instinct of sorts to protect himself. Of course, this was the image I had of him through the screen and observing him from the side so it was hard to say how urate it was.


    I looked at Kang Hyun-Sung quietly. There were noforting lines I could tell him. The only thing I could do was tell him the method I personally used.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t make friends. Your members are enough.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have any friends besides my members. I thought I had some before but after not contacting them for so long, erasing my contact list, and not having a personal SNS ount, they all eventually drifted away. Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me as if he was asking, <i>¡®Do you really call that a constion?</i>


    But these were my genuine feelings. I thought I might have sounded too cold and added, ¡°Focus on rtionships that willst forever and invest in them. That¡¯s the real blue chip of life. In that sense, Only One members are the stocks of your lifetime. Even if they fall sometimes, they will rise again and you will be able to collect the dividends.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung really stared at me like, <i>¡®What is this bastard, for real?¡¯ a</i>nd smirked. I also expected him tough at me because of how silly my suggestion was. It seemed I really had no talent forforting other people. Who else wouldpare building connections to investing in stocks? Yet, that was the only thing that came to my mind then. Kang Hyun-Sung began to aimlessly go through the highway.


    ¡°There¡¯s a tablet PC behind there. Open it,¡± Kang Hyun-Sung said. I did as I was told. The files inside were Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s activities n that he had nned to show me at the caf¨¦. I slowly read through the files.


    ¡°...These are quite detailed.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it is.¡±


    ¡°Is it okay for you to show me this?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s what I thought on my own anyway, and I didn¡¯t get a confirmation from thepany yet. So, it could change anytime.¡±


    ¡°...Hm.¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think we would deviate too much from that general framework.¡±


    I scanned the activities. A couple of activities ovepped with ours while some didn¡¯t. Our side was probably not going to rest and keep working. We would probably keeping out with new stuff until the end of the year, but since I didn¡¯t need to reveal that, I kept my mouth sealed. Then, I moved thest page of the file and checked the content titled, ¡®Goal of this Year¡¯.


    ¡°Is getting the ¡®Rookie of the Year¡¯ your goal?¡±


    ¡°Yes, isn¡¯t that natural?¡±


    ¡°I suppose so.¡±


    ¡°What about you?¡±


    I thought about what I should say for a bit and said.


    ¡°The Grand Prize.¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    I just got right to the point. Since Kang Hyun-Sung was showing me all his cards, I thought it wasn¡¯t right for me to hide either. Besides, even if I kept things a secret from him, I thought he would find out the truth somehow and bother me. Kang Hyun-Sung appeared surprised by my promation and put more force onto his grip on the steering wheel.


    ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure there are already groups who have nned their activities with the Grand Prize as their target since the beginning of the year.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why we are nning to continue working without rest.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about overselling your image?¡±


    ¡°We n to build up our image faster than it sells.¡±


    ¡°...Ha, seriously.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me baffled again. Then, he parked the car on the side of the road.


    ¡°What? Why are you parking the car?¡± I wondered if Kang Hyun-Sung parked the car to insult and mock me, asking if someone like me could get the Grand Prize. I knew it was unlikely, but I couldn¡¯t help imagining something like that to happen.


    ¡°What in the world happened that you are acting like this?¡± Kang Hyun-Sung then suddenly asked.


    ¡°...Sorry?¡±


    ¡°I understand wanting to work hard at your job, but this is going too far.¡±


    ¡°...Hm?¡± I looked towards Kang Hyun-Sung. Kang Hyun-Sung wasn¡¯t joking but was serious.


    ¡°You said you weren¡¯t in it for the money, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then, is someone really chasing you with a knife from behind?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Is thepany ordering you to do this?¡±


    ¡°...No.¡±


    ¡°So, you nned all this by yourself.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t seem like the person to work so hard on your own will. What sort of reason do you have for pushing yourself so much?¡±


    How dare he say I wasn¡¯t the type of person to work that hard? Though it annoyed me, I couldn¡¯t retort because I knew it was true.


    <i>¡®At the same time, it¡¯s chilling.¡¯ </i>


    With just a couple of interactions, Kang Hyun-Seung managed to analyze me as a person and deduce what kind of situation I was in. Yet, I could never tell him that a system was trying to kill my team. I had no intention of mentioning anything even close to that.


    But perhaps, it was because I had beencking so much sleep these days or had grownfortable with Kang Hyun-Sung¡ªor maybe I just wanted to get this over with and go home, but I contemted his question a bit more and replied, ¡°...I have my circumstances.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me like he was egging me to go on.


    <i> ¡®Ah.¡¯ </i>Seeing his gaze, I regained my senses.


    ¡°But I can¡¯t really say it.¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me for a bit like he had a brain freeze. But what more could I say? I already said more than what I wanted to. Eventually, Kang Hyun-Sungughed humorlessly and said, ¡°All right.¡±


    Then, he turned his head away from me, and I thought silence would fill the car when he said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of pinch you are in, but...should I help you?¡±


    ¡°...Sorry?¡±


    ¡°I said I will help you¡ªat least, if it¡¯s something I can help.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t tell you what my circumstances are even if you say that.¡±


    ¡°I have no intention of finding out. Just tell me if you need help and I will.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung turned his head back towards me again. I didn¡¯t know what kind of expression I had on my face then but one thing was for sure.


    <i>¡®...What is up with this bastard?¡¯</i> My head went nk then, and I felt like Kang Hyun-Sung was acting out of character.


    ¡°Do you really not need my help?¡±


    ...This was aplete demolition of his original character.

 Chapter 218

    Chapter 218


    ¡°Do you need my help?¡±


    Kang Hyun-Sung asked me if I needed his help. My head became too much of a mess to answer his question. This wasn¡¯t the sort of person he was. He wanted to help me without any payment.


    Why? For what? It wasn¡¯t like we had such a great rtionship with Only One nor had I given some enormous help to Kang Hyun-Sung. We simply met each other asionally to share news and ns as business partners. Yet, Kang Hyun-Sung was trying to step over this line for some reason right now. This was so unlike him that I didn¡¯t know what to think.


    Thus, I asked, ¡°¡­Why would you help me?¡±


    Perhaps, he could feel hurt by myment, but he needed to understand my position. I was too astounded by his offer to say anything else, and Kang Hyun-Sung appeared to ponder my question. It appeared even Kang Hyun-Sung was aware that he had no reason to help me too and was trying to purposefully find a reason to tell me by biding time.


    <em>¡®But why would he¡­go so far to help me?¡¯</em> My head went nk. I was already fatigued beyond belief, but this added to my tiredness. I would probably be knocked off to sleep as soon as I returned home today. It was then Kang Hyun-Sung slowly opened his mouth.


    ¡°It¡¯s so that you won¡¯t get into trouble.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡± This waspletely unexpected. It seemed Kang Hyun-Sung also realized that what he spat out made no sense and exined himself.


    ¡°I¡¯m offering my help so you and your members won¡¯t get into some big trouble and can stay in the idol scene for longer.¡±Though Kang Hyun-Sung reworded his exnation, I still couldn¡¯t understand him. Why was he concerned about our group¡¯s problem? Perhaps, he read the puzzlement on my face, and Kang Hyun-Sung continued to make excuses.


    ¡°¡­It will be good for you guys and us if both groups work for a long time. It will help maintain our fandoms for longer. It¡¯s been a while since Only One and Siren were tied together as a set. If one of us falls, I¡¯m sure people would drag down the other team, saying that they are bygones too.¡±


    This was reasonable to some degree, but it still didn¡¯t make sense that he would help our group just for that reason. If it was the usual Kang Hyun-Sung, he would work on severing ties with Siren to avoid that from happening.


    Furthermore, even if Kang Hyun-Sung gave me a proper reason, it was strange for me to receive his help. There were too many supernatural and iprehensible things involved with my work such as the system, regression, death g missions, and so on for me to work with someone else.


    ¡°¡­It¡¯s fine. I will take care of my group¡¯s problems,¡± I tried to reject his offer as politely as possible. Though I felt sorry for refusing, I thought things were cleaner this way. Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to revert back to his usual self then and the light in his pupils died down.


    ¡°All right. It can¡¯t be helped then.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    An awkward silence continued between us then.


    ¡°I will drop you off at your dorm,¡± he then said.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    On our way back to the dorm, we continued to just talk about events surrounding us and separated.


    ***


    As I expected, I immediately dozed off as soon as I arrived back home. The moment I changed my clothes andy down, I lost consciousness. I didn¡¯t even remember how I fell asleep. I just found myself surrounded by my members in a circle when I woke up. At first, I wondered what in the world was happening or whether I was still in a dream. Yet, I wasn¡¯t in a dream. This was real life.


    ¡°¡­What are you all doing?¡±


    ¡°Oh! He woke up.¡±


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon is finally awake.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you all right?¡±


    ¡°I should¡¯ve taken a pic as a memory.¡±


    My members each said a word while surrounding me. I wondered why they were doing this when I realized the reason.


    ¡°¡­What? Why am I here?¡± I thought I had definitely gone into my roomst night to sleep but that wasn¡¯t the case. After changing my clothes, I had fallen asleep in the middle of the living room. No wonder I kept feeling chilly while sleeping. I didn¡¯t even have a nket to cover me up in the living room.


    ¡°You also sleep walk, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Seems like everyone in our team sleepwalks.¡±


    ¡°I do recall hearing that irregr sleep could trigger it¡­¡±


    ¡°Should we all go to a sleep clinic?¡±


    My membersmented while seeing mey in the living room.


    ¡°¡­I¡¯m sorry for making you guys worried. It seems like I mistook the living room as my room while going to the bathroom yesterday,¡± I exined with whatever reasoning that came to my mind because I didn¡¯t want to bring up the fact that I met with Kang Hyun-Sungst night to converse.


    For now, I got up to take a shower. Since today was Monday, there was no special schedule. We didn¡¯t have to go out early in the morning since we didn¡¯t have to go to a music show either. Yet, it wasn¡¯t like we had the whole day off. We had a magazine interview this noon and a fan meeting in the evening.


    ¡°Let¡¯s have breakfast first guys.¡±


    Then, after I came back from a shower, I saw that Yeon-Hoon had set up the dining table. Breakfast had no rice but was just full of vegetables and nts.


    ¡°Ahhh¡­I want to eat meat¡­¡± Dong-Junined weakly and talked negatively of our meal, but nobody spared him a second nce. The only one among us who gave him the slightest attention was Do-Seung but his response was closer to rebuke than anything.


    ¡°There¡¯s chicken breast. Shouldn¡¯t you consider that as meat?¡±


    ¡°¡­Don¡¯t you know that chicken breast is lumped in with veggies in terms of taste?¡±


    ¡°What nonsense are you saying? Quickly eat.¡±


    Like that, my members and I finished our meals and had a short break before moving to our schedules.


    ¡°Did they say that we will have a shooting and interview together?¡±


    While we moved, Yeon-Hoon asked Ms. Seung-Yeon for confirmation about our schedule.


    ¡°Yes. We will have a light magazine shooting and then do a group interview.¡±


    The shooting site we were heading to today was a publishingpany that released various magazines. Thepany was nning to release a special edition by collecting pictures and information of idols. The interview¡¯s content would be about everything that led to our debut and we had already received the questions beforehand. Since the questions were nothing special, it didn¡¯t take us long toe up with the answers.


    ¡°What¡¯s the theme of the shooting?¡±


    ¡°ording to what I heard, they matched the theme to each of the team¡¯s concepts.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes, since Siren¡¯s concept is the ocean, won¡¯t they go with a marine concept or something?¡±


    We arrived at the shooting site while listening to the exnations. Perhaps it was because they were doing a multiple idol groups edition but there were already severalrge vans parked in the parking lot. Only One was probably somewhere in this ce since Kang Hyun-Sung told me yesterday that they were also going to this interview. I unconsciously searched for Only One¡¯s car and turned my head.


    <em>¡®What am I doing? Sigh.</em>¡¯ After the meeting yesterday, I felt a bit ufortable about seeing Kang Hyun-Sung. Didn¡¯t everyone feel a bit awkward to see someone whose offer they refused? That was the sort of difort I felt.


    ¡°Wow, this ce feels like a factory.¡±


    ¡°Seems like each of those buildings are all studios.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. From what I know, about four teams are shooting together.¡±


    ¡°It really is a factory then. A shooting factory.¡±


    My members and I walked towards the studio assigned to us. Yet, when we got nearer to the studio, we were stopped from entering.


    ¡°Ah, the team before us didn¡¯t finish their shooting?¡±


    ¡°Yes we thought it would be over by the time you all arrived but the photographer said he didn¡¯t want to stop until he got an A-cut.¡±


    ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. We will wait.¡±


    Since the issue wasn¡¯t so serious for us toin, we had no choice but to wait. But it seemed like the studio thought it wasn¡¯t right to just make us wait and let us get our hair and makeup done beforehand. Like Ms. Seung-Yeon predicted, our concept for today was the marines.


    ¡°Is it a sailor uniform?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not for cosy but an authentic military uniform?¡±


    ¡°Yes, these are ones that American soldiers actually wore. We slightly retouched them to make them feel more modern.¡±


    It was our first time receiving such high-quality sailor uniforms. The sailor uniforms we wore on stage felt slightly light and breezy but this one really gave off the impression that it was an outfit men wore. Since we were at a shooting site instead of a stage, perhaps, this was better for taking pictures.


    ¡°Since the changing stalls are there, please change your clothes in the stalls.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go guys~¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go change our clothes~¡±


    My members and I walked to the changing stalls. Then, after changing into our outfits, we took a selfie together0900009. It was to show our fans when the magazine began to be on sale.


    ¡°This really feels like a military uniform.¡±


    ¡°It looks more like a military uniform with the hats on.¡±


    ¡°Should we all apply to join the marines when we serve our time?¡±


    ¡°¡­What did you say, Tea-Yoon?¡±


    I saw Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face sour when I thoughtlessly brought up the topic of military service.


    ¡°¡­I won¡¯t mention it again,¡± I swore.


    Then, we returned to the studio while making some small talk. By the time we arrived there, the shooting wasing to a close and people were organizing the scene.


    ¡°Thank goodness it didn¡¯t take that long.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°They said they would let us in after cleaning up in five minutes.¡±


    ¡°Thank goodness.¡±


    After the promised five minutes passed, the door to the studio opened. Because of our lost time, the only thing on our minds was to quickly finish the shooting and head to the fan meeting site.


    ¡°¡­Ah?¡± But when we went inside the studio, we spotted an unexpected team packing up their belongings. The moment we met eyes with the members of the other team, we froze in our spots. I expected an idol group with a simr length of experience as us when I heard that another team was shooting at the same site, but I didn¡¯t expect that team to be this one.


    ¡°Ah¡­haha. It¡¯s been a while.¡±


    ¡°Ha¡­hahaha¡­hello.¡±


    My team¡¯s leader and the other team¡¯s leader exchanged an awkward greeting. I looked towards the other team. Since the topic of this edition was about debuting, I thought the studio would¡¯ve only gathered teams that already debuted but it seemed they also included groups that were about to debut as well.


    ¡°How have you all been?¡± The other team¡¯s leader, Han Do-Young, walked towards us and asked. I wordlessly stared back at him. He was Bleshu¡¯s leader who did <em>The Showcase 2</em> with us. At the same time, he was also a member of a group that was involved in a recent giarism scandal tied to our group.


    ¡°Ah, yes. Haha. We¡¯ve been doing well. What about you?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­well, we¡¯ve also been doing well. Haha.¡±


    It was a very awkward and ufortable exchange. Our interaction with Bleshu was usually not this bad. Before, they would greet us cheerfully, and we would do the same. Yet, seeing their response, I became sure.


    <em>¡®Seems like these guys also think they giarized us.</em>¡¯ I was sure that the Bleshu members were well aware of the giarism issue that was spreading inside their fandom. I decided to pass over that since it wasn¡¯t Bleshu¡¯s fault. Furthermore, we didn¡¯t even see the final result yet to confirm it was giarism. I thought we just needed to pass this awkward interaction now.


    ¡°Um¡­ah¡­well¡­¡± Han Do-Young opened his mouth to say something and closed it again.


    Then, he said, ¡°Ah, it¡¯s nothing. Haha. Good luck on your shooting¡± and led his team out of the studio. One of the biggest things that drove a person crazy was to stop in the middle of speaking, but it was easy to guess what he was trying to say and I understood why he had stopped in the middle. Thus, I hoped for all of us to quickly forget this interaction and focus on the shooting when¡­


    [Surprise Mission]


    <em>¡®What?¡¯ </em>


    Right when I was looking at Han Do-Young and the rest of the Bleshu members, I got a surprise mission. It was so obvious what this surprise mission would be about. I thought it would have something to do with giarism for sure, but¡­


    [Stop Bleshu from debuting.]


    [Upon sess, no rewards.]


    [Upon failure, definite failure to achieve Triple Crown All-Kill.]


    ¡®<em>This is freaking insane.¡¯</em> It didn¡¯t have anything to do with the giarism but to stop Bleshu¡¯s debut altogether. This was apletely unreasonable mission again.

 Chapter 219

    Chapter 219


    I watched as Han Do-Young moved farther away from me. Then, I thought about the content of the mission I just heard.


    <em>¡®I have to stop them from debuting?¡¯</em> It was an unbelievable mission. What kind of power did I have to stop a group of guys who already had released their music video teaser and came all this way to do their interviews from debuting? Furthermore, the thing that stuck in my mind was¡­


    <em>¡®Why do we ¡®definitely¡¯ fail the Triple Crown All-Kill?¡¯ </em>


    The risk of failing this mission was that we wouldn¡¯t be able to achieve Triple Crown All-Kill. The word ¡®definite¡¯ hung on my mind. How could Bleshu¡¯s debut block our Triple Crown All-Kill ¡®definitely¡¯? There was a possibility that Bleshu¡¯s song could be better than ours, and they took first ce in a music show at least once. It could happen but there was no way the consumers of this industry would raise a song shrouded by giarism controversies to such a level.


    There weren¡¯t many possibilities on how that would ur, but if I had to choose the most realistic possibility among them¡­it was chart maniption. I had to think about the possibility of Bleshu¡¯spany, G&B manipting the numbers so that Bleshu got first ce in a music show. There were many means they could employ to achieve this.


    They could buy so many of Bleshu¡¯s songs so that they could reach the desired number of sales or they could personally contact the music show¡¯s producer. Of course, all of these methods had the risk of being found out by somebody else, but I was sure that thepany was willing to risk anything.


    G&B was a smallpany. If they failed to produce results that could draw in more investment from this debut album, the matter won¡¯t end with just a couple of managers writing an apology letter. It would shake up the entirepany. If they were going to fall to their doom, either way, it was better for them to try everything they could first. If I was an employee under G&B, I might have thought the same as them.


    <em>¡®Haaa.¡¯ </em> I rushed behind Han Do-Young and clutched his wrist.


    ¡°¡­What?¡± Seeing my hands around his wrist, Do-Young looked at me nkly and in shock.¡°Do you have a phone number?¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡± Do-Young looked more shocked then.


    ¡°If it¡¯s all right with you, do you want to exchange numbers?¡± After I said my real motive, my members looked at me astonishedly.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°What¡­what¡¯s with him suddenly?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha¡­haha.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be that surprised.¡± It appeared Han Do-Young was very startled by my behavior. Yet, I didn¡¯t pay any heed to his response and continued to fix my gaze on Do-Young. Even if people looked at me strangely now, it was better than failing my mission and crying about itter.


    ¡°Ah¡­yes¡­I will give you my number. Haha¡­¡± Do-Young gave me his number while smiling awkwardly. He probably felt like he didn¡¯t have much of a choice when I was asking him so boldly like this. Nevertheless, I seeded in getting his number.


    ¡°But why do you want my number¡­?¡±


    ¡°Ah, well, we could work at the same time now, so I thought it would be better for us to keep in touch.¡±


    Do-Young still looked at me iprehensibly but I remained unconcerned and said, ¡°I will contact youter.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­haha. Yes.¡±


    Eventually, Bleshu departed and only we remained.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon what was that?¡±


    ¡°Did you really want his phone number?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t usually do stuff like this.¡±


    ¡°You are acting suspiciously, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    My members wanted an exnation for my unexpected behavior. But based on my past experiences, I knew I had a high chance of sess the more brazen I acted.


    ¡°I just thought it would be a good idea to get his number. There¡¯s nothing else to it.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you are telling the truth.¡±


    ¡°But I am.¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­¡±


    ¡°Your shooting will begin! Please be on standby!¡±


    Though I didn¡¯t free myself from my members¡¯ suspicions easily, we immediately turned our attention to the staff looking for us.


    ***


    The photoshoot ended without much trouble. The only notable part about it was that the photographer really loved beautiful faces. As soon as Yeon-Hoon stood in front of the camera, he let out a squeal and tantly favored Yeon-Hoon the most. I thought it was natural that a person who photographed people for a living would be so sensitive to beauty, and it could be said that he had a lot of passion for his job.


    I felt a strange sense of pride seeing the photographer openly praise Yeon-Hoon¡¯s visuals. It was like seeing someone fuss over my member in ce of me.


    ¡°Oh my gosh, Mr. Yeon-Hoon! What haaaaapened! You are so handsome!¡±


    ¡°Yes, please smile slightly like that, a little bit! Yes, <em>yes</em>! What is this? Did someone turn on another spotlight?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Yeon-Hoon, could you make a salute since you are wearing a military uniform?<em> Oh my god. </em>You did your share of service with that, Mr. Yeon-Hoon. I want to go to the military one more time in ce of you, <em>really.</em>¡±


    The photographer¡¯sstment took me by surprise. It was the highest form of praise for a man to say that he wanted to go to the military in ce of you. That was how sincere he was about Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face; and as a result of that sincerity, the quality of the A-cut and B-cuts were all unbelievably high.


    Though not as much as Yeon-Hoon, the photographer also hyped the other members and screamed.


    ¡°Kyaaah! Mr. Do-Seung! You are so handsome! You are the man! Roar!¡± He turned Do-Seung¡®s usual cat persona into a tiger.


    ¡°Mr. Woon! Oh. My. Gosh. Light is beaming out of your skin! Your skin is so smooth!¡± He even fussed over Woon¡¯s perfect skin.


    ¡°Oh my gosh, so cute. <em>A! </em>Who told you to be so cute, Mr. Dong-Jun? You are just like a puppy.¡± To Dong-Jun who would have been quite the troublesome pet if he was, he didn¡¯t refrain from screaming about how cute he was. Yet, the problem was that he tried to do the same thing to me.


    ¡°You are the <em>maknae</em>? What, why is the <em>maknae</em> so mature? What are we going to do with this position and appearance gap?¡±


    On this day, I realized that I had no immunity to people making a fuss over me. Every time the photographerplimented me, my body froze, and the pictures came out a mess. But the photographer was really a professional and as soon as he realized that I was the type of person who couldn¡¯t endurepliments, he immediately turned serious and nd.


    ¡°Try raising one arm.¡±


    ¡°Make a slightly confident pose.¡±


    ¡°Could you try making a salute like the other members?¡±


    And with his change of attitude, I was able to finish the rest of the shootingfortably. After that, we prepared for an interview with the questions we got beforehand. Then, after we greeted the staff, our magazine schedule ended.


    Perhaps, the styling team liked us in our sailor uniforms, and they also prepared sailor uniforms for our next schedule: the fan signing. Of course, we returned the sailor uniforms we wore during our magazine shooting and got sailor uniforms that were closer to what we wore on stage. As usual, the fan signing ended without anything extraordinary happening. By the time we finished all of our schedule, it was night, 11 pm.


    ¡°Ahhh. The day passed by so fast again,¡± Yeon-Hoon said while returning to the dorm. It was always night 11 pm or 12 am by the time we returned home these days. That was how rigorous our schedule was.


    ¡°Can I wash up first, you guys?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure.¡±


    ¡°Quickly take a shower and go to sleep. You look really tired.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I will shower first then,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and went into the bathroom. I thought the next people to go wash themselves would be Do-Seung, Woon, and then Dong-Jun in that order since there were a total of three bathrooms in this dorm. Since Yeon-Hoon took one bathroom, two more people could also go to take a shower, yet no one got up even after I heard water rush out from the bathroom that Yeon-Hoon went into.


    Not only did they not go to wash themselves, but they didn¡¯t depart from the living room to go to the individual rooms to y. They didn¡¯t go to the kitchen and look inside the fridge. Though there was a great variety of things they could do at the dorm, the rest of my members stayed inside the living room as if they nned it. Instead, Woon, Do-Seung, and Dong-Jun slowly edged closer to me. I got an inkling of what was going on then.


    <em>¡®It seems they realized that I got a mission about Bleshu.¡¯ </em>They probably guessed it when I tried to get Han Do-Young¡¯s phone number, and their mouths seemed to be itching to talk. It appeared Woon and Do-Seung were wary about speaking since Dong-Jun was next to them while Dong-Jun was wary about Woon and Do-Seung.


    <em>¡®Seems like I have to set things in order again¡­¡¯ </em>I thought. Like I did when Do-Seung and Woon met as regressors I needed to set things straight.


    ¡°Should we all go inside my room?¡± I called everyone to my ce.


    ***


    I carefully chose my words, not knowing where to begin. No matter how much I thought about it, this was a very messy situation. But since Yeon-Hoon won¡¯t be showering forever, I didn¡¯t have enough time to get into theplicated details and I got right to the point.


    ¡°This side is Kang Do-Seung and Lee Woon who have experienced regressing in different worlds dozens of times, and this is normal Dong-Jun who recently found out that I was a regressor.¡± This was the first line I said when I got them together. Naturally, everyone was stunned into silence but eventually Do-Seung and Woon spoke.


    ¡°You told Dong-Jun? Really?¡±


    ¡°What¡­ Bong Tae-Yoon¡­what¡­?¡±


    Though the two regressed dozens of times, they had never told any of the members about their regressions. Thus, they were shocked that I took a path they had never taken. Yet, Dong-Jun didn¡¯t appear that surprised.


    ¡°Well, I was already aware of it before so I¡¯m not that surprised. But of course, I didn¡¯t know you regressed dozens of times.¡±


    I already told Dong-Jun that these two were regressors; yet, they didn¡¯t regress but had their regressor memories temporarily inputted into them.


    ¡°And you really believe all that? Shouldn¡¯t there be a limit to how understanding a person is?¡± Do-Seung seemed shocked that Dong-Jun even believed in this news about ¡®regressors¡¯ and the ¡®system¡¯. It was natural. I also wouldn¡¯t have believed any of these things before experiencing it in person.


    ¡°There¡¯s no reason not to believe. Besides, there were a couple of things that hung in my mind so I feel like things make more sense now.¡±


    ¡°Wow¡­¡±


    ¡°You sure are amazing, Dong-Jun¡­¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon were impressed with Dong-Jun¡¯s attitude. Yet, that wasn¡¯t the important part¡ªthe mission was.


    ¡°You guys must have realized that I tried to get Mr. Han Do-Young¡¯s phone number because of a mission, right?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yeah.¡±


    ¡°I guessed it.¡±


    ¡°You got a mission about Bleshu right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±


    As I thought, everyone had been staying inside the living room for this reason.


    ¡°What is the mission about?¡± Dong-Jun asked.


    ¡°It was to block Bleshu from debuting.¡±


    ¡°Block their debut?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°It said that when Bleshu debuted, our group would definitely be unable to aplish Triple Crown All-Kill.¡±


    ¡°<em>Ha¡­</em>¡±


    A heavy silence surrounded the room. It seemed everyone wasmenting the difficulty of the mission.


    ¡°Did you guys ever get a Bleshu mission before?¡± I asked, wondering if I could find a solution through them.


    ¡°No, the majority of our missions were kept within the group.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­is that so?¡± I was surprised to hear this since I got quite a few missions rted to Only One too. Nevertheless, it seemed I wouldn¡¯t be able to get a solution from them. Yet, things didn¡¯t appearpletely hopeless because Woon appeared to know some information.


    ¡°I think I know why it says you would definitely fail the Triple Crown,¡± Woon said, ¡°Bleshu¡¯spany was caught manipting sales using outside sources a couple of times.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. The news said Bleshu¡¯spany and the business that manipted sales were close to each other.¡±


    This was quite useful information. The ¡®sales maniption¡¯ that I suspected them to do was revealed as fact, yet my situation remained bleak. The beginning of Bleshu¡¯s debut could spell out the doom of my universe.


    ¡°If we don¡¯t do the Triple Crown All-Kill, someone dies, right¡­Right?¡± Dong-Jun asked about the mission¡¯s content.


    <em>¡®Yes. Specifically, Dong-Jun would die.¡¯</em> But I didn¡¯t reveal this part since it could just bring down the team¡¯s mood and raise our general anxiety level. It seemed Dong-Jun caught on that I didn¡¯t want to speak more and didn¡¯t pry in deeper.


    ¡°That means we <em>have</em> to stop Bleshu¡¯s debut.¡¯ In the end, that was what we concluded.


    Yet, the problem was how we would go about doing that. We didn¡¯t have the power to decide whether another group would debut or not. We couldn¡¯t do anything if another group set their minds on debuting. Moreover, we also had to think about whether it was the right thing to do to stop another group from debuting besides clearing the mission.


    <em>¡®But it doesn¡¯t matter what¡¯s right or wrong. I need to put my members first.¡¯</em> Though it was unfortunate for the Bleshu members, this was what I truly felt.


    ¡°What do I need to do to stop Bleshu from debuting?¡± I asked my members for suggestions.


    ¡°Honestly, we don¡¯t have the power to stop them¡±, Do-Seung said. I already knew this. That was why I was asking for their suggestions. Perhaps, it couldn¡¯t be helped since it was everyone¡¯s first time encountering a mission like this.


    It was then, Do-Seung showed me apletely different path that I could take. ¡°But though I never fought against the system like Tae-Yoon, there was a time when I unintentionally caused an error in the system.¡±

 Chapter 220

    Chapter 220


    A system error? I stared at Do-Seung. Then, Do-Seung proceeded to exin by bringing up what happened to him in one of his regressions.


    ¡°I think it was around the time when we released our first official album. The content of the mission was to get support from Yoo Won-Dong for the album production. The risk of failing the mission was our album production getting canceled.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°Since it wasn¡¯t a death g mission and we could just prepare for the next album if it failed, I didn¡¯t think too much about it. So, I brushed it off and we ended up really not getting support for our production from Yoo Won-Dong.¡±


    ¡°¡­So, what happened?¡±


    ¡°Naturally, we failed our mission and our official album got canceled. But then suddenly, Yoo Won-Dong had a change of heart and said that he would support our production.¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°Soon afterward, the system gave an error notice, and all sorts of unfavorable happenings befell him. It was then I realized that the system was unable to fully calcte the madness of the human mind.¡±


    I looked at Do-Seung, baffled. Woon did the same, and Dong-Jun asked why the system was so sloppy. In reality, the system was quite thorough, but I thought Do-Seung was right. The system probably couldn¡¯t calcte the capriciousness of the human mind. In the first ce, a wless and perfect system would¡¯ve no reason to make us regress repeatedly for no reason. I was sure that the system was regressing us so that we could do something in its ce.¡°So, if the failure risks disappear, even the system can¡¯t do anything about it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. If the method to clear the mission is iffy, it could be better to just resolve the failure risks themselves. Of course, I don¡¯t know what the side-effects of that would be.¡±


    I pondered about this. Rather than block Bleshu¡¯s debut, I thought I stood a better chance in resolving the failure risks of this mission. Perhaps, I could target thepany that would do the maniption sales so that Bleshu couldn¡¯t get first ce. That would hurt my conscience a bit less. Yet, what I worried about were the side effects.


    ¡°Did you say that unfavorable happenings befell Yoo Won-Dong after he said he would support the album production?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. As soon as he woke up, he messaged me that he would approve the supplies for production, but on that day, he got caught up in a traffic ident on his way to work, stumbled on the stairs, and had a nt pot fall on his head.¡±


    ¡°¡­Anyone would be able to tell that the system made those things happen.¡±


    ¡°But Yoo Won-Dong still got to work and approved the production?¡±


    ¡°Well, he was able to evade the traffic ident and the nt pot, but he slipped on the stairs and had to be taken to the hospital.¡±


    ¡°But how did he approve the production support?¡±


    ¡°He called me in his emergency room and gave out orders there.¡±


    ¡°¡­It really is human madness that the system can¡¯t predict.¡±


    Perhaps, the core to tackling the failure risks was drawing out a madness that the system couldn¡¯t predict.


    ¡°But are you telling me that Director Yoo Won-Dong was that serious about his job?¡±


    ¡°Well, Director Yoo Won-Dong is quite a unique character. He¡¯s different in every regression. On some regressions, he¡¯s like a puppet boss, and on other regressions, he¡¯s a man burning with passion for his job. Anyways, it¡¯s weird.¡±


    I got a sense of what Do-Seung meant. Even in this universe, Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s character changed often. Perhaps, it was because Yoo Won-Dong developed several personas while working a couple of decades in the corporate world. He could be like a character in a simtion game whose ending changed drastically depending on the user¡¯s choices. Woon nodded in agreement to Do-Seung¡¯s exnation.


    ¡°I also felt that the system had some loopholes from time to time while regressing. It¡¯s usually urate but not wless. Though I had never targeted failure risks before, I think it¡¯s a good idea.¡±


    Since that was the opinioning from the two regressors, I thought it was right for me to aim for the system¡¯s loopholes.


    <em>¡®But it seems like I keep seeking alternatives rather than confronting the system head-on.¡¯ </em>My attitude towards the system was different from before. Rather than an absolute power, I simply thought of the system as a puter¡¯ that arranged the events of this universe.


    <em>¡®I hope¡­I can eventually put an end to this mess.¡¯ </em>My goal was to free myself from the system. To do that, I needed to work hard in making deals with the system and uncovering its secrets. Well, there was that.


    ¡°Then, wouldn¡¯t it be better to make it so that Bleshu¡¯spany can¡¯t manipte the sales? Rather than stopping their debut, we could erase the failure risks themselves.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I think that will be better.¡±


    ¡°I understand. Thank you for all your input.¡±


    I thought we could end their conversation there since I could take care of the rest. It was then Dong-Jun spoke.


    ¡°But how will you find thepany that maniptes sales?¡± It was a very fundamental question.


    ¡°¡­I will need to figure that one out.¡± I would be reaching if I tried to find the answer to that at this spot. I thought if I kept searching, I would be able to find something, but Dong-Jun posed another question.


    ¡°But shouldn¡¯t you at least think about how you are going to find the information to do that?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Dong-Jun¡¯s question made me think. He was right. The issue with finding apany that manipted sales was in apletely different realm than what I was used to. I thought if I kept struggling, I would be able to find a method somehow but some things didn¡¯t work like that. I thought I found a way out of this problem by targeting the failure risks, but I was now back to square one.


    In the end, my situation was the same as before and I had to find a clear method to resolve this issue. The mood in the room turned heavier when Dong-Jun proposed, ¡°That¡¯s why I thought you should try seeking Director Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s help for this mission.¡±


    ¡°¡­Sorry?¡±


    ¡°Besides the mission, regressions, and all that, G&Bpany is one that giarized our songs and is nning to manipte their sales.¡±


    ¡°¡­How would I exin that to Yoo Won-Dong?¡±


    ¡°You could think about that gradually, but wouldn¡¯t it be quicker to use Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s connections and reach than to personally find the sales maniptionpany? It¡¯s much more realistic too.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±


    Perhaps, this was the power of collective intelligence. I felt like we were heading towards a more concrete solution. Thus, I thought we could discuss at this spot which way was best for me to exin the situation to Yoo Won-Dong when the door creaked.


    <em>Creak.</em>


    ¡°What! Why is everyone here! Did everyone eat something without me?¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°Haha.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon appeared after finishing his shower. We simultaneously stopped what we were doing and responded.


    ¡°Haha¡­it¡¯s nothing¡­we didn¡¯t eat anything.¡±


    ¡°You guys are suspicious.¡±


    ¡°We were just conversing.¡±


    ¡°¡­Hm.¡±


    ¡°You really don¡¯t have to concern yourself about this. Seriously.¡±


    ¡°¡­Am I¡­getting outcasted?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Of course not, Yeon-Hoon.¡±


    ¡°Why would you say something so ridiculous¡­?¡±


    There was a slightmotion with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s usation of us bullying him.


    ¡°¡­So, you guys aren¡¯t out casting me?¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    ¡°There are only five of us. It will be weird to outcast somebody.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±


    Like that, everyone forgot about the conversation we were having while busilyforting Yeon-Hoon.


    ***


    In Bleshu¡¯s dorm¡ªall the members went to their rooms to go to sleep. Since there were only two rooms in total, three people used one room while two people used the other room. Though it would¡¯ve been ufortable for five grown men to live in a small two-room space, everyone carried out their lives without grumbling. It was because everyone knew that they couldn¡¯t debut again if it wasn¡¯t for thispany.


    Yet, while their debut day was nearing, nobody appeared to be happy. It was because they were concerned about the giarism issue more than anybody else.


    ¡°<em>Haa¡­¡±</em> Unable to go to sleep, Bleshu¡¯s leader Han Do-Young got up from his bed and went to the living room. He was careful to not make much noise whileing from the second-floor bed to not wake up his roommates. Then, after he got out to the living room, he put on his earphones and listened to his group¡¯s teaser. He also turned Siren¡¯s video on at the same time.


    Even he could clearly see how simr the videos were. Hispany, G&B, seemed to be staying quiet about the issue that they tantly giarized Siren. They didn¡¯t have the resources to get a famous music producer, but the Bleshu brand had grown too big for them to release an unsatisfactory quality work. Thus, thepany had chosen the worst method¨Cgiarism.


    Han Do-Young sighed and swiped his face with his hands. He hadn¡¯t slept for more than three hours the past couple of days. He med himself for not protecting his group and his guilty conscience kept him awake. He should¡¯ve stepped up and protested as soon as he heard their song and concept. Then, things wouldn¡¯t have escted to this level. Yet, his strong desire to debut kept him silent and with the leader¡¯s silence, all the other members also sealed their lips.


    Thus, though this was a mistake that thepany, G&Bmitted, Bleshu members were bearing the guilt of the wrongdoing. Of course, they were also in the wrong for keeping silent and passing over this matter, but their crime wasn¡¯t so big that it should ruin their only chance of debuting.


    Han Do-Young fumbled with his phone. It hung on his mind that he exchanged phone numbers with Siren¡¯s <em>maknae</em>. He thought this could be theirst opportunity to keep their conscience.


    Yet, even as his thoughts deepened, he didn¡¯t carry anything into action. As he always did, he simply flung his body on top of the bed with a heavy heart.


    ***


    The day brightened and my members and I moved our tired bodies for the morning recording schedule. We were used to waking up early and riding the car half-asleep now. After that, we got our hair and makeup done and got some rest after returning to the waiting room. We ordered breakfast or caught up on some sleep during this time.


    Then, we usually went to shoot a variety show or go on the radio, but today, there was no schedule like that and we had some free time. Yeon-Hoon got on the sofa first and fell asleep and Dong-Jun also slept beside him. Woon and Do-Seung ced a mat on the floor and slept. Bringing a floor mat was a necessity whenever we went on a morning recording now.


    ¡°Mr. Tae-Yoon, do you want to get some sleep too?¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon asked while unfolding the mat for me. I suddenly felt like a preschool kid going to nap time, but I knew how important it was to catch up on sleep during a busy activity period. Yet, I didn¡¯t have the luxury to take a nap today.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine. I need to make a short phone call.¡± There wasn¡¯t much time left before Bleshu¡¯s debut. I needed to settle everything as quickly as possible in such a busy period as now. I wandered around the broadcasting station to find a quiet ce without people. In the end, I went to my favorite hideout, the emergency stairs. As I expected, there was hardly anyone going this way.


    I took my phone out to call Yoo Won-Dong. Since I already thought of how to exin the situation to him, I nned to use it in real life. I hoped that I could use Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s resources to find the sales maniptionpany when I got a call from somewhere else.


    <em>Ziing¡ª</em>


    ¡ªBleshu¡¯s Han Do-Young


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    The person at the center of the giarism issue personally called me.

 Chapter 221

    Chapter 221


    I got a call from Han Do-Young. I stared nkly at the name that appeared on my phone screen. Why is he going so far as to call me? Is he really trying to build a friendship with me or something? Or does he want to ask us to film a challenge with them when their albumes out? All sorts of thoughts crossed my mind, but I pushed them to the back of my mind for now and ced the phone on my ear. I pushed the ept call button and heard Do-Young¡¯s voice.


    ¡ª¡­Ah, you got the call?


    It was short but with that one line, I could sense many things in his voice.


    <em>¡®¡­What? Did he cry?</em>¡¯ His voice sounded teary and anxious. I was startled to ept a call from someone I wasn¡¯t close to and hear him so close to tears. But I calmed myself down and waited for him to continue.


    ¡ªUm¡­is it okay for us to talk for a bit?


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s fine.¡±


    ¡ªAh¡­well, please give me a moment¡­


    I heard Do-Young push his phone far from his ear and fake cough two times before he ced it back to his ear again. His voice sounded much more calm when he returned.


    ¡ªI contacted you to discuss our debut album.¡°¡­Ah.¡± I tried not to sound surprised as much as I could but I couldn¡¯t help but gasp, ¡®<em>Ah¡ª¡¯</em>


    <em>¡®He¡¯s bringing it up on his own?</em>¡¯ This was a sensitive issue that I expected him to keep circling. I didn¡¯t expect him¡ªinstead of me¡ª to speak so directly like this. Even if we brought up this issue, I thought it would only be natural for me to bring it up first.


    <em>¡®What is he going to say?¡¯</em> I wondered. If he was calling to request a picture or video of us looking close because they were suffering from giarism usations, it would really be the worst; or he could pretend to be oblivious about the giarism issue till the very end. Though I still had a good image of Do-Young, if he made requests like the above, my impression of him wouldpletely change. Yet, his next words filled me with guilt for even having such thoughts.


    ¡ªI¡¯m so¡­so sorry, Mr. Tae-Yoon. Not just to you but everyone in Siren¡­


    He apologized to me from the bottom of his heart.


    ¡ªI wanted to call each of you guys to apologize but since I only had your number, I decided to call you out of the blue¡­I know it will be rude of me to ask for the other members¡¯ numbers too, so please pass on my apology to them¡­if possible, they could join this call too.


    Because of how sorry he sounded, it made me self-reflect. I needed to fix the habit of always thinking about people in the worst possible way. I began to needlessly feel more sorry for Do-Young.


    ¡ªWe also had no desire to debut with a giarized song¡­But as we remained quiet about one thing after the next, things became too huge and out of our control...I¡¯m so sorry. Even considering our situation, I thought I should apologize for it first.


    I quietly listened to Do-Young¡¯s apology. Truthfully, nothing changed even if I epted Do-Young¡¯s apology. If they debuted, a future where Dong-Jun died awaited me. Yet, I felt relieved to hear his apology since it didn¡¯t seem like I would have to ruin Bleshu¡¯s debut just out of my greed. My heart felt heavier and I felt conflicted.


    A long silence circted between Do-Young and me, and the one to speak first was me. ¡°Thank you for saying that. Since the current situation isn¡¯t suitable for all my members to get on this call, I will pass your apology to themter.¡± Since Do-Young mustered up his courage to apologize, I thought it was only right for me to thank him for it. Yet, I couldn¡¯t end things just like that.


    ¡°But this isn¡¯t a problem that can be resolved with a simple apology. Is there perhaps any conversation ongoing within your group or thepany on how to solve this giarism issue?¡± I asked.


    Though the emotional conflict between the groups was resolved with the apology, there were still legality and business issues to consider. I thought I needed to hear how Bleshu nned to solve this giarism issue first, and I could n and change my movements ording to their response. Yet, what came out of Do-Young¡¯s mouth was simply shocking.


    ¡ªFirst of all, I¡¯m nning to leave thepany.


    ¡°¡­Sorry?¡±


    He¡¯s nning to just pack up and leave? But what would happen if the leader of the group left? I thought I heard him wrong but Do-Young confirmed his words for me once again.


    ¡ªI¡¯m saying I will leave my group if we really have to debut with a giarized song.


    ¡°¡­Ah.¡± Do-Young¡¯s words made me self-reflect again. Is this what Kang Hyun-Sung must have felt every time he talked to me? I decided to think about thatter and got back to the focus.


    ¡°Why? It¡¯s not like the problem will be solved because you leave the group.¡± I needed to hear how he decided on this dramatic measure.


    ¡ªIf I left, I thought thepany would finally realize the severity of the problem and prepare our debut song once more


    ¡°¡­Hm.¡±


    ¡°¡­Do you think it¡¯s strange?¡±


    I was about to say it was but held myself back.


    ¡°So, in the end, it¡¯s not that you really want to leave the group.¡±


    ¡ª¡­Yes. But I thought I couldn¡¯t let things be and needed to do something bolder.


    I understood how desperate Do-Young felt but he was making the wrong decision here.


    ¡°But if you leave, what will happen to the other members? What are you going to do about the loss and shock they will feel? Besides, do you think a group whose leader left could properly establish itself and grow? Did you not think that your departure could devastate all your members¡¯ careers?


    ¡ª¡­


    Perhaps, I talked too directly. Do-Young didn¡¯t speak for a while and he only replied some timeter.


    ¡ª¡­That¡¯s true.


    ¡°¡­Haa¡­¡± I internally tweaked the image of Do-Young inside my head. Though he was kind and loyal, he was a bit of a dumb person. Nevertheless, with this, I confirmed Do-Young¡¯s will to solve this issue. Thus, I needed to ask him for the details.


    ¡°Do all Bleshu team members know that there¡¯s a giarism issue with their song?¡±


    ¡ªOf course, they do. It came up many times and all my members feel very sorry about it. They feel embarrassed about it too.


    ¡°Then, does that mean the entire team is wary of debuting with the song in question?¡±


    ¡ªYes


    ¡°Then can¡¯t your whole team boycott the song?¡±


    ¡ªBut I think everyone has a fear that they won¡¯t be able to debut if it isn¡¯t for thispany. Furthermore, since everyone is tied by their contracts, they can¡¯t go anywhere else either. That¡¯s why they are trying to debut even with a song like this.


    ¡°Hm¡­¡± I thought over what Do-Young said and assessed the cards and resources I had. Then, I thought about the situation Bleshu was caught up in. I was trying to find out which method was good for both Bleshu and my mission.


    ¡°What if there¡¯s an opportunity for you guys to debut in anotherpany with a better song?¡±


    ¡ª¡­Sorry?


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not saying I would make that happen. I don¡¯t have that sort of connection. I just wanted to confirm this point.¡±


    ¡ªBut we are tied to the ce by contract¡­


    ¡°And a contract Is only effective if thepany remains solid.¡±


    ¡ªThat¡¯s true.


    ¡°And on that note, the Bleshu members aren¡¯t willing to debut with a giarized song if they were freed from the contracts?¡±


    ¡ªAt least for me, I don¡¯t n to do it if the contract disappears. It would be preferable if we could debut somewhere else. I have to ask the other members too but they probably have simr thoughts.


    In this case, I needed to prepare two things: first, was a method to destroy Bleshu¡¯spany. The second was to get a newpany that Bleshu could join.


    <em>¡®¡­That¡¯s harder.¡¯ </em>This was the harder option. Even finding the business that manipted sales and destroying that ce would take less energy. My head was in a mess. I wondered how I could aplish this mission, and how I became so deeply entrenched in another team¡¯s problem.


    For now, there were two big methods that I could employ to solve this mission. One was to call Yoo Won-Dong and tell him that there was a giarism issue with G&B and it appeared they would take the first ce spot from us using a shady business. Then, I could tell him that would make achieving the Triple Crown difficult so we should find that business first and crush it.


    The other method was to erase Bleshu¡¯spany, G&B Entertainment, altogether to stop Bleshu¡¯s debut and help them join a newpany. If I had to choose which method was easier, the former won by andslide. I would have fewer responsibilities and most likely finish the mission. I felt more conflicted when Do-Young spoke first.


    ¡ªYou don¡¯t have to consider us so much. For now, I will try to make it so that we don¡¯t debut with a giarized song as best as I can.


    It seemed he also felt that my worries were deepening. Yet, Do-Young probably didn¡¯t realize that I felt as desperate as him to resolve this issue. But since I couldn¡¯t keep holding him hostage on the line, I tried to end the call. Yet, Do-Young seemed to have onest thing to say.


    ¡ªHonestly, I can¡¯t say that mypany is a good one, but if it wasn¡¯t for our director, things wouldn¡¯t have gone this far. I know it sounds like I¡¯m making excuses but I hope you don¡¯t hate us so much. Because I really think most of them are good people.


    The director was the problem? That gave me an idea.


    <em>¡®If the director is the only problem, maybe he¡¯s the only one I have to shake.¡¯ </em>Rather than changing entirepanies, perhaps, I could take an easier route.


    ¡°Um, Mr. Do-Young.¡± Before he ended the call, I hastily called back Do-Young.


    ¡ªYes?


    After moving farther away, he got closer to the phone again.


    ¡°Does that mean the entirepany besides the director shares the same opinion about giarism?¡±


    ¡ª¡­Yes? Everyone including our team manager and staff holds the same opinion. They all think we shouldn¡¯t debut like this. But they don¡¯t make their feelings too obvious.


    ¡°Oh¡­I see.¡±


    ¡ª¡­Why do you ask?


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s nothing. I was just curious. Since we also have experience¡­working under an ipetent director, I could rte to you. Good luck on your ventures.¡±


    ¡ªThank you.


    ¡°Then, I will contact you again.¡±


    ¡ªYes, thank you.


    That was how my call with Do-Young ended. I ced my phone down and pressed my temples. With Do-Young¡¯sst words, I thought of another possibility. I didn¡¯t know if it was really possible, but I thought I could at least ask. I searched through my contact list and found Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s number. It was only right for me to message him first.


    ¡ªDirector, could we talk over lunch today?


    Yoo Won-Dong gained some positive feelings about us thest time we were suddenly intercepted in a meeting. Furthermore, I also met him separately on another asion. I thought his mood would be good these days after feeling like a hands-on boss.


    ¡ªOf course :)


    He instantly okayed my request to eat together. But perhaps, he was afraid of meeting me alone, so he kept asking me to bring the other members.


    ¡ªIf all the Siren memberse, I will pay for the meal :)


    ¡ªI n toe alone


    ¡ªI will pay when you alle :) There¡¯s a great Korean cuisine restaurant nearby


    ¡ªI will go alone


    ¡ªLet¡¯s all meet together :)


    ¡ªI am heading there now


    I ignored Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s desperate pleas to meet altogether and got up from my spot. I didn¡¯t want to wake my members up when they were sleeping.

 Chapter 222

    <h4>Chapter 222</h4>


    While my members slept in the waiting room, I took my luggage and headed outside. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna asked me where I was going. I didn¡¯t be startled by their question because I was prepared.


    ¡°The director asked me to have lunch with him.¡±


    ¡°...Sorry?¡±


    ¡°Oh...the director...haha...¡±


    A lunch with their boss was something no employee could refuse or wanted to be part of. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna quickly left the scene in case I suggested them to join me.


    ¡°Then, should we drive you to the front of thepany?¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon said, reaffirming her intention to drop me off only in front of thepany.


    ¡°I can just call the taxi,¡± and I refused because I didn¡¯t want to bother them.


    ¡°No, no. We would get in trouble if we let you go alone. I will drop you off since any one of us could watch over this ce.¡±


    ¡°Yes, get a ride, Mr. Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you insist, thank you.¡± Now that I thought about it, I thought Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna would get a bad reputation if I went to meet the boss while riding in a taxi and agreed with them.


    Soon afterward, I went to the parking lot and got in the car. My usual spot in the car was the backseat window seat but today, I was able to ride next to the driver seat. Ms. Seung-Yeon turned on the car engine and softly stepped on the gas pedal. The car departed from the broadcast station, and we headed to the Next Wave¡¯s main office building.


    ¡°Why do you have a lunch meeting with the boss today, Mr. Tae-Yoon?¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon asked while we were moving.


    ¡°He just asked me to have a meal with him. It seems he knows I don¡¯t have an afternoon schedule today.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure he knows since we report you guys¡¯ daily schedule to him every week.¡±


    The truth was that I was the one who asked to see Yoo Won-Dong instead of the other way around, but I knew that people would think weirdly if I told them the truth. It seemed the hardest thing about being a regressor was trying to prevent people from misunderstanding you.


    ¡°I suppose you will just make some small talk with him.¡±


    ¡°I think so.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, he wants to personally take care of the sole artist group in thepany.¡±


    ¡°It could be since he doesn¡¯t seem to hate us or anything.¡±


    ¡°Ah, Mr. Tae-Yoon, you didn¡¯t hear?¡±


    ¡°Hear what?¡±


    ¡°The director collects Siren¡¯s goods these days.¡±


    ¡°...Sorry?¡± I doubted my ears. Yoo Won-Dong collected our goods? He wasn¡¯t inspecting the quality of thepany¡¯s products but was collecting them?


    ¡°But don¡¯t we not have any official merchandise released yet?¡± There weren''t any goods to collect yet since we didn¡¯t release any products. The merchandise team was already upied with designing our cheering sticks right now.


    ¡°He receives unofficial goods from other fans and even buys some if they look good.¡±


    ¡°...The director uses Bluebird?¡±


    ¡°...Haha...yes.¡±


    I felt chills all over my body. This was the madness of the man who wanted to seed.


    ¡°Anyways, the director¡¯s image in ourpany is gradually improving. Before, he used to be sort of a frustrating director who didn¡¯t know the idol business well. But now, his image is like a cute director who wants to actively try out new things.¡±


    My goodness. It was surprising that suchpliments about the director wereing out of thepany. Perhaps, these were the fruits of his efforts. The Yoo Won-Dong I saw not so long ago had been outcasted and insulted by everybody. Yet, right now, he was working hard to assess the current idol market by collecting unofficial goods in private. It seemed we wouldn¡¯t have to suffer another ¡®Waacking incident¡¯ from before.


    ¡°Anyways, it seems the director really likes Siren and wants to support you all. So, don¡¯t be too nervous when you go meet him. Think of it like meeting an older neighborhood friend.¡±


    It was then I realized why Ms. Seung-Yeon was mentioning all these things. She was trying to make me less nervous in case I was worried about meeting the director. After all, I was neen years old right now. I smiled sensing her consideration for me.


    ¡°We are already here.¡±


    ¡°That was fast.¡±


    ¡°Then, have a good time.¡±


    The car zipped into Next Wave¡¯s parking lot and stopped in front of the entrance gate specially prepared for artists. Ms. Seung-Yeon stopped the car right near the gate and told me to quickly go in. There was recently a notice to heighten artists¡¯ care because of the uptick in the number of people wandering around thepany with cameras. Thus, I rushed inside, immediately got on the elevator, and went to the floor where the director was.


    I thought about the word choices I should use while going up. Though this was an idea I came up with while talking to Han Do-Young, I still wasn¡¯t sure whether my n was possible. Yet, I thought I should still give it a try. If Yoo Won-Dong refused my request, I could ask him to find the sales maniptionpany. Thus, I nned to go into the director''s room with a light heart, thinking that I could protect Dong-Jun with whatever decision was made.


    Eventually, the elevator stopped where the director¡¯s room was. I went outside the elevator and knocked on the door. From inside, I heard Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s voice call out.


    ¡°Yes~¡± His voice sounded slightly expectant. Though he sounded anxious hearing that I was visiting him alone, it seemed he wasn¡¯tpletely displeased about the meeting. Eventually, the door opened, and Yoo Won-Dong came out.


    ¡°Ah...you really came alone?¡± He looked slightly disappointed.


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    ¡°Pleasee in. We can head to a restaurant after waiting a bit.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± I said and entered the office. While going inside, I was about to ask Yoo Won-Dong if the restaurant had a private space like a room, ¡°Does the restaurant have a private room...¡±


    <i>¡®...?¡¯ </i>Yet, I couldn¡¯t finish my thought when I saw the change in the office room¡¯s interior. First of all, there was a row of dolls using my members and my motifs on top of his desk. Then, there were stickers of us as characters that someone made stuck all over Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s workptop. On the walls, there were posters from our album and other unofficial posters, slogans, and so on made by fans. If I didn¡¯t know that this was the director¡¯s office, I would¡¯ve thought the room belonged to a high-school girl who was obsessed with Siren.


    ¡°...Director?¡±


    Perhaps, Yoo Won-Dong felt a sense of pride from seeing my response. ¡°I¡¯m monitoring the idol market these days. After receiving all sorts of things, the goods just piled up,¡± he said boastfully.


    ¡°I¡¯m still getting used to things, so my daughter looks over my speech and tone when I writements, but...I¡¯m improving.¡±


    I imagined how shocked our fans would be to realize that they had shared goods with Yoo Won-Dong. They would think in horror, <i>¡®The person I shared gifts with good intentions is actually my favorite idol group¡¯spany director?</i>¡¯ It was unbelievable.


    tgrf


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s that. Should we head to the restaurant now?¡±


    ¡°Ah...yes.¡±


    ¡°Were you asking if the restaurant had a private room? It is so you don¡¯t have to worry about it. Just follow me.¡±


    ¡°Yes...haha...¡± I tried to pull myself out of my initial sense of shock and think positively of the situation. As Ms. Seung-Yeon said, it appeared Yoo Won-Dong liked Siren. If that was the case, I thought I could go all out.


    ***


    Yoo Won-Dong stared at the neen-year-old man sitting next to him. The driver was smoothly turning the car through corners and moving farther away from the office building. He looked like a sessful businessman heading for a lunch meeting if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that a man¡ªno, a neen-year-old ¡®child¡¯ was riding beside him.


    <i>¡®But of course, he¡¯s no ordinary child.¡¯ </i>Yoo Won-Dong didn¡¯t think Tae-Yoon was just a child. After conversing with him a couple of times, he realized that Tae-Yoon had a quick wit and the way he talked was different from other people his age. Tae-Yoon clearly didn¡¯t have much experience working but it felt as if he was much older than he was. Furthermore, the way Tae-Yoon talked as if he could see through people surprised Yoo Won-Dong the most.


    Thus, Yoo Won-Dong didn¡¯t think of Tae-Yoon as a child but considered him as a young manager in hispany. He knew it wasn¡¯t natural for him to think about a neen-year-old in this way. Yet, as two people working together under the samepany, he thought this was preferable to someone being too childlike. Still, he had hoped for all the Siren members toe together.


    <i>¡®This isn¡¯t good...¡¯ </i>Tae-Yoon came to see him alone. After a couple of meetings with him, Yoo Won-Dong noticed that Tae-Yoon was calmer when he was with his other members; but when he was alone, he had a tendency to propose provocative deals. Thus, Yoo Won-Dong had hoped that Tae-Yoon would visit him with the others so that he would mind his words more carefully. Yet, since Tae-Yoon had alreadye to him alone and Yoo Won-Dong couldn¡¯t send him back, they were here now.


    Though it made Yoo Won-Dong a bit nervous, it was all right. He had already studied plenty about the idol market and he was confident that he could calmly answer any questioning his way.


    <i>¡®But am I really getting nervous in front of a neen-year-old...?¡¯ </i>Yoo Won-Dong wondered if he was overthinking things in front of someone his daughter¡¯s age, and as he thought these things, the car stopped in front of the restaurant. The driver came out and opened the door, and both Yoo Won-Dong and Tae-Yoon stepped out. When they entered the restaurant, the staff guided them to their reserved room.


    It was a room with good sound instion and was quite a distance from the other spaces. After sitting in front of the table, Yoo Won-Dong nned to pick the goods on the menu first.


    ¡°You probably couldn¡¯t eat too well because you are in your activity period, right? You should go after eating something tasty today. This ce¡¯s galbi set is really good,¡± he said. There was a tendency for people to be looser and more pleasant after eating. Even the same words woulde out more softly. This was the reason they were having a meeting while eating.


    Yet, Tae-Yoon simply nced at the menu and put it down. Then, he said, ¡°I asked to eat lunch together but truthfully, my intention isn¡¯t to really have a meal.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Yoo Won-Dong didn¡¯t take his gaze off the menu. He intuitively sensed that if he ced the menu down and met eyes with Tae-Yoon, they would have to begin conversing without being able to take a single bite of food. Yet, because Tae-Yoon relentlessly kept staring at him, he had no choice but to put the menu board down.


    ¡°Haa...¡± Yoo Won-Dong felt slightly out of breath whenever he saw Tae-Yoon do this. He knew what sort of emotions he was feeling right now. When he first joined Jaeil Group, he got the same feeling while waiting for feedback on the business proposal he made. It was a secret he had kept well that after he got chewed out for the n, he shed tears in the bathroom stalls. He hoped that he could have a different ending today.


    ¡°Are you aware that G&B Entertainment is preparing an album by giarizing our content?¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong felt a foreboding feeling then and answered. ¡°...I have been keeping an eye on them.¡±


    ¡°But you know how we have to get a Triple Crown All-Kill in our next activity period?¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    ¡°I think Bleshu¡¯s debut would hinder our n to reach Triple Crown All-Kill, so I was wondering if you had any connections inside G&B Entertainment.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Yoo Won-Dong closed his eyes and nervousness rose in his heart. Then, his worries solidified into shape as Tae-Yoon continued.


    ¡°If you have any connections with the G&B Entertainment investors, I was wondering if you could put pressure on them to withdraw their investments. It would be most preferable if you put pressure on thepany¡¯s director to nullify Bleshu¡¯s debut.¡±


    Tae-Yoon was trying to order him to do the unbelievable again¡ªfinding anotherpany¡¯s investors and stopping Bleshu¡¯s debut?


    <i>¡®That¡¯s insane?¡¯</i> Who would expect such an order toe out of a neen-year-old? This was the age to study for the college entrance exams and study exam guidelines. Yoo Won-Dong began to thump his fist near his chest. Though he didn¡¯t eat anything yet, he already felt like he had an upset stomach.

 Chapter 223

    Chapter 223


    I told Yoo Won-Dong my reason foring to this meeting.


    ¡°So, to summarize, you want to propel an investment withdrawal to block Bleshu¡¯s debut? Haha¡­¡± Yon Won-Dong summarized my n in one sentence. This was the n that I came up with to shatter Bleshu¡¯s debut after talking to Han Do-Young. It was to stop Bleshu¡¯s debut by increasing the probability of an investment withdrawal.


    Even if Yoo Won Dong didn¡¯t immediately make an investment withdrawal happen, he just needed to make room for it in the future. My reasoning behind this n was simple. ording to Han Do-Young, it wasn¡¯t the wholepany, G&B Entertainment, that was the problem but its director. Thus, I needed to find a strong method that could control the director¡¯s actions.


    Someone who invested in a smallpany like G&B Entertainment would probably be someone who has been in the business for a long time; and if that was the case, there was a high possibility that Yoo Won-Dong knew who that investor was. Though Yoo Won-Dong hadn¡¯t worked in management before, he was someone who had been employed by the nation¡¯s biggest entertainmentpany named JI ENM for a while.


    Thus, I thought Yoo Won-Dong could use his connection to pressure the director of G&B and ultimately, push Bleshu¡¯s debut to ater date or make it null. I knew I was asking for a lot. It wasn¡¯t like Yoo Won-Dong had some magicmp to find an investor with just a rub. Yet, I didn¡¯t think the possibility was 0%.


    <em>¡®I¡¯m sure he will be able to find the investor in the end.¡¯</em> Even if there wasn¡¯t one in Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s immediate connections, someone rted could pop up after reaching far enough. After all, it wasn¡¯t like this entertainment scene was thatrge, and I had confidence in Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s connections. Thus, I didn¡¯t think it would be that difficult for Yoo Won-Dong to find G&B Entertainment¡¯s investor.


    Yoo Won-Dong ced the menu sheet in the corner and stared at me quietly. I knew I was making quite the oundish request and visiting him out of the blue to stop Bleshu¡¯s debut. Most bosses might have told me to stop uttering nonsense and piss off. They would¡¯ve scolded me for acting too boldly for my age and asked me where I came up with such strange ideas.


    Yet, I wanted to believe in Yoo Won-Dong a bit right now. Though my first impression of him wasn¡¯t good at all, and I couldn¡¯t say his actions improved much after that, I wanted to give him the benefit of doubt because of recent incidents. I didn¡¯t think Yoo Won-Dong would simply brush me off; and if he provided me a suitable reason for refusing or another solution to my problem, I was fine with him disagreeing with my request too. I looked at Yoo Won-Dong expectantly.


    As if he was trying to meet my expectations, Yoo Won-Dong began, ¡°First of all, let me say that I understand what you are trying to say. Since achieving Triple Crown All-Kill is an important part of our n, it¡¯s understandable that Bleshu¡¯s debut bothers you.¡± Yoo Won-Dong didn¡¯t begin his speech by making light of my concerns. Yet, of course, it wasn¡¯t like he readily agreed with me either.¡°Yet, even if I utilize the individual investors or investing corporations in my connections, it will be almost impossible for me to usher an investment retraction for anotherpany.¡± Yoo Won-Dong used quite firm word choices such as ¡®impossible¡¯ to refute. He continued, ¡°There has to be a very strong basis to retract an investment that is already in progress. Yet, what we have right now is too weak.¡±


    ¡®Our basis is too weak?¡¯ I wanted to point out how strong giarism is as a basis, but Yoo Won-Dong spoke first.


    ¡°Of course, giarism is a big issue, yet it isn¡¯t enough to use that as a reason for investors to retract their investment. There isn¡¯t enough time and irrefutable data to convince investors that this issue would lead to significant sales and profit loss. This is the basis that I¡¯m talking about¡ªan objective marker that can be written in numbers.¡±


    Because Yoo Won-Dong exined the issue so clearly and sinctly to me, I didn¡¯t know how to reply. Was this the skill of a corporate manager? No, perhaps, this was the perspective of an averagepany worker. It was a realm I wasn¡¯t familiar with since I had never worked at apany. Anyways, I realized I had thought too lightly of the matter and Yoo Won-Dong had a point.


    <em>¡®But it¡¯s not like we can do nothing.¡¯</em> Investment withdrawal was simply one of the several possibilities that I thought of. If it didn¡¯t work, we needed to think of a more usible and immediate way to put pressure on G&B Entertainment¡¯s director. Perhaps, Yoo Won-Dong sensed that my thoughts were deepening, and he began to say his own opinions.


    ¡°I get that you are concerned about Bleshu¡¯s giarism, but I personally think we have to wait things out a bit longer. This industry isn¡¯t so morally corrupt that it would consume an album with giarism issues. I don¡¯t think you will have much problems with achieving Triple Crown All-Kill.¡±


    <em>¡®Hold on.¡¯</em> I stared quietly at Yoo Won-Dong. It was then I suddenly came to a realization what kind of person I was sitting in front of. Yoo Won-Dong was a man in his mid-fifties. He was a student at a prestigiousw school and was a member of a big national corporation, JI ENM. JI ENM was a ce that held almost an omnipotent level of power in the entertainment world. It was a fearsome ce where if they wished for it, they could easily take over a mid-sizedpany.


    <em>¡®Ah.¡¯</em> That made me think of a much simpler and realistic solution. It was so simple that I med myself for not having thought of it earlier.


    ¡°Director,¡± I called Yoo Won-Dong. Yoo Won-Dong looked at me to go on, and I began to brief him of the idea that just came to my mind. ¡°This is an idea that I just thought of based on the expression, <em>¡®Keep your friends close but your enemies closer¡­¡¯</em>


    Yoo Won-Dong looked at me puzzledly at first but eventually, he nodded rigorously in understanding. ¡°That will be much cleaner. It has a much higher possibility of sess too,¡± He evenmented in the end.


    ¡°I just thought of it at the moment. I¡¯m d you think it¡¯s usible.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I understand. Then, I will try to push things in the direction you proposed.¡± Considering Yoo Won-Dong¡¯s personality, it appeared he was telling me that my proposal would go through without many difficulties. I finally felt like I could breathe. Perhaps, Yoo Won-Dong noticed how my face brightened and remarked.


    ¡°You look much more satisfied now,¡± he said.


    ¡°Ah, yes. I had been grappling with the matter for the past days and it feels like it has finally been resolved.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m d I was able to help. Then, let¡¯s eat now,¡± Yoo Won-Dong said and ordered two expensive lunch sets. A twelve-dish set with well-cooked marinated beef was soon prepared on the table. Yet, all I touched was a sd side dish with Yuzu dressing.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going¡­to eat the meat¡­?¡± Yoo Won-Dong asked me.


    ¡°¡­But I¡¯m in the middle of our activities period¡­?¡±


    Having marinated beef while I was in my activities period would be insane. Yet, Yoo Won-Dong simply stared at me in bafflement.


    ***


    Bleshu¡¯s leader, Han Do-Young, sat in his dorm¡¯s living room and stared nkly at the calendar hanging on the wall. His eyes hovered at the area decorated with a big red circle with the words, ¡®Debut day!¡¯. When they had first drawn that circle on the calendar, he wished for the day toe sooner.


    ¡°Haa.¡± Yet, now, it felt as if that day was his prosecution date. The rest of the Bleshu members were also all out in the living room, doing their own tasks. There was a heavy silence between them. Ever since they got caught up in the giarism scandal, the team¡¯s mood was growing heavier and more solemn.


    ¡°It¡¯s about time to eat dinner¡­what should we have guys?¡± Han Do-Young thought he still couldn¡¯t starve his members and suggested eating something.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


    ¡°¡­Me too.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not hungry.¡±


    ¡°Same¡­¡±


    It seemed nobody had an appetite.


    ¡°You still have to eat something. Let¡¯s not think about dieting and eat something tasty. Hm?¡± Han Do-Young tried to brighten up the mood, but no one responded to his efforts. He looked at the members surrounding him in the living room. Everyone looked down and in low spirits. Even he, the leader, felt like everyone would point fingers and reprimand him if he went out right now, so it was probably no different for the members.


    ¡®The giarizing group¡¯¡ª it was one of the worst keywords that a debuting singer could gain. No matter what kind of song they released or what kind of award they received in the future, it appeared there would be no honor for Bleshu. Those three words would follow them everywhere like the scarlet letter. It was then one of the members spoke.


    ¡°Do-Young...will it really be all right for us to debut¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    The living room became more solemn with that question. But soon afterward, as if a dam blocking the waters broke, the members began to pour out their thoughts at once.


    ¡°Will it really be any good for us¡­to debut with something like this¡­?¡±


    ¡°It will be our faces everyone will know¡­only we will be marked as the giarism singers.¡±


    ¡°What if people only know us from this? It won¡¯t be easy if we try to get back to normal life¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m scared to debut¡­¡±


    Do-Young stood in front of the kitchen table and clenched his teeth. There was nothing they could do.


    ¡°We will be breaching the contract¡­if we don¡¯t debut¡­¡±


    They weren¡¯t confident in winning a case against thepany either. If they breached the contract, they would have to pay a great amount ofpensation fees. In the end, they had no choice but to force themselves on this path with no glory or honor. Upon this realization, the members felt all the energy from their bodies leave them.


    <em>Whoosh¡ª </em>Perhaps, it was all the stress he had been getting these days but Do-Young felt his body tilt.


    ¡°Do-Young!¡± All the members rushed to catch Do-Young.


    With the members¡¯ help, Do-Young leaned his body against the chair. All he could do in reply was, ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­guys¡­¡±


    He should¡¯ve refused the very first moment he heard the song and its concept. No matter how strong thepany¡¯s stance was, they should¡¯ve also stood their ground firmly. Then, they wouldn¡¯t havee all this way. Because he didn¡¯t step out as the leader, all his members had also stayed quiet. Guilt and a sense of responsibility chained Do-Young¡¯s neck and constricted him.


    ¡°If only I had refused properly in the beginning¡­¡± Do-Young reprimanded himself and one of his teammates hugged around his shoulders.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not true¡­¡±


    ¡°Nobody here thinks you are at fault.¡±


    ¡°Do-Young¡­please don¡¯t say that¡­¡±


    At the members¡¯ kind words, Do-Young burst into tears. He had told himself to not cry in front of his members and quickly wiped his eyes.


    ¡°Thank you. I will try not to think like that.¡± Do-Young said, trying to appear more cheery.


    <em>Zing¡ª!</em> His phone on the kitchen table vibrated then. Do-Young saw the name on his phone screen and murmured, ¡°Director¡­?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Why at this time?¡±


    <em>Gasp¡­!</em>


    It was from the director of G&B Entertainment. Do-Young quickly cleared his throat and epted the call.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s Han Do-Young.¡± Whenever he talked to the director, Do-Young felt his insides twist and his breath knocked out of him. He wished for the call to end quickly as soon as he epted it.


    ¡ªHaa¡­those Jaeil group bastards¡­


    The director cursed as soon as the call started. Do-Young felt out of breath already.


    ¡ªHey, you guys¡¯ debut date is going to be pushed back to this winter. Don¡¯t make a fuss and wait until you are told what to do.


    ¡°¡­Sorry, sir?¡±


    ¡ªI said your debut date is pushed! Don¡¯t make me repeat it! You want to also get on my nerves when I¡¯m already pissed off?


    ¡°Ah, no. I understand. I will share the news with my members.¡±


    ¡ªOkay then. End the call.


    ¡°Yes, thank you, sir.¡± Do-Young ended the call. Though it was a very one-sided, unpleasant conversation inundated with cursing¡­


    ¡°Do-Young?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Do-Young!¡±


    As soon as the call ended, he ced his face on his palms and cried. The tears this time were of a different kind from just before.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t going to debut¡­!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s awesome!¡±


    Though they were a debut group whose debut date just got canceled, Bleshu members'' faces couldn¡¯t look brighter.

 Chapter 224

    Chapter 224


    After finishing our day¡¯s schedule, we returned to our dorm by car. I listened to my members chattering away when I heard the system¡¯s rm.


    [Mission Sess]


    [You sessfully blocked Bleshu¡¯s debut.]


    It was an rm telling me that I had sessfully stopped Bleshu¡¯s debut. I made a faint smile and raised my phone. Then, I sent a message to Yoo Won-Dong.


    ¡ªThank you for today. I will contact you again, director.


    I didn¡¯t think the problem would be resolved so soon. It seemed Yoo Won-Dong had acted very quickly, and I got an immediate reply from Yoo Won-Don.


    ¡ª:) Good night pal


    It surprised me how Yoo Won-Dong managed to pick the most middle-aged man-like words when texting me. Yet, I easily passed over it considering how much help I received from him today.


    <em>¡®Haa. Thank goodness we overcame this obstacle.¡¯</em> My lunch meeting with Yoo Won-Dong had been pivotal for my n. At first, I thought the only way we could pressure the director of G&B was to convince thepany¡¯s investors to withdraw their investment. Yet, another idea came to my mind while I was conversing with Yoo Won-Dong.<em>¡®Isn¡¯t Yoo Won-Dong¡­more powerful than mere investors or investment groups?¡¯ </em>While listening to his careful exnation of why my foolish investment withdrawal n wouldn¡¯t work, I realized that Yoo Won-Dong was more of a capable and powerful person than I thought. I had forgotten about it because I always called him by his name disrespectfully in my mind but he was one of the key figures in this entertainment business.


    Even if we didn¡¯t pressure G&B with their investors, Yoo Won-Dong alone could make thepany act the way he wished using the numerous connections he had. Thus, I suggested to Yoo Won-Dong a ¡®deal¡¯ in our lunch meeting. The main idea behind the deal was to ¡®appease the enemy¡¯.


    ¡ªAmong the Jaeil Group¡¯s subsidiarypanies, isn¡¯t there a studio in charge of outsourcing broadcast production?


    ¡ªAre you talking about Studio Wibun?


    ¡ªYes. Besides dramas and variety shows, don¡¯t they also make many other programs?


    ¡ªThey began by only making dramas but they merged with other organizations and expanded their business to various variety content.


    ¡ªHow about you make a contract with G&B that you will ce Bleshu into a couple of their title shows on the group¡¯s debut? In the first ce, thepany had been desperate to the point of resorting to giarism because they would go bankrupt if Bleshu didn¡¯t do well.


    ¡ªThat¡¯s true.


    ¡ªSo then, you can offer to give them a lifeboat so that thepany doesn¡¯t crumble? You can suggest they slightly back off for now by offering to support them on their debutter on through the Jaeil Company.


    ¡ªHm.


    ¡ªI think it will be best if you make a deal with them to push Bleshu¡¯s debut date to winter in ce of Jaeil Group supporting them. If possible, pushing the deadline to next year will be better.


    ¡ªHaha. That sounds¡­good.


    Yoo Won-Dong appeared to have thought this idea had a much better chance of materializing and nodded. He even added a reason for us to go through with this n without me mentioning it and emphasized its necessity.


    ¡ªAfter all, if Bleshu doesn¡¯t debut at all, you guys will be able to achieve Triple Crown All-Kill most safely and won¡¯t have to worry about losing the spotlight.


    Yet, it made me wonder then and I asked.


    ¡ªBut will G&B Entertainment just ept our proposal? Though the offer to give our support sounds good, in reality, we are just telling them to back off a bit because our group is more important. Won¡¯t it hurt their pride?


    I didn¡¯t know whether or not G&B would really ept our proposal. Even if we made a good offer, it was meaningless if the other side didn¡¯t ept it. Yet, Yoo Won-Dong made a leisurely smile at this problem.


    ¡ªThey will ept it.


    ¡ªCan you be so confident that they will?


    ¡ªIt¡¯s our job to make the impossible possible. And in this case, we have the upper hand in resources, connections in the business, and pretty much every way. It will be enough to crush their pride and more.


    It was the first time I felt that Yoo Won-Dong was like a director of apany. And true to his words, he seeded in blocking Bleshu¡¯s debut as soon as evening came. Seeing how the system rang its rm, it appeared he had gotten G&B Entertainment to push Bleshu¡¯s debut.


    <em>¡®Seems like Yoo Won-Dong from my universe works properly.¡¯</em> My members said that Yoo Won-Dong changed every universe and it seemed in my universe, he had solidified into quite a good character.


    ¡°Haa¡­¡± My heart felt light and it became easier for me to breathe.


    ¡°What? Did you just make a sigh?¡±


    ¡°Did something happen?¡±


    It seemed my members had misunderstood my sigh of relief as a heavy-hearted sigh.


    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t sigh but just breathed,¡± I replied.


    ¡°You breathe so noisily, Sir Tae-Yoon~¡±


    ¡°¡­What¡¯s with your way of talking?¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about~ You hurt me, Sir Tae-Yoon~¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Hearing Dong-Jun¡¯s nonsense made me feel like I had finally returned to my daily life, but I was determined to not get too used to thisfort.


    <em>¡®There are still two more missions left.¡¯ </em>There was the Triple Crown All-Kill mission and the mission to enter the Billboard Hot 100. We needed to clear both those missions, and I returned to my anxious state again. I couldn¡¯t loosen up before my battle with the system was over.


    ***


    Time passed quickly after that. Our activity period for ¡°Blue Summer Night¡± ended, and our four-week-long schedule filled with a variety of music, variety, and radio shows came to an end. Even till the very end, we shared the first-ce trophy with Only One and by some strange coincidence, we each got three wins.


    That was fine since our tie was expected. Moreover, I knew the rivalry storyline between our two groups would also end by this year because we wouldpletely surpass Only One by then. It was only expected since we would keep working without rest until the end of the year. Of course, just because we beat them this year didn¡¯t mean that we would always have better results than Only One.


    Since Only One was slowly going through the track of a first-tier idol, they would probably reach their career high in three or four years and maintain that status for a very long time. In contrast, since we were taking the elerated route, we would probably have our career high in about two years; and nobody knew how long we would be able to maintain that peak.


    Of course, if Do-Seung improved his already amazing song-producing skills and pumped out hit songs that grabbed people¡¯s attention on the first beat one after the other, we would be able to maintain our first-tier status for about ten years, but¡­


    <em>¡®That will be asking for too much.¡¯ </em>


    Even right now, we were treating Do-Seung like a song-making machine. It would be too much to request more than that. I thought we shouldn¡¯t get too greedy and hoped to maintain a first-tier status until all these missions ended. I nned to go on full hard-core mode for about a year¡ªno, until the end of this year. Since my goal was my members¡¯ safety and destruction of the system rather than seeding as an idol, I thought I could think of what cameter afterward.


    Thus, I nned to push our team and work our hardest as possible even if it meant decreasing the lifespan of our group in the long run.


    <em>¡®We will really be able to live just as idols if this system stops.¡¯ </em>


    I looked at my members with conflicted feelings. Everyone was doing their own thing in the living room while lying down in their individual poses. Do-Seung was sketching his song-producing ideas while listening to music. Woony beside him while watching videos of famous dancers and appeared to be drawing up new choreographies. Yeon-Hoon sat beside Dong-Jun and hummed while looking at other idol performances.


    <em>¡®I should rest a bit first,¡¯ </em>I thought. I decided to enjoy these rare moments of peace and leaned my body against the sofa.


    ***


    On July 17, when Siren finished all their debut activities, fans celebrated Siren¡¯s sessful debut and simultaneously,mented that they couldn¡¯t see their idols for some time. Posts filled with all sorts of emotions popped on Siren fandom¡¯s feeds.


    ¡ªThis is a collection of our guys receiving first ce


    ¡ªYeon-Hoon was so cute crying after he received his first trophy haha


    ¡ªPlease watch Tae-Yoon singing the first ce encore stage by himself


    Reply: Hahaha he¡¯s like the loser character inics who is hiding his true powers


    Reply: Do you see any traits of a loser on Tae-Yoon¡¯s face¡­?


    Reply: Ah sorry; he looks like he will ignore me if I met him in school


    There werements like above that celebrated Siren¡¯s sessful debut period.


    ¡ªI¡¯m sad thinking I won¡¯t be able to see them from now on


    ¡ªYeah, I feel like they just debuted yesterday, but four weeks have already passed :(


    ¡ªI wonder when they are going to do their next activities


    ¡ª:( Won¡¯t they have a concert? Is it too much to ask since they just debuted? But won¡¯t they be able to pull it off?


    And then there werements that expressed their sadness that Siren¡¯s activity period was over. These two sorts of opposite emotions mixed and intertwined in Bluebird¡¯s feed. Somemented that this was the Bluebird world where both ¡®happiness and sadness¡¯ coexisted together. Nevertheless, the fact that such diverse posts wereing out about Siren showcased Siren¡¯s sessful debut.


    Yet, on the 18th afternoon, a notice popped up on Next Wavepany¡¯s homepage.


    ¡ªThey released lightsticks!


    ¡ª???


    ¡ªThey just released Siren¡¯s lightsticks?


    ¡ªWhat? Howe they released those now after their activity period is over? Lol Won-Dong sure knows how to work.


    People went inside the lightsticks¡¯ purchasing page. The design of the sticks was pretty. The stick¡¯s theme color was also Siren¡¯s symbolic color: emerald blue. On a white stick, there were blue ents that mimicked ocean waves, and a big ¡®S¡¯ that stood for Siren stuck to the end of the stick. Then, on the edge of the S, there was a small crown ced on top. Though it was a ssical lightstick, the fans showed positive responses because of the small details and color on it.


    ¡ªThe quality of it looks so high based on the real-life pictures


    ¡ªDoesn¡¯t seem like Jaeil Group will just produce trash products


    ¡ªI wished they added some more details to this. I¡¯m a bit disappointed :(


    ¡ªHuh? I actually like how simple it is. It looks cleaner


    Yet, besides responses about the product design, there was another point that fans focused on.


    ¡ªBut why are they releasing lightsticks after the activity period is over? Lol


    ¡ªWhat??? Shouldn¡¯t they have at least released it for the next activity period?? Why are they releasing it at such a strange time?


    ¡ªI like the fact that it¡¯s out but there¡¯s no use for it


    Fans were puzzled by the fact that thepany released lightsticks right after Siren¡¯s activity period was over. Was thepany ying with them or something? Yet, the fans didn¡¯t realize that they didn¡¯t have many days left until they would have the chance to wave the lightsticks.

 Chapter 225

    <h4>Chapter 225</h4>


    Siren fans didn¡¯t appear to think too deeply about the release of the new lightsticks. They justughed it off, thinking there was nothing special about lightsticksing out after a group¡¯s activity period was over. They simply wondered whether the lightsticks would be worth their prices and if they would be true to their images.


    With its release, the number of people who ordered the sticks increased, and eventually, interest in the lightsticks began to die down. It was then, that afternoon, a mysterious and suspicious-looking booth was installed in Hongdae, Seong-Su, Euljiro, Gangnam, Jeong-ro, and Sincheon[1]. Every spot that could be considered a hot spot in Seoul had one of these booths installed.


    And not just in Seoul but these booths could even be sighted in ces like Incheon, Chuncheonin Gangwon province, Gwanju in Jeo province, Busan in Gyeongsang province, and Daejeon in Chuncheong<i> </i>province. Since the instation of booths wasmon in these areas, people didn¡¯t pay much heed to them. Most of the public was already used to seeing pop-up stores like thesee and go. They just thought some kind of new movie or product wasing out again, and these booths existed to promote them.


    Yet, around the time when these booths were finished being installed, a Siren¡¯s fan from Gwanju where the booth waspleted earliest uploaded a post.


    ¡ª???What is this??? Are our guys doing something again? (Pic of Booth.jpg)


    It was a long, rectangr booth installed on the main street of Gwangju. The exterior of the booth was a simple writing on a blue background.


    ¡ªSiren. 2022. 07. 25


    Siren. July 25th. Though only the group¡¯s name and date were written on it, it was very easy for an idol fan to deduce what that information meant.


    ¡ªJuly 25th??? Are they having aeback?


    ¡ª???


    ¡ªWhat? But their activities just ended a couple of days ago.


    ¡ªIs this for real?


    ¡ªWhat in the world? This is crazy


    ¡ªThis is great news, but don¡¯t they need more rest???


    Whether they did aeback on July 25th or not, it was clear Siren was going to do something again and this would be the continuation of their activity period. Though fans were shocked at first, they began to celebrate the news of Siren¡¯s continued activities. It was then people raised more questions.


    ¡ªWhy is this only in Gwangju? It¡¯s not like they are going to only do aeback there


    People wondered why the booth was only installed at Gwangju but their questions were soon answered.


    ¡ªHold up. Our area also has this!!! This is what they had been setting up since lunchtime


    ¡ªThis is insane. There¡¯s one in front of my house too


    ¡ªThat¡¯s what they had in front of mypany


    Just within an area, more Siren booths werepleted. The booths inside Seoul soon reached their full form and people from other areas took pictures of booths near them and uploaded them.


    ¡ªWhat in the world are they nning for them to install booths all over the nation?


    ¡ªWhat if they randomly appear in one of the booths? They could be ying a guessing game with the fans


    Reply: Seriously? Hahahaha That will be crazy


    ¡ªI¡¯m serious. What¡¯s going on? Because of how huge this scale is, I have no idea what they are going to do. Did they coborate with apany to release a product?


    Reply: But I don¡¯t see anypany logos besides Siren¡¯s. There was no article released either


    Reply: That¡¯s true


    Now, people¡¯s curiosity was about the contents inside the booth. Yet, there was no way they could find out what was inside since the booths weren¡¯t open yet.


    ¡ªThey say admissions are only allowed from tomorrow


    ¡ªI feel like there¡¯s going to be a really long wait


    ¡ªThe description in front of the booth says that the wait time starts at 11 am. (Notice.jpg)


    The notice also said that one¡¯s admission could be restricted if they did anything simr to lining up or saving up their spots before 11 am. Some people expressed their frustration about this but a couple of working fans quieted them down.


    ¡ªMypany is located at Seong-Sun and if people are waiting outside in the morning, it¡¯s super difficult to get to work


    ¡ªI think they are doing it, so things don¡¯t get out of control in the streets


    ¡ªI live in Hongdae. If the streets get jammed because of ongoing events and I¡¯mte to lecture, I really want to crush all the event sites down


    ¡ªMypany is in Jongno-gu. If people are packed in that narrow alleyway, I will just bete for work...


    In short, the notice was telling people toe at 11 am to avoid the morning rush. Like that, many Siren fans fell asleep while waiting for tomorrow afternoon.


    ***


    Siren¡¯s fan took half a day off to stand in the streets today. Normally, she would have to be at work by 9 am; and she thought about using a time off from 11 am to 1 pm, but she didn¡¯t know how long the lines would get and just took half a day off. Then, she circled around the booth from 10 am and scanned the people there.


    As part of the fandom, she could intuitively tell people who were also Siren fans. Perhaps, it was the style of clothes they wore or the feeling they gave off. Nevertheless, it was evident in subtle ways¡ªespecially in this Jongno-gu office residence, they were more noticeable.


    ¡°Seems like quite a lot of people gathered,¡± she remarked. Though the notice told people not to line up, fans were gathered in nearby cafes and restaurants and talking to each other. She also ordered an americano in a nearby caf¨¦ and looked through the window to see the booth.


    <i>¡®I hope the waiting isn¡¯t too long. It¡¯s so hot today.¡¯ </i>The weather was supposed to rise to 37 degrees Celsius today, and if the line got too long, she would have to return to her office, soaking in sweat. Of course, she was wearing daily wear right now and packed a blouse to wear to work, but she would still feel ufortable afterwards. While enjoying the caf¨¦¡¯s cool AC¡¯s winds, she quietly red at the booth. Time flowed and it was soon time for the ce to open.


    10:58am.


    10:59am.


    Then, 11am.


    She picked up her belongings and headed out of the caf¨¦. Other fans waiting for the booth like her simultaneously got up from their spots. Because the event didn¡¯t allow people to stand in lines, people had to reallypete for their spots. Though she didn¡¯t want to run, she knew she would have to wait under this scorching heat for a long time. Thus, she ended up running in the end, and perhaps, her desperate wishes made it possible, but she reached the booth as the third person in line.


    ¡°Huff! Puff! Ahh...¡± Even she didn¡¯t know how it was possible. After running senselessly until now, she was right in front of the Siren¡¯s booth. She looked at the booth and thought,I


    It was a long, rectangr booth and appeared very horizontally long. The space inside looked very spacious and the booth took up almost the entire main booth.


    <i>¡®They must have really spent a lot of money.¡¯ </i>It would¡¯ve probably cost Siren¡¯spany a couple thousands to just install this booth.


    ¡°One person will enter at a time from now on. After entering, please take off your shoes and hold onto them with one of your hands.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Barefoot?¡±


    ¡°What...?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going on...?¡±


    People asked in shock after hearing that they would experience the booth barefoot. She responded simrly.


    The first thing that came to her mind was, <i>¡®What if my feet smells?¡¯ </i>It was summertime after all. But even while bearing these thoughts in mind, she entered the booth.


    ¡°We are going to let five people in at a time now.¡±


    Fortunately, she was able to enter with no problems. With rising expectations from entering Siren¡¯s mysterious booth and anticipated for what was prepared inside. Her worries about her feet¡¯s smell immediately disappeared and she took off her shoes and walked. Darkness that shrouded her vision greeted her. It was pitch-ck darkness. Not just her, but the other four people also appeared taken aback.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    <i>Flick. </i>


    A green neon light began to bloom upwards in the air. It looked like it was supposed to be a firefly on a summer night. With the small green light, she was able to assess her surroundings somewhat. Followed by the light, she moved her feet. Though she still felt like she was walking in the darkness, she was able to make out the figures in front of her and didn¡¯t sh with anybody. Then, after going around a couple of corners and walking for around one minute, her feet sank.


    <i>Psh.</i>


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    She felt her feet sink into sand, and she realized then why the staff here had told them to enter the ce barefoot. She clearly felt a fine sand shift between her toes and wondered how many years it had been since she stepped on sand barefoot.


    <i>¡®When did I...go on a summer vacation...?¡¯</i>


    It had been six years since she first joined herpany and was recently promoted as a manager. Because of how busy she had been at work, she never thought about taking days off during the summer to go on a vacation. Even on the asional days where she had the day off, she just spent the day at home sleeping, watching Siren videos, or watching shows from various media sites. Thus, all sorts of feelings swept inside her as sand touched her feet.


    <i>¡®Why am I getting so emotional about this? I should go.¡¯ </i>Her surroundings were still dark, and she headed forward while stepping on the sand. Soon afterward, she turned corners again and heard the waves moving.


    <i>Shaaaa¡ª Shaaaa¡ª</i>


    She turned another corner, and the smell of the ocean began toe in. If she closed her eyes, it would feel as if she was standing on a sandy beach. Then, she sensed it instinctively then what was beyond this corner. She passed thest corner and¡ª


    <i>Shaaaaaa¡ª!</i>


    ¡°Wow...¡± Everything she had seen until now was a buildup for this moment. Blue light poured in from all over the ce, and it gave her a more effective impact because she just came out from the darkness. She felt as if she had dived into the ocean and heard ocean waves ringing from all over the ce. Smell of the ocean faintly spread across space and the sensation of the sand on the floor soothed her heart.


    <i>¡®What...also the wind...?¡¯ </i>


    A soft breeze just pleasant enough flowed in. This space drew out all the sensations one might feel at a beach. Instead of a Siren¡¯s pop-up booth, its quality felt like a pop-up zone intended to provide a vacation feeling inside the middle of the city. Not just her but the other four people who entered the space were immersing themselves in the space in a daze. They just didn¡¯t have water around them but her brain was already unable to decipher between this space and the real ocean.


    ¡ªYou came?


    From far away, she heard a familiar voice.


    <i>¡®Yeon-Hoon?¡¯ </i>Drawn by Yeon-Hoon¡¯s voice, she walked towards the next corner. The closer she got to the space, she heard the other members¡¯ voices.


    ¡ªI wanted to see you.


    ¡ªCould youe closer?


    It was as if she was seeing Siren from the mythologies. Their voices had been reverberated so that it sounded as if someone was calling them from deep inside the ocean. Along with the others, she circled around the corner and reached thest section. This space utilized ScreenX and light beams were shooting on three walls to maximize their immersion. In this section, she saw five Siren members sitting on a yacht and looking at them.


    The wind blew across their loose shirts and linen pants. Their hairstyles didn¡¯t look carefully set and the members looked pure and natural, making the video look strangely fantastical.


    ¡°Wow...¡± Anyone would¡¯ve been impressed by the sight. The quality of the video was high enough to be a scene from a movie. It was then, the Yeon-Hoon from the video approached the edge of the yacht.


    ¡ªDo you want toe up?


    If she could, she wanted to grab his hand and climb onto the yacht but she couldn¡¯t. She regretfully extended out her hand when she heard a familiar voice from behind.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to go up?¡±


    ¡°...Huh?¡± Her heart thumped maddeningly. She turned her head and looked behind her.


    ¡°Should I grab your hand?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon from the screen was...standing behind her.


    1. Districts in Seoul ?

 Chapter 226

    Chapter 226


    Siren¡¯s fan felt like her heart would burst as soon as she saw Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face. Even when she had gone to a fan sign event, she had never seen him from so close-up. Because of the guards and how formal and public the ce had felt, she didn¡¯t dare to get closer. Yet, there weren¡¯t any guards wandering around here and because of how dim the lights were, the ce felt private. All that made her heart pound harder.


    <em>¡®This is insane¡­crazy¡­¡¯</em> She thought if her heart was beating this hard and fast, other people could hear it too. It was then, Yeon-Hoon spoke again.


    ¡°Do you not want to hold hands?¡±


    ¡°No!¡± In fear that she would never get the chance to grab his hand again, she screamed. Btedly, she realized that she had made a loud noise in a public setting. She felt sorry for the people in her surroundings when she realized it wasn¡¯t necessary.


    <em>¡®Ah¡­¡¯</em> Each of the four other people who came with her was facing a Siren member. She had been too focused on Yeon-Hoon to realize that the other members had also appeared on-site. She realized then why the booth had let only five peoplee inside at a time.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°¡­Sorry?¡±


    It was then Yeon-Hoon grabbed her hand and led her somece else. She wondered what was going on and realized that Yeon-Hoon was guiding her to the next corner. Unlike the previous corners, this ce seemed to have been decorated with much brighter lights. If the previous spots had felt like parts of an ¡®exhibit¡¯, this ce felt more fitting for a ¡®marketing booth¡¯. There was a variety of racks on the walls and Siren goods were presented neatly on top of the racks.


    ¡°We are going to begin our activities again on July 25th. It¡¯s quite early, isn¡¯t it?¡±¡°¡­No! If possible, it would be great if you all could work for 365 days a year¡­!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! Really? Thank you.¡±


    While they moved, Yeon-Hoon carried on the conversation while being careful to not leak any spoilers about their uing activities.


    ¡°But even if we do work 365 days a year, you will love us every day and watch over us, right?¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡±


    While conversing, Yeon-Hoon stopped at thest corner. This was the ce that gave away limited-edition goods for people who went through this entire exhibition. There was a limited-edition poster that could only be found at this pop-up store and showed the Siren members on a yacht as they had appeared in the previous exhibition space just before.


    ¡°Should I sign right here?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    She couldn¡¯t believe that was getting Yeon-Hoon¡¯s signature on top of this limited-edition poster. This moment far exceeded a fan meeting, but Yeon-Hoon¡¯s fan service didn¡¯t end there.


    ¡°There¡¯s an additional event I prepared with my members yesterday. Should I give it to you now?¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Give me a moment.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon took out something from the bottom of the shelf.


    ¡°Look! Isn¡¯t this Proid so pretty?¡± Yeon-Hoon took out a small Proid camera and took a picture on the spot. Then, he wrote the date and signed his signature on it.


    ¡°Since this is a super limited-edition Proid picture that hasn¡¯t been released anywhere else, please take care of it well,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and handed her the picture.


    While receiving it, the employee thought to herself, <em>¡®I should¡­ce this inside a safe box.¡¯</em>


    Though she had taken many breaks and days off while working for thest five years, there had never been a more fulfilling and happy time off. She walked to thest gateway where she was supposed to ¡®upload a feed on sns¡¯ and ¡®get a confirmation for subscribing to Siren¡¯s channel¡¯ and left the pop-up store. By just passing this one door, she felt like she was back in reality after being inside a fantasy world until now. The fantastical feeling she had wear off a bit while standing in the scorching heat.


    <em>¡®No, this is enough.¡¯ </em>Energy seemed to seep out of her a bit, but perhaps, it was because she had felt a happiness that she couldn¡¯tpletely contain, she felt as if she could ovee any hurdleing her way.


    ***


    After the pop-up opened, people began to upload their reviews on SNS. People¡¯s attention especially focused on the reviews that imed to have met the Siren members in real life.


    ¡ªI literally thought my heart was going to drop when I heard Yeon-Hoon¡¯s voice behind me. I turned around and saw a super handsome prince with a tiny face and sharp features staring at me¡­haaa¡­I barely held myself back from screaming


    ¡ªI was admiring the members¡¯ faces on the screen and staring with my mouth gaping when Tae-Yoon asked me if the video was all right from behind. I was so shocked but damn how can he be just neen years old? He feels so like an oppa. Anyways, I got dragged around by him


    ¡ªHaa¡­Dong-Jun is 200% cuter in real life than in videos¡­It was as if a puppy was talking to me, smiling at me, and genuinely worrying about my well-being¡­please everyone, open your wallets and go to a fan meeting¡­


    ¡ªI was blessed with the presence of princess Woon¡­Princess looked so beautiful¡­I think he would be prettier than me if he just grew out his hair¡­He talks so softly and gently that I feltl like I would end up telling him my bank ount passwords and everything if I keep listening to him. I¡¯m certain that he¡¯s a sorcerer


    ¡ªEveryone, Kang Do-Seung is seriously huge in real life. I¡¯m not lying. He¡¯s not a cat but a jaguar. I could tell he was Do-Seung from 100 steps away. He suddenly talked to me in a low voice from behind and no joke but I saw a shadow enveloping me because of how big he was.


    Perhaps, it was because Siren members appeared from noon to evening at various pop-up booths from Seoul to districts in the Gyeong-gi area, but social media feeds were overflowing with posts about seeing Siren in real life from the first day of the event. Though it hadn¡¯t been long since they ended their first activity period, Siren members continued to dominate Bluebird¡¯s top trending ranks.


    And as if they had been waiting for the chance, news of Bleshu¡¯s debut getting postponed was released. But the news was buried under the posts about Siren and only spread across Bleshu¡¯s fans. Like that, news of Bleshu''s postponement naturally died down while feeds about Siren kept popping up. Since the quality of the exhibition was also high, many people were also talking about the pop-up booths themselves.


    ¡ªThis is the space you reach aftering out of the darkness, and I almost screamed when I reached here. The picture doesn¡¯t do justice. It¡¯s a hundred times prettier in real life (Ocean exhibition.jpg)


    ¡ªAs soon as you go in, things that look like fireflies go around and make you imagine a summer vacation you didn¡¯t even go to


    ¡ªThe moment my feet touched the sand, I felt teary. I don¡¯t know why


    Reply: Same, I felt the same way


    Reply: It made me wonder how long it has been since I went to the ocean and made be feel sad


    ¡ªBut the really nice thing was that they didn¡¯t just beam an ocean video on the screen and finished it off like that, but they put down real sand, smartly set up the sound, ocean smell, and wind so that it really felt like I was at the ocean


    ¡ªI seriously think this booth is worth going to even if you aren¡¯t a Siren fan.


    ¡ªMy review of a male idol group¡¯s pop-up zone. It felt really like the summer


    ¡ªCollection of pop-up zones worth going to at least once.zip


    The booth began to spread as a hot ce that was worth going to even if you weren¡¯t an idol fan by word of mouth.


    ¡ªWow it was soo pretty


    ¡ªWhere is this ce?


    ¡ªThat was the station at Hongdae?


    ¡ªI should try going there during lunch time


    ¡ªIs it a pop-up zone for marketing idols?


    ¡ªCompanies do marketing like this these days?


    Because posts and reviews about the pop-up began to spread across people regardless of gender, news of Siren¡¯s ongoing activities spread wider and wider. It was to the point that the waiting line for these pop-up stations became longer than on day one. On the first day, it was possible for one to enter the booth after waiting 20 minutes, but from day 2, it only became possible after one hour of waiting.


    Because of that, there was a side-effect in which the sales of nearby stores dramatically increased. Nevertheless, countless reviews stated that the pop-up booths were worth waiting for and it was rare for a free exhibition of this quality to exist. Though the waiting period increased to two hours on the third day, it became possible for people to save their spots online and the stores in the booths¡¯ vicinity simply overflowed with people. On the fourth day, people began to raise questions about the main topic at hand.


    ¡ªSo, when is Siren going to do theireback?


    Reply: Hahaha should this even be considered aeback?


    Reply: They are going to do aeback in just one week? Haha


    ¡ªWhat are they nning to do that they are doing something of this scale?


    ¡ªYeah, I know, right?


    ¡ªI don¡¯t think they are going to really release an album. Maybe they are marketing something with apany?


    Reply: But for that to be the case, there is no sign of product orpany marketing


    ¡ªWhat if these guys areing out on a reality show or something?


    Reply: Oh, that¡¯s a possibility


    Reply: No, I know someone from Next Wave but they said Siren ising out with a new song


    ¡ªSeems like we will have to wait until July 25th


    ¡ªAren¡¯t Siren going to get the Grand Prize at the end of the year at this rate?


    ¡ªNo matter how much I think about it, I think they are really aiming for the Grand Prize


    ¡ªBut how can a rookie group get a Grand Prize on their first year of debut? Haha


    Reply: ? There¡¯s a girl group that already achieved that


    Reply: But Siren debuted in June


    Reply: Maybe that¡¯s the exact reason why they are going so hard


    Reply: Ah you have a point


    At this point, people began to be more interested in the group, ¡®Siren¡¯ rather than the ¡®exhibition¡¯ even if they weren¡¯t Siren fans. Stronger and more passionate responses poured out from the Siren fandom.


    ¡ªIs something really going to happen at this rate?


    ¡ªI dreamed of a dragon today. The dragon bit Siren and flew up to the heavens. Siren will get the Grand Prize.


    Reply: Didn¡¯t the dragon actually¡­kidnap Siren¡­?


    ¡ªJuly 25th¡­Next Wave¡­what in the world are you really nning¡­? If you are trolling us here, you will gain the hatred of the entire nation¡­get to your senses


    Fans made a fuss saying that something big seemed to be happening while others warned Next Wave to do their job properly to avoid disappointment. Like that, as many people¡¯s attention focused on this event, time flowed towards July 25th.


    ***


    I sat on the sofa and monitored the public¡¯s response about the pop-up booths and then, ced my phone down. The current time was 1 am. My members were all asleep during this time and I was the only one awake. The reason for that was simple.


    ¡°The pop-ups are really¡­creating a buzz¡­¡± The attention that pop-up zones attracted was stronger than I expected, so I thought I could modify some of my original ns. I had two ongoing missions right now. The first mission was to simultaneously get first ce in the music show charts and to achieve Triple Crown All-Kill; but since I would definitely have to ce first in the music charts to get a Triple Crown All-Kill, this mission was basically just getting a Triple Crown All-Kill.


    The other mission was to enter the Billboard Hot100. The risks for failing the mission were the following: the death of Dong-Jun, Woon, and Do-Seung and the separation of their world lines. Both of the missions came with grave risks.


    ¡°Haa¡­¡± I was trying to aplish a ¡®quantum jump¡¯ of sorts. While so much attention on us with the pop-up zones, I thought we could achieve a massive hit with our song, ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯.


    <em>¡®Then this is our opportunity.¡¯</em> The biggest opportunity came at the biggest crisis. I nned to use the missions that the system gave me to kill me in reverse.

 Chapter 227

    Chapter 227


    Based on the reaction of the pop-up zones, it seemed evident that we would dominate the music charts and shows. There were probably not many other teams that created such a buzz with just their marketing alone this year, and with the pop-up, we secured one of the most important conditions for the Triple Crown All-Kill: public interest.


    We were able to raise our public awareness to the public by a significant amount with the pop-up zones. Furthermore, since the quality of the pop-up zones was high, much of the public also sought the experience as a healing or dating spot. It appeared that the troublesome Triple All-Kill mission was just within my reach now. Yet, that wasn¡¯t the only thing I looked forward to.


    <em>¡®Seems like entering Billboard Hot 100 would be possible too.</em>¡¯ I thought we would enter the Billboard Hot 100 with the ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ song we were preparing for this term. I couldn¡¯t say I was certain of it but there was a good chance.


    <em>¡®Out short-form videos are gaining a lot of transaction¡­¡¯</em> Short-form videos had been established as a new marketing ploy for idols for some time now, and ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ was often used in TikTakTok, which held the greatest portion of users in short-form video tforms. There were many cases where songs spread through TikTakTok and became trending a bitter in America.


    Of course, there was no guarantee that ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ would be the center of such a sess story. But if this was the kind of attention we were drawing without other forms of proper marketing¡­


    <em>¡®There could really be a possibility with more marketing.¡¯ </em>Perhaps, I could manifest my desires into reality, and there was a solid possibility of that happening.


    <em>¡®I will be able to achieve Triple Crown All-Kill and enter Billboard Hot 100.¡¯</em> But would I just let it be as those two missionsbined into one? Certainly not. Considering how high the difficulty of the missions I got this time was, there were things I needed to earn too.


    <em>¡®I need to also bring Dong-Jun¡¯s regressor memories.¡¯</em> I nned to meet another regressor as a reward. With my rough estimate, I supposed that Do-Seung was the first to the fifteenth regressor while Woon was the sixteenth to thirty-second regressor. Thus, I thought if I called for a regressor after the thirty-third one, I would have a higher chance of meeting Dong-Jun¡¯s regressor. Of course, that could not be the case.


    But the only other option was Yeon-Hoon and it didn¡¯t change much even if Yeon-Hoon came out instead of Dong-Jun. My goal was to gather all my members¡¯ memories into this world anyway. Thus, it didn¡¯t matter whose worldline I attached to this world first. Just the order would be different but the result was the same. And the reason why I wanted tobine all my members¡¯ worlds was simple.<em>¡®I need to end this system once and for all.</em>¡¯ Do-Seung and Woon had been stuck inside a constant loop, regressing andpleting missions, but I had no intention of going through the same thing. Using whatever means possible, I nned to put an end to the system. Whether it was by mutual agreement or by force, I nned to free myself from this infinite loop.


    Since I didn¡¯t know everything about the system, I couldn¡¯t be sure of it; but I thought hard about why the system gave me these unbelievable missions or kept pushing me into a corner as if it wanted me to die. And this was the conclusion I reached:


    <em>¡®It¡¯s because I¡¯m disposable.¡¯ </em>


    From the system¡¯s perspective, each of our worlds wasn¡¯t really important. If a result that it didn¡¯t like came up, it could just throw in an unbelievable mission to push a regressor to failure and lead them to another regression. Thus, if I wanted to make a deal with the system as equals, I needed to change the point that this was a universe it could just use and trash.


    This was the reason I needed to gather all the worldlines here. I needed to make this world not one that it could throw away but the sole and only universe where all universes were gathered. I would think about what would happen afterward. Anyway, my current aim was to meet another regressor by aplishing the Triple Crown All-Kill and Billboard mission. I inhaled deeply and sat down.


    It was currently 1 am. My members were fast asleep and after organizing my thoughts with my eyes closed, I opened them again.


    <em>Zing¡ª!</em> Then I activated my Insight. The air in the living room simultaneously stopped moving and even the smallest dust in space froze in its space. The world only moved around me and the system. And like I did before, I began to engrave the mission¡¯s content in the space in front of me. Perhaps, it was because it was my second time doing this, but I was able to do this task much more easily than before.


    The more I used this ability called Insight, the more I became impressed by it. I didn¡¯t expect to improve in a supernatural ability like this one, but it was in my favor that I became better at using it the more times I used it. I finished writing the missions in space. Usually, the system would have released my Insight saying that I wasn¡¯t authorized to approach closer but for some reason, it was quiet today.


    The next process was tobine the two missions. I joined the two missions ordingly and made it to one.


    [Achieve Triple Crown All-Kill and Music Charts number one in the nation and enter Billboard HOT 100 within three months.]


    [Upon sess, meet the 40th regressor.]


    [Upon failure, the deaths and separation of Do-Seung, Woon, and Dong-Jun¡¯s worldlines.]


    After creating it, I saw how chilling and serious all its content was. This mission held the lives of three people in the line, but I knew I had to take the chance. In the first ce, if we didn¡¯t enter Billboard with ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ in three months, it was close to impossible to do so afterward. But to make our debut in America in three months, we would need to amass all the producers and management we could get our hands on; then, we would need to pour an insurmountable amount of money as if we were trying to grow a field on a barrennd.


    Thus, I nned to put everything on the line with ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯. Though it made me slightly afraid after I made it, I calmed my thumping heart and told myself<em>, ¡®I can do it.¡¯</em>


    It was too early for me to be scared. And it seemed the system thought I made the appropriate conditions and epted my edited mission.


    [You modified the mission.]


    <em>¡®It really is easier than before.¡¯</em> I wondered if the first time was supposed to be the hardest and it got easier after that. Or perhaps, the system simply thought my proposed risks and rewards were in fitting bnce and epted my conditions. Whatever the case, I decided not to dwell on it since I aplished what I wanted. I nned to deactivate my Insight and go to sleep when Yeon-Hoon suddenly popped out in the middle of the living room.


    <em>Creak.</em>


    <em>¡®¡­What?¡¯</em>


    It wasn¡¯t unusual for Yeon-Hoon toe out to the living room, but the situation was unusual since¡­


    <em>¡®I</em>¡¯<em>m still using Insight?¡¯ </em>Though I didn¡¯t even end my Insight yet, Yeon-Hoon was walking and moving around. In this space where even the dust in the air was frozen in ce, it didn¡¯t make sense that he could move at normal speed here. I arched my head and looked at Yeon-Hoon. Since something like this happened a couple of times before with Yeon-Hoon, I calmed myself and looked back at Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t Yeon-Hoon, right?¡± Though the person in front of me looked like Yeon-Hoon, it wasn¡¯t him.


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    Though all I did was look at Yeon-Hoon, the system shot out messages that I wasn¡¯t permitted to approach. The Yeon-Hoon I knew wouldn¡¯t cause the system to react like this, and to stop its incessant logs, I turned off my Insight. Until that point, Yeon-Hoon simply smiled at me and didn¡¯t say anything.


    This was the person who had always appeared at a suitable time whenever I tried to make a deal with the system or uncover something. Thus, I was naturally curious.


    ¡°Who are you¡­?¡± I wondered who this person, using Yeon-Hoon as his disguise, was. Yet, the figure simply looked at me and calmly answered.


    ¡°I am Woo Yeon-Hoon. Who else?¡±


    ¡°Are you really the Yeon-Hoon I know?¡± I asked more specifically.


    ¡°¡­No,¡± he answered more clearly this time. Though he had the appearance of Yeon-Hoon, he dered he wasn¡¯t the Yeon-Hoon I knew.


    ¡°¡­Then, are you a regressor?¡± This was the only possibility. Yet, this still raised many questions such as why this regressor kepting in and out of my universe, unlike the other regressors. His answer was even more perplexing.


    ¡°I became a bit different through that.¡±


    ¡°You became different through the regressions?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Yeon-Hoon smiled softly. His smile looked as if he had transcended everything. But I didn¡¯t know whether a person who transcended was suddenly struck with an illness to only talk in riddles and I asked.


    ¡°What happened? What changed?¡± Why was he talking in circles instead of getting to the point? Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t fulfill my curiosity and simply stared at me.


    ¡°You will be able to know if youe a bit closer.¡± Then, he said something that aggravated me further. If I approached closer? He sounded as if he knew what sort of path I would take¡ªlike he was some kind of transcendental being. That made me think¡­


    ¡°¡­The system?¡± I thought the Yeon-Hoon in front of me could be a system. I got up and approached Yeon-Hoon and asked, ¡°¡­Are you the system?¡±


    I didn¡¯t know what to do if he said yes. It was the system that put me and my members in this damn regressing loop and killed us at its will. I spent many nights dreaming of beating up this system. Yet, the existence that I wanted to beat had the appearance of the person most precious to me. If this was all true¡­what was I supposed to do?


    It was then Yeon-Hoon opened his mouth. I desperately hoped that he would deny me but in contrary to my expectations, he said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    It was then I realized.


    <em>Punch¡ª!</em> I wasn¡¯t the type of person to get too hang up on a person¡¯s appearance but their content. The moment I realized that the figure in front of me was the system I loathed so much, I lunged forward with no hesitation and struck the system¡¯s face.


    ¡°Are you done?¡±


    I felt a sensation of my fist contacting something, but I failed to make a blow. The moment I thought my fist reached Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face, it passed through it.


    ¡°¡­This is¡­really shitty¡­¡± Even aftering face to face with the existence I detested the most, I couldn¡¯t evennd one proper blow on it.


    ¡°Since it seems like you are doing well, I wille backter,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and sat on the sofa. Then, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.


    ¡®What?¡¯ I looked nkly at Yeon-Hoon. Yeon-Hoon confessed that he was the system with his own mouth.


    <em>¡®But is it true?¡¯</em> I wondered how true his words were, and my suspicions increased.


    ¡°Hmmm.¡± Yeon-Hoon opened his eyes and asked, ¡°What? Why am I here?¡±


    I was stuck in a situation that happened multiple times before.

 Chapter 228

    Chapter 228


    I stared at Yeon-Hoon¡¯s bright face without a hint of shadow on his face. I felt conflicted while staring at his clueless face. Although it was a face that I loved, I felt quite irked that the system went in and out of him. Was it because my expression wasn¡¯t good?


    ¡°Tae¡­Tae-Yoon¡­? Did I do something wrong¡­?¡± Before he even heard my answer to why he was sitting on the sofa, Yeon-Hoon was worried about me first.


    ¡°¡­Ha. No, it¡¯s nothing.¡± I took a deep breath and calmed my emotions before I continued, ¡°I saw you sleepwalking around the living room again today, so I pulled you on the sofa and sat you down because I didn¡¯t want you to get hurt.¡± Then I told him why he was sitting on the sofa.


    ¡°What¡­I was sleepwalking again? <em>Geez</em>¡­I should really go to the hospital,¡± Yeon-Hoon said as if he was expecting my answer. However, since these kinds of incidents kept happening repeatedly, he appeared quite worried about his body. His tone sounded more concerned than before while saying he had to go to the hospital.


    ¡°But why were <em>you</em> sitting in the living room at this hour?¡± Yeon-Hoon put aside his worries about sleepwalking for a while and asked me. ¡°We have to sleep well from now on so that we can work again without getting tired during the promotion period.¡±


    He was right, and that was the reason I tried to get as much sleep as possible until today. I just couldn¡¯t sleep today because I was working onbining the mission. Since I couldn¡¯t just tell him straight like this, I just made up an answer and said, ¡°The <Blue Ocean>¡¯s music video will be released tomorrow, so I couldn¡¯t go to sleep.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t technically right for me to say tomorrow since it was currently past midnight, and it was July 25th right now. Still, it felt like the day hadn¡¯t ended yet, so I just said tomorrow, and ¡°Blue Ocean¡± would be released at 6 p.m. ¡°tomorrow¡±.


    ¡°So are you nning to stay up until 6 p.m. tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°No, I can¡¯t do that.¡±¡°Then, let¡¯s hurry up and go to bed. If you stay awake like that, it¡¯ll just sap your energy more.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I got it.¡±


    ¡°I should also go back and sleep. Is it because I slept while moving¡­my body feels heavy.¡± Yeon-Hoon got up first and went into his room. I also got up from my seat to enter my room.


    Then, while holding the doorknob, I thought for a moment,<em> ¡®Did Yeon-Hoon say he was the system with his own mouth¡­?</em>¡¯ I was finally organizing what just happened inside my mind.


    <em>¡®Something¡¯s weird.¡¯</em> It was unclear whether this statement was 100% true. Yeon-Hoon said he was the system, but he was the one who told me how to fight against the system before I went to confront the truck driver; and when I was on the brink of death, the system allowed me to gain full control of Insight.


    If Yeon-Hoon was really the system, he wouldn¡¯t help me like this. If so, I thought of a possible reason, <em>¡®Is it the system from the opposite side?¡¯ </em>


    Since there were two systems in this world, I didn¡¯t know which system it was. However, this was also a bit ambiguous.


    <em>¡®Wouldn¡¯t the truck driver be able to storm into our dorm then¡­?¡¯</em> If Yeon-Hoon was the opposite system, there would be infinite ways to kill us. It would also be much easier as he could just tell the truck driver the password of our dorm ande at night and kill us one by one. If so, I naturally rejected the hypothesis that Yeon-Hoon was the opposite system.


    <em>¡®What is this?¡¯ </em>Although he said he was the system, it was doubtful to say he was either system.


    But what bothered me more than that was,<em> ¡®When I asked him if he was the regressor, he said he had changed a bit from the regressions.¡¯ </em>


    A slight change from a regressor¡ªto put it another way, he was originally a regressor and then became something different. In the end, the most likely possibility was¡­.


    <em>¡®Did Yeon-Hoon, who used to be the regressor, be the third system?¡¯</em> It was the possibility that he was a third system that I was not aware of. Of course, this was also just a hypothesis, and I needed to find more details in the future.


    <em>¡®Wait a minute.¡¯ </em>There was something that came to mind. There was a time when the system made an error and I entered outer space, and I saw countless worldlines there. Right now, Do-Seung¡¯s worlds and Woon¡¯s worlds were connected to my world. However, other than our worlds, countless other worlds also filled the vast space which made me wonder who in the world regressed so much. Perhaps¡­


    <em>¡®Was it Yeon-Hoon¡­?¡¯</em> It urred to me that Yeon-Hoon might be the one who regressed so many times.


    <em>¡®Crazy.¡¯</em> And when I thought about this, I began to get goosebumps. I couldn¡¯t even fathom how people could change after dealing with that many regressions. No, could a person who had endured such an amount of time be called a person anymore? It might not be possible to do with the human mind. I couldn¡¯t get into the room easily.


    My mind was muddled with numerous thoughts, so I couldn¡¯t easily take a step. If the myriad number of worlds I saw were all Yeon-Hoon¡¯s, and if Yeon-Hoon became something like a system at the end of it¡­


    <em>¡®What would happen if I put all of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s worlds in my world?¡¯ </em>That was a new possibility. If it was possible to attach them¡­


    <em>¡®Won¡¯t the power of the system be transferred to me?¡¯</em> It might be possible for me to obtain the ability of the system in Yeon-Hoon¡¯s body right now. I thought that system was different than the system attached to me, and it was also likely that it was also not the system attached to the truck driver.


    Therefore, if I seeded in attaching Yeon-Hoon¡¯s worlds to mine, it would be possible to attach the third system to me, and if I gained the power of the system, I might be able to fight against the system on my own. In other words, it was the goal that I had been desperately yearning for, and it meant that it would be possible to smash the mission and the system itself.


    I moved and sat down in front of the sofa again. Then I wasted no time in activating Insight.


    <em>Ziing-!</em>


    The time of the world stopped once again. In the still time, I opened the mission Ibined.


    [Achieve Triple Crown All-Kill and Music Charts number one in the nation and enter Billboard HOT 100 within three months.]


    [Upon sess, you would meet the 40th regressor.]


    [Upon failure, the deaths and separation of Do-Seung, Woon, and Dong-Jun¡¯s worldlines.]


    I nned to change the reward of this mission again. Currently, the reward was that I would meet the 40th regressor and I supposed that would Dong-Jun. Yet, this wasn¡¯t the time for me to be meeting Dong-Jun. I nned to get his memories afterward and began to change the number ¡®40¡¯ to another number.


    [You are not permitted to approach closer.]


    The system warned me but I ignored its message. I knew that my Insight wouldn¡¯t get released just because a warning rang once or twice.


    <em>¡®Moreover, it¡¯s manageable.</em>¡¯ It really seemed like my expertise and control of Insight increased the more I used it. Though I felt like my Insight would get deactivated after a warning or two before, it was pretty endurable right now.


    <em>¡®I¡¯m going to get a nosebleed again.</em>¡¯ Only my head just felt like it was cracking. I began to draw in each letter. The higher my numbers became, the greater the system¡¯s warnings became.


    [You are not permitted to approach.]


    [You are not permitted to approach.]


    [You are not permitted to approach.]


    I clutched my panging head and raised the number count. I knew it would be nowhere enough with just numbers like 50, 60, 70, or 100. I needed to choose the highest digit I could choose to raise the numbers. I wondered if I could meet someone who regressed hundreds of times. I went through so much suffering with just regression, but Yeon-Hoon managed to go through an experience like that countless times. I couldn¡¯t even imagine all the things he would¡¯ve gone through. Eventually, I reached the highest number I could set.


    [Upon sess, you would meet the 999th regressor.]


    After changing the number, I saved the mission. If the system didn¡¯t ept this condition, I nned to make another deal. I thought if I added my control over my Insight as another failure risk, the bnce could be better, and I waited for the system¡¯s reply. It normally wouldn¡¯t have worked; but after a long time passed, the system eventually epted it.


    [You modified the mission.]


    <em>¡®¡­What?¡¯</em>


    The system epted this mission. I wondered what kind of internal transformations urred within the system but I was taken aback that it epted my change. I had been wondering if I needed to risk my Insight ability too. Of course, this was better for me and after the system epted my edit, I released my Insight.


    <em>Shaa¡ª</em>


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    Simultaneously, blood poured out of my nose like a broken dam. The amount was so great that it soaked my clothes and flowed on the ground.


    ¡°¡­This is quite¡­severe¡­¡± I clutched the tissue on top of the table and wiped my face first. Then, I quickly mopped the blood on the floor before it seeped into the floor. Perhaps, because of all the blood that I poured out, my head felt dizzy. If I left the ce in a mess like this, my members would be shocked in the morning. Even if I copsed, I needed to do so after cleaning up this mess.


    Since I thought I couldn¡¯t clean everything with a tissue, I went inside the bathroom and brought out a towel while clutching my nose. I blocked my nose with a tissue, wiped the floor with a towel, and tried to take off the blood on my clothes inside the bathroom by rubbing it aggressively with soap. I thought my members would make a fuss if they saw clothes soaked with blood and nned to also clean up the blood on the towel too when¡ª


    ¡°¡­Tae-Yoon¡­?¡± I heard somebody approach the bathroom. I turned around and saw that it was Dong-Jun. I normally wouldn¡¯t have a problem with himing towards me but right now, I was wiping off blood from my body and clothes in the bathroom¡­


    ¡°¡­What the hell¡­?¡±


    Furthermore, there were a bunch of blood drops scattered on the bathroom walls and floor and on my face. If I woke up early in the morning and saw one of my members smeared with blood from head to toe in the bathroom, I would¡¯ve immediately dashed out to call the ambnce. I thought things became a bit messy when Dong-Jun spoke.


    ¡°¡­Do you want to¡­ turn yourself in together¡­?¡±


    Yet, based on his response, I had no idea what sort of crazy story he came up with in his head.

 Chapter 229

    Chapter 229


    Turning myself in? What kind of person was I in Dong-Jun¡¯s mind? Didn¡¯t people usually ask if you were hurt if they saw you coated in blood from head to toe instead of asking who you hurt?


    ¡°It¡¯s my blood. My blood,¡± I quickly exined myself, baffled. In movies orics, main characters usually said themon line, ¡®<em>Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not my blood.¡¯ </em>But I was saying the opposite this time.


    ¡°Ah, thank goodness. For real.¡± Damn Dong-Jun appeared relieved after I rified that this was all my blood. I didn¡¯t know what he was imagining but I stared at Dong-Jun with disappointment. Dong-Jun simply evaded my gaze with an awkward smile.


    ¡°But why do you have so much blood? Don¡¯t you have to go to the hospital? Did you get sliced somewhere?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s just a nosebleed. I don¡¯t need to go to the hospital. Since it¡¯s a type of side-effect from the system, the hospital can¡¯t fix it.¡±


    ¡°A side-effect?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Side-effect of what?¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­¡± I didn¡¯t know how I should exin. If it had been Woon or Do-Seung, I would¡¯ve immediately said that it was the side-effect of using Insight but Dong-Jun wasn¡¯t a regressor.¡°I just get side effects when I deal with the system.¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­It seems the system really strains your body.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± It was true that the system was straining me in many ways; it was to the point that I wanted to get rid of it as fast as possible. Still, I felt all right since it felt like I had found a new path.


    <em>¡®Yeon-Hoon¡¯s worlds</em>.¡¯ If I absorbed Yeon¡¯s Hoon¡¯s worldlines into my side, I thought it would be possible to stop the system since it appeared that Yeon-Hoon possessed some of the system¡¯s powers. And if that didn¡¯t work¡­


    <em>¡®I will have to think about it then.</em>¡¯ I thought a way would open up if I kept searching for it. At least, that was what I wanted to believe.


    ¡°At times like these, I think it would¡¯ve been nice if I had memories from my regression days like Do-Seung and Woon.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Then I would be able to talk to you more deeply.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s deep enough even right now.¡±


    ¡°<em>Still</em>.¡±


    Dong-Jun seemed to have a lot of thoughts going through his head. It appeared he thought the team¡¯s maknae was bearing too much of a burden.


    ¡°Do you think the Triple All-Kill and the Billboard missions are progressing well?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I think so.¡±


    ¡°Even from my perspective, I think we would be able to achieve Triple Crown All-Kill with no problem. Do you have anything you thought of for the Billboard mission?¡±


    ¡°Ah for that¡­¡± I was about to tell him that Ibined the two missions into one and stopped. I thought I would just make him more worried if I revealed that, but in that short momentary pause, Dong-Jun caught on that I hesitated and gave me a look that I should fess up the entire truth.


    ¡°Well, Ibined the two missions into one.¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°I thought ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ was gaining quite the transaction so I thought it would be easier to enter the Billboard Hot 100 with the song.¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    ¡°Yes. You know you can hear ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ pretty often on TikTakTok.¡±


    ¡°¡­That¡¯s true but¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why.¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­Well, it¡¯s not like you made your decision thoughtlessly,¡± Dong-Jun said and took a step inside the bathroom. Then, he took out some more tissues and wiped the blood stains on parts of the wall that I missed.


    ¡°Everyone would be shocked if they saw this in the morning. Let¡¯s quickly clean this up and go to sleep.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I put more force into my hands and twisted the clothes. It gave me a weird feeling that every time I squeezed the clothes, a load of bloody water poured out, but I did the handundry to the best of my abilities. Thanks to that, I was able to sessfully get rid of most of the color on my towel and clothes so that it became a faint stain.


    ¡°Good work, Dong-Jun,¡± I said while seeing the cleaned bathroom. We cleaned the blood in the living room too so that there won¡¯t be any issue about that.


    ¡°No, you are the one who did all the work.¡±


    ¡°Ah, but you said Blue Ocean was trending on TikTakTok, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°But we didn¡¯t do a challenge or anything like that yet.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? We didn¡¯t do anything yet.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t people usually make a challenge to promote things like this¡ªespecially with celebrities to garner more buzz?¡±


    ¡°¡­That¡¯s true. But what about it?¡±


    ¡°I mean, we are aiming for the billboard after all¡­so, I thought maybe we should film a challenge with a celebrity who is more known globally.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know anybody with that kind of connection though.¡±


    ¡°Not anybody <em>we</em> know but <em>you</em> know.¡±


    ¡°Someone I know? Who¡­?¡± I was about to ask when I realized. ¡°Are you talking about Kang Hyun-Sung?¡±


    ¡°I know it might sound a bit shameless but why don¡¯t you try asking? It can¡¯t be helped if he refuses,¡± Dong-Jun said and returned to his room.


    I thought over what Dong-Jun said and alsoy in my bed with an icky feeling.


    <em>¡®Kang Hyun-Sung¡­¡¯ </em>While lying down, I went into Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s SNS. I searched to see which foreign celebrities followed him and he also followed.


    <em>¡®What? Why are there so many?¡¯ </em>There were more diverse people than I imagined. During his activities in Yours, Kang Hyun-Sung had gained quite the fame overseas. Famous global DJs strangely liked his voice and made proposals to do a remix together. Furthermore, there were a couple of times when Yours¡¯ songs entered Billboard Hot 100 though of course, most of those song had been remixed by the DJs in question.


    Nevertheless, it seemed Kang Hyun-Sung had developed these connections through his past idol activities. He even appeared to be quite close to one or two of them seeing that they messaged each other back and forth on a recent post.


    <em>¡®¡­What? This is insane.¡¯ </em>There was one person in Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s connections who hadn¡¯t been so big during Yours¡¯ activities days but recently shot up dramatically in the entertainment world. He was a ck R¡¯n¡¯B singer who was securing a first-ce spot in the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in a row and enjoying an explosive poprity in the United States.


    <em>¡®Moreover, why is he so good at using TikTakTok?¡± </em>


    I went into the singer¡¯s personal TikTakTok page and saw that he was making use of each and every trending memes on the inte; moreover, it didn¡¯t even seem like somebody had forced him to make these videos but he enjoyed making the content. His characteristically exaggerated and goofy expressions drew in positive responses and because his overall character was so appealing, I also found myself scrolling through his content.


    <em>¡®When did it already became 3am?</em>¡¯ I was so focused in his videos that I didn¡¯t realize how much time passed. I turned off my phone and closed my eyes. I needed to quickly go to sleep. If I slept and woke up, it will be the reveal date of ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ and a lot of things were on the line with this one song now.


    <em>¡®I can do it.¡¯ </em>I decided to firmly believe that if Ipleted each step one by one, I would be able to escape the system¡¯s clutches.


    ***


    Today was July 25th. It was the date that had been on not just the Siren fans but the general public¡¯s mind. This was thanks to the fact that Siren¡¯s pop-up zones had spread widely throughout this entire week through social media sites. It was to the point that even people who didn¡¯t know Siren well said something like, <em>¡®Aren¡¯t those guys releasing their music video today?¡¯</em>


    Because of that, Siren fans were more nervous than usual.


    ¡ªIf something suckyes up today, everyone in thepany should smash their heads to the ground


    ¡ªNext Wave¡­I believe in you¡­even in your state, you are part of a big corporation after all¡­


    ¡ªThey did such a good job in marketing, I believe in their music video


    The fans desperately hoped that the music video that was going to be released today wasn¡¯t of subpar quality. Moreover, it had already been revealed that the music video that was going to be released on the 25th wasn¡¯t for a new song but for a past mini album track list. And though it wasn¡¯t revealed yet, the group would do their new activities with one of the songs in the tracklist. This was information thatpany hastily released after the public¡¯s attention grew explosive since it could disappoint people who expected something else.


    ¡ªWhich song do you think they would use for their activities?


    ¡ªBased on the charts, wouldn¡¯t it be Blue Ocean?


    ¡ªIt will be nice if they did something like ¡®Sailing¡¯ so it would have a simr feel to The Showcase


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t ¡®Voyage¡¯ okay too?


    ¡ªWhateveres out, I¡¯m confident that I will like it


    Reply: Yeah I think it will be amazing


    People discussed which song would be used for the main activities. Finally at ten minutes before 6pm in the evening, people came to the music video waiting room and chatted with one another.


    ¡ªTen minutes feel so long¡­


    ¡ªHaa¡­the thumbnail is driving me crazy


    ¡ªPlease somebody, click fast forward for the next ten minutes


    ¡ªCan¡¯t there be an error in Nutube and they release the video ten minutes earlier?


    ¡ªSiren ^^ Looking forward to a good song ^^


    ¡ªHahahahha


    ¡ªStop making such a huge fuss you idiots. You all only pay attention to their faces anyways hahaha


    ¡ªHahahaha f*** u


    ¡ªWe can all smell your jealousy


    ¡ªLol


    ¡ªYour insults have no creativity


    Unlike Bluebird, the chatrooms became a bit fiercer because all sorts of people gathered in Nutube.


    ¡ªDid you all see the thumbnail?


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s up with it?


    ¡ªHahaha I was enchanted by it


    ¡ªWho was the one who created the thumbnail? You did great!


    ¡ªWow, the thumbnail is crazy hahaha


    The thumbnail that had been ced for the music video was shocking to many viewers. Considering how important thumbnails were these days, Siren had pondered quite deeply about this one thumbnail. The first suggestion was to just zoom into Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face. Though it would¡¯ve garnered clicks, it would be impossible for the fans to guess the contents of the video.


    Then, the next suggestion was to take a wider shot so that all the members¡¯ faces came out together but this was also shot down for the same reason as the first suggestion. Thus, the members agreed that they should gather impactful images from the music video first and choose one among them; rather than discussing whose face was better or whose to use, they thought it would be better to use a picture that brought the most shock value.


    The result of that discussion was a side shot of all the members on a boat looking up at the setting sunset. The picture held all the members, the sunset, the ocean, and the boat together. Though one couldn¡¯t see each of the members¡¯ faces well, the atmosphere the picture exuded emitted a subtle power. And because the background didn¡¯t contain a normal sunset but one created by CG, it drew more attention.


    The sunset didn¡¯t burn with reddish and orangish light but emitted a strange mix of purple and bluish light. Perhaps, a rainbow would¡¯ve shone this kind of light if it burned like the sunset. The ocean also flowed in five colors and created a mystical colored shade over the Siren members¡¯s faces. The picture looked like the ovep between fantasy and reality and looked like it belonged to an art exhibition; that was the Siren music video¡¯s thumbnail.


    People poured inpliments about the thumbnail for ten minutes long until the music video was revealed.

 Chapter 230

    <h4>Chapter 230</h4>


    Siren¡¯s music video was revealed with ¡°Blue Ocean¡¯s¡¯ intro. Yeon-Hoon made a clear high-pitched note, and in the background, a light and bright base sound flowed out. A synthesizing sound that highlighted Yeon-Hoon¡¯s voice passed, and the music video¡¯s first angle showed the Siren members getting washed up onto an isted ind¡¯s beach.


    The clothes that all the members were wearing were the school uniforms they wore in theirst music video, ¡°Blue Summer Night¡±. The first person to open his eyes was Yeon-Hoon. Yeon-Hoon looked around his surroundings and began to pick up each of his members¡¯ belongings. The rest of the members also eventually opened their eyes and looked around.


    They all looked like they had no clue where they were. Eventually, the screen changed and the next scenes showed the members adjusting to life on the ind bit by bit. They reformed their ufortable uniforms, amassed tree branches to make a ce to sleep, and gathered around the bonfire, creating a romantic scene on the ind. They looked a bit too peaceful considering that they had been marooned on an ind.


    ¡ªWhat surrounds us is the BIG BIG BLUE OCEAN


    ¡ªIt emits a bluish light from all around


    ¡ªAs if we were marooned in an unfamiliar ce


    ¡ªI can¡¯t tell no matter how much I walk


    Then, something happened that broke the everyday life of the members who were well-adjusting to the ind; it was the moment they spotted an unfamiliar boat in the middle of the ind.


    ¡ªEven at a time when we can¡¯t make out what¡¯s in front of us


    ¡ªWe wait for a rare streak of luck


    ¡ªBIG BIG BLUE OCEAN


    ¡ªWe head towards the ocean waiting for us


    All the members tried their best to get up on the tree and bring the boat to the ground. Rather than bringing it down with some high-level precision or technique, they ended up cutting down the tree that held up the boat. The tree tilted and copsed, falling the boat on it in the process. They found unfamiliar clothes and food inside the boat, and the members cast off the uniforms they were wearing and exchanged their clothes with the ones they found on the boat.


    ¡ªEven if we crash and break, let¡¯s TRY AGAIN


    ¡ªOur time just didn¡¯te yet


    ¡ªDon¡¯t hesitate and DO IT AGAIN


    ¡ªI am running towards and of mystery


    Afterward, the members pulled the boat towards the beach. They put the cut-up wooden pieces on the floor, made a rail, and ced a boat on top of the rail and Do-Seung dragged the boat from the front. Other members pushed the boat from behind. Soon after they arrived at the beach, they began to fix up the boat with the equipment they had.


    They sealed gaps and holes, added missing parts, strung on rations around the surface, and so on. Soon, the appearance of the boat changed into Siren¡¯s own style, and the look waspleted by stationing a g that had the word, ¡®Siren!¡¯ etched onto it. The song ended after a couple of refrains and entered the bridge part. The bright melody instantly flipped and a minor key soundyered underneath.


    ¡ªPerhaps, there will be exhausting and hard days


    ¡ªPerhaps the path to the ocean will be tough


    ¡ªThere will be days when you will want to give up


    ¡ªI won¡¯t look for you even if you run away


    Matching the darkening music, the video also showed gloomier scenes. An obstacle had appeared in front of Siren who had thought all there was left to do was push the boat into the ocean. Rain poured and the boat they had finally finished repairing filled with water. It appeared it would sink before they even tried floating it. As the boat sank into the sand, it gave off a rather ironic image.


    Yet, Yeon-Hoon rushed towards the boat and started to scoop out water with his hands. All the members ran out and helped Yeon-Hoon scoop out the water. Since there was a limit to using their hand, all the members joined their strengths to flip the boat over. All the water inside the boat poured out at once.


    Soon afterward, the members repaired the ruined parts and installed a ceiling so that the boat wouldn¡¯t get ruined by the rain. Not long afterward, the day brightened again and Siren members got ready to depart. They floated the boat into the waters and got on top. The song¡¯s highlight appeared then.


    ¡ªBIG BLUE OCEAN is waiting for us


    ¡ªLet our departure be filled with blessings


    ¡ªEven if there are some dark days


    ¡ªThe BIG BLUE OCEAN will clear up again


    ¡ªIt will shine its light, imbued with its deep blue hue


    The music video ended with the Siren members going up on top of the sailing boat and looking at the setting sunset. It was then Tae-Yoon turned around and looked at the ind. The ind began to burn. As if a gigantic forest fire erupted, the mes were big enough to engulf the entire ind. Tae-Yoon tried to say something to his members about this but nobody turned around. As if the giant mes didn¡¯t even exist, the video simply ended by capturing Tae-Yoon¡¯s flustered face.


    ***


    Siren¡¯s new music video reveal came to an end. The general quality of the video, its connection with the previous video, and its cinematography were all impressive. It was enough to, of course, satisfy the fans but also the general public. The scene that became most deeply embedded in the fans¡¯ minds was the one of the members scooping out water from the boat.


    ¡ªLook at how refreshing they look under the rain?


    ¡ªHahaha even when lightning is striking down everywhere, if you look at their faces, it looks like they are in a high-teen drama


    ¡ªIt¡¯s cheating if they smile in the rain


    ¡ªI think this scene is crazy


    Though the members had been saddened to see the boat fill with water, they all smiled at the end while scooping out water together. They smiled while their surroundings were contrastingly dark and tragic. The stark mismatch of the situation made the scene more memorable. The next most memorable scene was unexpectedly thest one.


    ¡ªDidn¡¯t theirst music video end the same way?


    ¡ªWhat kind of world is this?


    ¡ªSeems like they are connected?


    ¡ªPlease somebody who is good at stuff like this, upload your interpretation


    ¡ªRoom escape addicts, pleasee out


    Reply: What does this have to do with room escape? Hahaha


    All the fans knew that the Siren group had their own universe. But neither thepany nor the marketing content ever officially exined the story. Thus, there was too little information for them to deeply dive into Siren¡¯s universe except to gather tiny puzzle pieces that were gradually getting revealed in Siren music videos and make their own guesses. Yet, a couple of creative minds dide up with their own usible interpretations.


    ¡ªSeeing that Tae-Yoon is the only one who keeps noticing things, their universe doesn¡¯t seem normal


    ¡ªIn a previous teaser, wasn¡¯t there something about Tae-Yoon being a S-Rank superhuman by himself?


    ¡ªIn their debut teaser, everyone was getting chased by monsters, but Tae-Yoon alone captured them. Seems like there really is something special about Tae-Yoon


    Everyone unanimously agreed that Tae-Yoon was a very important character in this universe.


    ¡ªI think Yeon-Hoon was also not chased by monsters


    Reply: That¡¯s true


    Reply: Is there something between Yeon-Hoon and Tae-Yoon


    Reply: What if Tae-Yoon is the hero while Yeon-Hoon is the monster? He¡¯s the monster Tae-Yoon has to catch


    Reply: Omg, it could be


    Using the debut teaser as the center, people began to connect the dots. Of course, this was the fans¡¯ response, and the rest of the public who didn¡¯t care too much about Siren¡¯s universe storyline, easter eggs, and whatnot; and they ced more attention on the song and the music video.


    ¡ªThe song is seriously good haha


    Reply: It¡¯s a song that already existed


    Reply: Seriously? Why didn¡¯t I know about it


    Reply: The song is in the top 50, how could you not know?


    Since it was a great song to listen to for the summer, people began to include ¡°Blue Ocean¡± in their ylists. Eventually, the song that hadn¡¯t risen in music charts due to ack of recognition yet began to rise in an instant. Since it was a song that already possessed all the prerequisites to rise in music charts, the speed at which it rose in ranks was record-breaking.


    The music video was released at 6pm and the music charts were updated an hour afterwards. And in that period, Siren¡¯s ¡°Blue Ocean¡± reached first ce in the trending charts and today¡¯s top hit song list in an instant. Reaching first ce for trending songs was a natural result since it only considered short-term data but cing first on today¡¯s top hit song list was shocking. This meant that the song got more streaming count in that one hour than other first and second ce songs in thest twenty hours.


    This was the power of the music video and the pop-up zone. A huge factor to this sess was based on the fact that this first ce wasn¡¯t just achieved by the Siren fans. Under thement section of the song, there were as manyments from the public as the fans.


    ¡ªWow, this is the first time I found how good Siren¡¯s songs were


    ¡ªKang Do-Seung wrote all this?


    ¡ªTae-Yoon also writes lyrics too? That¡¯s crazy


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s up with these guys?


    ¡ªWhy don¡¯t guys like them do well?


    Reply: They sold 500,000 albums on their debut...?


    Reply: ???


    Even people who didn¡¯t know idols well could clearly see that Siren was gaining recognition from the public. The next day after the music video was released, people began to write their song reviews on social media.


    ¡ªI keep reying the song after seeing the music video yesterday


    ¡ªThe song is crazy


    ¡ªThe song I¡¯m into these days -> Siren¡¯s Blue Ocean


    Twenty-four hours after its upload, people continued to make posts that they were listening to Siren¡¯s music. The frequency in which ¡°Blue Ocean¡± was used in TikTakTok videos exploded in a frenzy. Famous TikTakTok creatorspeted with one another to cover the song and ¡°Blue Ocean¡± firmly established its spot as first ce in the charts.


    Thus, when Siren achieved first ce in the following Tuesday music show, it only appeared to be a matter of course that they won first ce. After all, their social media score, live message votes, and above all, their music charts cements were heads over everyone else. Though the album sales score wasparatively lower because the album had already been sold before, the other scores were more than enough to make up for it.


    And the following shows on next Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday¡ªthe group obtained the trophies from all music shows in their first week of resuming activities. Though they would¡¯ve achieved Triple Crown All-Kill by just achieving first ce in three over-the-air television channels, Siren was also taking first ce in cableworks.


    They didn¡¯t manage to get first ce in all music shows on their second week but because they received trophies in three over-the-air television channels, they were still able to make ims that they achieved Triple Crown All-Kill.


    Now, ¡°Blue Ocean¡± rang out everywhere in the streets and seemed to have set its ce as a trend of sorts. Various content also appeared on short-form content using ¡°Blue Ocean¡± as well. There were many videos of people jumping into the ocean matching the ¡°Blue Ocean¡¯s¡± refrain or shots of people going on a summer night drive with the ¡°Blue Ocean¡± ying in the background.


    Moreover, there was a constant influx of challenge videos, following the chorus choreography. By this point, ¡°Blue Ocean¡± was firmly set as the sole victor in the summer song market. Then, in theing third week of activities, Siren members gathered in one spot. It was Monday when there was no music show.


    Up to this point, their songs had spread all throughout South Korea to the point that they could hear their names wherever they went. It was evident that after their activities, it was time for them to receive their pay, and Tae-Yoon and Do-Seung would receive a huge sum for copyrights. Thus, they needed to make something clear from now on.


    ¡°Okay everyone, let¡¯s take some time to very candidly talk to one another.¡± With Yeon-Hoon¡¯s lead, all the members gathered closer.


    ¡°Let¡¯s each write an asion when one of us seemed to be acting full of ourselves and the like and ce it inside a box. Since we need to hear honest opinions, let¡¯s each write our notes in our individual rooms.¡±


    Because fame was a drug more addictive than anything else, they were taking the time this early to weed out anyone who could be drunk from all the poprity and attention they were getting.

 Chapter 231

    <h4>Chapter 231</h4>


    I wondered why I had to do something like this, but because Yeon-Hoon insisted, I ended up taking the paper. The very top of the page had the title, ¡®<i>Siren¡¯s Regr Attitude Check-Up¡¯ </i>quite grandiosely written on it. It seemed Yeon-Hoon wanted to make the document look more official, but he chose the wrong font.


    Nopany would type this sort of document in an archaic Joseon style. It had been a while since this particr font became a meme, but I supposed Yeon-Hoon was slow to catch up in these areas.


    ¡°But how can we each write ours separately when most of us share a room with one other person?¡± Dong-Jun asked reasonably.


    ¡°Two people have to write theirs in the bathroom.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a human rights vition!¡±


    ¡°...No, it¡¯s not.¡±


    ¡°Making a person write a document in the bathroom feels like a new kind of office bullying.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not!¡±


    In the end, we decided who would go to the bathroom with rock scissors and papers, and unfortunately, Yeon-Hoon was chosen. Yeon-Hoon seemed to actually be d that he got the bathroom since he was the one who proposed this activity, but on the other hand, I was also picked as the other person who would write their document in the bathroom.


    <i>¡®I guess it will be fine as long as I don¡¯t get water on it.¡¯</i>


    I didn¡¯t think too much about this. All I wanted was to quickly finish this task. I tried to think of how I could write this as fast as possible but not make it noticeable that I put little effort into it. And while we were each moving to our set locations, Yeon-Hoon exined the reason for this activity.


    ¡°Anyone can see that we seeded too fast. Our ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ release was especially fast, so I hope we can take this time to reflect on ourselves and each other at least once.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon appeared to be worried that we would let our recent sess get into our heads. It was true that the brighter the light, the bigger the shadow it would cast. I understood his perspective, but...


    <i>¡®Will this even be effective?¡¯</i> I decided to think it was better than nothing so that I would be able to muster enough energy to finish this activity. I took a pen and went into the bathroom. I thought about what to write and tried to recall any moments when my members showed early symptoms of ¡®celebrity disease¡¯[1]. Were there any suspicious signs?


    Since celebrity disease wasn¡¯t a real disease, it was hard toe up with anything. First of all, the symptoms of celebrity diseases tended to be the following: talking down or acting rudely to staff, treating managers badly, a noticeable decrease in fan service, dispassionate eyes, and intoxication with oneself.


    I didn¡¯t notice any of these symptoms in my members. Thus, I needed to write about lesser symptoms¡ªthe subtle kinds that one couldn¡¯t notice without careful observation but in retrospect, should¡¯ve garnered a bit of suspicion.


    I wrote down a couple of memories I thought of. I started with Yeon-Hoon. Yeon-Hoon searched for his name every day. That was fine but he didn¡¯t stop there and kept saving his pictures on his phone. This action was worth noting since he could be developing a sense of narcissism. The second person was Do-Seung. Do-Seung clearly showed at least one symptom. It was one I spotted before we got in the car to head to our schedule recently.


    Do-Seung¡¯s searches on his phone had been suspicious. They were about apartments belonging to famous celebrities and the price of these apartments. It seemed he had made a rough estimate of the copyright fees he would receive and searched for types of loans he could get.


    He was already thinking about buying a house. Though one could think that he was simply buying a house for investment, the fact that he added ¡®<i>famous celebrity¡¯</i> in his key search revealed that Do-Seung already considered himself ¡®famous¡¯.


    The next person was Woon. Because of how squeaky clean he was, there wasn¡¯t anything to write about him, but if I had to write something, there was one. He went into Utube, looked up his individual fan cam, and reyed the most watched section of the video. Then, his ears turned red while scrolling through thements and he quietly turned his phone over. It really was nothing much.


    Finally, I got to Dong-Jun. I thought Dong-Jun was in the most serious condition. After searching Siren on Utube, he reyed videos titled, <i>¡®An explosive new rising star, Siren¡¯</i>, <i>¡®Collection of Global Responses about Siren¡¯</i>, or ¡®<i>New Boy Group Said to be Legendary Talents¡¯</i>. Then, he continued to rey parts in which his name was mentioned. If he liked the video¡¯s content, he pressed the like button and he even made the effort to press dislikes on content he didn¡¯t like. At a single mishap, I thought Dong-Jun would be intoxicated with himself.


    <i>¡®Did I go too hard?¡¯ T</i>hen, after writing everything, I wondered. I nned to do a sloppy job in the beginning, but the content got long as I wrote it. Though I only wrote facts, I feared that my members would get hurt. Yet, since that was the purpose of this activity, I didn¡¯t edit anything. But sure enough, after everyone came back out and gave their papers, the only person who wrote anything factual was me and I became the only bad guy in the room.


    ***


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon...I won¡¯t forgive you...¡±


    ¡°...Was it such a crime that I looked up apartments...?¡±


    ¡°...I was just reevaluating...my dances...that was all, really...¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to always click the ¡®dislike¡¯ button for Tae-Yoon¡¯s videos now.¡±


    After our regr attitude check-up ended, I became the sole enemy of the group and sat in the corner. I was the only one who stayed true to the original prompt but before I knew it, I found myself in this position. Perhaps, this was why people always went on about how ruthless internal politics was. Because of all the hidden and underlying meanings and interrtions connected to every activity, the person who failed to realize all that was outcasted.


    The other members had simply written lines like, ¡®Everyone, d<i>on¡¯t worry and don¡¯t feel so pressured since we are all doing awesome!</i>¡¯ or ¡®<i>No matter how hard we have to work, let¡¯s not forget about our health and practice with our bodies in mind!</i>¡¯. The prompt was ¡®Siren¡¯s attitude check-up¡¯ but they had simply written encouragement notes for each other.


    ¡°This wasn¡¯t an attitude check-up but a time for us to write encouraging notes to each other?¡±


    ¡°I genuinely thought our team was doing super well and just wrote things we should be careful of.¡±


    ¡°Since none of you guys seem to have the celebrity disease, I just wrote encouraging letters.¡±


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon, you are too much...¡±


    Iined, thinking they were being unfair but the four argued against me. Of course, I didn¡¯t intend to back down.


    ¡°But I don¡¯t think I said anything wrong.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the only one who stayed true to the prompt.¡±


    ¡°Seriously Tae-Yoon!¡±


    My members seemed to be racking their heads to find points to refute, but, in the end, they admitted I was right.


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    ¡°...It¡¯s true that Tae-Yoon alone followed the prompt.¡±


    ¡°...Let¡¯s all be careful to not catch the celebrity disease you all.¡±


    ¡°This really opens my eyes.¡± In the end, we somehow aplished our initial purpose of doing this activity. Though everyone except me looked like they had been mmed in the head, we still had taken the opportunity to check our attitudes. My members organized all the papers and sat in the living room.


    ¡°If we just do well this week, we can aplish Triple Crown All-Kill,¡± Yeon-Hoon said, bringing up a new topic.


    ¡°If we aplish that this time, we would be the tenth Triple Crown All-Kill in history, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. It will be the tenth.¡±


    ¡°It will be really great if that happens.¡±


    My members discussed whether or not we would really be able to achieve Triple Crown All-Kill. Truthfully, there was a group who achieved that feat before I regressed. But because of how quickly and boldly we were rushing forward in our activities, that group was holding themselves back. I felt a bit sorry for the group since originally, the group should¡¯ve done much better than now.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we do something if we achieve Triple Crown All-Kill?¡±


    ¡°Like- do you want to make a pledge?¡±


    ¡°I think making at least one would be fine.¡±


    ¡°Yeah...¡± My members started to discuss our ns to achieve Triple Crown All-Kill. It was what we needed to talk about at least once this week.


    I nned to bring up the topic if we ced first on tomorrow¡¯s music show since if we received that, we would be able to upload a video talking about ourmitments after receiving the Triple Crown All-Kill without looking like we were already leading people on. Yet, it wasn¡¯t bad that my members were bringing up the conversation first even if we made our official pledge after winning tomorrow.


    ¡°Is there anything we can do?¡±


    ¡°Should we film a challenge video together and upload it?¡±


    ¡°We already did that.¡±


    ¡°We could upload another one where we wear special outfits like animal pajamas or a stage outfit the fans like.¡±


    ¡°Hm...I want to do something more than that.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Woon discussed ideas. Yet, Do-Seung made a different kind of proposal.


    ¡°Should I upload another version of ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯? Like an acoustic or remix version? I think I will be able to quickly make one if I use the studio for three hours.¡±


    If we did just that, it appeared that we would be able to reach Triple Crown All-Kill with no problems.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we just have a concert while we are at it? Or do a live busking or gallery concert? We could rent a small theater or just do it on the streets.¡± Dong-Jun¡¯s suggestions were good too.


    If we wanted to do something bigger, these suggestions were the best since in terms of fan service, the rule was: the more, the better. We would have to do a solo concert someday so this could be a great practice in the long run. If we followed all of their suggestions, it was a good n that would please the fans.


    Thus, I said, ¡°Can¡¯t webine all of those ideas?¡± Rather than picking some of that out, I thought we could do them all.


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    ¡°That sounds good.¡±


    In the end, we decided to wear the outfits that our fans chose and hold a gallery concert with a new version of ¡°Blue Ocean¡±. We shared our ns with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna and the two gained permission from thepany before officially diving into the work. To appear on the camera, we took a shower, received light makeup, and took our pledge video for the Triple Crown All-Kill beforehand. I desperately prayed that we would be able to keep our pledge for this video.


    ***


    The next day, we were able to obtain the first-ce trophy for our first music show of the third week. This flow of sess continued throughout the week until we got first ce on Wednesday and Thursday. But since the shows didn¡¯t belong to over-the-air televisionworks, they didn¡¯t influence our Triple Crown All-Kill record at all.


    Of course, since we were getting consecutive wins, our fans and thepany were overjoyed. Soon afterward, our winning streak continued to Friday where we won first ce in an over-the-airwork music show and we got another win in the following Saturday music show. After finally receiving first ce in the Sunday over-the-air televisionwork, our group¡¯s waiting room burst with festivity and cheers.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°We did it!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh! Really! It¡¯s done!¡±


    ¡°Ohhhhh!¡±


    [Tenth Triple Crown All-Kill in history! Siren shows no sign of slowing down!]


    [Achieved Triple Crown All-Kill with a debut album. Can Siren receive the Grand Prize?]


    [Siren achieved tenth Triple Crown All-Kill. Jaeil Group is seeing a rise in stock prices.]


    All the entertainment news was talking about us.


    1. A sickness that celebrities are often said to catch where they get haughty or think they are superior to others because of their elevated status. ?

 Chapter 232

    <h4>Chapter 232</h4>


    After achieving Triple Crown All-Kill, we heard people talking about us everywhere. Not only was the fact we achieved Triple Crown All-Kill quite a feat, but it was more shocking that we did that with one of our debut album track songs. There was no team who made that sort of record so far, and all the broadcasting stations focused their attention on us, wondering what other new records we would set.


    ¡°Congrattions Siren!¡±


    ¡°Haha, thank you.¡±


    ¡°I keep listening to your song.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Come out in our broadcast next time!¡±


    ¡°Yes! Thank you!¡±


    As we walked around the broadcasting station, we had to greet every staff member and bow our heads more than before. It was only natural since more people recognized us and tried talking with us. The fourth week of activities continued in that sort of manner: we received people¡¯s congrattions, and we gave our gratitude in return. Then, we went up the stage to do our performance and came back down again.


    Some music shows gave us first ce even in the fourth week, but a couple of broadcast stations took us off the list of potential candidates to give other groups a chance since at this rate, there was a danger of us monopolizing all the rewards. Truthfully, we also felt sorry for other groups since we did our ¡°Blue Ocean¡± activity right after ¡°Blue Summer Night¡± because overall, we almost dominated first ce for thest two months.


    Since the same group had kept cing first thest two months in a row, it could bring down the morale of the other groups. Thus, we congratted other groups for winning first ce with happy hearts. Then, after we finished our fourth week of activities, we gathered at the dorm and prepared a party with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna.


    ¡°Congrattions on Siren¡¯s sessful debut!¡±


    The diet we had been restricting for our activity period was released at least for today and we were free. The first person who dug into the food was Dong-Jun. There was a m set on the dining table for his love of m: m hot pot, m xiang guo, and even a <i>guo bao rou </i>[ref] Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork [ref/] as a side.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to lose my mind, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s going too far.¡±


    ¡°Then, should I cry?¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    Then, Dong-Jun focused on his meal without exchanging a single word with us. He took a bite of the m xiang guo and closed his eyes to savor, and then, he clutched his forehead and shook his head. He really looked like someone who was intoxicated with his food. Besides m food, there was a variety of other dishes but the majority of them were high calorie foods like chicken or pizza.


    ¡°Everyone worked so hard thest two months. If the activity period goes on for two months, the one who suffers the most are artists. You have to keep restricting your diet and can¡¯t even sleep properly.¡±


    ¡°Not only did you guys achieve Triple Crown All-Kill but I had never seen you guys break down even once in thest two months.¡±


    It seemed everyone only had good things to say on a celebratory day like this.


    ¡°Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, you both did so much too. You drove us to our designations every day and organized our schedule. Those things aren¡¯t easy at all.¡±


    ¡°I really get shocked that you twoe to pick us up at the same time every day. How could you two get up at this time so well?¡±


    ¡°Seriously, I¡¯m so impressed by you two.¡±


    We continued to showerpliments on each other for a while but as expected, conversation about work eventually came up over the dining table. Since managers and artists were gathered in one ce perhaps, it was only expected that this would happen.


    ¡°We reserved a concert hall because of the pledge you all made for winning the Triple Crown All-Kill. Do you want to see pictures of the ce?¡±


    ¡°Oh, nice. How many people can fit in here?¡±


    ¡°A thousand people can use it. You guys went here before. Don¡¯t you remember?¡±


    ¡°Ah! That¡¯s right! I remember. It just felt unfamiliar as a picture.¡±


    We naturally began talking about our Triple Crown All-Kill pledge. At first, we wanted to do live busking on the streets but because of themotion we could raise with our current state, we decided to cancel the n. For busking, we would have to deploy police personnel, choose a street to do our busking on, and apply for a permit to a district office.


    With all that in mind, thepany calcted that reserving a concert hall was actually the less expensive alternative. Thus, we changed our n to do a small fan meeting/fan concert while we were at it. The schedule would also be two weekster so we had plenty of time to prepare for it.


    ¡°Should wee up with a set list first?¡± Ms. Seung-Yeon proposed that wee up with a set list for the concert in two weeks.


    ¡°But for us to write a set list, the number of songs we have is a bitcking,¡± Dong-Jun stopped eating his m midway and said. It was as he said. We were a group that just debuted. We didn¡¯t have enough songs to fill up our concert.


    ¡°I think we could do some cover songs in the middle.¡±


    ¡°Hm...I guess so...¡±


    We didn¡¯t only have to do our songs. Since this wasn¡¯t a real concert but felt more like a fan meeting, we also didn¡¯t need to fill up the time with only songs either.


    ¡°Well, since one of our pledge conditions said that we would reveal a remix of ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯, I think we need to include it in the setlist for sure.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, yeah. We really need to put that in.¡±


    ¡°Then, how about Yeon-Hoon doing a bad song? The fans really want you to sing a proper bad.¡±


    ¡°Really? I, of course, want to do it!¡±


    I thought we wouldn¡¯t have too many things to do, but as people gave their ideas, many came up. While listening to my members discuss the songs for the set list, I thought to myself.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s about time...¡¯Blue Ocean¡¯ has to enter the billboard.¡¯ </i>¡°Blue Ocean¡± had already established itself as the song for the summer season in the past four weeks. I was very proud of this fact.


    <i>¡®I hoped that it would sneak into the Billboard Hot 100 in the meantime but it didn¡¯t.¡¯ </i>Unfortunately, it appeared the poprity of the song here hadn¡¯t reached all the way to the U.S.. Though ¡°Blue Ocean¡± was being used as background music for most TikTakTokk videos in the nation, it wasn¡¯t to that level in the U.S. Though many foreigners also used the song, it didn¡¯t go mainstream. In the end, I supposed that I had to use external resources for us to get up to the Billboard Hot 100.


    <i>¡®Haa...this is giving me a headache.¡¯</i> First of all, about half of the three-month deadline I had set up for myself had already passed. If we didn¡¯t enter the Billboard Hot 100 in one month, the possibility of us entering the chart dramatically decreased. Meanwhile, my members continued to pour our ideas for the uing small concert.


    ¡°What if we even go to the audience seats and dance there?¡±


    ¡°I think a lot of people would like missions like doing a funny dance that doesn¡¯t suit them.¡±


    ¡°I think it will be good for us to change and sing each other¡¯s parts.¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t get the results for our poll on our outfits yet, right? I hope the result isn¡¯t animal pajamas but something funnier.¡±


    I just sloppily inputted my members¡¯ suggestions into my head and continued to think about the billboard. I wondered what I should do and what method I needed to take to get a response from the U.S. It was then Do-Seung asked me a question.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon. What direction do you think our remix should take?¡±


    ¡°...Sorry?¡±


    ¡°What? Were you thinking about something else?¡±


    ¡°Ah, well, about...but the direction of the remix?¡±


    While I was thinking about the Billboard, my members¡¯ conversation topic had shifted to the remix.


    ¡°We are talking about whether or not we should gopletely acoustic or bad but since you are the lyricist, I thought your opinion would be important.¡±


    Acoustic or bad versions? I thought either one sounded good, so I was about to suggest the acoustic version since that appeared easier to rearrange.


    <i>¡®Ah?¡¯ </i>Perhaps, because my mind was elsewhere, ideas for the Billboard also began to pop out.


    ¡°...What do you think about recruiting another singer to feature our song?¡±


    ¡°...Hm?¡±


    ¡°A feature?¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡¯


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    If we weren¡¯t enough to appeal in the Billboard Hot 100, I thought we could use somebody else who could. Of course, it wouldn¡¯t fit the mission¡¯s condition of our single entering the Billboard if a remix song went up, but if the remix song did well, the original song would naturally do well too. Even if it didn¡¯t garner massive sess, it would be able to at least enter the Billboard Hot 100.


    ¡°Who do we call for a cob?¡±


    ¡°Is there anyone you can call?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you bring it up because you had someone in mind?¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡± I couldn¡¯t bear to say that we should get the person who was currently in first ce on the Billboard to feature our song. That would sound too unrealistic. Of course, it wasn¡¯t impossible if I asked Kang Hyun-Sung since he still kept in contact with the Billboard first-ce singer on the inte. It was one of his ¡®golden connections¡¯ that was also noticed by other people.


    ¡®<i>But is it right for me to ask him for help?¡¯ </i>This thought didn¡¯t leave my head. Getting help from my team members was good since they were in my ¡®team¡¯. But Kang Hyun-Sung wasn¡¯t part of our ¡®team¡¯.


    <i>¡®Get a grip.¡¯</i> This wasn¡¯t the time for emotions like pride to hold me back. <i>¡®Who cares about that?¡¯</i>


    It wasn¡¯t important whether or not I was asking for help from someone not on my team. All my ns would go to ruins if I failed this mission. My members would die and their worldlines would get separated. This meant I needed to regress once more. I nned to break out of this loop.


    Thus, I asked, ¡°How about Willy Freedman?¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°...What Tae-Yoon...?¡±


    ¡°...What did you say?¡±


    Willy Freedman was the ck R¡¯n¡¯B singer eating up the Billboard charts right now. All my members looked like I had lost my mind. Even I knew I was sounding mad and endured their astonished responses.


    ¡°Do you have a n?¡± Yet, my members seemed to believe that I wasn¡¯t just spewing nonsense.


    ¡°...I don¡¯t have one...¡± I didn¡¯t tell them my n was to call Kang Hyun-Sung and ask for his help. It was enough for me to be the only one who sucked up my pride. My members didn¡¯t have to know about that.


    ¡°...Okay. I guess you can just say your wishful thinking. Then, I want to ask Taylor to feature in our song.¡±


    ¡°Ohh, then I should ask our boss, Yoo Won-Dong!¡±


    ¡°...Are you out of your mind?¡±


    My members simply passed over my statement as a light joke and carried on their conversation. Then, while my members chatted while smiling, I pulled out my phone and messaged Kang Hyun-Sung. I felt a bit awkward since it had been a while since I messaged him. I had rejected his expression of goodwill before. He made a proposal of sorts to develop a closer bond but I had drawn a line that time.


    Yet, this time, it was my turn to step over the line.


    ¡ªDo you have some time right now?


    I sent the message and was about to turn over my phone when¡ª


    <i>Zing¡ª</i>


    ...I immediately got a reply.

 Chapter 233

    <h4>Chapter 233</h4>


    I immediately got a reply. Because of how quick it was, it almost made me afraid to click my phone. I thought I wouldn¡¯t be able to take things back once I opened this device and decided to focus my eyes on the table with my phone overturned for now. My members continued to talk about a potential cob.


    ¡°Is there anyone we can ask?¡±


    ¡°But will it be right to feature someone with this song?¡±


    ¡°Hm...Yeah, I wonder if it¡¯s even right to pull someone into our song...¡±


    The direction of the conversation was flowing whether or not it was even right for us to bring someone else to feature our song. This was a reasonable concern. If we couldn¡¯t get Willy Freedman to feature our song, there was no point doing it anyway. This was a meaningful song that was on our debut album¡¯s tracklist. There was no need for us to bring someone else¡¯s voice on top of it.


    ¡°It was Tae-Yoon who suggested doing a feature. What do you think?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked me. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s really the right choice to do a feature?¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± I couldn¡¯t answer right away, but after organizing my thoughts, I spoke. ¡°I think it won¡¯t be toote to decide after seeing who can feature our song...Can we think about this for a bit longer?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a good idea.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you don¡¯t know whether or not an American popstar could suddenly approach us and say, <i>¡®Wow! I like Siren! Let¡¯s do a song together!</i>¡¯ or something like that.¡±


    ¡°There could also be someone who matches our voices well.¡±


    My members seemed to agree with my suggestion.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop talking about work for now and eat. The food is going to get cold at this rate.¡± Then, with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s lead, we began to focus on the meal again. Yet, the surprising thing was that the <i>m</i> hotpot and <i>m xiang guo</i> were almost half-gone by then. Somebody must have continued to shove food in their mouths while we were talking... and as expected, it was Dong-Jun, the m addict.


    ¡°I¡¯m so full. I don¡¯t think I can eat anymore.¡±


    Seeing Dong-Juny on the ground with his arms and legs spread out, Do-Seung remarked, ¡°Of course you are after eating all that.¡±


    Soon afterward, we continued our meal while talking about more enjoyable, light-hearted topics.


    ***


    After our meal, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna left. Each of my members also got up from their spots and began to do their individual work. Do-Seung went to the studio, saying that he had a couple of ideas in his head and wanted to do some remixes. Yeon-Hoon said he thought he ate too much and headed to the gym to run. Woon left to do some dance practice and Dong-Jun also followed him. I was left alone in the house again.


    The current time was 8 pm. It was an ambiguous time to say it was night or dinner time. Yet, it was enough time to start something new and I cautiously opened my phone. It was time for me to confront what sort of message Kang Hyun-Sung sent me.


    ¡ªYes, I have enough time. Also, congrattions on achieving Triple Crown All-Kill.


    Yet, in contrast to what I expected, the content of his message was nothing special.


    ¡°Yeah, I mean...¡± It appeared I had been way too dramatic. Because Kang Hyun-Sung was someone who always acted out of my expectations, it seemed I had been too nervous.


    ¡ªYou just read the message.


    ¡°...?¡±


    Before I even replied, another message came.


    ¡°...What? Why is he obsessed with me?¡± The moment the messenger showed that I read his message, he sent me this sort of reply. It was clear he didn¡¯t get out of the chat group till I read his message. Two hours had passed since he sent me his first message, so this seemed to mean that he had been staring at this chatroom for thest two hours...


    <i>¡®...It¡¯s clear he isn¡¯t normal,¡¯</i> I thought.


    ¡ªI couldn¡¯t look at my phone because of some matters. I¡¯m sorry for contacting you first and disappearing.


    I apologized first to begin the conversation. I nned to bring up the main topic afterward. If I brought up Willy Freedman without any warning, the addressee could run away so I thought I should begin with small talk.


    ¡ªHow are you doing these days? Are you busy preparing for your next album?


    ¡ªYes. We are in the middle of preparing for it.


    ¡ªIs it going well?


    ¡ªYes, it is.


    ¡ªOh...how nice.


    ¡ªYes, it¡¯s nice.


    I refrained myself from almost throwing my phone. What was this? Was he doing this on purpose to anger me? It felt like I was talking to a chat AI that had no previous information or connection with me prior. No, even a conversation with a chat AI these days would sound more like a human conversation than this. I wondered why he even bothered to wait two hours to talk like this. Didn¡¯t he wait because he also had something he wanted to say?


    I didn¡¯t expect him to reply in this manner. Kang Hyun-Sung was truly someone who always betrayed my expectations.


    ¡ª.....


    Because I had nothing to say, I sent a couple of dots to Kang Hyun-Sung. I was trying to make it a bit obvious that he shouldn¡¯t bother replying if he was going to keep sending these types of texts. Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t reply for a bit after receiving my series of dots. It seemed he was also realizing how baffling his responses had been. Yet, his reply was even more unsettling.


    ¡ªWho¡¯s the one who contacted first but ignored the other person for two hours?


    I understood it then. He had been portraying his dissatisfaction and annoyance with his sinct and awkward replies.


    ¡ªDidn¡¯t I already apologize for that?


    ¡ªIt doesn¡¯t change what you did.


    ¡ªThen, let me apologize to you once more.


    ¡ªWill things change just because you apologize two times instead of one?


    ¡ªThen, wouldn¡¯t the third time do the charm?


    ¡ªStop it. How is this even an apology?


    A cold atmosphere swept the chat room for a while after that. I wondered what I was even doing with this guy. I hadn¡¯t even bickered with my members about this kind of thing. I was sure that Kang Hyun-Sung was just upset that we got Triple Crown All-Kill instead of him. Yet, since I wanted something from him, I decided to gain his favor.


    ¡ªI¡¯m genuinely sorry. I couldn¡¯t look at my phone because something urgent happened.


    Though Kang Hyun-Sung said nothing would change even if I apologized, it wasn¡¯t like I could do anything else.


    ¡ªWhy don¡¯t you try one more time? Didn¡¯t you say the third time was the charm?


    <i>¡®Is this guy really crazy...?¡¯</i> I wondered, but in the end, I apologized one more time. But after that, Kang Hyun-Sung seemed like he hadn¡¯t expected me to really apologize one more time and didn¡¯t obsess about apologies.


    ¡ªSo why did you suddenly contact me? You aren¡¯t the type to contact first. Do you have a request to make from me?


    ¡°...He gives me the chills,¡± I murmured. I felt goosebumps from Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s text. He had acted harder and more aggressively towards me, knowing that I contacted him because I had a request to make. He knew that before he granted my request, he was the superior. I felt my annoyance multiply twofold upon realizing how I had been yed, but I repressed my anger while thinking of the team and Willy Freedman.


    ¡ªWell, after all that joking around, I will try to do what you ask for if I can.


    It was fortunate that Kang Hyun-Sung wrote this first since I might have really cursed at him otherwise.


    <i>¡®But can I really just bring up his name?¡¯</i> It was hard for me to mention Willy Freedman since the request could burden Kang Hyun-Sung. It was always difficult to ask someone to borrow their connections. Thus, I decided to prepare him for the question first.


    ¡ªDo you remember the time I asked you to pick me up somewhere in Gangwon-do?


    ¡ªYes.


    ¡ªWill it be all right...if I make a request bigger than that?


    ¡ªI got a car recently.


    ¡°...?¡± Why was he suddenly boasting about his car?


    ¡ªIs it Jeo-do this time?


    ¡°Ah.¡± It seemed like I misspoke. Because I brought up Gangwon-do, it seemed Kang Hyun-Sung thought I was lost somewhere far away again. Though I tried to clear up the misunderstanding, Kang Hyun-Sung sent me another message.


    ¡ªWhat do you have to do to travel all over the nation like this? Give me your address. I will go there.


    Kang Hyun-Sung appeared certain that I was strolling somewhere in Jeo-do this time.


    ¡ªI don¡¯t need to be picked up anywhere. I¡¯m sitting on my dorm¡¯s sofa. Turn off your car engine.


    ¡ªAh yes.


    I quickly wrote in case he was already starting his car to leave.


    ¡ªThen what¡¯s your request?


    Kang Hyun-Sung asked. This was a request bigger than picking me up in Gangwon-do. It probably worried him a bit. I hesitated for a long time before sending my message but in the end, I sent it.


    ¡ªWill it be possible for you to connect us with Willy Freedman?


    Willy Freedman was someone who had been stalling around the vicinity of Billboard Hot 100 and stood between the lines of ¡®famous¡¯ and ¡®not famous¡¯ just a year ago. But in that one year, he met a skilled producer, pumped out legends at every release, and became the hottest R¡¯n¡¯B singer in America right now. Furthermore, he was someone who had built a connection with Kang Hyun-Sung during Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s Yours¡¯ activities.


    The opportunity arose when a famous DJ was looking for singers to release his song, and the singers he called were Kang Hyun-Sung and Willy Freedman. The song in question was the one that made Yours known in America and made Willy Freedman catch his current producer¡¯s eyes. Since their rtionship was one that developed in what could be considered the most crucial moments in their lives, they appeared to be quite close.


    Yet, the question was whether or not their rtionship was close enough for Kang Hyun-Sung to introduce me to him. If they really were close, it wouldn''t be too hard to make the introduction. However, Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s response was a bit unexpected.


    ¡ªIt could be difficult.


    He didn¡¯t say no or yet but that it would be difficult. It was hard to understand since it wasn¡¯t clear whether he could do it or not.


    ¡ªIs that a no?


    I asked in frustration, but he took a while to reply.


    ¡ªI can¡¯t give a clear-cut no.


    This made me more confused. What was he saying then exactly?


    ¡ªWhat do you mean?


    A cold breeze seemed to pass the chatroom again then and Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t reply for a while. After five minutes, Kang Hyun-Sung replied.


    ¡ªThere was a time when I said a load of insults about you to Willy so I don¡¯t know if Willy would have a positive opinion of you.


    ...His response made me seriously ponder whether I should regress again after punching him.

 Chapter 234

    <h4>Chapter 234</h4>


    ¡ªI¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t expect this to happen, but maybe it¡¯ll be okay because I didn¡¯t say any serious insults.


    He was making up excuses to make up for it now. What on earth was there to insult me about? Did I hit him or bully or outcast him? Of course, there may have been some ufortable incidents between us, but I didn¡¯t think it would warrant such insults towards me.


    I also hadn¡¯t gone around insulting Kang Hyun-Sung. I felt a surge of betrayal and my irritation towards him soared. Of course, he could curse me as he also had freedom of expression. But why did he insult me to a foreigner and Willy Freedman of all people? Wasn¡¯t this a disgrace to the national image of Korea?


    <i>¡®...What was he thinking?¡¯</i> I stopped myself from thinking about ¡ªThen are you saying that the reason why it would be hard for you to introduce me to Willy Freedman is because he might hate me?


    ¡ªThere¡¯s that too, but frankly, my position bes weird. Won¡¯t it be weird for me to introduce a person I insulted so much about?


    ¡ª...


    Yeah, that was strange. Even if I was Willy Freedman, I would think that Kang Hyun-Sung would be crazy.


    ¡ªCan¡¯t you just be considered a weird person to me?


    I decided to retort illogically, and I wondered what kind of ridiculous situation this was. The reason why Kang Hyun-Sung couldn¡¯t introduce me to Willy Freedman was because he insulted me to the man too much. In such a ridiculous situation, I thought it may make sense for me to retort with no reason or rhyme for my argument.


    ¡ªCan¡¯t you just think of it as payment for cursing me so much?


    Kang Hyun-Sung didn¡¯t answer for a long time.


    ¡ªPerhaps, do you have time right now?


    He suddenly asked me a question like this out of the blue.


    ¡ªI¡¯ll go where you are. Let¡¯s talk face-to-face for a bit.


    ¡ªWhat?


    What kind of sudden development was this? Why was he suddenlying to our dorm?


    ¡ªI think we need to go through some steps before I introduce you to Willy. Won¡¯t it be cleaner to have a reason for you two to meet than just introduce you out of the blue?


    Oh, that meant he was going to introduce me to him in the end. But I still wondered why he wasing to our dorm.


    ¡ªWhat does that have to do withing to our dorm?


    ¡ªLet¡¯s film a challenge together. Willy tends to watch all the videos I post, so I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get an answer from him.


    A lightbulb lit in my head; I got what he meant.


    ¡ªOkay, I understand. Then wee inside.


    ¡ª...


    Was it because my attitude changed too fast? It was Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s turn to reply with a bunch of dots.


    ***


    ¡°Is this your dorm?¡±


    ¡°You have to leave before the other memberse. Let¡¯s film it as soon as possible and finish it.¡±


    It was the first time that anyone other than the members, Ms. Seung-Yeon, and Ms. Hyuna stepped into our dorm¡¯s front door, and that was why it felt even more awkward that Kang Hyun-Sung was standing in the hallway now. I looked at Kang Hyun-Sung with a slightly awkward gaze. Kang Hyun-Sung took a brief tour of the dorm with an expressionless face.


    He said, ¡°You live in a nice ce.¡±


    ¡°Thepany gave it to us.¡±


    ¡°You have a goodpany.¡±


    ¡°Well, yes.¡±


    We exchanged meaningless conversations like this. It was a huge relief that all the members were currently outside, or we might have had to shoot the challenge on the streets. Of course, the members could ask about the challenge video after it was postedter. However, receiving forgiveness was always easier than receiving permission.


    After filming the challenge and posting it, I nned to tell them there was no good ce to film the challenge video so we ended up doing it at our dorm. It was also true that we were filming it at home because there was no suitable ce for us to film it besides our dorm. Where in the world could Kang Hyun-Sung and I go to suddenly shoot a challenge video at this time?


    Woon and Dong-Jun were using the practice room below the dorm, so I had to cross the practice room off the list, and it was hard to find a practice room around here. The parking lot was also not a feasible ce. Then at that moment, Kang Hyun-Sung put down his car key on the table as if he wanted to show it off. I moved my eyes in that direction.


    It was the car key of a famous German imported car. Was it the new car he was telling me about? I didn¡¯t expect him to be the type to flex like this, but I guess he was also a human in the end.


    ¡°I watched a few challenge videos before I came here, but please take a look at my dance to see if I did anything wrong.¡± With these words, Kang Hyun-Sung performed the choreography for the ¡°Blue Ocean¡± challenge.


    The choreography of ¡°Blue Ocean¡± was characterized by the image of swimming. It invoked swimming movements by raising your arms all the way up and then stretching them back forward, and then extending your arms to the side as if cutting through the current. Depending on the rhythm, the foot and pelvic movements varied slightly.


    However, the dance itself was not difficult so even ordinary people could quickly follow it after 30 minutes of practice. Although Kang Hyun-Sung said he briefly saw the challenge video beforeing here, there wasn¡¯t anything for me to correct.


    ¡°Nothing looks wrong to me.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    We decided to film the challenge video with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s phone and y the music with my phone.


    ¡°You know when to go in, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What should I do for the ending pose?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just stay natural and smile and go out of the frame?¡±


    ¡°Is there any movement or gesture that Willy Freedman would like?¡±


    ¡°...There¡¯s nothing like that.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me with slightly judging eyes.


    But even I thought I sounded pretty desperate myself, so I couldn¡¯t say anything to defend myself.


    Kang Hyun-Sung said, ¡°But change your clothes.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±


    I checked my clothes ording to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s request. It was just a white t-shirt and checkered pajama pants that I wore at home. It was amon high school boy¡¯s pajama set that 5 out of 10 people wore when they walked on the streets. When I was about to change, Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly changed his words and told me to take the video in my pajamas.


    ¡°Should we just film the video while dressed up like that?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a bad idea.¡±


    I was sure that he was trying to stand out by himself in the video. Right now, he was dressed up in a casual but cool style, and he even did light makeup by himself. I wasn¡¯t skilled enough to do makeup by myself, but I thought I should still dress up. But once I tried to dress up, I didn¡¯t know what to wear.


    I hardly had any daily wear, and frankly, my members often coordinated or lent me their clothes. However, since all the members went out, I couldn¡¯t take out their clothes and wear them without permission. I opened my closet and wondered what to wear.


    ¡°Can I take a look?¡± When Kang Hyun-Sung saw me taking my time, he stood in front of the closet himself. Then we tried to pick the clothes together. However, what he said after looking at my closet was...


    ¡°You have bad style.¡±


    ¡°...Don¡¯t you usually say that behind someone¡¯s back.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not that you have bad style, but you don¡¯t have many options.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Oh, that one.¡± At that moment, Kang Hyun-Sung pointed a piece of clothing in the corner of the closet. That was what we wore when we went out to The Showcase together. It was a sportswear set that Kang Hyun-Sung gave out to win the hearts of the team members during the joint mission.


    ¡°Do you want to wear that?¡±


    ¡°The training clothes? Then would there be a point changing from pajamas? I thought I had to change because our outfits are too different.¡±


    ¡°Then Ill change. We just have to match each other¡¯s concept anyways.¡±


    If I couldn¡¯t upgrade, Kang Hyun-Sung just had to downgrade. Since it didn¡¯t seem possible for me to do a casual dressed-up style, we were going to change to afortable homeware.


    ¡°But you don¡¯t even have clothes to change into.¡±


    ¡°Give me what you¡¯re wearing now.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You can wear that training wear.¡±


    ¡°..Why do you want to wear something that I¡¯m wearing? You can wear that training set.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t fit me. Don¡¯t you know there is a size difference between you and me?¡±


    I looked at Kang Hyun-Sung. We were simr in height, but there were quite a few differences in areas such as shoulders and chest. Although not as much as Do-Seung, Kang Hyun-Sung definitely worked out, and I had a more slim physique with lean muscles.


    ¡°It looks like at least those pajamas are free size, and I don¡¯t think you have anything else I can wear besides that.¡±


    ¡°...Yeah, that¡¯s true.¡± Since he was right, I had no choice but to take off my clothes and give it to him. I had no thoughts about taking off my clothes in front of my members, but it felt weird to do so in front of people I was not close to.


    So I said, ¡°If you go out, I¡¯ll take off my clothes and give them to you.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t we already see everything when we were doing the jacuzzi?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s up to me.¡±


    ¡°Oh...¡±


    There had been a very awkward time when we talked to each other at the jacuzzi. Anyways, after I chased Kang Hyun-Sung out, I took off my pajamas and changed into a training suit. Then just in case my pajama had body odor, I sprayed Febreze and then handed it to him. Kang Hyun-Sung changed into my pajamas and stood in front of the mirror to check the fit.


    ¡®...I should also exercise.¡¯ When I wore it, the pajama had just looked like pieces of clothes to cover up my body, but on Kang Hyun-Sung, it looked like a fashion style, and he looked like he would appear in some kind of European magazine as a homeware styling concept.


    Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to have liked the fit as he smiled with a sense of victory. Although he clearly downgraded his clothes, I felt a stronger sense of defeat. Perhaps, my previous state had been closer to an honorable death.


    ¡°Let¡¯s shoot now.¡± The process to shoot took a bit longer than expected.


    The two of us began filming the challenge video, andpared to our lengthy preparation time, we ended the video in one take. The movements were not difficult, Kang Hyun-Sung was originally good at singing, and the timing of the song was just right. I think I¡¯ve done this dance challenge dozens of times so far, but it was the first time that I finished it so cleanly in one cut.


    ¡°It came out well.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung saw the finished version and said with satisfaction. I also thought this was good enough for me.


    ¡°So if you post this, Willy Freedman will watch it, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, he will. He watches most of the things that are rted to me. He would probably DM me after he sees it, asking me what I¡¯m doing when he thought I had a bad rtionship with you.¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s not great news for me to hear.¡±


    ¡°Well, I can start the conversation with that and try to cover up the insults I made before and set up a meeting.¡±


    ¡°A meeting?¡±


    ¡°Ah, Willy Freedman ising back to Korea during his tour this time. Didn¡¯t you know?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I think I saw an article, but I didn¡¯t know Korea was also included in the tour.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s watch it together when he enters Korea.¡±


    Things were going more smoothly than I thought. If only I could get Willy Freedman to feature in our song or something more...


    ¡®Then it¡¯ll be possible to clear the mission.¡¯ I could clear all the missions the system threw at me to fail. Then at that moment.


    Beep-beep-beep-beep.


    I heard the door lock password unlocking from outside.


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Crap.¡± I didn¡¯t know the members woulde back so quickly. No, it wasn¡¯t quickly as it was 10 p.m. now, and it was time for them toe in. Was it because I was too flustered? Even though I could have just exined to my members and resolved the situation, my panicked brain couldn¡¯t easily think of such a reasonable solution. Instead¡ª


    ¡°Get in!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Get inside!¡±


    I pushed Kang Hyun-Sung deep inside the closet.

 Chapter 235

    <h4>Chapter 235</h4>


    Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, Woon, and Dong-Jun¡ªall four Siren members met in front of the apartment entrance.


    ¡°Huh? Do-Seung?¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    ¡°Did youe back after finishing your work?¡±


    ¡°Ah yeah. But I couldn¡¯t finish and just did the general framework.¡±


    ¡°So, so cool. You really are awesome, Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung met first.


    ¡°Ohh! You guys! Let¡¯s go together!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Dong-Jun?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Woon.¡±


    The moment that the two were passing through the entrance door, Dong-Jun and Woon came running from far away. They hade rushing after spotting Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung.


    ¡°Did you guys practice dancing a lot?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, wow you guys. Woon is really no joke.¡±


    ¡°What is no joke?¡±


    ¡°He really just dances for two hours non stop without rest. Even I never worked that hard during my trainee days.¡±


    ¡°You said we should go harder today to burn off the calories from eating m hot pot.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t realize that we would go this hard.¡±


    Dong-Jun and Woon talked about the dance practice they had today. Yeon-Hoon watched the two adoringly. Do-Seung looked at Dong-Jun a bit disapprovingly and added a snidement in the end, ¡°If you danced to burn calories, you should¡¯ve told me, and we could¡¯ve just gone to the gym together. Why are you trying to use an inefficient exercise method to burn calories?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Do-Seung was peeved that Dong-Jun didn¡¯t go exercising with him. Aghast, Dong-Jun said, ¡°Don¡¯t you think that I might have chosen dancing because I didn¡¯t want to go to the gym?¡±


    ¡°Working out at the gym is more fun.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just make a gym inside your studio?¡±


    ¡°I already did.¡±


    ¡°...You are crazy.¡± Do-Seung seemed to not notice Dong-Jun¡¯s gloomy expression and opened his phone¡¯s gallery collection to show Do-Seung the home gym he installed.


    ¡°If I get tired while working on a song, I do a deadlift once. Then, I feel blood circte my blood, and I feel more awake.¡±


    ¡°I want to run away from you now.¡±


    ¡°Furthermore, since this equipment model has a cable, I can really stimte my back muscles too.¡±


    ¡°Are you not listening to me?¡±


    Do-Seung and Dong-Jun talked to each other in the same manner they always did and arrived at the first floor elevator.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get on~¡± Yeon-Hoon took the lead and got on the elevator.


    ¡°I wonder what Tae-Yoon is doing alone.¡±


    ¡°Considering Tae-Yoon¡¯s personality, he¡¯s probably quietly looking at hisptop.¡±


    ¡°Who knows? He could have brought in a hidden girlfriend.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, dating?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just saying. He doesn¡¯t even have the time to date. Not like he looks that interested in doing that right now either.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°If Tae-Yoon dates...that will be one of the most shocking things I see this year.¡±


    Siren shared meaningless talk as they walked towards their dorm.


    ¡°Let¡¯s quickly wash up and go to sleep.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°If we have to prepare for the concert we made a pledge about, we need to work hard again. Let¡¯s save our strengths.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s keep going strong everyone.¡±


    While exchanging such lines, they opened the entrance door.


    <i>Bang! Bang! Creak¡ªboom!</i>


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°...Is it a thief...?¡±


    A strange and suspicious activity wasing from inside of the house. It sounded as if somebody was opening the closet or cab doors and taking out something from it. The same thought crossed all the members¡¯ minds at once then.


    ¡°...A stalker?¡±


    ¡°Haa...¡±


    ¡°Guys, stay calm...stay calm.¡±


    It was amon story for stalkers to trespass into celebrity houses and steal their goods. Yet, this was more in the past, and they didn¡¯t think there were still people these days who did something like that...still, it was a possibility. By this time, stalkers could¡¯ve found out the location of their dorms by now.


    Here, they could make either of the two choices. They could leave this ce right now and report to Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna; or they could all enter the dorm together and catch the stalker. Then, they could report the news to their managers. The members decided to do thetter.


    ¡°What if the stalker takes our goods and runs away with them...?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know if they installed secret cameras.¡±


    ¡°I think things would get resolved faster if we went inside and caught the culprit.¡±


    Perhaps, it was because they were all active, young men, they thought of confronting the culprit first hand before escaping. In the end, the four Siren members cautiously went inside their dorm. Simultaneously, Dong-Jun grabbed the TV remote that had been carelesslyid on top of the sofa. It didn¡¯t appear very effective as a weapon but he probably had grabbed anything within his reach. Eventually, they slowly approached the room where they heard sounds from.


    It was the room that Woon shared with Tae-Yoon. It was then, the members realized that Tae-Yoon must still be inside the dorm.


    <i>¡®What if Tae-Yoon is captured as a hostage?¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®Is Tae-Yoon in trouble?¡¯</i>


    ¡°What did they do to him?¡¯


    Though it was very unlikely that a stalker was keeping Tae-Yoon hostage, the image of a ¡®stalker¡¯ had been so strongly established as a criminal who was capable of all sorts of crimes in their minds.


    ¡°No!¡± Yeon-Hoon cae up with the most dramatic imaginations and pushed open the door frantically.


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡¯


    ¡°...There¡¯s no stalker?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    What they saw inside the room waspletely different from what they had imagined. Tae-Yoon was standing alone while staring at them. Yet, there was something off about his posture. He stood right in front of the closet and his expression looked like he was someone caught in the middle of trying to hide something. Though they had avoided the worst-case scenario of facing a stalker...


    ¡°...Tae-Yoon what did you do...?¡± This was also a very strange situation. Not only was there something wrong about Tae-Yoon¡¯s expression, there was a strange atmosphere filling up the room. And what was with Tae-Yoon¡¯s pose that was clearly trying to hide something inside the closet? His whole body gesture seemed to scream suspicious.


    <i>¡®No way...¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®Ah...¡¯</i>


    <i>¡®Really...?¡¯</i>


    There was another thought that simultaneously passed the Siren members¡¯ minds then. It was what Dong-Jun had said jokingly while they wereing up the elevator about Tae-Yoon bringing his girlfriend secretly into the dorm.


    Now that they thought about it, there was a time when they suspected him of leaving the dorm alone to meet his girlfriend. Theyter found out that there had been a misunderstanding then but once the suspicion had been raised, it was easier for their thoughts to head in that direction.


    It didn¡¯t take long for their doubts to solidify, and soon, all the members became certain that inside the closet, there existed a source that could pull apart the group in tatters.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...move side,¡± Yeon-Hoon said in a cold voice.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, get away from the closet.¡± Do-Seung alsomanded in a simr tone.


    ¡°Ah...no...well...I can exin this to you guys. Hear me out a bit.¡± Seeing Tae-Yoon respond to them flustered, the members became even more certain. Thus, they nned to forcefully push Tae-Yoon aside.


    ¡°Get out. We are going to drag you out if you don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Wait you guys.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡± In the end, Do-Seung yelled.


    <i>Boom! </i>That moment, the closet door made a loud thud as if someone was inside it. The Siren members¡¯ faces changed immediately. A shadow cast on Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face, rage bloomed on Do-Seung¡¯s, resignation on Woon¡¯s, and disappointment passed over Dong-Jun¡¯s. In response, Tae-Yoon¡¯s face simply looked baffled and astounded.


    <i>Bang! Bang! Bang!</i>


    The closet door began to shake then.


    ¡°Just tell...her toe out...¡± Yeon-Hoon said in a tone like he had given up.


    ¡°Please let me out. I think my back is going to break here.¡± It was then, they heard an unfamiliar man¡¯s voice inside the closet and the Siren members¡¯ expressions turned more shocked than before. They had believed Tae-Yoon was hiding his secret girlfriend but...


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...!¡±


    ¡°You...!¡±


    ¡°It was a boyfriend?¡±


    Their eyes widened in realization that the secret was a man.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    Tae-Yoon and the mysterious man inside the closet asked simultaneously.


    ¡°What are you saying you guys!¡± Tae-Yoon asked, and the man in the closet said,¡± Please move aside.¡±


    Tae-Yoon finally moved away from the closet and the closet¡¯s door opened to reveal the man inside.


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°...Ah?¡±


    ¡°Senior Kang Hyun-Sung?¡±


    ¡°What...why are you in our closet?¡±


    All the members looked shocked to see a person they hadn¡¯t expected. Dong-Jun especially looked out of it.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a dream right...? This is so unexpected and out of context...¡±


    All the Siren members stood in shock and Tae-Yoon seemed to also have a brain overload and simply stared into space. Seeing this, Kang Hyun-Sung sighed deeply and exined.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon suggested I shoot a challenge video with him so I came to film that. But it seems he didn¡¯t want to get found out by you all and pushed me in here. It all happened because Mr. Tae-Yoon overreacted by himself at thest minute so I hope none of you all misunderstand.¡±


    Everyone¡¯s mouths gaped slightly open with Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s clean exnation. The person who appeared most shocked was Tae-Yoon. His face shed red in an instant and he muttered, ¡°Ah...it was possible to summarize the situation so easily....¡±


    ***


    After the incident with Kang Hyun-Sung and the closet, I received a lot of criticism and me from my members. They rebuked me for overreacting and creating misunderstandings. They also questioned why I didn¡¯t tell them beforehand that I was going to film a challenge video with Kang Hyun-Sung since they would¡¯ve lent me the dorm or practice room to me then.


    Above all, they couldn¡¯t understand why I even bothered to hide another person by shoving them into a closet when it was totally fine for me to bring someone over.


    Everything they said was right, and I had no excuses to make. In certain points of a person¡¯s life, there were times when they made certain misjudgments and misses and today was one of those days. If I must exin myself, it was because I didn¡¯t want to show my members a scene of me receiving help from Kang Hyun-Sung. I had a strong desire to solve the team¡¯s problem by myself.


    <i>¡®Above all, it kind of felt like I was betraying them.¡¯ </i>Because it felt like I was betraying my members, I thought I tried to hide what happened today. Though it was an overreaction to protect the team more than anything else, I thought in a way, I might have felt a strange sense of guilt bringing Kang Hyun-Sung to our group. But the biggest reason for my action was just...that I panicked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why I did that either. I just panicked. I swear.¡± When I heard someone click the door password, my head just went nk. It was like I went into panic mode since I was filming a challenge video without telling my members.


    ¡°Okay, I get it. But next time, tell us stuff like this from now on.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    Soon afterward, we uploaded the challenge video I filmed with Kang Hyun-Sung on Siren¡¯s official ount. Kang Hyun-Sung also shared that video on his private social media ount too. The remaining thing was for Willy Freedman to see that video. But perhaps, Willy Freedman¡¯s rtionship was closer to Kang Hyun-Sung than I thought because I heard news sooner than I expected.


    ¡°...?¡±


    ¡°Hey guys! Willy Freedman did a challenge video of our song and uploaded it!¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    ¡°That¡¯s crazy!¡±


    About two hours after Kang Hyun-Sung and I uploaded our challenge video, Willy Freedman filmed a challenge video of ¡°Blue Ocean¡± and uploaded it to his private social media ount. Soon afterward, Kang Hyun-Sung contacted me.


    ¡ªWillis says that he wants to meet you on his tour. Please share the news with your teammates.


    ¡°...It really happened.¡±

 Chapter 236

    I passed on what Kang Hyun-Sung told me to my members.


    ¡°You guys, Willy Freedman wants to see us in Korea on this tour.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°What did you say, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    My members huddled in front of my phone like they couldn¡¯t believe me, and I showed them my phone message without any resistance. The message that Kang Hyun-Sung was clearly visible on my phone screen; it was the message that Willy Freedman wanted to see us when he came to Korea this time. Like they couldn¡¯t believe what they were seeing, my members checked the message multiple times.


    ¡°What, really Willy Freedman? He''s the hottest singer right now.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s already amazing that he shot a challenge for us, but we are going to meet him in person?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s going to really feature our song at this rate.¡±¡°What in the world is happening¡­?¡±


    My members still looked to be in disbelief and continued to murmur amongst themselves. But among the conversation that went back and forth between them, they mentioned my ultimate goal for this interaction.


    ¡°I was nning to ask him if he could feature our song.¡±


    ¡°¡­Huh?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s up to Mr. Freedman whether or not he¡¯s going to do it for us, but I wanted to at least make the request.¡±


    My members looked at me with utter shock. But I was the one surprised by their reaction.


    ¡°If we won¡¯t make a request like this, what¡¯s the point of seeing Mr. Freedman?¡±


    ¡°Isn''t it just to have a chance of meeting a top star?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s already such an honor that he¡¯s meeting us.¡±


    ¡°But asking him to feature in our song? That¡¯s too big.¡±


    My members didn¡¯t seem to have thought so far to ask for a feature. It was understandable since the gap between our current celebrity statuses between Willy Freedman and us was too big. Yet, I had shot a challenge with Kang Hyun-Sung with this proposal in mind. If I didn¡¯t ask Willy Freedman to feature our song, all of my efforts woulde to nothing.


    ¡°But since he went so far as to make a meeting for us, I think we should try it instead of regretting itter. Do-Seung, could you prepare a remix beat before then? There¡¯s about a week left before then.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not difficult to make it before then. But you are going to show my work to Mr. Willy Freedman?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°¡­But this is insane.¡±


    All my members appeared to have some sort of fantasy about Willy Freedman. Of course, Willy Freedman was a giant in the industry, but he was human in the end; and if our conversation went well in the uing meeting, we could bring up the topic of asking for a feature.


    ¡°We are going to have to meet him anyways so let¡¯s all work hard to try to get a feature for him. It¡¯s a rare opportunity.¡±


    ¡°Ha¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s give it a try.¡±


    ¡°I should work really hard on the remix.¡±


    Though everyone appeared nervous, we fired our resolve for our uing dinner meeting with Willy Freedman.


    ***


    The fact that Willy Freedman made a challenge with ¡°Blue Ocean¡± became big news and quickly spread online. Of course, the first responses came from Siren¡¯s fandom. There were already heated responsesing just from the challenge video that Kang Hyun-Sung and Tae-Yoon shot together but because Willy Freedman also shot a challenge video a couple of hours after that, fans were talking more heatedly than usual.


    ¡ªWhat? Suddenly?


    ¡ªIsn¡¯t Willy Freedman too out of the blue? Lol


    ¡ªI think he saw the challenge video that Kang Hyun-Sung uploaded and copied that haha


    ¡ªIs Siren going to be a huge global star at this rate? It¡¯s already so hard to go to their fan meeting


    ¡ªPlease release a duet song with Willy Freedman


    ¡ªNext Wave, you better work. Try to get a hold of Willy Freedman. This is a rare chance to get onto Billboard


    People were well aware that Willy Freedman was Siren¡¯s next big break and tried to garner attention to the news. Furthermore, it wasn¡¯t just Korean fans who responded to Willy Freedman¡¯s challenge but there were also responses from abroad.


    ¡ª<em>This song is dope! Whose song is this?</em>[1]


    <em>¡ªIsn¡¯t this kpop? The lyrics kind of sound like Korean.</em>


    <em>¡ªSiren? The group¡¯s name is Siren? Like in the myth?</em>


    <em>¡ªThis song is already a mega hit in Korea</em>


    <em>¡ªGuys you already know Willy loves kpop. No need to hype this so much</em>


    Many were curious about the song that Willy used for his video and that led to more people saying the song was good and being curious about who the kpop singer was this time. Siren was receiving both responses from their nation and overseas.


    It was true that currently, Siren was amassing explosive poprity in Korea, but they had significantly less recognition out of the country. At most, their names were little known in Japan, China, and other Asian countries that had a high awareness of Korean idols, and they were almost unknown in the United States and Europe.


    Yet, the biggest music market in the world was the United States without question. If one seeded in the United States, it naturally led to the establishment of a global fandom and because of that, many idol groups bet their lives on debuting in the United States. As such, this Willy Freedman¡¯s challenge video was a golden opportunity for Siren. Even Yoo Won-Dong, who had little management experience in the entertainment world, knew it was a chance they could never get again.


    ¡°Has anyone deduced the reason why Willy Freedman might have shot a video challenge?¡±


    ¡°We think the biggest reason is the challenge video that Mr. Tae-Yoon shot with Mr. Kang Hyun-Sung.¡±


    ¡°Well, the fact that he shot a challenge video must mean he has a positive feeling towards Siren, right?¡±


    ¡°People won¡¯t usually shoot a challenge video of an idol group they dislike.¡±


    ¡°Is there anyone who can connect with thepany Willy Freedman is in?¡±


    ¡°We do know thepany name but¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah! Mr. Kim, the manager of the overseas business team probably has the contact information of an employee there!¡±


    ¡°Please call Mr. Kim in.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong nned to approach Willy Freedman by gathering internal information. Yoo Won-Dong was aware that idols¡¯ debut overseas had diversified significantly these days. There was a way of releasing a good song so that it hit the charts or going overseas in person to promote.


    Yet, if thepany had enough money, they could use another method which was to call a famous artist overseas to feature a song. But even this was only possible if they had a tiniest bit of connection with the artist or theirpany, and now, it became possible with Willy Freedman.


    ¡°I think you just need to set up a meeting for Siren members to meet with Willy Freedman and let them bring up the featuring topic¡­Manager Kim, I heard that you have a connection in Willy Freedman¡¯spany. Could I ask you to set up the meeting?¡±


    ¡°Um, Director, first, I think I must make it clear that the connection I have isn¡¯t with thepany Willy Freedman is associated with but the music managementpany that would be managing Willy¡¯s schedule in Korea.¡±


    ¡°Anyways, doesn¡¯t that mean you have a connection with someone who would manage Willy Freedman when hees to Korea? Then, can¡¯t you set up the meeting? ording to the news articles, they say Willy Freedman ising to Korea next week. I think it would be great if you could set up a dinner meeting with him and Siren somehow.¡±


    ¡°Um, Director, the second thing I wanted to tell you was that Mr. Freedman already agreed to eat dinner with Siren. It''s just personal information I heard¡­so, I didn¡¯t make a report¡­¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Yoo Won-Dong eximed without meaning to.


    ¡°Well¡­I heard that they aren¡¯t meeting for work but meeting for personal reasons to eat. They say it¡¯s because Willy Freedman has gained interest in Siren these days¡­ording to a friend who works in that music managementpany I talked about. We are keeping in contact in case we have to work together in the future.¡±


    ¡°How could you call this just a personal meeting, Mr. Kim? You should report things like this immediately.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Director. From now on, I will report even the smallest details about Siren to you.¡±


    Yoo Won-Dong was slightly resentful that important information might have been hidden from him. But since he also understood Manager Kim¡¯s point of view, he didn¡¯t get angrier.


    ¡°Then, I guess it will be important to make the atmosphere good when Siren meets Willy Freedman.¡±


    ¡°It certainly is.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s schedule a meeting with Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna toe up with the best ways to leave a good impression on Willy Freedman.¡±


    ¡°¡­Yes, I understand.¡±


    ¡°Since a week isn¡¯t a very long time, please hurry up.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    Like that without Siren¡¯s knowledge, Next Wave¡¯s biggest task became a dinner n with Willy Freedman, and they began to make preparations.


    ***


    Days passed until it was time for us to eat dinner with Willy Freedman. And on that day, it was hard for me to understand how big of an event this became. When I first received a message from Kang Hyun-Sung, I had thought lightly of the matter. I thought I could make a reservation at a suitable restaurant, eat a meal there, and if possible, invite him to Do-Seung¡¯s studio or somece else to let him listen to our song and ask if he wanted to feature our song.


    Yet, two days after Willy Freedman posted his challenge video, we suddenly got into a meeting with the employees of the overseas marketing team from the headquarters, and we received a basic training course that informed us what kind of person Willy Freedman was.


    I simply knew Willy Freedman as an American and that was the first time I heard so much about him in detail. I learned what sort of diet patterns and preferences he had, what his music style was, the marketing and album trends he had shown, the personality types of his albums and the records they had achieved.


    We had to memorize information about him as if we were studying an exam subject named Willy Freedman. Soon after that, they showed us possible restaurant options, discussed which menu choices to make, and what we should do for our next course. The n was detailed to the point that it decided at what time frame we should bring up the featuring proposal to Willy Freedman. I wondered why we had to go this far but my members joined the meeting quite seriously.


    It was funny that so many people were getting involved in just one dinner meal but with it, we could tell how serious thepany was about getting us on Billboard.


    <em>¡®I shouldn¡¯tin about them working hard,¡¯</em> I thought. Rather than doing nothing and sitting pretty, it was better to go all out even if it got too much. Like that, the day for us to eat dinner with Willy Freedman arrived.


    Ourpany lent us a car since today was supposed to be the day when Siren and Willy Freedman were going to meet for a private dinner, and Yeon-Hoon personally drove the car. Yet, since it wouldn¡¯t help out our image if we just went to meet him with any car, thepany gave us an expensive SUV from a famous overseas brand.


    ¡°¡­It¡¯s my first time driving a car this expensive.¡± We left the seat next to the driver seat for Willy Freedman, and we all sat in the back. Since we agreed to meet Willy Freedman with Kang Hyun-Sung, we headed to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s dorm first. When we arrived at our promised spot, Kang Hyun-Sung and Willy Freedman came out while wearing masks and hats. Yet, even from the beginning, things progressed differently from our n.


    ¡°Willy is going toe with me in my car. Let¡¯s go to the restaurant separately.¡±


    Our n had been to ce Willy Freedman in the front and make small talk while we were on a drive. Yet, he was going to go separately in Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s car. I thought this was fine since it wasn¡¯t a huge change of ns, but the changes began to get bigger.


    ¡°Ah, also, Willy said that he liked your suggestion, but he wants to eat more traditional Korean food, so I chose another ce for him. I will tell you the address so why don¡¯t you search it up.¡±


    We were going to a different restaurant than nned. The premium and lux Willy Freedman first-meeting n that Next Wave¡¯s core employees had worked so hard on was going awry from the beginning. But since the key was for us to eat together and be closer, I thought it was fine. Yet, my members appeared nervous about the change.


    ¡°Ahhh¡­¡±


    ¡°Things are going differently from our expectations¡­¡±


    ¡°Haa¡­what do we do?¡±


    ¡°Why am I shaking? Ahh¡­¡±


    My members who had never been scared even on stage looked pale and heaved nervously.


    1. All italicizedments are in English in the original text ?

 Chapter 237

    We arrived at the restaurant that Kang Hyun-Sung chose for Willy Freedman. The address that Kang Hyun-Sung gave me wasn¡¯t in Seoul but in Gyeonggi-do. It was near the mountain outskirts of Gyeonggi-do and was one of the restaurants where hikers often came to drink and eat. It was thergest and cleanest one of its kind and all the workers there from the restaurant owner to the servers were at least 60 years old. There wasn¡¯t a separate room or anything, but the ce was quite empty since it was a weekday.


    Yet, I thought I understood Kang Hyung-Sung¡¯s reason for choosing this restaurant.


    ¡°Wow¡­I feel like no one would recognize us here¡­¡±


    ¡°This is amazing.¡±


    Ever since we came out more on television, I had been reluctant to go to restaurants if it didn¡¯t have a separate room, but this ce was an exception. Since the employees were much older than average servers, they probably didn¡¯t know who we were. And even when we came in, they simply murmured something along the lines, ¡®My goodness, a bunch of handsome young guys came at once,¡¯ and didn¡¯t show more response besides that.


    ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s sit.¡± Kang Hyun-Sung guided us to the biggest table in the corner. Willy Freedman sat in the center and Kang Hyun-Sung sat beside him while I sat in front. My members took their seats in suitable locations that allowed them to talk to Willy Freedman. My members seemed unable to believe their situation even while sitting in their spots and continued to blink bafflingly.


    ¡°<em>Hi guys. I¡¯ve heard so much about you guys. Nice to meet you</em>.[1]¡±


    My members tried to reply in their limited English somehow while grabbing Willy¡¯srge hands.


    <em>¡°N-Nice to meet you.¡±</em>¡°<em>Thank you. Thank</em> you.¡±


    ¡°<em>Wee to Korea</em>.¡±


    ¡°<em>You look handsome</em>.¡±


    Willy Freedman seemed pleased by my members¡¯ English and smiled brighter than before. Meanwhile, Dong-Jun even showed the courage to say ¡®You look handsome¡¯ as a first greeting. But perhaps, Kang Hyun-Sung caught on that we couldn¡¯t speak English well and whispered into Willy¡¯s ears and said, ¡°<em>Could you please speak in Korean? My friends can¡¯t speak English.¡±</em>


    Though Kang Hyun-Sung had spoken quietly, we all heard because we sat right beside each other. My members slightly lowered their heads in shame, yet I wondered why they were acting like it was a crime that they didn¡¯t know English. It was natural that they weren¡¯t good at it since they lived in Korea all their lives. I wanted to tell my members to not feel down but I didn¡¯t know if it was fitting to speak up in this situation. Yet, the truly surprising part was Willy Freedman¡¯s Korean skills.


    ¡°Oh, I should¡¯ve known. Sorry everyone.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Freedman¡­?¡±


    ¡°How are you so good at Korean¡­?¡±


    His Korean was good enough to sound like he had lived a couple of years in Korea. There hadn¡¯t been this kind of information when we received education about Willy Freedman from ourpany. In information rting to Korea, all we learned was that Willy Freedman was an American top celebrity who liked K-pop. As we all stood in shock, Willy Freedman exined.


    ¡°I took Koreannguage sses in college. I have been a Kpop fan since I was young.¡± ording to him, he was a Kpop fan since he was young and took Koreannguage sses in college because of that.


    ¡°I take Koreannguage sses with Hyung-Sung once a week. I like Korea. Hahaha!¡± Furthermore, a native like Kang Hyun-Sung was giving him personal lessons once a week. No wonder he was so good at Korean.


    <em>¡®They told me he was smart, it¡¯s true.¡¯</em>


    Willy Freedman was a graduate of a top American college. In the first ce, he was able to quickly learn anothernguage because he had a good head on his shoulders.


    ¡°You are so good at Korean.¡±


    ¡°You are so cool.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief. I was worried that we won¡¯t be able to talk properly.¡±


    Because ournguage barrier disappeared, the atmosphere became significantly softer.


    ¡°Let¡¯s order from the menu first.¡± With Kang Hyung-Sung¡¯s lead, we chose our menu. Hanbang samgye-tang[2], seafood vegetable pancake, buckwheat pancakes, and grilled pock. Though they were all tasty dishes, I wondered if they were too ¡®local¡¯ for a foreigner. Yet, my worries quickly disappeared as Willy began.


    ¡°It¡¯s really good. I like Korean food.¡± With almost perfect chopstick skills, Willy ate his meal like a Korean. And because Willy was too focused on eating, I asked Kang Hyun-Sung about Willy¡¯s eating habits.


    ¡°Willy always liked Korean food and eats it at home too. He probably goes to the Korean grocery more than a Korean.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not to that level.¡±


    ¡°You eat Korean food at least once a week though.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    As expected, data collected from external sources was useless. I was aware that Willy Freedman liked Korea but not at this level. I was d that a famous celebrity in the US liked Korea this much, but it gave me a strange feeling because it felt like I was watching somemon nationalistic Utube content.


    <em>¡®I thought people made it up for video content but there are really people like this.¡¯ </em>And I thought if someone took a video and put a picture of Willy Freedman scooping a big bowl of <em>hanbang samgye-tang</em> and gulping it down as the thumbnail, it could get a couple million views. Then, I decided to stop thinking about random nonsense and focus on the present situation. While eating, we didn¡¯t bring up work-rted matters since this meal was supposed to be personal. It would break the mood if we talked about work here suddenly.


    But of course, I could talk about things of this level. ¡°Did you prepare for your concert tomorrow? I feel like you will be such an expert performer now.¡±


    ¡°I prepared for it well. I¡¯m going to perform like I usually do and am looking forward to it.¡±


    Willy Freedman came to Korea not just to eat a meal with us but to tour in Korea. Thus, it was easy for us to still mention his tour, and soon, Willy also showed interest in us too.


    ¡°I listened to all of Siren¡¯s songs on the airne. You all have talent, especially Do-Seung? You are so good at producing songs.¡±


    It appeared Willy quite liked Do-Seung¡¯s song-producing skills. Perhaps, because he was acknowledged by a world-famous singer, Do-Seung looked genuinely touched.


    ¡°Thank you for recognizing my skill.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    Do-Seung and Willy exchanged lines that sounded like they woulde out of a movie. The meal continued in a light manner. I was worried that the atmosphere would be awkward the whole time because we couldn¡¯t drink since I was still underaged, yet Willy said he couldn¡¯t drink before a concert tomorrow anyways, and my members were already expert in ying without any alcohol.


    ¡°Do you know how people in Korea describe hot food, Willy?¡±


    ¡°What do they say?¡±


    ¡°They say it¡¯s refreshing and cool.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a form of expression. You probably won¡¯t learn stuff like that in yournguage sses. Follow me. Haa~ So refreshing.¡±


    ¡°¡­It¡¯s strange.¡±


    ¡°¡­I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Dong-Jun tried to make a clich¨¦ foreigner joke but failed. Yet, his attempt was quite funny and helped soften the dining atmosphere. The majority of the conversation was about how long Willy liked K-Pop and what part of the genre made him like it. As expected of a top-ss artist, Willy had a high inclination for beautiful and cool things and sought them out since he was young. And when he saw K-pop for the first time, it gave him a shock of sorts and from then on, he began to murmur along K-pop songs and this was actually what got him into music.


    He was a rare case where his interest started with K-Pop and ended in arger dream of music. Regardless, the fact that an artist that had a lot of interest in K-Pop and had a positive reception to it was eating <em>samgye-tang </em>with us right now was truly an opportunity right now. Yet, near the end of the meal, I heard something I didn¡¯t expect. Since everyone was basically done with their meal, Do-Seung took the chance to invite Willy to his studio to talk about music.


    Since Do-Seung also had a home gym, he suggested that they could also do light exercises together too. Willy¡¯s hobby was exercising so this was apelling suggestion.


    ¡°Oh, that sounds good. I was worried that I wouldn¡¯t be able to exercise properly at the hotel. Thank you.¡± Willy Freedman probably would have a difficult time using the hotel gym at his level of fame. Everything was good up to this point, and Kang Hyun-Sung even caught onto what was happening and left the scene saying he had a schedule to attend to.


    Now, all we had to do was to bring Willy to Do-Seung¡¯s studio and try to lead him into the recording room. It would be game over then¡­


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you all in advance, but I don¡¯t make songs with K-pop artists.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­Sorry?¡±


    ¡°¡­Willy?¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    It was what Willy said after we left the restaurant, and we were about to get into the car. We all froze in our spots with Willy¡¯s words. But because we knew it would unnecessarily pressure Willy if we stood frozen like that, my members tapped each other and immediately changed their expressions.


    ¡°It¡¯s all right! You don¡¯t have to make a song with us.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Hahaha.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s totally fine.¡±


    After assuring Willy, my members brought him into our car.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go.¡± Then, we headed to Do-Seung¡¯s studio but on our way there, my members and I discussed our change of n through text.


    ¡ªWhat do we do? This wasn¡¯t within our predictions.


    ¡ªI mean who could¡¯ve guessed that he won¡¯t work with us¡­


    ¡ªHe said he liked idols. Why won¡¯t he work with us then¡­?


    This was quite the emergency for us. I put my phone down. There was no way a solution would arise just because we discussed ns in a chatroom. Thus, I asked Willy as he sat in the passenger seat.


    ¡°Can I ask why you don¡¯t make songs with Korean idols even though you like K-pop?¡±


    Though I was speaking quite bluntly, I thought the day would end fruitlessly if I didn¡¯t ask this question. My members looked at me in shock and then looked back to Willy for an answer. If this had to do something about having pride as an artist from the homnd of Pop, it wouldn¡¯t feel good, but it couldn¡¯t be helped. There was no point in hanging over someone who set his mind to not work with us.


    Yet, Willy¡¯s response was simple. ¡°I think K-Pop is most beautiful when Korean people do it. Of course, people who aren¡¯t Korean can also be K-pop artists but it¡¯s only fine because they received the proper training for a long time. But since I never received training as a K-pop artist, I don¡¯t think I will suit the scene.¡± Willy exined that it was because he thought he didn¡¯t fit K-pop well. ¡°I don¡¯t want to disrupt the music I like.¡±


    I thought it was understandable that he had this sort of opinion as somebody who liked K-Pop for a long time. He might have thought his voice didn¡¯t suit K-pop. I began to better understand why he hadn¡¯t had a coboration with a Korean idol yet. After all, if he liked Korean idols this much, he should¡¯ve made a coboration song with Kang Hyun-Sung a long time ago. Nevertheless, I thought Willy¡¯s reply was positive not just for me but the whole team.


    Knowing this, Do-Seung made an adventurous smile and asked Willy, ¡°So, that means you do like K-Pop music?¡±


    ¡°I love it.¡±


    ¡°And do you like our songs?¡±


    ¡°They are really impressive, especially the song, ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯. I almost want to steal that from you.¡±


    ¡°Then, that¡¯s enough.¡±


    ¡°¡­What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go there first.¡±


    Like that, we took Willy who had a confused look on his face and headed to Do-Seung¡¯s studio.


    1. Italicized sentences are originally in English. ?


    2. Whole chicken soup stuffed with sticky rice, Asian herbs, and ginseng ?

 Chapter 238

    <h4>Chapter 238</h4>


    We moved to Do-Seung¡¯s studio with Willy in the car. Though Willy looked worried after hearing Do-Seung say that he would know once we got to the location, his expression softened while looking at the night scenery through the window.


    ¡°It really is a charming city,¡± Willy said, making me realize how much he liked Korea again. He even went so far to say the city view was more beautiful and colorful than New York and Paris and read each of the Korean writings on the street and board signs as a five-year-old child would. Then, he went on a great length about the taste and healthiness of Korean food.


    ¡°Korean food has potential. It can really be a heaven for vegetarians.¡±


    All we did was respond appropriately to Willy¡¯sments and eventually, we arrived at Do-Seung¡¯s studio.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go guys~¡± Since we didn¡¯te to Do-Seung¡¯s changed studio too often either, we were also surprised every time we came to visit. It was a ce that was located in the basement of a building right next to thepany building, and its entrance looked like any one entrance found anywhere. Yet, once we went downstairs, its security became extremely tight.


    ¡°Please give me a moment.¡± Do-Seung swapped his fingerprint, pressed the password on the door lock, and then inserted his key and turned it around to get inside. It was a three-stage lock system. The security had been provided by thepany in case anyone tried to trespass inside his studio.


    Like most studios, the lights inside the studio were slightly less saturated. The first room was the main production room where Do-Seung recorded and produced his songs. Then, the room next to it in the hallways was a gym. Originally, thepany had prepared him that room as a ce to sleep in when he got tired, and it had been a resting room with a bed even thest time I visited this ce. Yet, Do-Seung had taken away the bed and reced it with power racks, barbells, dumbbell sets, and a running machine for cardio.


    ¡°<i>Oh My Gosh</i>.¡± Willy¡¯s eyes widened after seeing Do-Seung¡¯s gym.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice, isn¡¯t it?¡± Do-Seung stood next to Willy and looked at him adoringly.


    ¡°<i>It¡¯s gorgeous.¡±</i>


    I had no idea what Willy was seeing when he described gym equipment as ¡®<i>gorgeous</i>¡¯, but after listening to Willy and Do-Seung¡¯s conversation, it appeared that all this equipment was a gym luxury item of sorts. It was a territory that I had no idea about but in a situation where we needed to get on Willy¡¯s good side as much as possible, this was great.


    <i>¡®Thank goodness that Do-Seung is a gym bro.¡¯</i> Since the gym equipment seemed to have scored some points with Willy, it could be said that they were worth their prices.


    ¡°Should we exercise?¡±


    ¡°Sounds good.¡±


    While Do-Seung and Willy exercised, the rest of us decided to wait a bit. And though the two liked working out, they didn¡¯t exercise for too long considering the situation, and they finished their entire course including a shower in an hour. Dong-Jun had taken a quick look at them while they were exercising and told us that Do-Seung and Willy were doing some strength contests. The two had probably increased their weights to stimte their muscles as much as possible in a short time frame.


    ¡°It felt really good. Everyone, exercise. It¡¯s really good for you.¡±


    ¡°Willy is just built differently guys. Is this the racial barrier?¡±


    The two appeared much closer just because they worked out together once. It was understandable why dads went to y golf every weekend to build connections.


    <i>¡®Seems like people really be closer through exercise,¡¯</i> I thought and then quickly refocused my thoughts to what was really important. Then, I exchanged looks with my members. Though many things had happened today, we ultimately seeded in bringing Willy to this studio room. Do-Seung especially seemed to have gotten closer with Willy through exercise. Thus, it was time for us to progress our original n. I got my phone and went into our group chat room.


    ¡ªHey guys, Mr. Willy said he didn¡¯t really want to sing with us. So, let¡¯s change to n B and show him our second sample right after. Rather than asking him for a feature again, I think it will be less pressuring to do that.


    I ryed to my members the thoughts I came up with whileing to this ce by car. My members seemed to think like me as they replied.


    ¡ªOkay, show him the second sample


    ¡ªI did think it was better to show him the second sample as soon as he gave us his exnation.


    ¡ªUgggh Why am I so nervous...It¡¯s not like it was me who made the song...


    ¡ªDon¡¯t worry. Honestly, I was more confident in the second sample than the first sample. I¡¯m sure he will like it.


    Since we didn¡¯t know what kind of direction our studio work with Willy would go, we had prepared two samples to show him. The first one was a remix that Do-Seung created while asking for a feature in mind; he had removed K-Pop elements and added more groove to harmonize our team colors better with Willy. Since it was a sample that found a good bnce of K-Pop and the original Pop, thepany had ced a lot of expectations on it.


    Yet, not knowing what could happen, we had prepared a second sample in case. This sample didn¡¯t find a middle ground between K-Pop and just Pop but gave off a 100% pop feeling as if we were shouting out loud to Willy to work with us. This sample had been made in case Willy said it was difficult for him to feature our song, but he could do a song cover. Though we didn¡¯t think we would use this sample, it was great we had it since Willy dered he won¡¯t work with K-Pop artists for specific reasons.


    ¡°Willy, do you remember what you said inside the car?¡±


    ¡°What you said?¡±


    ¡°You said that you wanted to take our song, ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ and I said that was enough.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes, I remember that. What did you mean by that Do-Seung?¡± Willy looked at me a bit curiously.


    ¡°If you are asking to sing together...I will refuse in advance. It¡¯s not because I don¡¯t like you guys but it¡¯s because of my personal preference so don¡¯t misunderstand.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not asking you to sing with us.¡±


    ¡°Then what is it?¡±


    ¡°Do you want to sing alone?¡±


    ¡°...<i>What?¡±</i>


    ¡°I prepared a song for you. It¡¯s a version of ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ that I made just for you. I pondered for a long time what I could give you as a gift and after discussion, my members and I came up with this idea. Here, this is our gift to you,¡± Do-Seung said and handed Willy a USB. This was the USB that had the second sample of Blue Ocean.


    <i>¡®I think Do-Seung can get into business marketing...? Why did he suddenly be so good at talking?¡¯ </i>


    I was shocked to see Do-Seung present the USB with the second sample as some kind of very special gift that we prepared for Willy. When we mentioned the second sample, we had always talked about it as the worse alternative if Willy rejected our featuring offer and we had to cry and beg Willy to at least do a cover for us. But now that Do-Seung presented the second sample as a gift, there was less pressure on Willy who was receiving it. Willy¡¯s expression was proof that Do-Seung¡¯s talking skills had been effective.


    ¡°Really? Blue Ocean?¡± Willy looked like a boy who just received a Christmas present. Now that I thought about it, I thought this was the perfect present for someone like Willy. Though he liked K-Pop, he didn¡¯t coborate with K-Pop artists because he thought his voice wasn¡¯t suitable for it. But since he couldn¡¯t do what he liked, he probably felt a bit of frustration from it.


    Yet, since a song producer who made K-Pop songs reproduced a song just for him, Willy was probably touched. What we didn¡¯t expect to be useful came to be the most effective. I looked back to Do-Seung with slight awe. Do-Seung met my eyes and winked.


    <i>¡®...?¡¯</i> Do-Seung winking? I felt such chills that I almost jumped out of my seat but I repressed myself. I thought Do-Seung must have gone crazy but then I realized.


    <i>¡®Ah. He isn¡¯t Do-Seung right now.¡¯ </i>The person who touched Willy¡¯s heart with superb eloquence wasn¡¯t Do-Seung from this world but regressor Do-Seung. He probably jumped out to the scene strategically knowing that this was an important moment for us to aplish our Billboard mission. No wonder; I thought Do-Seung became too good at speaking for someone who usuallycked social skills.


    ¡°Can I hear it right now? I have never received a song as a gift.¡±


    ¡°Oh really?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I only receive them for work. Never as a gift.¡±


    Hearing Willy say that it was his first time receiving a song as a gift hurt my conscience a bit since we gave him the second sample hoping that he would work with us. It was then I realized that things could turn a bit ambiguous. Willy could really just ept the sample as a gift and not do anything about it. Yet, I didn¡¯t have to worry about that as soon as Do-Seung turned on the second sample.


    ¡°Ooooh! Yeah!¡± Willy hollered and began to feel the music immediately.


    He immediately got into the vibe and even his shrugs had a soul to it. I looked at Willy, impressed for a bit but quickly turned my gaze. Do-Seung looked quite pleased with himself. It was natural since he had perfectly rposed a song ording to a genre he never tried before. To make the song have a more American R¡¯n¡¯B feeling to it, he added reverbs to the instruments and slowed the tempo. He added many synth sounds so that one would naturally want to groove along to the song.


    Simultaneously, Do-Seung didn¡¯t forget the main melody line of ¡°Blue Ocean¡±. If ¡°Blue Ocean¡± had flowed out in an American military base in the 90s, this was the sort of feeling it would¡¯ve given. Willy appeared entranced by just the intro of the song, and his expression looked even more astonished at the refrain part. I supposed a person had to love music this much to be first ce on a US Billboard chart. Soon afterwards, the songpletely finished.


    ¡°<i>Lyrics</i>[1]<i>,</i> um, do you have any lyrics?¡±


    Willy asked for the lyrics and found it saved as a file inside the USB. The overseas marketing team had tranted my lyrics into English. Since there was someone who had tranted pop songs and movies in their university days, the tranting process had been smooth. Willy read the tranted lyrics and nodded one more time saying it was good. Then, his next words came as a great but weing surprise for us.


    ¡°Should we record right now?¡± He immediately suggested. ¡°I am going to include this song in tomorrow¡¯s concert.¡±


    ¡°...Wow...¡±


    He was going to sing ¡°Blue Ocean¡± in tomorrow¡¯s concert? As soon as I heard this, billboard seemed to be waving in front of my eyes.


    1. Originally in English ?

 Chapter 239

    <h4>Chapter 239</h4>


    Korean fans waited ardently for Willy Freedman¡¯s concert that was going to happen tomorrow. They were filled with excitement about attending their first Willy Freedman¡¯s concert. On an inte forum made up of only Willy Freedman¡¯s fans, many wrote posts saying that they couldn¡¯t sleep in anticipation of the concert. Yet, between the posts, there was also another noticeable topic that kept getting mentioned.


    ¡ªI knew Willy was close to Kang Hyun-Sung but he¡¯s also close to Siren??


    It was about Willy Freedman¡¯s friendships in Korea. Though these posts had been scattered dimly in between, they almost took up half of the news posts after some journalists posted a couple of pictures. It was a picture of Willy moving with Kang Hyun-Sung in the car and Siren¡¯s car following closely behind them.


    ¡ªWilly ate with Siren?


    ¡ªThey say Willy, Kang Hyun-Sung, and Siren yed together


    Reply: Haha that¡¯s a strangebination


    Reply: How much does he like Kpop that he only meets idols in Korea lol


    Reply: At this point, shouldn¡¯t he make a cob song with an idol


    Reply: I know right...haha


    Willy Freedman¡¯s connections in Korea was an interesting topic to the fan since Willy was an artist who didn¡¯t seem to have much close connections even in the United States. On the inte, there were videos of Willy Freedman sitting alone in award ceremonies and even when someone tried to start a conversation with him, he would sloppily respond back. Thus, it was very surprising that Willy Freedman was close to Kang Hyun-Sung of all people.


    It gave a small sense of pride and joy that the hottest star in the U.S. wasn¡¯t ying around with other superstars but was so close to Korean idols. And the fact that Willy was making more connections in Korea and those connections were Korean idols drew more attention.


    ¡ªAt this point, one of Willy¡¯s grandparents might be Korean


    Reply: Rather than that, isn¡¯t he just an idol fan?


    Reply: hahaha that¡¯s true


    Reply: Can he please just do his activities here?


    Reply: If he goes to music shows, he can see as many idols as he want lol


    People thought the more connections Willy built in Korea, the more activities he would do in the country; and as the forum continued to be filled with news of Willy¡¯s ties, a picture came up on Willy Freedman¡¯s social media ount at 11:50pm. Below the picture, there were the following lines:


    ¡ª<i>I had such a fantastic first day in Korea. I will always remember it as one of the best days in my life.[1]</i>


    ¡ªWow, seems like Siren and Willy are really buddy buddies now


    ¡ªDo we have any Siren fans here? Do they usually get close to people so fast?


    Reply: I don¡¯t think those guys can even speak English...lol


    Reply: What? Did they really talk only through bodynguage all day then?


    Reply: Ah seriously ahahahaha


    Reply: Forced ¡®Talk With Your Body¡¯ hard version haha


    Reply: I can see them getting close


    Thinking of how Willy and Siren might have gotten people, people thought of all sorts of humorous imaginations. Yet, Willy¡¯s feeds didn¡¯t end there.


    ¡ª<i>Guys, something huge ising in 10 minutes! Wait for it!</i>


    In ten minutes, it was going to be midnight. It appeared Willy was going to upload something on the day of his concert.


    ¡ªWilly what is this?


    ¡ªSomething huge?


    ¡ªWhat is it?


    ¡ªIs he going to announce something in ten minutes?


    ¡ªDid he make something with Siren?


    ¡ªFor real, is it a song with Siren?


    ¡ªWow, I really feel like he did something with Siren; that¡¯s a picture of Siren Kang Do-Seung¡¯s studio


    ¡ªThis is insaaaaane I think it¡¯s really huge


    ¡ªThey are really going to do a corb at this rate


    ¡ªReally? For sure?


    ¡ªI¡¯m so curious


    People waited for what Willy must have prepared with Siren. Though Willy didn¡¯t mention that he did something with Siren, everyone deduced from the picture he uploaded and the previous articles that had been released that he was working with Siren. Then, finally, when it became 12am, Willy uploaded a minute-long video with the following description.


    ¡ª<i>The full version will be released right after the show tomorrow</i>.


    The thumbnail of the video showed Willy holding onto a headset over his ears while inside a recording room. People clicked on Willy¡¯s video with full anticipation. The beginning of the video sounded familiar yet unfamiliar. At first, it seemed to be apletely new song but as Willy hummed the melody line, people got a grasp on which song this was. It was Siren¡¯s ¡°Blue Ocean¡±.


    ¡ªThis is crazy. This is Willy¡¯s Blue Ocean version


    ¡ªAh Willy <i>hyung</i>! I knew I could believe in you!!


    ¡ªMy heart is thumping


    ¡ªWow...is this really the same song?


    ¡ªHahaha I can feel the soul from Kpop


    ¡ªIt¡¯s like adding kimchi on a pizza but it¡¯s so goods


    ¡ªHey! No need to eat KimPiTang*! [2] I could listen to Willy¡¯s Blue Ocean once more!


    ¡ªThis is how Korean and American ties became stronger


    ¡ªThis is diplomatic rtions


    Willy¡¯s ¡°Blue Ocean¡± gave a refreshing shock to people and the video began to spread across the inte. At first, only Willy fans seemed to watch the video but in just thirty minutes, it began to spread across many people in Korea.


    ¡ªSiren did a cob with Willy


    ¡ªWhat¡¯s going on?


    ¡ªOur babies...they are quickly bing global...


    ¡ªI can already imagine being pushed around by both national and foreign fans in concerts


    Reply; Don¡¯t already think of things like that haha


    The group who responded almost as fast as Willy¡¯s fandom was obviously Siren¡¯s fandom. Willy¡¯s video went on trending and began to spread across Bluebird.


    ¡ªHowe this guy won¡¯t do a cob with Only One but did it first with Siren?


    Reply: I guess there were some circumstances


    ¡ªWilly is seriously mad at singing though


    ¡ªI didn¡¯t think other group¡¯s cover of Blue Ocean was very fitting but this one is so suitable


    Reply: It¡¯s probably cause Do-Seung rposed the song


    ¡ªIs Siren really going to Billboard?


    Reply: At this point, how much are they trying to suck out of their debut album?


    Reply: Lol They are really squeezing out this debut album dry


    At this point, Siren fans even talked about ¡°Blue Ocean¡± entering the Billboard charts. It wasn¡¯t all in their head, as even overseas, the video that Willy uploaded was amassing buzz.


    ¡ª<i>Willy just uploaded this video. Is it a new song?</i>


    Reply:<i> It¡¯s a cover of a k-pop song</i>


    Reply: <i>Willy covered a k-pop group¡¯s song?</i>


    Reply: <i>Siren is a new k-pop boy group, but they are already famous in Korea</i>


    ¡ª<i>Why isn¡¯t there a full version of this song? Is this Willy¡¯s next album title?</i>


    Reply: <i>It¡¯s a k-pop group¡¯s song cover. The group¡¯s name is Siren.</i>


    ¡ª<i>Willy released a new song!!</i>


    Reply: <i>It¡¯s a k-pop group cover. Siren.</i>


    ¡ª<i>So, a k-pop idol wrote a new song for Willy?</i>


    Reply: <i>It¡¯s a cover, you idiots!</i>


    Unfamiliar with who Siren was, American people simply thought Willy had uploaded a new song. Yet, there were people who consistently informed people that this was a cover of Siren¡¯s ¡°Blue Ocean¡±. After all, even if Siren wasn¡¯t famous in the US, they still had enough recognition to get an exnationment about them.


    The next day on Willy¡¯s concert day in Korea, Willy Freedman added ¡°Blue Ocean¡± to his setlist as promised to Siren. Before singing ¡°Blue Ocean¡±, he didn¡¯t forget to mention Siren¡¯s name multiple times.


    <i>¡°Siren is an amazing team that gave me a lot of inspiration and motivation in ourst meeting. I want to thank Do-Seung who gave me this wonderful song, Tae-Yoon who wrote these cool lyrics, and I don¡¯t want to forget Dong-Jun, Yeon-Hoon, and Woon either.¡± </i>Willy went as far as to mention each of the Siren members¡¯ names which made not only Willy¡¯s fans but Siren¡¯s fans go crazy.


    ¡ªHow close did our guys get to Willy??


    ¡ªPerhaps, they have more diplomatic talent than as idols


    ¡ªMake Siren global


    Fans made a fuss over Siren who built a humongous connection almost overnight.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s first time Willy seemed so close to someone besides Kang Hyun-Sung


    ¡ªHwo much did he like the song exactly? Haha


    ¡ªI think Siren¡¯s song will do well even in the States


    The rest of the public also enjoyed seeing a Korean new idol group quickly amassing fame even in the US. Though this was Willy Freedman¡¯s concert tour, buzz about Siren explosively increased as much as Willy Freedman. And this didn¡¯t only happen in Korean either. As one of the hottest artists in the US right now, every action Willy did became a big issue. Thus, the fact that he did Siren''s cover was quite surprising.


    Americans who didn¡¯t know ¡°Blue Ocean¡± was Siren¡¯s song eventually learned that Willy did a cover song. Of course, there were some mixed reactions.


    ¡ª<i>The original isn''t to my taste. I want to listen to Willy¡¯s version.</i>


    ¡ª<i>K-pop is definitely a bit too much for me.</i>


    ¡ª<i>Young guys wearing marine uniforms sing? Oh...</i>


    Since it was a song that didn¡¯t fit mainstream American music, these responses were quite natural. Yet, there weren¡¯t only people who showed negative responses, and there were people who showed strong positive responses as well.


    <i>¡ªThis is really good? I should add all this group¡¯s songs into my ylist.</i>


    <i>¡ªWho is that handsome guy in the middle?</i>


    Reply: <i>Do-Seung. His body is even hotter than his face.</i>


    Reply: <i>My goodness...</i>


    ¡ª<i>I have been listening to this song all day long. I think I have fallen into the k-pop hole</i>


    ¡ª<i>Why isn¡¯t everyone listening to this song?</i>


    Even in the US, Siren¡¯s fandom was expanding. Furthermore, Siren¡¯s album that had been ced in the corner of the music store began toe up on the main sections. In some cities, it became the most sold album of that week.


    <i>¡ªThe reception Siren has been having in the US is pretty significant right now</i>


    <i>¡ªIt seems really great? My friend who goes to college in the States told me that Siren¡¯s album is on the main section in their local album store</i>


    <i>¡ªI think people who like K-pop there are all listening to it</i>


    Korean fans already began to notice that Siren was gaining some traction in the US. They were finally treading on new territories among national idols.


    1. Whole post is originally in English<i> ?</i>


    2. Short for kimchi-pizza-tangsuyuk(Korean Chinese sweet and sour pork)bination that¡¯s rtively known ?

 Chapter 240

    <h4>Chapter 240</h4>


    I was checking the announcement of the Billboard chart for the third week of September. It was during the afternoon when all of our team members were holding our breath. Where I went these days, people often said that Siren may really enter the Billboard Hot 100. Whenever that happened, we would answer with the words, ¡®no way¡¯.


    However, internally, we were constantly discussing that we might really make it in the Billboard Hot 100. Of course, for me, I had to make that happen at all costs instead of leaving it as ¡®maybe¡¯. When my obsession with entering the Billboard became severe, I even thought of just flying to the US and begging on my knees to the Billboard president.


    But I decided to wait and see for now as at this rate, it seemed that we would soon be able to reach the Billboard Hot 100. There were a lot of videos that sped up our song 2x in TicTacTok, and I saw a lot of challenge videos there as well. Our record sales in the US were also reaching new heights every day. So, with enough time, I thought we would definitely be able to enter the Hot 100.


    Above all, Willy, our strong supporter, continued to give us support even while he was on tour. He kept using our songs as backgrounds in his TicTacTok videos and kept posting our songs on social media for songs he often listened to these days. And a result of all these actions appeared as a rank in front of my very eyes.


    Billboard Chart in the 3rd week of September.


    98th ce.


    Siren- <Blue Ocean>


    99th ce.


    Siren- <Blue Summer Night>


    Our song finally entered the Billboad, and it wasn¡¯t just one song but two songs. Tuesday was the day when the Billboard Chart was released. My members and I stared at theptop monitor nkly. We achieved this in about three months since our official debut, and it was an achievement that was made about two and a half months after receiving the Billboard mission.


    Considering that the fastest group to enter the Billboard Hot 100 before us took about half a year, it was an astounding achievement.


    ¡°Is this...real?¡±


    ¡°...This is our song, right...?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no other Siren...except for us, right...?¡±


    ¡°...Wow.¡±


    The member, who had been hoping fervently, froze as soon as they saw that our songs had entered the Billboard Chart. Soon after¡ª


    ¡°Ahhhhhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Ohhhhhhhhh!¡±


    ¡°For real? Is this real? This isn¡¯t a dream, right?¡± ¡°Wooooo!¡±


    A literal roar came out from them, and the members got up and jumped up and down. It was a relief that the walls were soundproof and the floors were thick; if we had been in an apartment with a slightly worse construction, the people below us would have definitely came up toin.


    The members got up on the sofa and jumped around, got up on the table and screamed. Then they suddenly opened the window of the veranda and tried to screa but was stopped by Yeon-Hoon. Then they even ran around the living room.


    Eventually, everyone was left exhausted and returned to their original seats in front of the sofa and hugged each other.


    ¡°Bal...we made it, guys...¡±


    ¡°We worked so hard.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re now a group that made it into the Billboard...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the best. We¡¯re the best.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon already burst into tears as if he was deeply moved. Do-Seung pretended to be calm, but the ends of his voice was a bit shaky, and Woon¡¯s voice sounded overwhelmed with emotions. Dong-Jun¡¯s voice was full of excitement from the way he breathed.


    ¡°Thank you all so much, for real.¡± I also added my gratitude to my members. The Billboard Hot 100 entry and Triple Crown All Kill Mission¡ªfrankly, the possibility of seeding these missions would have been less than 10% in a positive light. Which group in the world will enter the Billboard Hot 100 and get a Triple Crown All Kill at the same tie with their debut album?


    However, thanks to my members¡¯ endless efforts and all the strenuous work I¡¯ve grilled through and thanks to Kang Hyun-Sung¡¯s connection and Willy¡¯s support, we were able to achieve such a wonderful result.


    ¡°This really calls for a celebration.¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°Beer...Let¡¯s have a beer.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we need congrattory drinks.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s drink anything with alcohol except Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go out! Let¡¯s go out and buy drinks!¡±


    Before I knew it, the members¡¯ conversation changed to buying alcohol.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, you wait here. We¡¯ll go downstairs and get a beer.¡± Led by Do-Seung, the members got up together. Excluding our trip to Sokcho in the past, I¡¯ve rarely seen my members drink. This was how happy the members were. The members, who had even cut out alcohol to be idols, seemed to be loosening the tight grip they had on their diet for at least today.


    However, I realized that Do-Seung wasn¡¯t just going out to buy alcohol when he tapped me on the shoulder right before going out and said, ¡°Congrattions on your sess. Get your rewards right now if there¡¯s anything to get.¡± He was giving me alone tie, knowing that I would receive the mission sesspensation.


    ¡®But I can¡¯t get that reward now...¡¯ What I bet as a reward was meeting with the 999th regressor. To get this, I needed to receive the reward when Yeon-Hoon was present. However, before the misunderstanding was resolved, Do-Seung, Woon, Dong-Jun, and Yeon-Hoon all went out. In the end, I was left alone in the living room of the dorm.


    [Mission Sess.]


    A mission sess notification came up.


    [Siren has seeded in a Triple All Crown and entered the Billboard Hot 100 with a single song.]


    [The death of Kang Do-Seung, Lee Woon, and Park Dong-Jun would be retrieved.]


    [The worldline connections with Kang Do-Seunga and Lee Woon will be maintained.]


    [Do you want to start the meeting with the 999th regressor?]


    I listened to the content of what the system recited. First of all, I felt even more proud to hear in an official sentence that I prevented my members¡¯ deaths and kept the worldline connections. It was enough for me to also want to get a beer.


    However, it was impossible for me to meet the 999th regressor now. The system also knew this as well as it gave me the option to choose when to start my meeting, as it usually just started right away. The system seemed to give some leeway in situations when it was impossible to start in reality.


    <i>¡®...Wait a minute.¡¯ </i>I suddenly became curious. Yeon-Hoon went to the supermarket to buy alcohol. In other words, he was not next to e. Then what would happen if I tried to meet the 999th regressor now? Would Yeon-Hoone running back to the dorm from the mart? Or would the meeting be arranged in a different for?


    I continued my thoughts. I thought that choosing to meet with the regressor right now might be a way to form a crack in the system again. Of course, if it all just ended with Yeon-Hoon running back to the dorm from the mart, I would feel a bit bummed out. Well, since Dong-Jun, Do-Seung, and Woon all knew I was a regressor anyway, there was nothing for me to be afraid of.


    <i>¡®Meet right now,¡¯</i> I replied inside my mind, and when I did this, the system usually replied. However, the system didn¡¯t answer for a while. Perhaps, the system might really be dragging Yeon-Hoon back to the dorm. My purpose was not to meet the 999th regressor itself but to weave Yeon-Hoon¡¯s universe into my universe through the 999th regressor anyways.


    I was fine as long as the meeting could be arranged in any form. Then I just had to use Insight to observe the universes and weave them one by one in my direction.


    [There was an error in the system.]


    [Please try againter.]


    The system said there was an error.


    ¡°...What?¡± Was there an error because Yeon-Hoon went to the mart? I instinctively felt that there was something different about this, and I thought there was no way there was an error in the system just because of Yeon-Hoon who went to the mart. I felt that the system was more sloppy than I thought these days, but I thought there was no way the system could be this sloppy.


    Perhaps this was caused by another factor that led to the error. If this was another unexpected factor that the system couldn¡¯t expect, I thought, ¡®This is a chance for me.¡¯


    I didn¡¯t know what that factor was, but this might be an opportunity for me to dig up something more about the system. I activated Insight without dy.


    <i>Ziiing-!</i>


    The time of the world slowly flowed. I sat in the living room as if I was in a vacuum and stared into the air.


    ¡®I¡¯ll meet the 999th regressor now.¡¯ Then I carried out the same order as before once more.


    [There was an error in the system.]


    [Please try againter.]


    As expected, it was the samement as before. Then there was only one thing left for me to do.


    <i>¡®I¡¯ll do this until it works.¡¯</i> From the moment I activated Insight, I had plenty of time. I gave the same order over and over again. Then the system gave the same answer several times. It was a work that involved infinite repetition. I didn¡¯t even know how much time had passed. I was confident about waiting and enduring as I had lived doing this for years.


    A year in the world without my members had been like 10 years, and all of those times were like torture for me. It was a torture that I couldn¡¯t defeat on my own, and I¡¯ve endured all those times without saying a word. Compared to the hardships of my past life, this was nothing.


    Hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of meaningless back and forth urred between the system and me. I believed that this moment would get me closer to cracking the system. At that moment¡ª


    [There was an error...


    <i>Swoosh-!</i>


    The system was about to repeat the same lines and went down. This was what I had been aiming for¡ªthe moment the system went down, and it was something I had experienced once before. This system was like aputer that managed the entire universe, so when repeated tasks umted, it seemed to think that there was a serious problem and rebooted all functions.


    Of course, it was only my hypothesis, but given that it was working again, I thought it was quite apelling hypothesis. And now that the system was rebooting, I had nothing to afraid with Insight activated. Another hypothesis I had was that Insight was like awork that connected the system and me as I was able to ess the system¡¯s functions through Insight and acquire all the information in the world and furthermore, givemands to others.


    But what would happen if the system went down while I used Insight? This meant that I was connected with the system, but the system¡¯s monitoring and restrictions have disappeared. In simpler terms, I could now do whatever I wanted without the system¡¯s control.


    I concentrated my mind. Then I thought of the infinite space that I saw before, the space where my brothers and my worldline stretched out like threads. My imagination immediately became reality and unfolded before my eyes. It was the same ce I¡¯ve seen before.


    I quickly approached where our worldlines began to split into branches. Between the worldlines stretching in all directions, there was one slightly thicker line¡ªthat was my universe. Because Do-Seung and Woon¡¯s worldlines were attached, it was slightly thicker than the other worldlines. There was only one thing left for me to do.


    ¡®I have to connect them.¡¯ Now that the system was down, I had to connect the other worldlines. I stared at the hundreds of worldlines stretching all over the ce. Then, one by one, I began to pull them towards my universe. The numerous lines that stretched out in infinite space began to inch towards my line.


    <i>¡®Quickly...just a little faster.¡¯ </i>I was moving hundreds of worldlines at once; it would be even weirder if it was done fast. However, my mind kept getting urgent. I didn¡¯t know when the system would reboot. The worldlines wereing closer and closer, and a few worldlines were already beginning to cling to my worldlines.


    One. Two. Three. Suddenly, the lines attached to my worldlines exceeded 12. I needed to speed up a little bit more. When the 13th universe was about to stick, I suddenly heard a voice in the background.


    ¡ªIt¡¯s probably going to get hard from there.


    It was a familiar voice. I turned around.


    ¡ªShall we talk for a bit, Tae-Yoon?


    Yeon-Hoon was standing behind me and looking at me.

 Chapter 241

    I turned my head and looked at Yeon-Hoon. I could just tell from his gaze now that they were fundamentally different people. Yeon-Hoon was the one who told me that he was the system. But did I hear him right¨Cit¡¯s probably going to get hard from the thirteenth one? How did he know all this? And how did hee to this space? Since I had many questions that were left unanswered, I felt rmed and distanced myself from Yeon-Hoon.


    Simultaneously, I didn¡¯t stop pulling the other universes to mine. While warily eyeing Yeon-Hoon, I continued to pull countless universes to my side.


    ¡°I told you it won¡¯t work, Tae-Yoon,¡± Yeon-Hoon warned me once more. As he said, only twelve worldlines remained stuck on my worldline and the thirteenth one didn¡¯t budge.


    ¡°Dong-Jun¡¯s worldline ends at that point and the rest of them are all mine,¡± Yeon-Hoon approached my side, unwittingly to me, and kindly exined. So, the twelve universes that I just pulled to my side were the worldlines that Dong-Jun lived during his regressions. With this, it was clear that Dong-Jun also regressed twelve times. Yet, this wasn¡¯t the important part.


    ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡± What was Yeon-Hoon¡¯s motive for telling me this information? Furthermore, was he even telling me the truth? Though this person was Yeon-Hoon, he was also the system. I didn¡¯t know what kind of system he was but the fact he was one made me wary of him. Yeon-Hoon looked intently at me as if he had many things to say. Yet, in the end, he didn¡¯t say them and averted his gaze.


    ¡°You would know once time passes. Take all of Dong-Jun¡¯s worldlines here for now and get out of here. And endure as long as you can while clearing the missions.¡±


    What was he going on about this time? If he was going to tell me something, he should finish it to the end. What was the point of him even talking if he was going to be so wishy-washy about everything?


    ¡°If I will eventually learn as time passes, can¡¯t you tell me right now? Why do you have to keep hiding so much information?¡± I asked a bit aggressively.


    Perhaps, I was a bit annoyed. I was giving my all right now to end this system¡¯s infinite regressions. I couldn¡¯t catch a break while going through all sorts of things most wouldn¡¯t have to experience in their lifetime and went even as far as to make requests to people I didn¡¯t want to. ¡°If you are going to order me to do something, make a clearer order, and if you are going to share information, tell me everything without hiding parts.¡±


    Though I thought I acted autonomous and worked my hardest to finish missions, when I listened to what Yeon-Hoon told me, it felt as if I was nothing more than a pawn on arge chessboard. Of course, I didn¡¯t care if I was just a pawn in arge scheme of things as long as my group members were safe and I could put an end to this infinite regressions. Yet, if he was going to use me as a pawn, I thought the minimum he could do was to clearly tell me what kind of role I needed to fulfill.


    ¡°What do I need to do? Just tell me if you are the system,¡± I asked Yeon-Hoon who became a system. After hearing me, Yeon-Hoon looked up at me quietly. After bing the system, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes looked dead, but right now, I felt a glimmer of emotion in his eyes. Normally, one could guess what a person was feeling by seeing their eyes: they could feel happy, sad, lonely, or disappointed. Even if a person tried to hide their expressions, their eyes would betray them.


    Yet, I couldn¡¯t tell what emotions these eyes contained. Was he frustrated,menting, sorrowful, or joyful? Yeon-Hoon¡¯s lips trembled slightly. As he looked up at me, the emotions whirling inside his gaze intensified. I clutched Yeon-Hoon¡¯s shoulders. Though this was a space where the physical body didn¡¯t exist and only the mind wandered, it almost felt as if I could feel his bodily temperature.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hide it,¡± I said.


    The wavering in Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes decreased. His tightly sealed lips also began to slowly open.


    ¡°First of all, I am the system right now.¡± Perhaps, he was willing to talk now and exin. ¡°So you must naturally wonder what sort of system I am. Am I the system that gives you your missions or the system that gives the truck driver his missions?¡± Yeon-Hoon exactly pinpointed my main question.


    ¡°But before I get to that, there¡¯s something I need to mention first.¡±


    I focused on Yeon-Hoon¡¯s words.


    ¡°I will also need to exin what the system is and what kind of mechanism it operates on. There will probably be parts you already know, but I should probably go over them again.¡± Then, Yeon-Hoon proceeded to drag me to another ce. It was the ce where the long worldline first began.


    ¡°This is the beginning of humanity. The start of this long line.¡±


    I looked towards the area where Yeon-Hoon said was the beginning of humanity. I thought I could uncover the secrets of humanity if I stared at that point but soon averted my gaze. This wasn¡¯t important right now.


    ¡°And if you keep looking across the line, you see a couple of dots, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°This is the universe¡¯s turning point.¡±


    ¡°Turning points?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Though they are called the universes¡¯ turning points, they are nothing grand. There are many times when ordinary people trigger these turning points rather than historical figures.¡±


    These are what I also saw when I first came to this space. Even at that time, historical and monumental moments ovepped with daily moments. Yet, Yeon-Hoon told me another point I wasn¡¯t aware of.


    ¡°There¡¯s no rule to how the turning points are decided. They are all just random, but there¡¯s amonality between all of them,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and picked out one turning point.


    It was a turning point containing a normal, day-to-day scene. A family of foreigners were eating while sitting around the table. There was one daughter, a son, wife, and husband. They looked like a harmonious family. Though it was hard to deduce the time period, it looked to be around the 1980s to 1990s since the setting didn¡¯t look too recent or old. It was then somebody suddenly rushed inside the house.


    ¡ªBang! Bang!


    Two gunshots were fired. A robber came inside the house and shot two of the children in their heads, and the daughter and son immediately died.


    ¡°¡­The hell?¡± Afterwards, the robber also stabbed the husband and killed him. The knife that had been used to cut the meat on top of the table became a weapon for murder and pierced the husband¡¯s neck. Yet, before the wife was attacked, neighbors rushed in and arrested the robber. Though the culprit was caught, the happy-looking family was gone without a trace. After showing me up to this point, Yeon-Hoon looked at me again.


    ¡°Do you understand what themonality is?¡±


    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±


    Themonality of all the turning points was¡­


    ¡°Death.¡±


    ¡°Yes, to be more specific, it¡¯s a death that no one has predicted. What all the turning points have inmon is that there¡¯s an illogical death that seems to have surpassed all reasonable possibilities.¡±


    We had also gone through a simr situation¡ªthe sudden trespassing of a truck driver into the middlene. Because of the ident, only I remained alive while all my members immediately died.


    ¡°After that abrupt death happens, one person involved in the death regresses.¡± Yeon-Hoon brought back the turning point he showed me and began to disassemble it farther. I wondered who among the family regressed after the incident.


    The first to regress was the son. There wasn¡¯t much a twelve-year-old child could do but die repeatedly. He tried moving locations a couple of times but in the end, died from gunshots. Yet, after the tenth regression, he reached a point where he was able to avoid dying from a gun. He took the knife on the table and stuck the neck of the robber that rushed into the house. He showed movements and judgments unbelievable of a twelve-year-old. Yet, things didn¡¯t end there.


    A mission dropped to the boy. The content of the mission was simr to the ones I received until now. They were missions that put his family member¡¯s life on the line. After failing the missions repeatedly, the child¡¯s mind eventually crumbled, and he passed on the regressions to another family member. This was the same pattern that my team went through.


    ¡°Do you know how many regressions this family went through?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°They did it more than a hundred times, exactly hundred and twenty times.¡±


    ¡°¡­What happens after that¡­? Is there an end to this all?¡±


    ¡°There is.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon showed me thest regression. Thest regressor was the wife. The wife watched her family members die till the very end. Because of all the countless regressions she went through, she no longer felt any emotion. She didn¡¯t kill the robber or resist his killing spree. She simply waited for the neighbors toe arrest the robber and remained alone.


    Eventually, time passed and the wife just lived, doing nothing. She didn¡¯t work or made any effort to do anything. She simply stayed inside the house where her family died and sat in front of the dining table. Soon afterward, she heard the news that the robber who had killed her entire family died from internal prison violence. Like that, her life eventually came to an end.


    ¡°That is the end of a regression.¡±


    ¡°¡­What the hell?¡±


    ¡°This is the ending that the system wants.¡±


    ¡°For us to do nothing?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. In this woman¡¯s universe, the answer was not to do anything. To gain this answer, they had to make over a hundred attempts. And the hundred regressions wore down her heart so that she could be numb to her family¡¯s deaths. In the end, the system was able to achieve the result it wanted and this universe was chosen as the ultimate universe and became connected to this long worldline.¡±


    If I was this woman, would I be able to ept the fact that was the final form of my life? I thought I would never be able to ept it. Yet, the human mind inevitably sumbed to time and for the system, it was probably no matter to break down a person¡¯s mind and heart.


    ¡°There¡¯s definitely an answer that the system wants. There¡¯s already an exact picture that will continue this long universe. Our role is to get to these exact answers with our numerous regressions.¡±


    I listened to Yeon-Hoon¡¯s exnation quietly. Though I didn¡¯t say anything, rage and despondency filled my heart at once. In the end, all my efforts and rage was simply a passing wind to the system. I felt that everything was meaningless and my heart felt empty as I felt extremely dispirited. I looked at Yeon-Hoon. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s expression was nd and business-like. He appearedpletely unsurprised by the system¡¯s mercilessness.


    ¡°¡­Do you not have any thoughts about this, Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the point of my thoughts? This was the method that had been going for ten thousands of years. I don''t even know how this system was formed, who made it, how far this universe¡¯s line extends, and what this system¡¯s end goal is.¡±


    After saying all this, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s side profile looked like someone who was submerged in deep and bottomless solitude.


    ¡°But there¡¯s one thing I¡¯m certain of.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s thest moments of us that the system wants to see us in,¡± Yeon-Hoon said, beginning to show me one kind of future. It was a world from imagination that didn¡¯t happen and which no one went to yet.


    ¡°This is our ultimate turning point that the system wants to lead us in. Look carefully.¡±

 Chapter 242

    It felt like I was in a dream. I couldn¡¯t discern between what was reality or fantasy and was locked in a state of strange mental fogginess. If it wasn¡¯t for the faint voiceing from the background, I might have believed that this was my reality.


    ¡ªThis is our final turning point.


    I regained my senses with Yeon-Hoon¡¯s voice and realized that this current life wasn¡¯t really my life but a future one from the final turning point. In other words, it was a future life that hadn¡¯t arrived yet and one I never lived. I looked around my surroundings.


    <em>¡®The car we rode on our way back from Sokcho?¡¯</em> This was the starting point of my regression.


    <em>Beeeeeep¡ª!</em>


    Soon after, a truck trespassed into the middle line.


    <em>Boom!</em>


    Our car smashed into the guardrail after being pushed by the truck. I couldn¡¯t do anything. If I could, I wanted to put pressure on Yeon-Hoon¡¯s knee to hit the gas pedal, but this body moved regardless of my will. I was simply an observing spectator imbued in this body, and there was nothing I could do alone.


    After that, the natural order was for my members to die. Only Yeon-Hoon was hospitalized in aa, and I attended my members¡¯ funeral even though I hadn¡¯t even recovered from the aftermath of the traffic ident yet. Then, I looked down intently at Yeon-Hoon whoy on the hospital bed. At this point, this life was the same as the one I had lived before. It was a horrible life where everything was in a mess. I would¡¯ve rather preferred death than go back to this point. During this time, I had felt like some higher being was testing me every day, asking me if I was really going to continue my life normally as if nothing happened.


    At that time, my answer had been: what else could I do right now but just pass day by day like this? Thus, all I did was breathe. Even when my members¡¯ parents came to talk to me, I simply listened to what they said without saying anything. Even when the doctor came and exined my body condition, I didn¡¯t say anything. Perhaps, I had symptoms of aphasia then.


    The doctor consulted with psychiatrists and prescribed me medicine rted to my psychological state, but I showed no improvement. Soon afterward, Bong Tae-Yoon from this world was discharged from the hospital, and he began to write web novels. It seemed that this Tae-Yoon had already regressed multiple times, as evident by the titles of his novels that would amass definite sess in the future.


    I didn¡¯t think writing novels based on future works were immoral since it wasn¡¯t like I would copy and paste the whole work but use the trends I knew would seed in the future as materials to write.


    Yet, this Tae-Yoon seemed to have no care about the morality behind his creation at all and just wrote to simply amass money. Naturally, all his works became a huge hit since they were based on original, mega hit works that swept the industry. He gained more money than the time he used to be an idol, yet he only collected the money and didn¡¯t use it. He simply earned more money like a machine.


    <em>¡®¡­What? What is he writing so furiously for?¡¯ </em>


    There were times when I sometimes felt saddened that I couldn¡¯t write in this life. In my past life, it was writing that supported me when my members were gone. It wasn¡¯t that I simply depended on my projects but in the moments I wrote, I felt a bliss that helped me endure the pain and torment of each day. In this way, writing was like an escape and gave me rest. It seemed Tae-Yoon from this world had umted this huge desire to write for a while now.


    And to release that pent-up desire, he wrote like a machine as if he wanted to leave no regrets. In the end, he finished hisst work and one-sidedly notified his publishingpany that he would stop writing. Though he gained an astronomical amount of money, Tae-Yoon still lived in a dreary and small one-room apartment and only wore sloppy clothing.


    What was Tae-Yoon going to do now? And what would this final turning point lead to? Truthfully, I had an inkling of an idea, but I hoped it was wrong. On the desk, Tae-Yoon from this world began to get to work. First of all, he emptied his bank ount. Hundred million of wons that he umted from writing flowed out of his ounts and moved to charity organizations, everyone he received help from in his past life, and his members¡¯ parents.


    He gave everything away. Charity organizations called him after suddenly receiving such a huge sum. His members¡¯ parents also contacted him, wondering why they were getting all this money. People who helped him in previous worlds but had no connection in this world had no way of knowing his contact so nothing came from then. They would probably call up the bank to ask about the money. Yet, no matter how many people tried to reach him, Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t get any of their calls.


    He destroyed his phone and took the little bit of money he still had remaining and left. The ce he headed for was a small city in the countryside.


    <em>¡®¡­It¡¯s Sokcho.¡¯</em> This was the city where I had my final trip with my members. Tae-Yoon walked through Sokcho. He wandered around the pension where hest stayed with his <em>hyungs</em> and looked back at the path hest walked. He stared at the ocean where they had submerged their feet in and yed. Then, Tae-Yoon began to walk towards the ocean listlessly. He continued walking until the water was up to his neck and then to where his feet couldn¡¯t touch the floor.


    Soon afterwards, Tae-Yoon¡¯s world gradually lost its light and began to sink. His vision darkened and while I quietly watched Tae-Yoon¡¯s body sink lower, I heard Yeon-Hoon¡¯s voice from behind.


    ¡ªThis is our final turning point.


    I followed his voice and realized that I had returned to space with countless worldlines. I raised my head and looked at Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°How was it? How was it like to see our final turning point?¡± he asked.


    I couldn¡¯t easily answer him. ¡°I don¡¯t know which worldline this is, but the system would try to put an end to this worldline even if it had to go through countless regressions. This is how the system controls the future.¡±


    Though this was a future that hadn¡¯t arrived yet, it was also a definite future. I still couldn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Do you want a world like this? Are you fine with this bing ourst moments?¡±


    I could at least confidently answer this question. ¡°¡­No.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, any one of us would¡¯ve said the same thing.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon met my eyes. It was my turn to ask now.


    ¡°Then, what¡¯s¡­your reason for showing me all this?¡± I wanted to ask what I needed to do and how I could escape this world.


    ¡°Before I answer your question, let¡¯s go back to the beginning.¡± Yeon-Hoon dragged me somewhere else and walked a bit. Our worldlines began to extend out and reached one ce.


    ¡°I told you that I was the system, and you aren¡¯t sure what kind of system I am, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°If I had to say which one I am, I am the system that gives you the missions.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    I was at a loss for words. The system who gives me missions? Then it was Yeon-Hoon who was personally giving me the missions with my members¡¯ death gs on the line? I didn¡¯t want to believe it¡­but I calmed myself down for now.


    ¡°¡­So?¡± I asked. I needed to hear more.


    ¡°But I am not wholly that system,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and pointed at the countless universes extending out from our point.


    ¡°You know how you wanted to meet the 999th regressor? But try counting the universes? How many do you think they are? Only 999?¡±


    I tried to count the universes as he told me but quickly stopped after realizing how foolish that was.


    ¡°¡­It¡¯s way over 999,¡± I said. At a nce, it looked to be about a couple hundreds, but it was far more than that; so I quickly gave up on counting.


    ¡°999 is the limit of regressions that you can perceive, but the reality is much greater than that. After a thousand times, I also gave up on counting.¡±


    It made sense since there wouldn¡¯t be such a dense clump of fine lines like this otherwise. I looked back at Yeon-Hoon. If he regressed thousands of times, he would be a couple thousand years old even if he lived just one year in his regressions. I wondered if I could call the entity before me even a human like me. Yeon-Hoon seemed to have read my expression and smiled.


    ¡°After a thousand times, I didn¡¯t really live a life. I didn¡¯t make any choices or think but just endured until I died. I basically lived thousands of lives in a vegetative state. There were many regressions where I regressed again in less than half a year.¡±


    That didn¡¯t change the fact that Yeon-Hoon must have at least lived hundred and thousands of years, but I decided to stop thinking about it since it wasn¡¯t important.


    ¡°Since I knew I would regress again after dying, I just thought I was locked in an evesting prison and nked out. I had no confidence in ending this regression because I thought if I gave up, you all would disappear. In other words, I didn¡¯t want to give up but had no confidence in continuing.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon quietly watched the thousands of worldlines he made. There was a bitterness to his gaze. Though these were lives born from his will, they were filled with his regrets and pain.


    ¡°But you experienced it yourself right? If repetitive work exponentially increases, the system stops functioning for a bit,¡± Yeon-Hoon continued.


    I knew this part. It was one of the holes of the system.


    ¡°Because I kept regressing in an infinite loop, the system halted for a moment. That¡¯s when I was able to first enter this space,¡± Yeon-Hoon said and extended his hand towards the thousands of worldlines he made.


    ¡°And with it, I learned that I could move all these numerous worlds I made like my hands and feet.¡± With Yeon-Hoon¡¯s hand movements, thousands of worldlines simultaneously vibrated.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think this ce feels like the vines of an ivy?¡±


    ¡°Vines of an ivy?¡±


    ¡°They first grow on a wall and slowly grow but after growing a bit, they be one with the wall and don¡¯t fall out. Thus, to take off the vines, you would have to take apart the entire wall.¡±


    After hearing what he said, the countless universes in front of me no longer appeared to be just floating in void but looked like they were grasping the ck, empty space tightly, unwilling to let go.


    ¡°Using the thousands of worldlines I created, I seeped into this space.¡±


    I understood what Yeon-Hoon was saying. Yeon-Hoon was the system , but he wasn¡¯t wholly the system. He was another system that was growing inside the system. If I had to make an easierparison¡­


    ¡°I¡¯m like a virus that invaded aputer and is trying to take control of all its authority.¡±


    There was no better way to describe it: Yeon-Hoon was like aputer virus.

 Chapter 243

    <h4>Chapter 243</h4>


    Yeon-Hoon was the virus that would take control of all this system¡¯s authority and power. I looked at Yeon-Hoon and got a general sense of what he was nning to do.


    ¡°I suppose you are trying to be the system itself so that our universe wouldn¡¯t have such a futile ending.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And...I am helping you take control of that system, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s also true.¡±


    ¡°Especially whenever I make a decision the system can¡¯t expect, right?¡±


    ¡°You are quick to catch on.¡±


    Though Yeon-Hoon said that I was quick to catch on, I had simply stitched up the loopholes in the thought process. Whenever I had utilized a loophole that the system couldn¡¯t expect, I was able to pierce the loophole more easily than before. The fact that bined the missions and modified the mission¡¯s contents was representative of this.


    In the beginning, I almost copsed first while trying to change the missions, and it was difficult to match the bnce of the rewards. Yet, things became easier after that one sessful attempt. I simply brushed off the matter, thinking that I became more used to the task the more times I did it but there was still something that bugged me. It wasn¡¯t that I became more used to changing the missions, but that Yeon-Hoon had taken greater control of the system; thereby, easing my efforts.


    ¡°So, does that mean if I make a crack to the system, you are able to prate deeper into the crack?¡±


    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s also the reason why I told you to go to the truck driver before. To give you full authority over Insight, there needed to be a big enough crack.¡± It was revealed then it had been Yeon-Hoon who gave me full control over Insight rather than the damn system. My heart felt a bit more at ease now.


    ¡°I can never give up on you guys...The reason I couldn¡¯t put an end to things no matter how many thousands of times I died was because of you, Do-Seung, Woon, and Dong-Jun.¡± Yeon-Hoon looked at our worldlines while talking to me.


    ¡°That sort of empty, futile ending can¡¯t be ourst. It¡¯s only right that our universe bes what we want it to be.¡± Though he had lived thousands of years, there was still a part of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s face that looked like a hopeful boy as he said this.


    Then, I asked Yeon-Hoon. ¡°What is the ending you want us to have?¡± I was curious about the future Yeon-Hoon had drawn up while sitting in this infinite space for so long.


    ¡°The future I want us to have?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I...¡± As if he needed some time to think, Yeon-Hoon trailed off mid-sentence. ¡°It¡¯s to have our own concert...and sing with you guys to our fans.¡±


    It was a simple yet big wish. Yet, Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t stop there.


    ¡°I want to doze off to sleep on our way to our next schedule in the car and wake up.¡± Yeon-Hoon poured out like he had been waiting for someone to ask him this question. ¡°I want to say my thoughts for winning first ce again. If possible, I want to also receive the Grand Prize if possible, eat Do-Seung¡¯s soybean paste stew, order m hot pot in the morning with Dong-Jun, and practice dancing with Woon.¡±


    These were all daily-life things that I was currently enjoying. Yet, all of these things were precious and far-fetched dreams for the current Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°I also want to talk to you and chatter about all sorts of things all night.¡±


    It was then I realized. No matter how many worldlines he experienced and even if his intention was to be the system itself by taking control of it, this Yeon-Hoon was the Yeon-Hoon I knew. No matter how much time passed, there were things that would never change.


    <i>Whoosh¡ª!</i>


    <i>Whoosh¡ª!</i>


    The worldlines began to vibrate.


    ¡°...The system is going to wake up again,¡± Yeon-Hoon said calmly while settling his emotions.


    ¡°Go back and talk to Dong-Jun who must have gotten back his regressor memories and wait. If there¡¯s another opportunity for you to make a crack at the system, I will tell you. Because I was able to prate even deeper thanks to the crack you made this time, I will be able to meddle in the missions you will get from now a bit more.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon told me to wait and simultaneously informed me that he could meddle in the mission from now on.


    ¡°I will try to manipte things so that you can slowly progress without having to overexert yourself for these missions. Go back for now.¡±


    <i>Wiiiiing¡ª!</i>


    As Yeon-Hoon talked, the trembling in the universe got harder and more violent. I knew I would be bounced off this space soon, but I didn¡¯t want to end our meeting like this. As thest regressor in my team, I was able to aplish the missions with the privileges my other members gained. Authority over Insight was already an unbelievable privilege and thanks to that privilege, I was able to connect my members from other worldlines to mine.


    Yeon-Hoon supported me from behind and Woon, Do-Seung, and Don-Jun assisted me from the side. If it wasn¡¯t this time, there could never be a chance for all of us to challenge the system as one like this.


    I said, ¡°Yeon-Hoon, let¡¯s do it in one-go.¡±


    Thus, I didn¡¯t want to drag things. Who knew how many years it would take to gainplete control of the system? And in the meantime, what happened if I failed a mission even one time? Somebody among us could die. Though Yeon-Hoon said that he would manipte the difficulty level of our missions, there would always be the risk of failing.


    ¡°You want to do it in one-go?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I will try to make a huge crack after going back.¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°That truck driver. He¡¯s the biggest crack that we can make.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon silently nodded as if he had a bad foreboding feeling.


    I continued, ¡°I still don¡¯t exactly understand the truck driver¡¯s identity, but if I had to describe him, he is definitely an enemy...I will try to use him.¡±


    ¡°The truck driver? That¡¯s too dangerous Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°If things seem too dangerous, please intervene. Let¡¯s try to make one big move.¡±


    I exchanged looks with Yeon-Hoon silently.


    <i>Wiiiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª!</i>


    The worldlines began to tremble widely.


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    I got multiple rms, telling me that I wasn¡¯t permitted to approach closer.


    ¡°Be careful Tae-Yoon and never...never die from the truck driver. The second death will be the...¡± I began to be expelled from the universe¡¯s space before Yeon-Hoon could finish his words.


    <i>Shaaaaa¡ª!</i>


    I felt my body fall to the floor and simultaneously, found myself in my form¡¯s sofa.


    <i>Gasp! </i>Though I had spent a long time in that universe¡¯s space, only thirty seconds had passed in real time. I inhaled deeply and leaned my body against the sofa. Then, I calmly organized my thoughts.


    <i>Siiigh. </i>What were thest words Yeon-Hoon tried to tell me before I went? The second death will be...


    <i>¡®The end?¡¯</i> Perhaps, that was what he tried to tell me. Depending on the context of thenguage, there was a high chance. Then, what was exactly the ¡®second death¡¯ that Yeon-Hoon talked about?


    <i>¡®Was the first death caused by the truck crash?¡¯ </i>Though I didn¡¯t die at that time, I had practically died then.


    <i>¡®Then the second death must be getting murdered by that man instead of getting into a car crash.¡¯</i> This seemed to be the most reasonable exnation. It probably wasn¡¯t a simple death since my members had already experienced deaths multiple times whether it was in their own worldlines or another worldline. This exined how I gained full authority over Insight.


    <i>¡®Was the situation so urgent that I gained full authority over Insight? That¡¯s how bad it would be to face my second death from that man?¡¯</i> I had almost died from that man¡¯s hands at that time. I was probably close to the ¡®second death¡¯ that Yeon-Hoon talked about; and to prevent that, the system probably undertook great damage. That was probably how dangerous the system considered ¡®second death¡¯ to be.


    <i>¡®It¡¯s dangerous, but...this must be a weakness.¡¯ </i>This was what the system feared the most. Realizing this, I breathed in and out deeply. I couldn¡¯t be too swept with excitement over finding out something. I needed to act more rationally than ever before. With this one chance, I could make all my members¡¯ worldlines and mine meet.


    <i>Beep¡ª Beep¡ª Beep¡ª Beep.</i>


    I suddenly heard someone press the entrance door¡¯s password then.


    ¡°...What?¡± My members went out to buy drinks, and it seemed unlikely that they would¡¯ve returned so fast; after all, only two minutes had passed in real time.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon¡ª!¡± The door opened and someone came inside. I knew it just by his voice.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon! Ahhhh!¡± It was Dong-Jun. He ran to me like an excited dog meeting his owner. His face filled with happiness, joy, disbelief, and wee. Seeing the variety of emotions bloom so visibly on his face, I realized, <i>¡®He¡¯s regressor Dong-Jun.¡¯</i>


    This was the effect of connecting all of Dong Jun¡¯s worldlines.


    <i>Boom! </i>Because Dong-Jun rushed to my side as if he was going to jump on me, I moved, and he fell over. Since it didn¡¯t seem like he cracked his skull or was pouring blood, I let him be. Then, after he hugged me and started to cry, I began to pat his back.


    ¡°I wanted to see you, Tae-Yoon...¡± I didn¡¯t know what kind of ordeal Dong-Jun suffered in his twelve regression, but I knew no regression would¡¯ve been easy. It was only natural that someone who had gone through hell twelve times would tear up when they saw me.


    ¡°So, you told this world¡¯s me that you were a regressor and everything?¡± Dong-Jun asked after he pulled himself away from me again. I thought he was going to scold me or something but instead, he smiled brightly, ¡°Good job. Really good job. Thanks to that, I was able to connect with this world¡¯s Park Dong-Jun a bit deeper.¡±


    ¡°...Really?¡± I was a bit surprised to hear this since that was a consequence that I didn¡¯t expect. Did the connection be smoother if I gave them a heads-up beforehand?


    ¡°Of course, if all my memories just pass onto this world¡¯s Dong-Jun as they were, he would lose his mind so I stopped that from happening, but I was able to draw in this world¡¯s Dong-Jun¡¯s memories a bit faster.¡±


    Hmm. I supposed it wasn¡¯t that big of a difference since Do-Seung and Woon didn¡¯t have such a hard time adjusting either.


    ¡°Do-Seung and Woon also seemed to have memories as regressors. If possible, could we meet tonight? How about we all talk over beer as regressors?¡± Dong-Jun suddenly proposed.


    ¡°I¡¯m still underaged.¡±


    ¡°You must have been an adult before regressing. Don¡¯t lie that you never had beer. It¡¯s not even funny.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true but I can¡¯t do it. It¡¯s thew.¡±


    ¡°...You are so boring.¡±


    ¡°But I like the idea of us all meeting.¡±


    ¡°Really? Then, let me make that happen today.¡±


    Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes shone in anticipation of meeting the other regressors. It was fine since even without his request, I would¡¯ve had to meet the other regressors anyways. I had a proposal to pass onto them.

 Chapter 244

    <h4>Chapter 244</h4>


    ¡°So we¡¯re having a hangout party with just regressors, right?¡± Dong-Jun confirmed with me one more time. This felt like we were out casting Yeon-Hoon when in reality, Yeon-Hoon was working the hardest in our war against the system. However, we couldn¡¯t prematurely call a person who did not have their memories as a regressor.


    ¡°Yes, see you tonight.¡± Anyway, if this was sessful, we would also be able to meet with Yeon-Hoon with his memories as a regressor. Thus, I wasn¡¯t going to feel impatient.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll go buy a beer and see if Kang Do-Seung and Woon are up to it.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Just in time, the door mmed open and the rest of the members came in.


    ¡°Park Dong-Jun! Are you crazy! Why did you just runout! How can you just get on the elevator by yourself?¡±


    ¡°Why did you run like that all of a sudden, Dong-Jun...¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Dong-Jun? Are you sick?¡±


    The members seemed to have came all the way to the dorm because Dong-Jun suddenly ran. Well, I guess I would also go up to catch someone if the person I was walking with suddenly ran somewhere like a madman.


    ¡°I suddenly missed our maknae so much that I couldn¡¯t help it~¡± Dong-Jun responded nonchntly to the members¡¯ questions.


    ¡°Are you crazy?¡±


    Sigh... ¡°Dong-Jun...¡±


    ¡°Are you sick? I¡¯m asking cause I¡¯m really serious.¡±


    At this point, shouldn¡¯t I get hurt that they were reacting like that to Dong-Jun running to see me? However, I couldn¡¯t find even a trace of worry that I would be hurt on my members¡¯ faces. Although the situation itself was ridiculous, I still felt strangely sad.


    ¡°Guys, wake up. Let¡¯s hurry up and go buy a beer.¡±


    ¡°Yes~¡± Dong-Jun got up from his seat and left the dorm with the members. Like this, the beer party went on its second expedition.


    ***


    The members came back with beer. Since they weren¡¯t heavy drinks, the amount of beer they bought was miniscule.


    ¡®Four cans of imported beer?¡¯ That was the amount I used to drink all by myself. I remembered wanting more after drinking that amount and having to go to the convenience store multiple times. I couldn¡¯t believe four adults were sharing that amount; I guess they thought just one can per person was enough.


    ¡°Guys, this is 12,000 won for four cans. So cheap!¡± Yeon-Hoon excitedly bragged about getting a bargain.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t that originally 10,000 won? I guess it went up.¡± I said the price without much thought.


    ¡°...How does Mr. Bong know the price of beer?¡±


    ¡°Oh...!¡± Only after I spoke did I remember I was a minor. In the future where I used to live, a new era of beer pricepetition among convenience store opened across the country, and the price of 12,000 won for 4 cans dropped to 10,000 won. The price of beer, which had risen with rising prices, was returned to the price about 10 years ago.


    I had remembered the price of that time and had a slip of tongue, but Yeon-Hoon nced suspiciously at me.


    ¡°Were you...a delinquent, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re being way too nice to describe a high school student who drinks as just a delinquent. If you¡¯re a high school student who drinks, you¡¯re a thug through and through.¡±


    ¡°Then were you a thug, Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t drink! I¡¯ve never had a drink in my life. I just knew the price because I saw the previous price in a convenience store a long time ago.¡±


    ¡°...I¡¯ll look over it for now, but no alcohol.¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    I suddenly became a teenager who drank. Since I never had a drink in this world¡¯s body, I wasn¡¯t technically lying. The members sipped a can of beer each, and as expected, they had no choice but to go on the road to buy beer again. On the third expedition, they bought eight cans of beer.


    ¡®Does it double every time they go?¡¯ I imagined that they might buy 16 cans of beer on the fourth expedition and eventually have to buy a bucketload of beer, but the expedition eventually ended with 8 beers.


    ¡°Ahhh~ I¡¯m not going home today! Everyone, drink up and pass out here!¡± Yeon-Hoon waspletely drunk by his third beer.


    ¡°How can you act like an annoying boss by just drinking three cans?¡±


    ¡°Where the hell are you nning to go when this is our home?¡±


    ¡°Are you okay, Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m okay! Ugh~¡± Yeon-Hoon sprawled on the floor and began making weird sounds that sounded like howling by a slightly deranged wolf. We judged that he was far gone and pushed him into his room.


    We hadn¡¯t intended things to work out like this, but luckily, only the regressors were left now. Was it because Dong-Jun had already told the others in advance? As soon as Yeon-Hoon was out of the picture, the atmosphere changed slightly. It seemed that everyone¡¯s regressor egos hade out, and I could tell whether their egos hade out just by seeing their eyes.


    People¡¯s eyes reflected their emotional state, so it was impossible for this world¡¯s members to have the same eyes as those who have regressed numerous times.


    ¡°You¡¯re all here, right?¡± The other members nodded to Do-Seung¡¯s words and quickly confirmed that they we were all regressors.


    ¡°Did you also sessfully bring Dong-Jun¡¯s memory in the end, Tae-Yoon?¡± Woon asked.


    ¡°Yes, I seeded.¡± Frankly, I had been aiming for the 999th regressor, but a sess was a sess.


    ¡°I was trusting you, Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°That punk has the same personality even after regressing many times.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to have changed much either, Do-Seung.¡±


    ¡°...I think I must have suffered quite a lot in the world where you regressed.¡±


    ¡°Wow, bingo.¡±


    ¡°...You little shit.¡±


    Do-Seung and Dong-Jun exchanged the same type of conversations despite having their memories as regressors. As expected, even if the world was different, there were some things that always remained the same.


    ¡°What the hell did you do to me?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you. I¡¯ll get in trouble then.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Should I tell you a hint?¡± The way Do-Seung teased Do-Seung was the same as usual; no, he seemed to have be a bit more vicious, and I have never seen the regressor Do-Seung so angry. Rather, I felt relieved to see such a human side of him.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, really great job getting into the Billboard Hot 100.¡± Woon shifted the topic to me and praised me.


    ¡°No, it wouldn¡¯t have been possible without you guys.¡± I wouldn¡¯t have been able to seed without my members and one other person. If there wasn¡¯t Do-Seung¡¯s rearrangement and the dance moves used in challenge videos by Woon, we would have failed. Dong-Jun also yed a key part when he made forced jokes to liven up the atmosphere when we ate with Willy Freedman.


    If any one of these factors had gone wrong, it would have been very difficult to get this result.


    ¡°Now that we¡¯ve seeded in the mission, it doesn¡¯t matter what happens, but I hope we stay in the Billboad 100 for a long time.¡±


    ¡°And hope our rankings go a little higher.¡±


    ¡°Well...but if we go further from here, this world¡¯s Do-Seung could be in danger.¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡± Do-Seung was in danger?


    ¡°His head is already soaring high above the sky. He suddenly looks at himself in the mirror while exercising and murmurs, ¡®Who am I? The youngest songposer of a Triple Crown All Kill song...haha.¡¯¡± Everyone burst outughing at regressor Do-Seung retelling of Do-Seung¡¯s cringeworthy moment.


    People were free to do whatever they wanted in their free time, but it was so childish that we couldn¡¯t help butugh.


    ¡°I understand why he did that though. I often say words to cheer me up on purpose to raise my weights when I exercise, since mental power is also part of exercise. This world¡¯s Kang Do-Seung also said that with the same intension, but it was a little embarrassing to hear as an outsider.¡±


    It was fortunate that conversations between regressors were blurred in people¡¯s memories of this world. If Do-Seung remembered this, his mentality might crumble into pieces.


    ¡°Oh, but I think that¡¯s the same for Woon in this world too. He frequently murmurs, ¡®this choreography is so good...¡¯, even though he was the one who made it.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the same for Park Dong-Jun. I¡¯m not exaggerating but he seriously searches Siren¡¯s name a 1,000 times on Utube. And did you know that he created a messenger multi-profile?¡±


    ¡°A multi-profile?¡±


    ¡°He made one for his high school ssmates to see...wait a minute.¡±


    The atmosphere of this conversation was slowly turning into a diss-battle of the members. I wondered if I should put a stop to it but just left It because it was fun.


    ¡°This is the profile, and seriously, I just want to smack him on the head.¡±


    I stared at the multi-profile for non-celebs that Dong-Jun made. The profile picture of the multi-profile was the mirror selfie that our group took together in the waiting room of a music broadcast. This was normal so far, but the profile message was the true kicker.


    ¡ªI am currently unable to reply because I¡¯m busy with my schedule.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°...Pfff.¡±


    ¡°...Hahaha!¡±


    He was unable to check messages because he was too busy with his schedules.


    ¡°For real...I don¡¯t want to say this, but he¡¯s too full of himself.¡±


    ¡°He wants to make it obvious to his non-celeb friends that he¡¯s very busy and popr right now.¡±


    It was true that we had busy schedules, but it wasn¡¯t to the extent that we couldn¡¯t check a mirror selfie simr to the one on the private profile, the message waspletely different.


    ¡ªSiren Fighting!!


    This cute phrase was his profile message. As expected, there seemed to be chaos deep inside people that no one should see. Like this, we went back and forth exposing the members like this, and we had a goodugh in a while. Perhaps because the members had drank, they were more loose with their mouths.


    When was thest time I hadughed like this? I hadn¡¯t been able tough ever since receiving the Billboard mission as I was always in a nervous state. However, I needed to leave behind the easy-going and fun emotions behind and tell the members what was on my mind.


    ¡°Guys, can you focus on what I¡¯m saying for a moment?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± The membersughed and talked for a long time and then listened carefully to my serious voice. First of all, I needed to share with the members about Yeon-Hoon, who I met in space and became the system. I wondered how I should I convey this and decided to say it as it is.


    ¡°You know the system that gives us missions? That¡¯s actually Yeon-Hoon. So...¡± I wanted to say that if Yeon-Hoon tried to take control of the system and we help himpletely control the system, we could end the endless cycle of regression but¡ª


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°...What did you say?¡±


    ¡°What the hell, wait a minute.¡±


    The members panicked before they even heard me finish.


    ¡°No, no, wait a minute, guys. Wait-¡°


    ¡°Where¡¯s Woo Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhhhhh!¡±


    ¡°How...could Yeon-Hoon do that...I really believe him...¡±


    I thought that I really needed to fix my speech, and I realized brief summary was not always the answer.

 Chapter 245

    ¡°Wait guys. Don¡¯t leave and finish listening to me. Don¡¯t act rashly.¡±


    My members were a second away from rushing into the next room and beating Yeon-Hoon up before I stopped them, and they got back to their seats. If I had been even a moment toote, Yeon-Hoon would¡¯ve received quite a retaliation; and that would¡¯ve been very unfortunate for Yeon-Hoon since he didn¡¯t do anything wrong. My members awkwardly got back to their seats but their eyes were still turned towards the room next door.


    Though they were forced to stay put; if I wasn¡¯t here, they looked ready to destroy the system¡¯s main body this very instance.


    <em>¡®It¡¯s understandable.¡¯</em> I had also swung my fist first hearing that Yeon-Hoon was the system for the first time. The system was an existence that yed around with our lives, and my members had gone through numerous regressions under the system¡¯s y. They probably wished tond a good punch on the system¡¯s face if they could, so how could they hold themselves back after hearing that system was drunk and unconscious in the next door room?


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon¡­is really¡­the system¡­?¡±


    ¡°Haaa¡­They say demons have the appearance of angels¡­His face is really like an angel¡­¡±


    ¡°Wait you guys. I will exin. Calm yourselves down,¡± I began to continue. Though I wasn¡¯t sure where to begin, I thought there was nothing for me to hide now.


    ¡°First of all, I have full authority over Insight. Honestly, it¡¯s funny for me to say that I even have full authority over it, but the Insight I have is probably the real deal while the ones you all used are the inferior versions.¡± I thought I should talk about Insight first since it was what I needed to exin foremost before exining everything else.


    Do-Seung revealed a surprising point to everyone at this point. Although I, Woon, and Dong-Jun started their first regression after receiving Insight, Do-Seung didn¡¯t even have something like that.¡°I didn¡¯t get that in my first regression. It only gave it to me in my second regression. That¡¯s why my first regression ended quickly without me aplishing much.¡±


    I had sensed that was the case when I met the second regressor, Do-Seung before.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably because you were the first regressor among us. It was the time when the system didn¡¯t have enough data on us, so it probably didn¡¯t know what privileges to give us,¡± I said. That was the conclusion I came up with for why Do-Seung didn¡¯t gain Insight in the beginning. The ¡®surprise missions¡¯ probably operated in the same way seeing that they only came up starting from Do-Seung¡¯s third regression.


    Perhaps, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to umte all our experiences if it hadn¡¯t been for Do-Seung¡¯s sacrifice.


    ¡°We talked quite a bit since the topic of Insight came up. So, what were you saying about gaining authority over Insight?¡±


    The conversation went back to the main topic.


    ¡°This Insight is a form of connection that ties us to the system. The system¡¯s role is to control this World, and using Insight, we are able to temporarily intervene and use the system¡¯s power.¡± I summed up the Insight ability like this. My members appeared to agree with my reasoning and nodded.


    ¡°Furthermore, the Insight I have makes it possible for me to trespass into deeper regions than you all. It even allows me to go where the system¡¯s main body is, manipte the missions the system gives me, and connect your worlds to mine.¡±


    Since this was content everyone besides Dong-Jun already knew, they didn¡¯t appear that surprised. Dong-Jun also seemed to have a good sense of my Insight¡¯s abilities through this world¡¯s Dong-Jun and didn¡¯t look that surprised.


    ¡°The important thing here is the space where the system¡¯s main body is.¡±


    The system¡¯s main body existed in the space that I went to today. I still wasn¡¯t sure whether to call that space ¡®the universe¡¯ but there was no other way to better describe it; it was infinitely dark and vast and stretched without limits. Perhaps, it was a universe beyond ours.


    ¡°If I go there, all the different worldlines we had lived in are spread out in branches from a single line.¡± I drew the line I saw with a pen and paper to help with my exnation. The line was a single thread before the truck driver trespassed into the middlene and the line split into thousands of threads.


    ¡°The thickest line among them is my worldline. The reason why it¡¯s the thickest is because I attached all of your worldlines to mine. It¡¯s as if I had twisted you guys¡¯ and my worldlines like threads in a rope.¡±


    My members nodded.


    ¡°Do-Seung has 15 strands since he regressed 15 times, Woon 17 since he regressed 17 times, and Dong-Jun 15 times.¡±


    There were a total of 44 universes; and if I included mine, there were 45 universes intertwined with one. Thus, it boasted of a thickness much greater than all the other stands. My members understood everything up to this point without much difficulty. This content wasn¡¯t so hard that they wouldn¡¯t be able to understand it, but it was at this point, Dong-Jun raised a question.


    He pointed at the countless other strings I drew on top of the paper and asked, ¡°If our worldlines are intertwined to this one thick strand, what are all these thin ones? I think there must be at least hundreds of them.¡±


    I looked at Dong-Jun in silence. Dong-Jun seemed to wonder why I was suddenly staring at him so intently. Woon and Do-Seung also looked at me the same way.


    ¡°Who else could it be if it¡¯s not us?¡± I said.


    My members¡¯ eyes widened more widely than before and reflexively looked to the room next door and stared at the person stretched on the floor, now, drunk.


    ¡°Though I just randomly drew a bunch here, there are much more of them in reality. There are probably thousands of them. He said it himself that he stopped counting after passing the thousandth time.¡±


    My members becamepletely speechless. As they had also regressed a couple of times, they also knew how tortuous and painful each regression was. Yet, Yeon-Hoon had done that thousands of times. Do-Seung¡¯s mouth gaped, and he swiped his face in pure disbelief.


    ¡°What was he thinking¡­how could he do that a thousand times¡­?¡±


    ¡°He probably found it hard to give up. If it was you guys, would you have been able to give up?¡±


    ¡°¡­He could¡¯ve passed it onto the next person.¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon is the leader. Considering his personality, it was probably very difficult for him.¡± Yeon-Hoon wasn¡¯t the charismatic leader-type. Yet, he had a greater sense of responsibility than most leaders. Though he was brighter than anyone else and talkative, he was someone who never really revealed his true feelings and thoughts to even us. He was also someone so persistent that he would do something like this so many times.


    ¡°In the system¡¯s perspective, it was probably an unexpected variable for someone to regress over a thousand times. After processing repetitivemands, it probably got an error.¡±


    My members seemed to understand what I was getting at now.


    ¡°It was then he prated into the system.¡±


    ¡°Borrowing his words, Yeon-Hoon said that it¡¯s like he trespassed into the system after bing a virus.


    ¡°Then, you regressed after that.¡±


    ¡°Yes, since the regressor disappeared, I was chosen as the next one.¡±


    ¡°Then, your full control over Insight was also¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s what Yeon-Hoon handed over to me. He told me that every time I did something the system didn¡¯t expect, it formed an internal crack inside the system. The bigger the cracks are, the quicker Yeon-Hoon can trespass inwards.¡±


    My members nodded, now understanding why I went through such a different regression from them and how we could finally put an end to this system.


    ¡°So then, what do we have to do now? What can we do to make this crack?¡± Do-Seung asked. Do-Seung hadn¡¯t taken me so seriously when I told him that I nned to put an end to the system before, but after hearing about Yeon-Hoon¡¯s trespassing and how much quicker he could do that by making cracks, he appeared to have changed his mind.


    ¡°What¡¯s an action that the system can¡¯t predict? Should I go outside and dance or something?¡±


    ¡°¡­No.¡±


    ¡°¡­Ah, okay.¡±


    Though it would have beenpletely unexpected for Do-Seung to do that, it would have no effect. It couldn¡¯t be a small unexpected variable but one that could directly shake up the system¡¯s main body.


    ¡°You guys, do you remember the truck driver who hit us?¡±


    My members instantly froze as soon as the words ¡®truck driver¡¯ came out of my mouth. Rage and hate seemed to fill their faces as they spoke.


    ¡°How could we forget?¡±


    ¡°I can never forget him.¡±


    ¡°What is that guy doing in this universe? Did he go to jail?¡±


    My members appeared to be curious about what happened to the man. Yet, they all probably didn¡¯t know what the truck driver looked like. Since I survived by myself even before my regression, I knew the truck driver¡¯s face but for my members, they probably only saw a nce of the man at most.


    ¡°You saw him, Dong-Jun, not so long ago¡ªwhen he ambushed us in the parking lot.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes widened in shock. It seemed he was incredibly rmed seeing how much his body jutted forward.


    ¡°That strange truck driver?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°No¡­what?¡± Dong-Jun looked nkly at the ceiling in shock.


    ¡°You are saying that the madman at the parking lot is the truck driver? Seriously?¡±


    ¡°What, that¡¯s crazy¡­that just gave me the chills.¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung were incredibly shocked to hear that someone who should be rotting in prison was just wandering outside andpletely fine¡ªfurthermore, he attempted to kill me. Yet, there was no time to dwell in that since I needed to reveal another truth.


    ¡°There¡¯s also a system attached to that truck driver. Like the system that gives us missions, it¡¯s another system that gives the man a mission.¡±


    ¡°What? What is this about now?¡±


    ¡°System? There¡¯s a system on that man too?¡±


    ¡°Then, there¡¯s a total of two systems?¡±


    ¡°This is soplicated¡­¡±


    My members appeared to be more shocked than before. I waited for my members to organize the information I gave to them and then, pulled out my main reason for bringing this all up.


    ¡°In my opinion, I think meeting that man would be able to create the biggest crack I can. So, please help me find him. I don¡¯t think I can do it on my own.¡±


    The main purpose of this meeting was to ask them to help me find the truck driver to make a major crack on the system.


    ¡°Are you saying we should try to capture that man together?¡±


    ¡°Good thing. I wanted to meet him at least once.¡±


    ¡°Should I bring some weapons with me?¡±


    ¡°Do we just have to leave him half-dead?¡±


    It seemed my members misunderstood after I suggested that we search for the truck driver.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s the opposite.¡±


    ¡°¡­Huh?¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t go to catch the man but for me to get captured. You all just have to help me find him.¡±


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°What are you saying Tae-Yoon¡­¡±


    ¡°Are you saying you will purposely get captured by him?¡±


    We needed to make the biggest crack we could on the system. Thus, the best way was for me to get captured by the truck driver once more, and there was nothing better than that. My members still looked like they couldn¡¯t understand me, but I was determined.

 Chapter 246

    My members still looked like they couldn¡¯tprehend me. They stared at me like they had no clue why I needed to be captured by that man.


    ¡°What are you going to do after getting caught? And what happens if you are caught by someone like that?¡±


    ¡°You are going to risk your life because you have to move in unexpected ways? Let¡¯s think of another way. There will definitely be a better method. We have made it all this way.¡±


    ¡°This is going too extreme, Tae-Yoon. I think it will be better for you to find another method.¡±


    ¡°The goal is to get caught. The system wouldn¡¯t expect me to get caught by the truck driver and that¡¯s the biggest crack we can make right now,¡± I replied to them. I thought it was natural that they were worried. I would¡¯ve responded the same way in their positions, but I needed to do this. I couldn¡¯t keep dragging our uncertain situation on, not knowing what was going to happen.


    ¡°I have Insight and can give orders with that. I won¡¯t easily be beaten by him. I¡¯m going to keep acting until the moment I¡¯m caught and endure until there¡¯s a big enough crack in the system. I will manage the situation, so it won¡¯t be too dangerous.¡±


    ¡°¡­This is making me too nervous¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­Is this all right¡­?¡±


    ¡°No¡­even if you can give our orders, it¡¯s not like Insight is all-powerful. I don¡¯t think this is right.¡±I listened to my members¡¯ concerns.


    <em>¡®¡­They are going to flip over if they hear that I have tost until I¡¯m on the verge of death.¡¯</em> It was a lie that I just needed to get caught by the truck driver. The main action I needed to take was to push things until I was about to die, but if I revealed this part to them, I thought I wouldn¡¯t be able to even start the operation. But I couldn¡¯t back down just because my members were against it.


    ¡°We need to persistently dig into the system¡¯s weak points. We can¡¯t just be satisfied by doing the bare minimum. We need to go up and above so that it even shocks us. I think we need to take that much risk to make an impact on the system. Also, I think I can do this safely enough. Do you want to see me giving amand with Insight right now?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What?¡±


    Before I even heard their reply, I gave my order. I ordered them to get up from their spots and stand in a line on one side.


    ¡°¡­This feels icky.¡±


    ¡°Are you ying with us¡­?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t do this without our permission from now on.¡±


    ¡°You all must have realized this is how overwhelming the ability is. It can be safe. Even when the truck driver ambushed usst time, I didn¡¯t get hurt at all and I¡¯m fine.¡±


    My members appeared to be a bit conflicted hearing this, and I thought I needed to push my stance further.


    ¡°I think this is our biggest opportunity yet. How long do we have to wait for the next safe opportunity toe? Ten yearster? Or will ite after I regress twenty times? No, even if that timees, is there any guarantee that it would be a safer method than the one we have right now?¡±


    My members looked shaken by my words. There were no ¡®safe¡¯ methods to put an end to the system. Whatever method we chose, we needed to risk our lives. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s request was for us to aplish a couple of more death-g missions with my members¡¯ lives on the line until there was an opportunity for me to more safely stir up the system. Yet, I thought it was better for me to risk my life than my members¡¯ lives. I was sick of doing missions that risked my members.


    My members were still looking at me warily.


    ¡°If you all won¡¯t help me, I will act on my own. Even if I fail and the worstes to worst, I can just regress another time. Since I seeded in gathering you all in the first regression, I will be able to do it faster in the second regression. So, don¡¯t worry. We will all meet again.¡±


    I had no intention of doing a second regression. Furthermore, it was a wonder if there would even be another regression if I died under the truck driver¡¯s hands. Yet, I said all this to assure them.


    ¡°Haaa¡­okay, I understand. You have a point.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, are you confident that you can gather us again in your second regression?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t ever put yourself in a dangerous situation, okay? If you think things are going wrong, just choose to regress again.¡±


    My members warned me again before giving permission for my n.


    ¡°But how will we find the truck driver?¡± Dong-Jun asked. This was the problem. There was no clear method that I had in mind yet, and I couldn¡¯t just recklessly wander around in search of him. If possible, I wanted to call him to us, like how the man came to find us in the parking lot. However, since I didn¡¯t know why that man came to us in the parking lot that day, it wasn¡¯t easy to think of a method either.


    <em>¡®Didn¡¯t we get our first win on a music show that day?¡¯ </em>That was the only special thing about that day. But I doubted our win was the reason why the man came to find us. After all, if he hade to find us for winning first ce, he should¡¯vee to find us dozens of times already. Perhaps, he just happened toe to us by pure chance. Yet, I didn¡¯t want to lean on some random probability for our n.


    ¡°Rather than finding the man in person, I think we need to call him towards us. Does anyone have an idea on how we can do that?¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­¡±


    ¡°A way to call him¡­?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s difficult¡­¡± My members looked deep in thought, and it was then, Do-Seung suggested an idea.


    ¡°Don¡¯t we need to make a reason for that man toe find us?¡±


    ¡°A reason?¡±


    ¡°A reason why he needs to see us this very instance. Seeing how he suddenly ambushed us at the parking lot, I¡¯m sure he was under some kind of mission too. I mean, you said he had another system talking to him.¡±


    It was a logical deduction. Though I simply told him that there was another system attached to the man, Do-Seung already connected the ambush incident to the system and deduced that the man must have received a mission rting to that. It appeared all those regressions weren¡¯t for nothing. Of course, I knew that the man¡¯s mission had been to kill me and annihte the entire team but¡­


    ¡®I hope they don¡¯t realize this,¡¯ I prayed inside my mind that my members won¡¯t realize this fact.


    ¡°What could make the truck driver search for us¡­hm¡­Maybe we can ask a journalist to publish an article saying that our group is breaking up and each of us are retiring. Then, he could pop out to the scene in shock,¡± Woon suggested a quite provocative idea.


    ¡°But wouldn¡¯t it be really hard to resolve the situation afterwards?¡±


    ¡°¡­That¡¯s true.¡±


    Yet, the scale of the proposal was too big.


    ¡°Then, how about we say that we are going on a lengthy tour? And we won¡¯te back to Korea for a while. Then, he could feel anxious about not clearing his mission on time and search for us,¡± Dong-Jun developed Woon¡¯s idea further and proposed.


    This was quite convincing. If we let it known that we won¡¯t be in Korea for a long period, the truck driver would have less time to get rid of us. But it wasn¡¯t like we could schedule a long tour out of the blue. It would be hard to solidify the idea into reality. Yet, another idea came to my mind.


    ¡°How about we just say that we are debuting in America? How about it?¡± I proposed. We just needed to spread the news that we won¡¯t be in Korea for some time. Though it was hard for us to schedule a tour, dering that we were going to debut in America was easy. Since our song got into Billboard just at this time, it would be quite a natural course of action.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°That will be the cleanest way of doing things.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah. I should¡¯ve suggested debuting instead of a tour.¡±


    My suggestion seemed to please my members.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s discuss that with thepany first.¡±


    ¡°All right.¡±


    ¡°Haaaa.¡±


    <em>¡®¡­Now that we are going to do it, it scares me.¡¯</em>


    A heavy silence filled the room. Dong-Jun bit his fingernails, Woon hugged his knees, and Do-Seung let out a deep sigh while leaning against the wall. Because whatever our n was, in the end, it didn¡¯t change the fact that calling the truck driver to us would put me in a precarious position. This was a n that I forcefully pushed ahead and undertook. My members wouldn¡¯t feel too good about that.


    ¡°You don¡¯t regret it, right? Tae-Yoon?¡± Dong-Jun asked.


    ¡°There could be another way, Tae-Yoon,¡± Woon said while looking at me.


    ¡°There could be a better way. Think about it carefully.¡± Do-Seung¡¯s eyes looked solemn.


    ¡°¡­I think this is the best n we can do.¡± That was all I could reply. ¡°I can no longer let the system y around with your lives.¡±


    As Yeon-Hoon said, another chance could appear if we waited and finished a couple of more missions. It wasn¡¯t like I knew the future. But even if a safer method came up in the future, I would choose this path. It brought me utmost stress to always have my members¡¯ lives at risk.


    ¡°I¡¯m also scared. Though I¡¯m confident I won¡¯t get hurt, it¡¯s not like the risks are zero,¡± I said. Though I didn¡¯t tell my members, I was aware that a death caused by the truck driver would be critical to me in some way. It made me more afraid because I didn¡¯t know exactly how. Yet, I still nned to go through with the n.


    ¡° I will try to end this system so that this world, all the world that you all lived in, and everything wouldn¡¯t go to waste.¡±


    Do-Seung looked at me nkly and then asked, ¡°Will I be overreacting to hug you in this situation?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care. I will hug you,¡± Woon said and suddenly hugged me.


    ¡°Oh, what? Is this supposed to be a touching moment?¡± Dong-Jun came behind me and hugged.


    ¡°What? At this point, I will be the only cold-hearted one.¡± Do-Seung wrapped his arms around Dong-Jun and Woon, who were already hugging me. His arms were extraordinarily long. And though he wasn¡¯t here, I thought Yeon-Hoon could be watching this scene from afar.


    ***


    There was a single room hostel called ¡®Rise to Sess¡¯, located in the less popted areas of Gangnam-gu. The ce was famous among workers whose jobs were at Gangnam as a ce to stay just for the night during overnight shifts.


    Unlike its name, the ce was used by people who had already achieved sess and worked crazily for it. Since the residents only used the hostel to sleep, the ce was easy to manage. And workers didn¡¯t have to worry about residents paying rentte because most of the people using their ce werepany workers.


    Thus, it was an easy ce to work at. Yet, one of the workers who had been enjoying this easy job while studying for the exams at the same for the past years was having a headache because of one resident in the building recently.


    <em>Bang! Bang! Bang!</em>


    ¡ªAhhhhhhhhhh!


    ¡ªFucking bastard!


    ¡ªGet out! Get out! Get out!


    ¡ªAhhhhh!


    ¡ªGasp!


    ¡ªHaaaaa!


    Strange screams came out of the room from afternoon to evening. When the guest had first signed up for this ce, he had exuded a dark atmosphere, but the worker had simply brushed off the matter, thinking it was another man exhausted from his work. Yet, the first impression the man gave on the signing day was simply a foreshadow to the uing nightmare he would bring.


    Though he didn¡¯t get anyints yet since most of the residents here camete in the night and copsed to sleep, it was a huge problem for someone who was supposed to be the manager of this ce.


    ¡°Please protect me God¡­Please look over my soul and body as hardshipse my way¡­¡±


    <em>Bang! </em>


    <em>Bang!</em>


    ¡°Hmph!¡± It twisted and turned a person¡¯s heart to stay stuck 24 hours in the same ce with someone who was clearly not in their best mental state. He feared that if he told the guest to leave, he would seriously get stabbed by a knife. But enduring day by day like this was another torture in itself. Yet, the worker wondered if he would be able to get another sweet part-time job like this if he quit.


    <em>Boom!</em>


    It was then he heard a bigger sound than usual. He opened the management room¡¯s door and slightly arched his head out.


    <em>Gasp! </em>


    The door of the room the guest in question was staying was wide open. The problematic guest walked towards the entrance door. He had long, unkempt hair tied sloppily behind his head, and he aggressively scratched his bloodshot eyes with his rough fingers. The worker quickly pushed his head back inside, hoping to not meet the man¡¯s eyes.


    <em>¡®Please go. Please just leave without saying anything. And if you are leaving, please nevere back,¡¯</em> the worker prayed to himself and waited till the manpletely left the hostel.


    ¡°Haaa. He¡¯s gone.¡± The man was outside. The worker could finally have some peace of mind at least until the man came back. He leaned his body back into the chair and pulled out his phone. After going through that ordeal, the worker thought he would just surf through his phone for an hour and then study afterwards. He habitually went into Utube and saw the eye-catching thumbnail that was at the top of the page.


    ¡°What? How long has their song been in Billboard that they are already debuting in the US?¡±


    ¡ªSiren, debuting in the U.S.! Their Goal is to get first ce in the Billboard Hot 100? Check out these explosive responses!!


    The video was about the biggest boy group in the nation right now, Siren. This sort of exaggerated news always caught viewers¡¯ clicks and was already circting around the web.

 Chapter 247

    <h4>Chapter 247</h4>


    Articles that announced our official debut in the U.S. began to pour out by the boatloads. This was as nned by my members and I a couple of days ago. Since the beginning, everything progressed just as we expected them to. We had apany-wide celebration for entering the Billboard Hot 100, and Yoo Won-Dong participated in the celebration. He appeared to be getting along with his employees well these days and the atmosphere never got tense or awkward.


    And since the big boss was there, I thought I could tell him my ns straightaway.


    ¡°Director, I think we can think more seriously about our activities in the US now,¡± I brought it up as a passing idea that I just thought of by myself.


    ¡°Huh? What are you saying, Tae-Yoon?¡± Dong-Jun pretended to be interested and took the role of supporting me. ¡°Debuting in the US? But now that we entered into the charts, I do think it is time to shake up the waters a bit. If we do just a bit more...¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon soon naturally joined us and added a line or two.


    ¡°I heard that our music is popr among highschoolers in the U.S.¡±


    ¡°My cousin is studying in the U.S., and she says it¡¯s a trend to film Tiktaktok videos with our song. It was cool to hear what¡¯s happening there from an actual resident.¡±


    And though nobody ordered him to, Yeon-Hoon also intuitively added his opinion about our debut in the U.S. ¡°Oh yeah! I heard that it¡¯s going viral in the U.S. for real! I heard that everyone who likes K-Pop in the U.S. is already listening to our song. If we debut in the U.S. right now, it could make things interesting.¡± This was his personal opinion that we didn¡¯t force him to say.


    Since our goal was to spread articles about our debut in the US rather than actually doing the deed, I felt a little bit bad for Yeon-Hoon who just genuinely wanted to go to the U.S. But of course, I just justified our actions, thinking that we could really debut in the US after finishing all the missionster.


    After hearing all of our opinions, Yoo Won-Dong looked to be pondering for about a minute. Yet, that one minute pause was obviously just a fake to show his hesitation, and he seemed to have already made up his mind. How could I miss this old fox twitching the edge of his lips in joy after hearing us?


    ¡°Your opinions and mine are finally aligning! I also thought we should prepare for you guys¡¯ debut right now! And...don¡¯t be surprised. We already reserved a show time from the Jimmy Box show for you all in the US.¡±


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    ¡°...Hm?¡±


    ¡°Jimmy...Box?¡±


    ¡°Wow! That¡¯s amazing! You are the best, director!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    The Jimmy Box Show? I didn¡¯t think things would be official so fast. How could he have gotten us a show time airing in the middle of the most popr talk show in the U.S. just two days after we entered the Billboard Hot 100?


    ¡°I connected with some people working in overseas businesses in the Jaeil Group. You know the saying, if you just go through three links in your connections, you can reach everybody? Hahaha!¡±


    No matter how wide one¡¯s connections reached, it seemed only possible for Yoo Won-Dong to reach something like the Jimmy Box Show with just three links. Nevertheless, it wasn¡¯t difficult for us to get approval for our U.S. debut because that is what Yoo Won-Dong wanted more than anything. However, I feared that the situation would get bigger than what I imagined.


    Two days after that celebration, Next Wave spread news through journalists about our debut. All the news had pretty much the same content. It was that we were going to leave the country next month for our official U.S. activities. Though the exact day wasn¡¯t decided, we would be embarking for the US any time soon. The only fixed event in our schedule was the Jimmy Box Show. After finishing that schedule, we could go around a couple of nearby radios and return to Korea.


    Yet, I convinced Yoo Won-Dong to not write the exact dates of our U.S. activities.


    ¡°Director, let¡¯s not reveal our date of departure and return.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°It makes us look big, like we have a lot of things going on in the U.S.¡±


    ¡°...Oh.¡±


    Though it wasn¡¯t a very solid reasoning, Yoo Won-Dong liked my exnation, and articles stated that our departure and return dates were undecided. Fans had many different opinions about our U.S. debut.


    Some people thought we should strike the iron when it was hot while others worried that we would return to the nation after buzz about us had died down and we woulde back to an awkward situation where we were no longer relevant. Others were simply pissed that they couldn¡¯t see us in the same country anymore and so on.


    All the fans¡¯ responses had a point. Of course, since we weren¡¯t really debuting in the U.S., we would quickly return to Korea after finishing our activities there but for the Korean fans, it could feel as if they had lost us. I monitored the Korean fans¡¯ responses about the U.S. debut and put down my phone.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, what are you looking at?¡± Dong-Jun sat beside me and asked.


    ¡°Comments about our U.S. debut,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Aha. Many people are talking about it, but honestly, I thought it would be good for us to go around now...we just need to do a good job so we won¡¯t disappoint the fans.¡± The current Dong-Jun was the normal Dong-Jun who didn¡¯t have memories of a regressor.


    I looked around the inside of the car. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were conversing in the front. Most of their conversation was about our next day¡¯s schedule or what they were going to eat.


    ¡°Should we eat the mushroom <i>kalguksu*</i> in Yeouido tomorrow?¡± [1]


    ¡°Sounds amazing. Did you see me salivate just now?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! We <i>have</i> to eat it tomorrow.¡±


    And whenever the two talked about food, Dong-Jun always intervened. ¡°Wow! So bad! How could you think of going to eat<i> kalguksu</i> without us? You are betraying us!¡±


    Dong-Jun always felt left out if he wasn¡¯t included in a conversation about food.


    ¡°They are going to have a meal during their break time. Don¡¯t stop them. This is the employee abuse they talk about happening withinpanies.¡± And it was always Do-Seung who provoked Dong-Jun at times like this.


    ¡°Are you seriously talking about ¡®employee abuse¡¯ for something like this? Why do you talk so meanly?¡± Dong-Jun didn¡¯t back down and retorted.


    ¡°We will also pack you guys¡¯ share! How about it? Won¡¯t that solve everything?¡±


    ¡°We will specially ask them to add a lot of beef and pack it. You have to ask for extra servings of beef twice in that ce to have a good amount.¡±


    Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna smoothly died down the atmosphere that was getting heated, and Dong-Jun¡¯s face perked up while Do-Seung just let go of the matter.


    ¡°Wow, I just ate a bite of the noodles just now. The mushroom <i>kalguksu </i>is amazing.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t eat too much of the <i>kalguksu</i> and have an upset stomach again. We are out of digestive medicines in the dorm now.¡±


    These daily conversations brought me more peace than any other background noises.


    ¡°Woon, what do you think about this t-shirt? Isn¡¯t it pretty?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked Woon.


    ¡°You already have five of those shirts in the house.¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°Rather than prints, why don¡¯t you buy shirts with more details like this. Or ones that just have a simple logo?¡±


    ¡°But...ones with fancy printings like this catch your eyes better...!¡±


    ¡°...I think your sense in choosing clothes is a bit strange.¡±


    ¡°W¡ªWoon...?¡±


    ¡°Ah, sorry. Was I too blunt?¡±


    ¡°I thought I was talking to Do-Seung for a second.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m <i>so sorry</i>.¡±


    ¡°...Why do you have to pick on me all of a sudden, Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    ¡°Ah, haha! Sorry Do-Seung!¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    I leaned into the car seat. It was night when all of our schedules were over. Listening to my members¡¯ conversation from the car¡¯s back seat was my day¡¯s only healing time. I didn¡¯t have to think, calcte, or worry about anything during this time. These were the small moments that I had desperately yearned for before my regression. To have these moments forever, I was willing to give up anything.


    The car headed to our dorm at a speed that was neither too fast nor slow. Eventually, it entered the parking lot and stopped in front of our apartment¡¯s basement entrance.


    ¡°You all did so much today too. Go in and have a good rest.¡±


    ¡°And everyone, don¡¯t forget to watch the fifteen minute video for conversational English before you go to sleep!¡±


    ¡°We are going to test you twenty words tomorrow morning so please, <i>please </i>memorize them!¡±


    Because we were going to do more activities in the U.S. from now on, we were also going to study English.


    ¡°All right!¡±


    ¡°See you tomorrow everyone!¡±


    ¡°Really good work today.¡±


    ¡°Be careful on your way back~¡±


    My members took their luggage and went inside their rooms. I was thest one to get out of the car after Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon left.


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Another day passed smoothly just like that~¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s have a good sleep~¡±


    We stretched our stiff bodies in front of the entrance door for a bit.


    ¡°You guys, could you go up first?¡±


    ¡°Huh? Why?¡±


    ¡°I have something I need to buy in the convenience store. I will join you soon.¡±


    ¡°Ah, then, let¡¯s go together. I also have something to buy.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Spicy Hot Chicken vored ramen.¡±


    ¡°Park Dong-Jun!¡±


    ¡°...That was my n but I just canceled it. Why don¡¯t you go alone? Do you have a hat?¡±


    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s just the convenience store in front of the house.¡±


    ¡°Then, we¡¯ll go up first, Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Be careful~¡±


    My members went past the entrance door first and got inside the elevator. Since the elevator was right on the basement floor, they immediately moved up to our dorm. I looked behind and searched the parking lot then.


    Diagonally across the basement entrance, I saw a familiar car that I didn¡¯t notice at first because it was covered by arge pir. It was a white rusty looking car that I saw the truck driver run away in. Since I never saw a car like that on this side of the parking lot, I knew the car belonged to a nonresident.


    Moreover, the thick tape wrapping around the back side mirrors were traces of what happened in hisst escape. I took a step away from the entrance and walked toward the car. I gulped with my drying throat.


    It would be a lie if I said I wasn¡¯t scared. I was also human and could instinctively detect danger. There was a clear sense of bloodlust in this ce. All the hairs in my body stood straight from the piercing antagonism filling up this space. And the moment I took another step¡ª


    <i>Boom!</i>


    <i>Bzzzzz¡ª!</i>


    I heard something heavy hit a metal sheet and an electronic device buzzing.


    <i>Psssh¡ª!</i>


    <i>Spark!</i>


    ¡°...The hell?¡±


    All the lights inside the basement parking lot turned off. It seemed he hadpletely crushed the electric circuit that supplied electricity to this ce. Because a bright ce suddenly went dark, my eyes couldn¡¯t adjust, and I couldn¡¯t make out anything in front of me. I didn¡¯t think activating Insight would do much in this situation. I simply had to hope that my eyes would eventually adjust to the darkness, and I could at least spot a person¡¯s silhouette inside it.


    I quickly moved. If I was in a dark ce, I could make my eyes adjust faster by bringing it to a darker ce. By the time I thought my eyes became used to the darkness and I looked forward¡ª


    ¡°...<i>Fuck</i>.¡±


    The bastard was already right in front of my face.


    1. Korean noodle dish ?

 Chapter 248

    <h4>Chapter 248</h4>


    He definitely was the truck driver. All I could make out in this darkness was his silhouette and the glinting off his eyes, but I was sure it was him. The only thing that shed from his flickering eyes was pure bloodlust. The man¡¯s hand reached for my neck and simultaneously, his feet swerved towards the inside of my feet and knocked me down by force.


    <i>Boom! </i>With my neck in his tight grip, I lost my bnce and fell to the floor. The man¡¯s hands constricted my throat hard.


    <i>Gasp...!</i>


    ¡°...¡±


    The man didn¡¯t make any noise again. I just saw that there was a sense of contentment in his chilling eyes like he had finally achieved what he hoped for. I extended my hand and gripped the man¡¯s wrist. I rolled my feet desperately on the ground to free myself but the more I struggled, the tighter the man¡¯s grip became. The man¡¯s weight heavily pressed against my chest and my vision soon turned hazy.


    My eyeballs felt like it was about to pop out from the intense pressure, and it felt as if I was on the verge of crossing death¡¯s door. Since I never actually died before, I didn¡¯t know what dying felt like. Perhaps, my members who had lived as regressors were much more knowledgeable in areas like this. After all, I was the only one who survived the first car crash too.


    My brain understood that if I gave up on resisting right now, things would be easier and more pleasant. Yet, all the biological instincts in my body were screaming at me to escape from the danger I was in. If I had to think of a way to escape, there was one, which was to use Insight. Insight would probably provide me at least one path to survive from this man¡¯s attack.


    <i>Gaaaasp!</i> Yet, even as I clutched onto the man¡¯s wrist and dug my fingernails into his forearm¡ªor even as my heart beat crazily fast from the unexpected iing of death and I felt my whole body pulse speedily, I didn¡¯t use Insight. My main goal wasn¡¯t to escape death. I had to be determined to die; think that perhaps, I could really die. However, the system I knew wouldn¡¯t let me die like this.


    <i>¡®...Please...juste...</i>¡¯ I waited until I heard the system¡¯s voice. Before, the system had responded much quicker. Perhaps, it had acted like that because it never encountered a simr situation in its data before. Yet, since it contained rtive data now, it was probably responding slower than that time. It probably thought that I would use Insight and free myself in the end.


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    I endured recklessly. Without using Insight, I persisted even at the threat of death.


    <i>¡®Come. Pleasee.¡¯</i> The reason why I risked death even while knowing I could die was because I believed that this was one of the few situations where I could make a crack in the system. I hoped that even at this moment, whole loads of cracks had already formed internally inside the system. and Yeon-Hoon prated the system¡¯s core. If Yeon-Hoon just reached it, I knew this moment¡¯s situation couldpletely overturn. If the system waspletely overtaken by Yeon-Hoon, it definitely wouldn¡¯t let me die.


    I looked at the truck driver¡¯s two eyes. I wondered how many people could make an expression like him while killing someone with his hands. His eyes looked out of it in his state of extreme frenzy and excitement and the edges of his lips upturned. His face was filled with hope as if he was waiting for the greatest moment of his life. I stopped resisting.


    I loosened my body and rxed so that the man¡¯s wrist could cut off the breath from my throat. I thought I would hear the signal that would overturn everything in the moment when this man¡¯s hope was at its greatest. My vision darkened and my madly thumping heart gradually cooled. I felt the vitality rushing through my body deplete at rming speed.


    It appeared death came mercilessly like this. The man¡¯s mouth stretched out strangely in exhration, and he looked like he was going to beam in celebration when¡ª


    ¡°...¡±


    The man¡¯s expression suddenly froze. His hands dropped from my throat and his legs stopped pressing on my chest.


    ¡°Haaaa! Kuh!¡±


    <i>Gasp!</i>


    I felt dizzy because of the sudden increase in oxygen intake. Yet, even in this terrible pain, my body didn¡¯t stop inhaling to survive. Life began to rush through my dying body again and pumped my heart. It seemed great pain apanied dying and living again.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± I felt pain so strong that my head felt like it was going to burst, and I intuitively let out a scream.


    <i>Cough! I</i> also felt blood in my throat and spat out my saliva to see that there was red mixed in. Though I couldn¡¯t make out what was in front of me due to this blinding pain, I raised my head to stare at the man. I was almost there¡ªwhy did he stop? The man took some steps backwards at thest moment and looked at me confusedly.


    ¡°...Why did you stop?¡± I asked the truck driver. The man erased his perplexed expression and looked at me again.


    ¡°...I almost fell for your trap,¡± he said.


    ¡°...!¡±


    There were many meanings hidden inside that one sentence. He must have realized that I was aiming for the moment when I was near death. Did the system attached to the man tell him? That seemed to be the only exnation. If that was the case, how did that system find out?


    I was confused, but I thought it wasn¡¯t a question I could find out just by pondering. The important part was that the man had found out my ulterior motive to use him to help Yeon-Hoon gain control over the system¡¯s core. And if this man¡¯s system had realized it, that meant there was a high chance that my system also realized what I was doing.


    <i>¡®This is giving me a headache.¡¯ </i>But at the same time, how could it not know? I was doing something simr to a coup against the system.


    ¡°Haa.¡±


    <i>Siiiigh.</i>


    I inhaled deeply. I thought I would die mercilessly under this man¡¯s hands but even dying took effort. I couldn¡¯t help but let out a smallugh at this ironic situation. Perhaps, dying under this man¡¯s hands would be the only proper ¡®death¡¯ that would be acknowledged by the system.


    ¡°I just need to die under <i>your </i>hands, right?¡± Perhaps, all the conditions were fulfilled if just that man¡¯s hands assisted in my death. The man¡¯s eyes filled with shock. Our roles instantly became reversed, and the man began to escape the scene. I also got up and followed the man. Before, the rtionship between the truck driver and I had been a form of a predator and prey, especially after he went through an awakening of sorts after getting one-sidedly beaten up by me at Yasan.


    Even at Yasan, he tried to kill me and thest time we met, he ambushed me at the parking lot and showed his full intent to do just that again. Yet, the roles were reversed now. I clutched the man¡¯s shoulders. I wondered if he at least possessed some kind of weapon. Though I couldn¡¯t think of a clear method to get killed by this man, the first thing that came to my mind was to make use of something like a knife if the man possessed it.


    ¡°Piss off, you bastard!¡± The truck driver pushed my hands away and kicked me in the stomach. Though I was pushed to the ground, I still managed to clutch the man¡¯s right ankle in the process. I twisted the man¡¯s ankle while getting pushed away with all my might and rolled on the ground together with him.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± Based on the angle I twisted his ankle, the man probably had quite a sharp pain. I got up and looked at the man¡¯s right ankle. If a person¡¯s ankle was able to turn about 120 angles to the side, it appeared that this man¡¯s ankle turned up to 190 degrees. And though I simply twisted his ankle, it seemed the man¡¯s knees and hip joints had all twisted up in sequence. The man crawled on the floor with his right leg stretched out.


    I wasn¡¯t usually such a cruel person that I would simply watch a man struggling. Yet, I didn¡¯t feel a shred of sympathy for this man.


    ¡°You should¡¯ve...drove better. Why make all this trouble?¡± I asked and stepped on the man¡¯s ankle hard once more.


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡± It felt ironic that our roles had changed so dramatically once again. Considering how we each had a system attached to us, our rtionship and ending had already been decided for us. Yet, the difference between him and us was that we had been suddenly struck by a curse while living our day-to-day lives while this bastard was receiving the punishment for driving drunk and hitting us in the freeway.


    ¡°Your mission is to kill us, right?¡± I crouched next to the man and asked. ¡°It was to kill me first and then kill each of us in order after that, right?¡±


    The man¡¯s destiny was to kill us. We were fated enemies considering how this man had crashed into us with his truck thousands of times in thousands of universes. And now, he nned to kill us with his own hands instead of a truck.


    ¡°What is the reward of the mission...that you are going this far as to kill us?¡± I asked. Yet, even if this man was a victim, bound by the system like me, I didn¡¯t have the slightest sympathy for him. The man made the decision to kill us and it was his own mistake that locked him in this curse.


    ¡°What is it...that you are dying to kill us?¡± I asked again. The man didn¡¯t answer and crawled on the ground while groaning. Yet, in the end, he appeared to have given up on running away andy on the floor with all his limbs spread out.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± The man moaned and tried to twist his ankle back into ce. But of course, it wasn¡¯t like I was going to just watch him do that, especially with the slow speed he was moving.


    <i>Crunch.</i>


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± Just at the moment the man was about to return his ankle into ce, I stepped on it hard again. I didn¡¯t even have to put much pressure. I simply made use of the man holding his hand on his ankle and reversed it so that the ankle was twisted further.


    ¡°I asked you what your reward is?¡± Though I didn¡¯t have interest in torture, there was nothing more suitable than torture to get someone to answer your question.


    ¡°Haa. Haa. Shit...¡± The man murmured while lying on the ground.


    ¡°You think the whole world just works ording to your will, right! You fucking bastard!¡±


    ¡°...?¡±


    I had no intention to listen to hisints and nonsense when I just wanted to hear his reason for killing us. Soon after, the man didn¡¯t even have the intention to revert his ankle and rushed towards me with zing eyes. Because I had been crouching over him, the truck driver easily tackled me, and I copsed under him with no resistance. In a situation when I was prepared to die, I actually weed his attack.


    ¡°Who wouldn¡¯t do what I¡¯m doing! When the whole world would flip over and people like me can be in the highest positions if you guys die!¡± The man shouted right at my face while grabbing onto the cors of my shirt. It was an unpleasant experience to witness a middle-aged man showcase his greed and passion an inch away from my eyes.


    ¡°Do you really think I will kill you in this ce?¡± he shouted. He just said his time woulde if he killed me, so his words seemed to make no sense.


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡± The man got on top of him and our positions were reversed again.


    <i>Drrr.</i> I heard bones moving and the man¡¯s ankle returned to its normal angle.


    ¡°You will die when you least expect it so wait for that moment. Things won¡¯t go your way,¡± the man said and punched me in the face. I heard something burst inside my mouth. It seemed a vein or something popped, and I tasted blood. The man punched me a couple of more times after that. Though the punches didn¡¯t threaten my life, it wasn¡¯t like it didn¡¯t hurt.


    My vision blurred and the blood collecting inside my mouth stopped me from breathing. After reaching that point, the man got up while leaving me on the ground.


    ¡°...If you just wait, I will kill you on my own so just sit tight you bastard,¡± he said.


    ¡°...You really are a stupid bastard,¡± I said.


    <i>Grip</i>. I clutched the man¡¯s ankle as he moved farther away from me.


    ¡°...If I was you, I wouldn¡¯t have attacked my opponent¡¯s face but either their hand or foot.¡±


    The man¡¯s right ankle twisted again. Though I didn¡¯t have the time to check, it was clear it was twisted past 190 degrees this time.


    ¡°Ahhhhhhhh!¡±

 Chapter 249

    Truck driver, Kang Seok-Du, clutched his twisted ankle and screamed.


    ¡°Ahhhh! You bastard!¡± The bones he had barely managed to piece together just before began to twist around again. As the areas between his bones and joints scratched each other, a dull pain spread from his soles to his hips. When he gained his senses, the vessels in his eyes had popped from the increased pressure around the area.


    <em>Huff. Huff. Huff. </em>


    Kang Seok-Du checked his twisted ankle. It was twisted much more than before. Since he didn¡¯t give muscles and joints enough time to heal and stabilize, bones that had been moved out of ce were more easily twisted with even less force. He needed to endure the pain and put it back into ce again. Yet, he couldn¡¯t do that while the crazy bastard¡ªBong Tae-Yoon¡ªwas watching him.


    He was neen years old right now, but who knew how many more years this monstrous demon actually lived? Kang Seok-Du looked at the madman standing in the opposite direction from him. Tae-Yoon spat out the blood that had collected in his mouth to the floor. Though his face was quite beaten up, he still maintained his original beauty and gazed arrogantly at Kang Seok-Du.


    ¡°¡­Why don¡¯t you go? Let me see how far you can go.¡± Tae-Yoon even proimed to let him go as if he was going to be the one hunting now.


    Kang Seok-Du, who had been the hunter until now, didn¡¯t feel pleased about their change in roles. Yet, it wasn¡¯t like he could continue staying here. If he remained in this ce and got his other leg twisted up, it would be like he was giving himself up for torture.


    <em>¡®Shit! Shit! Shit!¡¯</em> Kang Seok-Du cursed inside his mind and crawled back towards his car. He leaned his body against the tire and touched his twisted ankle again.


    <em>¡®Let me do things one at a time. One at a time,¡¯ </em>he thought. He inhaled sharply and put a towel in his mouth to prevent himself from idently cracking his teeth.¡°Ahhhhh!¡± While twisting his ankle, he felt a prickling pain that climbed up all the way to the back of his neck and spread. All the muscles and bones in his body vibrated from the pain. His vision turnedpletely white and blood soaked the towel he was biting on.


    ¡°Haaa¡­haa¡­haa¡­.¡± Though his ankle returned to its original angle, it was a mystery whether it could still maintain its original functions.


    No, it probably couldn¡¯t. His body was already full of parts that could no longer resume its original functions. The muscles in both of his arms had already deteriorated to the point that he had severe muscle tremors and had trouble eating. His pectoralis major, trapezius, and erector spinae muscle all showed signs of muscle deterioration too. This was the price of pushing his body beyond human limits. Yet, he simply brushed it off, thinking he could easily get a new body once he finished all these missions.


    [Within one year, kill Bong Tae-Yoon and then, annihte all the Siren members.]


    [Upon sess, the overturning of this world]


    [Upon failure, death]


    It was a very simple but direct message. Yet, the result of sess was anything but ¡®simple¡¯. ¡®The overturning of this world¡¯¡ª he didn¡¯t understand what this reward was at first but as time passed, thoughts came to his mind as if he was receiving a revtion. Two sides existed in this world and one side was the one that moved this world to its original direction while the other side moved to overturn this world; it was the world of reversal.


    When the power of the original direction¡¯s world was strong, the world of reversal couldn¡¯t use its powers properly and was only pushed back. Yet, as one stumbled on a pebble on the ground, there were times when the original direction¡¯s world was pushed back too. Those were the rare moments when the world of reversal could push back the original direction¡¯s world.


    And if Kang Seok-Du killed the original direction¡¯s world¡¯s regressor one more time, the world would flow in the reversal direction instead of the original direction. As the one who made the world flow in reversal, he would be able to manipte the world.


    <em>¡®I have to endure¡­grit it out till the end.¡¯ </em>Though it was a mission that put his life at risk, the reward superseded that. In the first ce, this was the kind of world where people without money and support had to die; it made sense to him that he would risk his life for a far bigger reward, and in his mind, Siren was nothing more than an obstacle that he needed to get rid of for his goals.


    ¡°Haa¡­.haa¡­.¡± After confirming that his ankle returned to its original position, he got up. He didn¡¯t know where Tae-Yoon went. His heart felt anxious but there was nothing he could do. Running away was his priority right now and after getting in the driver seat, he moved to activate the car.


    Unfortunately, and very frustratingly, he couldn¡¯t find his car key anywhere. He fumbled with his pockets to find it, but it was nowhere to be found. He wondered if he had lost it while fighting with Tae-Yoon on the ground.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± This ancient car couldn¡¯t be activated without a physical key. Kang Seok-Du mmed his fist on the car handles and pounded on it. Then, he looked outside the car window. While he was inside the car, he felt a strange assurance that he was safe. His brain probably had created that illusion after being unable to ovee the rising anxiety, but nevertheless, Kang Seok-Du suddenly felt baffled by the situation.


    He needed to kill Bong Tae-Yoon, but in this situation, it felt as if Tae-Yoon was trying to kill him instead.


    <em>¡®If I kill him right now, the world of reversal told me I won¡¯t get another chance¡­shit, is it telling me to kill him or not?¡¯ </em>The moment he thought he finally achieved his goal, a voice intervened inside his mind strongly like he was receiving a prophecy. In the end, he had no choice but to stop what he was doing and back off until he reached his current state.


    ¡°I need to kill him¡­kill him¡­damn it, I need to exterminate this bastard now¡­¡± Kang Seok-Du murmured his habitual lines and bit his fingernails. His murderous desire couldn¡¯t be appeased no matter what. He couldn¡¯t even properly function in daily life anymore. After he awakened to his system¡¯smands after meeting Tae-Yoon at Yasan for the first time, this pure murderous desire hadpletely eaten up his brain.


    From then on, Kang Seok-Du found it unable to restrict his boiling bloodlust and passion for violence and couldn¡¯t bear it without self-harm or acting out of the ordinary. It felt as if he had be the embodiment of violence and chaos. He was originally not someone who lived a normal life but ever since the incident at Yasan, he had crossed lines even he couldn¡¯t fathom. Yet, if one asked if he disliked the transformation he underwent, he would say that wasn¡¯t the case at all.


    After leaving all his rationality and decisions to pure instincts and impulse, it felt as if his mind had climbed to a higher dimension. This was the kind of person he originally was; he just never had the trigger to manifest it before. Now that the chance was given to him, he had simply transformed into hisplete, true self.


    Kang Seok-Du scanned the dark parking lot with wide eyes. He needed to see in which direction Tae-Yoon woulde for him. His instinct told him that there was a high possibility that Tae-Yoon possessed his car key. He needed to subdue Tae-Yoon as quickly and efficiently as possible, recover his key, and escape. If possible, his goal was to knock Tae-Yoon unconscious, load him to his car, and run.


    Then, he could lock up Tae-Yoon until he received a decree that he could kill Tae-Yoon now. There were many ways to knock a person unconscious. He could constrict Tae-Yoon¡¯s neck until Tae-Yoon lost consciousness from theck of oxygen; or he could give a big shock on Tae-Yoon¡¯s head so that it would knock his brain right out. Whatever the means, it was possible for him with the powerful strength the system gave him.


    Though the aftereffects of using the system¡¯s power would remain in his body forever, his physical body was of no importance to him. Kang Seok-Du now regretted the fact that he had broken the parking lot¡¯s electric circuit. It wasn¡¯t easy to decipher Tae-Yoon¡¯s figure in this darkness. He put his hand on the handle and pierced his fingernails into the handle¡¯s leather. Feelings of anxiety made him feel the need to do something.


    He needed to kill but couldn¡¯t. If things went wrong, he could be the one captured and killed instead. Inside this darkness, a future that he didn¡¯t knowy dormant. Nobody knew what kind of terrible predicament this future would put him in. The powerlessness he felt from not knowing irked his nerves.


    It made him so agitated that he opened his car¡¯s door half-way and yelled, ¡°Fuck you bastard, Bong Tae-Yoon! Quickly show yourself! You think I won¡¯t be able to fucking find you?!¡±


    ¡°Show yourself!¡± Only his voice rang in this empty, dark parking lot. At this point, it seemed Tae-Yoon wasn¡¯t in this space. He couldn¡¯t feel even the faintest sound of feet moving or a person breathing. He couldn¡¯t sense the presence of another human right now.


    ¡°¡­Did he leave?¡± Though his brain told him that wasn¡¯t possible, it brought up the scenario that he wanted the most right now: Bong Tae-Yoon left just like that and there was no reason for him to be anxious anymore. Though he didn¡¯t manage to knock out Tae-Yoon and load him into his car, this was enough. There were many ways to kill Tae-Yoon and he just needed to do that when he received the next revtion, allowing him to do that.


    <em>Click.</em> Kang Seok-Du closed the car¡¯s door, gripped the car handles tightly, and waited. After counting to ten, he nned to go outside and run with all his might.


    ¡°1¡­2¡­3¡­4.¡± Numbers flowed out of Kang Seok-Du¡¯s mouth. ¡°8¡­9¡­¡±


    Then, the moment he opened the car door to leave, a voice other than his said, ¡°10.¡±


    It came from the passenger seat right behind the driver seat. There were two pupils staring at him. It was Bong Tae-Yoon.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± Tae-Yoon had already been in the car since he first came inside. Before he could run away, Tae-Yoon soon caught him again. He did a head-lock on Kang Seok-Du and wrapped his arms around Kang Seok-Du¡¯s neck.


    <em>Gasp!</em>


    As strong pressure became applied around his neck, Kang Seok-Du felt his oxygen level drop sharply. Though he scratched Tae-Yoon¡¯s forearm with his fingernails, he only got some bits of flesh and Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t loosen his grip. Tae-Yoon¡¯s eyes that he saw through the back mirror were simply calm and peaceful. He didn¡¯t feel any trembling or movement in Tae-Yoon¡¯s eyes, and those eyes pushed Kang Seok-Du into a deeper state of anxiety.


    It felt like a sure and absolute death would swallow him up calmly like this. The more evil a person was, the more attached they were to living, and Kang Seok-Du felt a stronger survival instinct than anyone else.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± He borrowed the system¡¯s power to draw out a strength that surpassed a human¡¯s limitations. He grabbed Tae-Yoon wrist and threw him outside. Yet, Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t remain still. He pushed himself in the center console between the driver seat and the passenger seat next to it.


    Then before Kang Seok-Du could escape, he activated the car. Even in that short period, Tae-Yoon¡¯s hand exactly found the ce to insert the car¡¯s key and stuck the key inside. As expected, Tae-Yoon was the one who had the car key.


    Tae-Yoon pressed on Kang Seok-Du¡¯s right thigh hard. The activated engine made the entire car lightly vibrate.


    ¡°What the¡­¡± Without giving Kang Seok-Du a break to even think, Tae-Yoon gripped Kang Seok-Du¡¯s neck. The strong grip tightened around Kang Seok-Du¡¯s respiratory tract. Then, with skillful movements, Tae-Yoon pounded on his thigs again and Kang Seok-Du¡¯s feet moved to the gas pedal unbeknownst to his will. He realized that things would be over the moment he stepped on this pedal.


    In this period of peace, it was a ¡®car¡¯ that killed more people than a knife or a gun. And right now, they weren¡¯t on this vehicle for the purpose of transport but as a mean for joint suicide. Though his head rang rm bells to tell him of the danger, there wasn¡¯t much he could do. All he could do was put more strength in his thighs and resist from stepping on the gas pedal with all his might. Yet, even that became impossible with Tae-Yoon¡¯s machine-like order.


    ¡°Step on it.¡±


    ¡ªStep on it


    <em>Brooooom!</em>


    Kang Seok-Du stepped on the gas pedal with full force.

 Chapter 250

    <h4>Chapter 250</h4>


    In Siren¡¯s dorm without Bong Tae-Yoon, all of the Siren members sat around the living room after taking a shower. Normally, they would have gone to their respective rooms and fallen asleep, but there was a reason why they couldn¡¯t do so.


    ¡°When is Tae-Yooning back?¡±


    ¡°Did he usually spend this long at the convenience store?¡±


    ¡°Is he eating something there?¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    30 minutes had passed since Tae-Yoon said he was going to the convenience store, and he still hadn¡¯te back. Normally, he would be back home by now.


    ¡°Search for Tae-Yoon¡¯s name in ces like Bluebird. He might be caught by fans or taking pictures for them there.¡±


    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Park Dong-Jun took the lead and searched for Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s name on SNS but nothing came out. He even searched for Western names, but the results were the same.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wait 10 more minutes for now.¡± Like this, the four Siren members looks endlessly at the clock. Although the promised 10 minutes have passed, Bong Tae-Yoon was still not back.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try calling him.¡± Yeon-Hoon took his phone and got up.


    ¡°Should I go out and look for him?¡± Lee Woon took the hat and nned to go find Bong Tae-Yoon by himself.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go together if you¡¯re nning to go out.¡±


    ¡°Then let me join too.¡±


    With Woon¡¯s lead, Kang Do-Seung stood up, and Park Dong-Jun also got up from his seat.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon is not even answering his phone...I want to go too. Let¡¯s go together.¡± Woo Yeon-Hoon made a worried expression when Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t pick up the phone and got up from his seat after taking a hat.


    The four of them took the elevator and went out to the front door on the first floor. While going, Park Dong-Jun poked Kang Do-Seung on the side, and Kang Do-Seung looked at Park Dong-Jun with a questioning gaze. Kang Do-Seung wondered if Park Dong-Jun¡¯s eyes had originally looked this profound and mysterious, and he unknowingly changed with the regressor Kang Do-Seung.


    ¡°It¡¯s you, right?¡±


    ¡°Yep, it¡¯s me.¡±


    The two confirmed each other as regressors in a few words. Then Kang Do-Seung wrapped his arm on Woon¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Woon.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Can you look at me right now?¡±


    Lee Woon made eye contact with Kang Do-Seung and intuitively realized that the regressor Woon was needed now, and his identity also naturally switched to the regressor identity. Like this, a strangepanionship of three regressors and Yeon-Hoon followed.


    ¡°How many convenience stores were there around here?¡±


    ¡°There are probably tons. Almost all the streets look the same...¡±


    ¡°Considering Tae-Yoon¡¯s personality, he would have looked for the presence or absence of a traffic light if the distance was simr...So I think he went to the CS convenience store where he didn¡¯t have to cross the traffic light.¡± While saying Tae-Yoon might have gone to the CS convenience store, his eyes looked towards the underground parking lot.


    Since Bong Tae-Yoon said he was going to the convenience store, it would be right to go to the convenience store first, but Park Dong-Jun¡¯s intuition was saying that something was going on in the parking lot. Park Dong-Jun had been on high alert since Bong Tae-Yoon asked him to help find the truck driver before. Even though Bong Tae-Yoon said he could safely face the truck driver, he didn¡¯t know how truthful that was.


    After regressing several times, he thought he had a good grasp of all his team members¡¯ characters, but Bong Tae-Yoon was always a mystery. Therefore, apart from caring for Bong Tae-Yoon, he became someone who didn¡¯t believe in Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s words and actions. They had to go through the parking lot entrance to get to the CS convenience store anyway.


    While walking there, Park Dong-Jun poked Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung in the side. Then he pointed to the underground parking lot with furtive nces. Even though he didn¡¯t say anything aloud, both Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung seemed to grasp the meaning behind his nces¡ªthat Bong Tae-Yoon might be carrying out the n to meet the truck driver right now.


    The most suitable ce to meet the truck driver in this area was the underground parking lot. Just in time, an announcement came out from the speakers installed throughout the apartment.


    ¡ªThis is an announcement for all residents. Currently, there is a power outage due to an electrical wiring problem in the parking lot on the 2nd basement floor of Building 103. We will urgently take care of this matter, so please take note of this issue. We will inform you once again when...


    If it was Building 103, it was the building where their dorm was, and if it was the parking lot on the second basement floor, it was the floor with a dedicated parking space for Siren¡¯s dorm.


    ¡°Basement 2nd floor? We park our car there, right?¡± Woo Yeon-Hoon seemed to have noticed that something was off as well. Originally, Lee Woon, Kang Do-Seung, and Park Dong-Jun nned to make their moves while excluding Woo Yeon-Hoon as much as possible. However, now that it came to this, there was no more time to waste.


    It was now almost certain that Bong Tae-Yoon must have met the truck driver in the underground parking lot. It won¡¯t be toote to exin what happened to Yeon-Hoonter. The first thing to do now was to storm into the underground parking lot.


    Sigh... ¡°This is crazy.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Where are we going?¡±


    ¡°To the underground parking lot.¡±


    ¡°What? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go first. I¡¯ll exin it to youter.¡±


    ¡°Guys? What, the announcement said there was a power outage....Wait a minute...¡± Woo Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t know what happened, but he tried to follow the members into the underground parking lot. He was going to turn on his phone sh since he heard there was a power outage but...


    <i>Ziiing¡ª!</i>


    <i>Ziiiiiing¡ª!</i>


    A departure siren, signaling the exit of a vehicle, rang at the entrance of Building 103. Even if they were in a hurry, they couldn¡¯t go down recklessly when a car wasing out. However...


    <i>Screeeech¡ª!</i>


    There was a vehicle that climbed the curved course of the underground parking lot at high speed. It was a white ntra, and Park Dong-Jun remembered whose car it was.


    ¡°That¡¯s the truck driver¡¯s damn car!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Truck driver? Huh?¡±


    The car was moving dangerously even by a nce. This underground parking passage was designed so that cars didn¡¯t drive fast, and it was very unsual for it to run this course at that speed. While the Siren members were wondering if they should stop the vehicle, the vehicle had already escaped from the parking lot. In that short time¡ª


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon....?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    They saw Bong Tae-Yoon sitting in the passenger seat. They had no way of knowing how things were going, but they knew that this wasn¡¯t the time to act so leisurely like now.


    ¡°Run!¡±


    The four Siren members all rushed to the underground parking lot, and then they rushed into their back-up vehicle; it was the old van from WD Entertainment. Even though the only person who should be able to drive was Woo Yeon-Hoon...


    ¡°...Do-Seung?¡± Kang Do-Seung all too skillfully started the car.


    Woo Yeon-Hoon cried out, ¡°You told me you can¡¯t drive!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure Kang Do-Seung from this world also has a driver¡¯s license.¡±


    ¡°But you said you had a license but couldn¡¯t drive.¡±


    ¡°I know how to do it.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    Before Yeon-Hoon could even fully process what Kang Do-Seung said¡ª


    <i>Broooom¡ª!</i>


    The vehicle started.


    ¡°Get on.¡± The sight of Kang Do-Seung holding the steering wheel looked so natural that Woo Yeon-Hoon had no choice but to intuitively get on the back seat. He wondered if Kang Do-Seung might drive dangerously but¡ª


    Screech-!


    ¡°...What in the world.¡± Kang Do-Seung drove the nine-seated van much more skillfully than he did.


    ***


    As soon as the vehicle got on the road, Kang Seok-Doo thought he had nothing to lose left. From now on, it would be better to cause an ident with another vehicle and force it to stop. At this speed, he could end up in a hospital for weeks without dying.


    Whenever he tried to turn the steering wheel to induce an ident but Bong Tae-Yoon ordered, ¡°Don¡¯t turn it.¡±


    ¡ªDon¡¯t turn it.


    ¡°Fuckkk! Aghhh!¡± Contrary to his wants, his hands stopped at the 10 o¡¯clock and 2 o¡¯clock and refused to budge. In the past, he was able to ovee Tae-Yoon¡¯s unpleasant orders with pure spirit and grit, as with the help of the system, he could strengthen his mind and ovee his mind. However, it seemed Tae-Yoon had gotten stronger in that short period. He had no idea what happened, but Tae-Yoon had be an even bigger obstacle than before. It was like that in the parking lot earlier.


    Kang Seok-Doo nned to speed up and m the car into the wall altogether. The only way out of this situation was to hit the car against the wall with all his might. However, as soon as Bong Tae-Yoon stepped on the elerator with all his might, Bong Tae-Yoon gave an order to leave the parking lot. Eventually, he had no choice but to drive out of the parking lot with the elerator on full.


    The vehicle went into the highway, and he didn¡¯t know where they were going. He still wanted to cause a traffic ident, but as long as Bong Tae-Yoon had his eyes on him, it wasn¡¯t possible. He tried to step on the elerator to crash into the front car again, but¡ª


    ¡°Stop.¡±


    ¡ªStop.


    ¡°Aghhh! You bastaaaard!¡± His foot that tried to step on the elerator stopped in ce.


    ¡°Move to the nearest Han River bridge from here.¡±


    ¡ªGo to the nearest Han River bridge from here.


    It was a longer order than before. After hearing Han River Bridge, he got a sense of what Bong Tae-Yoon was trying to do. Even though it was obvious what future awaited him if he drove there, his hand steadily dragged the car towards the Han River bridge.


    ¡°This damn punk...¡±


    Bam! Bam! His hand steadily dragged the vehicle towards the Han River Bridge. The Hannam Bridge was the closest bridge to this location. He tried to resist by mming his head on the steering wheel, but his will was of no use anymore. The vehicle started running towards the Hannam Bridge without giving him a moment to wipe the blood on his forehead.


    ***


    Kang Do-Seung dragged the vehicle over the road. While going down to the underground parking lot, the truck driver and the car with Bong Tae-Yoon had already disappeared from view.


    ¡°Where would he have gone...Where would Bong Tae-Yoon try to drag the car...¡± Kang Do-Seung uttered to himself and scanned the road. He wasn¡¯t certain, but that vehicle was probably under Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s control. If he had been detained and kidnapped, he would have been ced in the back seat or trunk, not in the passenger seat.


    Furthermore, from the short glimpse he had of the window of the car, Bong Tae-Yoon seemed to be giving an order to the trunk driver. Thus, in other words, he was using the truck driver to move to another location, and they needed to go where Bong Tae-Yoon nned to go.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon is dragging the car...? What do you mean by that?¡± Yeon-Hoon asked from the back seat. However, all the other members immediately understood the situation.


    ¡°If it¡¯s...Bong Tae-Yoon...won¡¯t he go to the Han River Bridge?¡±


    ¡°The Han River Bridge?¡±


    ¡°He said he had to create a crack in the system and getting captured by that truck driver will cause a crack in the system. But considering that he¡¯s going that far, it seemed like it won¡¯t just end simply with him getting captured. In short, to create the biggest crack in the system...¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s crazy.¡±


    ¡°No way, is he...¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be death...?¡±


    At Park Dong-Jun¡¯s words, Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung looked dejected, and Yeon-Hoon looked both terrified and frustrated.


    ¡°Die...? What do you guys mean? Tae-Yoon is going to die...What do you mean? No, what are you guys talking about!¡±


    Woo Yeon-Hoon shouted unlike his usual self. Lee Woon was the first to answer.


    ¡°I want to exin everything right now, but it¡¯s hard because there is so much to exin. One thing I can tell you is that...Tae-Yoon is trying to sacrifice himself for us right now.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon is going to die for us? Can¡¯t you exin properly so I can understand!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the best we can tell you right now. What we need to do now is to stop Tae-Yoon from dying. If death was his goal, I would never have helped him...¡±


    ¡°...Okay, so I just need to know the goal is to stop Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll make sure to exin everything to you after this is all over. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°You have to exin it to me. If you don¡¯t, I really won¡¯t let this slide.¡±


    ¡°Hannam Bridge! Hannam Bridge is the closest bridge from here! Turn the car over there!¡± While Lee Woon and Woo Yeon-Hoon¡¯s conversation was ending, Park Dong-Jun specified the bridge Bong Tae-Yoon might have gone to, and Kang Do-Seung turned the vehicle towards him first.


    The old van rumbled and ran to Hannam Bridge at the highest possible speed. When they were near the bridge, they were able to find the old, white ntra they saw earlier in the distance. It had the same side mirror wrapped with blue tape. At that moment¡ª


    <i>Bamm! </i>


    ¡°Crazy...¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Step on the elerator! Hurry up!¡±


    Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s car hit the guardrail on the sidewalk.

 Chapter 251

    <h4>Chapter 251</h4>


    The moment Kang Seok-Du turned the wheels to smash into the guard-rails, he clenched his eyes shut. He thought he had met many crazy guys while living, and he was one of the people in this category. Yet, Bong Tae-Yoon, sitting next to him, was of a different caliber. It was difficult to fathom how far Tae-Yoon¡¯s cold, collected eyes looked. He didn¡¯t show an inkling of surprise even in such a terrifying situation like this and only looked forward.


    Perhaps, Tae-Yoon had firm hope that someone would save him or perhaps, he had the insanity of a madman who gave up on everything. Kang Seok-Du gave up on thinking. For Kang Seok-Du, his life was more important than anything else. The moment he thought he could die, he wanted to give up on everything¡ªthe world of reversal could go to hell in front of the immediate, definite death in front of him.


    This wasn¡¯t the formless death that the system told him about. Yet, this damn system wasn¡¯t something that would give up just because he gave up. He was too intertwined with this situation to get out of it.


    <i>Bang!</i> The car smashed into the guardrail.


    ¡°Fuuuck! Shit! You bastard!¡± All he could do right now was utter curses with his eyes closed. The car would charge into Hangang. Since they went through one guardrail, they would probably fall into the waters if they crashed one more railing. The car reached 100km/hr before he turned the wheels so the railing would easily fall off. Above all, his foot was still stepping on the gas pedal so there wasn¡¯t anything else he could do.


    Kang Seok-Du huddled his body in preparation for the uing impact. He moved his hands away from the wheels and put them above his head to protect his brain. His action was meaningless. A person would die if the car they were riding in fell into the water. This was a logic even an elementary school kid would know. He would die¡ªno, definitely die. After living this damn, crappy life where he never received a proper reward for anything, he would be a corpse floating in a river.


    ¡°Fuck! Fuck! Shiiit! Ahhhh!¡± He didn¡¯t think even thest words he would utter before death would be curses. His nasty and terrible life wasing to an end. Kang Seok-Du felt his body float. It appeared the car had passed through the railing and was falling into the river. Though he couldn¡¯t decide how he was born into this world, he had at least wanted to die the way he wanted. He thought he would see a shback of his life when...


    <i>¡®...The fuck?¡¯</i> Something was strange. He had definitely felt his body hit the water. Yet, he didn¡¯t feel himself going down like he was falling. Furthermore, he should¡¯ve felt the car crash through the railing before falling into the river...


    <i>¡®But I didn¡¯t hear the railing break?¡¯</i> Though there had been a loudmotion when the car crushed the guardrail, he didn¡¯t hear any sound of the railing break. Kang Seok-Du cautiously opened his closed eyes. Then, his head became nk after seeing a scene he had never seen before.


    ¡°The car is...afloat?¡± The car¡¯s rear wheels were slightly lifted because he had suddenly hit the brakes. But it was strange. His other foot was still on the pedal and even if he had abruptly stepped on the brake, this old car wasn¡¯t so advanced that it would lift the rear wheels in response. Moreover...


    <i>¡®Time stopped...?</i>¡¯ He was locked in a world in which time stopped. The bird flying in the sky stopped mid-air like a stationary object and the flowing water streams froze into ce.


    ¡°Shit! That¡¯s right!¡± Kang Seok-Du intuitively sensed that the system had intervened. It didn¡¯t matter whether the intervention came from the world of reversal¡¯s system or the system that gave missions to the crazy guy next to him. He thought the fact that the system intervened with its supernatural power proved his importance and the system wouldn¡¯t simply let him die.


    ¡°You bastard! You thought things would go your way, right? Hahaha!¡± Kang Seok-Du made a wide smile and turned to his side. He thought Tae-Yoon would be sobbing in shock that his n failed.


    ¡°It finally happened.¡±


    Yet, Tae-Yoon¡¯s response was opposite to what he expected.


    ¡°What...?¡±


    Instead, he looked relieved.


    ¡°Fuck...what...what is it this time!¡± It was then Kang Seok-Du heard a voice in his mind.


    [Worldline is distorted with the system''s intervention.]


    [Worldline is distorted with the system''s intervention.]


    [Formation of risks]


    [Formation of risks]


    The fact that it repeated the same lines meant that it was emphasizing these points. Kang Seok-Du knew that points were often emphasized in bad situations. It seemed something had gone awry.


    [Soon, the system will be temporarily shut down.]


    ¡°What? Shutdown?¡± he asked out loud. This had never happened before. He didn¡¯t know what would happen after the system was shut down, but it didn¡¯t appear positive.


    ¡°Did your system shut down?¡± He heard Tae-Yoon say from the opposite direction. Kang Seok-Du looked to his side and saw Tae-Yoon smiling slyly at him.


    [System shutting down.]


    <i>Ziiing¡ª!</i>


    Like this, Kang Seok-Du¡¯s system shut down.


    ¡°Damn it!¡±


    Simultaneously, the car that was floating with its rear wheels raisednded on the ground with a loud thud. The world¡¯s time returned to its original speed and Kang Seok-Du quickly racked his head. He needed to find a way to get himself out of this situation, and there was only one method he could think of.


    <i>Cruuunch¡ª!</i>


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± He broke his own right ankle; and starting from his ankle, he twisted his knee. He couldn¡¯t even put the pain he felt into words but this was the only way. Escaping from this demon was already impossible. It was impossible for him to run after breaking his right leg in the fight at the parking lot. Thus, he had to at least put a stop to this joint suicide and to do this, he broke the foot that was stepping on the gas pedal.


    ¡°Hehehe...you bastard...trymanding me...do you really think I will die with you?¡± Kang Seok-Du said while opening the car door and thrusting his body outside of it. Since his right foot was broken, he had no choice but to crawl outside; and while crawling on the floor, he shouted.


    ¡°Help me! Please someone help me!¡± He was at Hannam Bridge where there was a lot of traffic. There was a congestion on this bridge because his car had crashed into the guardrail, and he hoped that one of the many people there would hear his call ande to his aid. The only way to escape this bastard was to draw in ordinary citizens.


    After all, Tae-Yoon had stopped him whenever he tried to smash into another person¡¯s car. Not only was it because the collision wouldn¡¯t be suitable to lead to an absolute death, but it also appeared that Tae-Yoon wanted to limit the harm done to other people as much as possible. Thus, Kang Seok-Du thought he would increase his survival chances the most by pulling other ordinary people into his problems. Soon, Tae-Yoon got out of the car and walked towards Kang Seok-Du.


    Though his face was bruised from their fight at the parking lot, it wasn¡¯t like he was unrecognizable.


    ¡°Help me! Heeelp!¡± Kang Seok-Du continued to scream. Someone approached him from far away. It wasn¡¯t just one or two people but a whole group.


    ¡°Ha...hahaha...¡± Kang Seok-Du was finally relieved and smiled at Tae-Yoon. ¡°You bastard...I¡¯m leaving. Farewell.¡± The group of peopleing his way would probably call the ambnce car for him. Everything would be solved if they just came. Yet, Tae-Yoon crouched over him and stared at Kang Seok-Du.


    ¡°You are going to die soon.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s about...ten seconds left.¡±


    ¡°...What are you saying...you bastard? What nonsense are you saying!¡± Kang Seok-Du grabbed Tae-Yoon by his cor.


    ¡°But don¡¯t worry. I will revive you anyways.¡±


    ¡°What? What are you...¡± Before Kang Seok-Du could finish, he clutched his chest and his body began to twist and turn. ¡°Haaaa!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡± He felt a strange pain starting in his heart. A heart was like a lump of muscles that continuously moved, and right now, it felt as if this muscle was spazzing uncontrobly. He felt a pain strong enough that he wanted to rip off his heart. He couldn¡¯t even breathe properly, and the pain was so intense that he couldn''t make out what was front and tails but writhe on the ground.


    ¡°Argh! Ah! Ah! Ahhhh!¡± He forgot that his right leg was twisted and struggled on the ground. To free himself from this pain, he thought it would be all right to detach his heart from his body. It was then, he felt a hand exert strong pressure on him.


    ¡°Stay still.¡± This was the eyes that had killed him a couple of times already. Those eyes looked towards his heart now to revive him. Though Tae-Yoon acted like he would do something from Kang Seok-Du that instance, he didn¡¯t do anything. Tae-Yoon simply constricted Kang Seok-Du¡¯s arms and legs and looked down at him.


    ¡°What are you...<i>gaaaasp</i>!¡± Kang Seok-Du was about to ask Tae-Yoon what he was thinking when he felt his heart constrict so hard that it felt it would burst.


    <i>Grip¡ª! Shaaa¡ª!</i>


    The heart stopped functioning and Kang Seok-Du lost the glint in his eyes. His entire body went wimp and all the muscles that had standing tense loosen. All his senses drifted away and Kang Seok-Du only felt the feeling that he was gradually dissembling from this life.


    <i>Riiiip¡ª! </i>


    After ripping Kang Seok-Du¡¯s clothes apart, Tae-Yoon began to massage Kang Seok-Du¡¯s chest area. Tae-Yoon¡¯s hands moved rapidly to fill up 120 counts in one minute. Kang Seok-Du¡¯s drifting senses began to return to ce.


    ¡°Haaaa!¡± Kang Seok-Du gasped and got up from his ce. He didn¡¯t feel an ounce of glee or gratitude that he was revived again because a face that looked like a demon was smiling at him.


    ¡°There are still a couple of more times left,¡± Tae-Yoon said.


    The moment he heard this, Kang Seok-Du felt the same convulsions as before and reached the same ending.


    <i>Griiiip¡ª!</i>


    ¡°Hmp!¡±


    ¡°One, two, three, four...¡± Tae-Yoon began to massage Kang Seok-Du¡¯s chest again in the exact machine-like manner.


    <i>Gaaaasp!</i>


    With it, Kang Seok-Du¡¯s heart began to thump again.


    ¡°You...you bastard! Shit, just kill me!¡± This was nothing more than torture¡ªa pain worse than death.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Hey, what in the world are you doing there!¡±


    It was then, familiar faces appeared. It was the Siren members. Siren members rushed to Tae-Yoon¡¯s side and grabbed him Simultaneously, they pulled Tae-Yoon as far away from him as possible. Kang Seok-Du thought this was his chance now. Siren members were helping him and he could use this opportunity to go up the bridge and get anyone¡¯s help. He nned to thrust himself off his ce and quickly move.


    ¡°Stop.¡±


    ¡ªStop


    At least that was his n before Tae-Yoon gave another damn order.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± He tried to ovee Tae-Yoon¡¯smand with a yell and willpower but it waspletely futile now.


    ¡°Everyone, move away from me.¡±


    ¡ªEveryone, move away from me.


    Tae-Yoon even gave an order to his team members who were stopping him, and Siren members moved away from him.


    ¡°Everyone, close your eyes and turn around.¡±


    ¡ª Everyone, close your eyes and turn around.


    After giving anothermand to his members, Tae-Yoon walked towards Kang Seok-Du. Then, he gave hisstmand at Kang Seok-Du.


    ¡°Jump into the Hangang river while carrying me.¡±


    ¡ªJump into the Hangang river while carrying me.


    ¡°Fuck.¡± Kang Seok-Du no longer had a will. He lifted Tae-Yoon and ran to Hangang.


    <i>Crunch!</i> In the process, his twisted ankle forcibly returned to its ce and while limping, he dragged Tae-Yoon right to the front of the Hangang river. There was no pause between the movements and Kang Seok-Du jumped off the bridge while carrying Tae-Yoon. He felt a chilling sense of his body hitting the water when¡ª


    <i>Ziiiiiiing¡ª!</i>


    The world went into a pause once more.


    ¡°...It¡¯s finally over, ¡± Simultaneously, Tae-Yoon said a line he couldn¡¯tprehend at all.

 Chapter 252

    <h4>Chapter 252</h4>


    Woo Yeon-Hoon watched as cracks opened in the universe. It was the biggest crack he had seen since Tae-Yoon faced Kang Seok-Du at Yaksan for the first time. The moment Tae-Yoon almost died under Kang Seok-Du¡¯s hands in the parking lot, a crack bigger than the one formed by the incident at Yaksan opened. Then, the moment Tae-Yoon led the car to crash into the guardrails, the cracks split more widely and deeply until its inner areas were revealed.


    Yet, Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t simply watch this entire process. The wider the crack became, he flowed out his own will.


    <i>Shaaaa¡ª! </i>Using the cracks in the universe, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s worldlines dug deeper into the worldlines. The worldlines that had extended out like vines began to seep inside the inner corners of the cracks.


    <i>Grip. </i>At this point, he could use more than half of the system¡¯s powers as his own. It was time for him to aid Tae-Yoon who was struggling in reality. The world of reversal broke thew of causality and intervened to save its incarnation. Yet, the moment the car floated and stopped in the air, the reversal system surpassed the limits it could intervene and shut down.


    Without a system backing it, Yeon-Hoon could meddle and impact the reversal system¡¯s incarnation as much as he wished. Thus, Yeon-Hoon used the system to manipte Kang Seok-Du¡¯s death.


    [Kill Kang Seok-Du in ten seconds.]


    [Upon sess, Kang Seok-Du dies.]


    [Upon failure, Kang Seok-Du dies.]


    This couldn¡¯t even be called a mission. It was a mission the original system would¡¯ve never made. Not only was it a mission that was impossible to establish, it vited thew of causality. Yet, Yeon-Hoon gave the mission on purpose because he knew that Tae-Yoon wouldn¡¯t just let this mission slip and go to waste.


    The moment Tae-Yoon gained his mission, he didn¡¯t do anything and let Kang Seok-Du die. The risk of failure was Kang Seok-Du¡¯s death. Yet, Tae-Yoon forcefully revived Kang Seok-Du. Though the system could lead someone to their death, it couldn¡¯t force a definite death; thus, Tae-Yoon could ovee that death temporarily by providing proper CPR.


    And when a creature that was supposed to die with the guidance of the system came to life again, that itself created more cracks to the system¡¯s functions. The more the system encountered unexpected situations, the cracks became wider. The first time Tae-Yoon revived Kang Seok-Du again¡ª


    <i>Craaaack¡ª!</i>


    Yeon-Hoon could gain control of 80% of the system. Then, the second time Tae-Yoon revived Kang Seok-Du¡ª


    <i>Craaaaack¡ª!</i>


    Yeon-Hoon could reach the system¡¯s core. Then,stly, when Yeon-Hoon jumped into Hangang with Kang Seok-Du¡ª


    <i>Bang!</i>


    Yeon-Hoon¡¯s worldlines prated into the system¡¯s core and absorbed it. There was no time to lose. Even if the time in the universe flowed dramatically slower than the time in reality, every minute and second counted in this situation. Yeon-Hoon was able to easily take control of the entire system then. In the first ce, the system was something that simply operated on rules without an owner; thus, if someone broke those rules and prated into that gap, anyone could be its owner.


    At this point of time, the system¡¯s owner was Yeon-Hoon. What Yeon-Hoon had desperately yearned for so long for had been easily aplished with Tae-Yoon¡¯s help. Thousands of Yeon-Hoon¡¯s worldlines wrapped around the system¡¯s core and intertwined together like one vein. The system¡¯s core mixed and pulsed with the worldlines like heart between veins. Eventually, thousands of worldlines changed into one thick line and its end connected with the system¡¯s core.


    There were only two lines remaining in this vast universe¡ªYeon-Hoon¡¯s line that enveloped the system and Tae-Yoon¡¯s line that had absorbed all the other regressor¡¯s worlds. The two lines simply floated in this universe¡¯s space. There was only one thing left to do now. Though he felt sorry for Tae-Yoon, Yeon-Hoon had no intention to return after bing part of the system.


    No, in the first ce, it was impossible for him to depart this space after bing the system. The system was essential to maintain this universe and since he was the system now, the universe wouldn''t exist without him. Though it sounded too grand to be true, he basically became the manager of this universe. It was clear what Yeon-Hoon needed to do now.


    <i>Shaaaaa¡ª!</i>


    It was to separate his worldlines from the long, original worldline that was still continuing and make Tae-Yoon¡¯s worldline the sole worldline connected to the original. If he did that, the universe would extend with just one worldline, and Yeon-Hoon would exist as an independent being as the owner of the system. In other words, he wouldpletely transform into a system. It would be a lie if Yeon-Hoon said he didn¡¯t feel any regret and sadness about this decision.


    Everything he told Tae-Yoon had been the truth. His greatest wish was to enjoy daily activities such as eating the soybean paste stew that Do-Seung cooked, performing on a concert stage, and chatting all-night. Yet, there were things he wanted to protect more than the joys of daily life. It was to protect his members so that they could do their activities safely¡ªso that they didn¡¯t have to watch as one of them meaninglessly died.


    In the first ce, there was no ce for him in Tae-Yoon¡¯s world. He trusted that the Yeon-Hoon from that world who wasn¡¯t a regressor like him would do his part. The world that Yeon-Hoon created began to slowly drift away from the original line. Since he was pulling away a thick line made up of thousands of worldlines, it didn¡¯t break off immediately. Yet, it would eventually happen and once the line was fully separated, there would be no going back.


    With feelings of regret, Yeon-Hoon thought over all the countless other choices he could¡¯ve made. He would have to pay farewell to all these possibilities after this.


    ¡°Where do you think you are going?¡± The separation of the worldlines suddenly stopped. He heard Tae-Yoon¡¯s voice from behind. While Yeon-Hoon was caught off guard, his world became connected to the original worldline again, and then, Tae-Yoon¡¯s world split into dozens of strands.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon...? How did youe here...? Moreover, what are you doing...?¡± Yeon-Hoon couldn¡¯t understand, yet unconcerned with his feelings, Tae-Yoon¡¯s split world strands came to cling onto Yeon-Hoon¡¯s world. Like how Yeon-Hoon¡¯s numerous worldlines had wrapped around the system like ivy, Tae-Yoon¡¯s world strands that were filled with the other members¡¯ worldlines began to stick onto Yeon-Hoon¡¯s worldline.


    ¡°I told you that I hope for all our worlds to be one,¡± Tae-Yoon said. If Yeon-Hoon¡¯s world couldn¡¯t be connected with his, Tae-Yoon decided to connect his world to Yeon-Hoon¡¯s. Tae-Yoon¡¯s world''s strands extended out like ivy and strong pulled onto Yeon-Hoon¡¯s world. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s and Tae-Yoon¡¯s worlds intertwined into one and became one line.


    ¡°Whatever the means, it doesn¡¯t matter as long as there¡¯s one world line remaining.¡±


    ¡°If you do this, it won¡¯t be clear how this world will progress.¡±


    ¡°No, it bes clear.¡± Tae-Yoon¡¯s worldline extended out but clumped together at the edge. Then, it even swallowed up the system¡¯s core.


    ¡°The world that I was living in is the current world. That won¡¯t change.¡± Yeon-Hoon looked at Tae-Yoon and was baffled. It seemed Tae-Yoon had surprisingly thought this far and predicted what would happen.


    ¡°You...knew from the beginning that I wouldn¡¯t be able toe back.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°So, you predicted that I would separate my world line and only leave you guys'' worldlines.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I did.¡±


    ¡°All right...but besides the fact you predicted this to happen...how did you trespass into this space again? I didn¡¯t permit you to enter.¡±


    ¡°What is there to permit you to do? The moment you took control of the system, my Insight got stronger. That¡¯s what you made possible so that my Insight could also reach the system¡¯s core.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Because he had been too focused on swallowing up the system, he had forgotten that Tea-Yoon¡¯s Insight would also get stronger by his actions. In other words, the moment he thought he became the system, Tae-Yoon also became the system too.


    ¡°...I didn¡¯t think of this.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t have the chance when your priority was to take over the system. No matter how good a n is, you can¡¯t beat a battle of speed.¡±


    It was as Tae-Yoon said. Given enough time, Yeon-Hoon would¡¯ve realized that Tae-Yoon¡¯s Insight was bing stronger and limited it. Yet, he didn¡¯t have the chance when all the cracks were widening at once. This was another reason why Tae-Yoon had proposed to Yeon-Hoon to finish everything at once. And now, there were a total of two owners of the system.


    ¡°No, I think I¡¯m the owner of the system, right?¡± Tae-Yoon said.


    Tae-Yoon was the owner of the system. Though it was Yeon-Hoon¡¯s world that had enveloped the system, it was Tae-Yoon¡¯s world that had dominated Yeon-Hono¡¯s world. Ultimately, the system had fallen into Tae-Yoon¡¯s hands. Tae-Yoon then looked at the worldline that epassed all their worldlines. Since it was intertwined with several worlds, it was noticeably bigger and thicker than other parts. And unlike the other areas, the area was especially colorful and in a mess; and at the end of it, there was the system¡¯s core that shone in an orb.


    With just one gesture of his hands, Tae-Yoon brought forth the system¡¯s core to his ce. This movement clearly showed that he was the owner of this space.


    ¡°The system can¡¯t leave this ce, right?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon quietly nodded.


    And since you can¡¯t leave this space if you be the system, you nned to sacrifice yourself right?¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    ¡°I will do it for you, so you return. You have been here by yourself for too long.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t hear your reply.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, the world that¡¯s progressing right now is yours. What¡¯s going to happen if you aren¡¯t there? If your mind is here, your body won¡¯t be able to do anything...are you going to let it be in that state?¡±


    ¡°For the time being.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I said for the time being. Endure it for a bit.¡±


    ¡°what are you saying?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon was about to say something more but closed his mouth. It was because Tae-Yoon spoke first.


    ¡°Please take care of my body when you go and take care of our other members. There¡¯s probably going to be somemotion for the time being so don¡¯t get hurt.¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon, could you exin a bit more...?¡±


    ¡°See youter.¡±


    Tae-Yoon smiled softly while looking at Yeon-Hoon. With that signal, Tae-Yoon¡¯s body began to fall limitlessly. Yeon-Hoon didn¡¯t even remember how long he had lived in this universe. He thought a moment like this would nevere to him again. He was already used to existing in only his mind, apart from a physical body by now. Of course, he sometimes borrowed this world¡¯s Yeon-Hoon¡¯s body from time to time, but he had simply been ¡®borrowing¡¯ the body then.


    ¡°Ah...¡± Yeon-Hoon opened his eyes with his own body. This world¡¯s Yeon-Hoon¡¯s memories and identity are quicklybined with his. Perhaps, it was because he had already intertwined all the worldlines or because this body already was his, he was able to immerse into this world¡¯s Yeon-Hoon¡¯s body without any confusion or mix-up. This was the result of a higher power that far superseded things like logic and causality. Yeon-Hoon raised his head and looked forward.


    Tae-Yoon and Seok-Du were falling into the Hangang river together.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    All the Siren members screamed. Perhaps, it was because he had been the system¡¯s owner for a short moment or the system¡¯s current owner, Tae-Yoon helped him, but...


    <i>Ziiiing¡ª!</i>


    Yeon-Hoon could use Insight. He felt the world¡¯s time slow drastically and ran towards where Tae-Yoon was falling. All sorts of scenarios on how he could save Tae-Yoon popped into his mind.

 Chapter 253

    Yeon-Hoon ran toward the railing.


    ¡°Tae-Yoooon!¡±


    ¡°Noooo!¡±


    All the rest of the members clenched their eyes shut and copsed to the ground in shock. The only one moving was Yeon-Hoon. While time had slowed down with Insight, an idea on how to save Tae-Yoon clearly came to his mind. Of course, it wasn¡¯t like he would be able to save Tae-Yoon unconditionally just because Insight provided him with the method. It was up to his physical abilities to carry out the method.


    But regardless of the possibilities, there was no way Yeon-Hoon wouldn¡¯t choose to act. After releasing his Insight, Yeon-Hoon rushed forward and picked up a life vest and tube ced near the railing. Without a hint of hesitation, he jumped into the Hangang river with the goods.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    ¡°Hyung!¡±


    Turning his back to his members'' cries, Yeon-Hoon¡¯s body fell. He couldn¡¯t see clearly because he was falling at high speed. Still, he scanned the waters and searched for the ce where Tae-Yoon and Kang Seok-Du fell. It wasn¡¯t hard to find them since Kang Seok-Du was floundering and making amotion in the waters. Besides him, Tae-Yoon was unconscious and slowly sinking.


    <em>Shaaaa¡ª! </em>Yeon-Hoon pierced through the water¡¯s surface and swam deep into Hangang. He was able to dive deep into the waters as high and quickly he had fallen. Yet, because of the life vest and tube he was holding in his hands, he quickly rose back up to the surface.


    ¡°Haaaa! Fuuuuck! Save me! Sace¡­kuh!¡± Kang Seok-Du was struggling his hardest to live. Because of his broken right leg, he was having difficulty keeping himself afloat and kept sinking. At this rate, it seemed clear that water would fill his lungs and he would die. Yeon-Hoon threw a life vest at Kang Seok-Du. It was now up to this man¡¯s own efforts whether he would survive or die. This was thest act of mercy he was willing to offer this man.


    Yeon-Hoon dived back under the waters again. Tae-Yoon was continuing to sink. It seemed air was escaping his lungs and bubbles of air were rising. Yeon-Hoon moved his feet faster and saw where Tae-Yoon was. It felt like Tae-Yoon was sinking faster than he was swimming.


    <em>¡®¡­The tube!¡¯</em> He had forgotten the obvious. Because he was holding a tube in the waters, it was only natural that the resistance would slow him down. Furthermore, Tae-Yoon weighed far more than Yeon-Hoon and would naturally sink faster than him. While gripping the tube¡¯s strings tightly, Yeon-Hoon sent the tube up the surface.


    While feeling that there was less resistance pulling him back, Yeon-Hoon swam deeper below. He just needed to go a bit more to grab Tae-Yoon. Yet, it seemed he would run out of air before he could grab Tae-Yoon. His lungs had already reached their limit and were screaming for air. As oxygen became deficient, his body rapidly lost its momentum; his muscles lost energy and the speed at which he pushed his body through the waters noticeably decreased. His vision gradually darkened.


    <em>¡®¡­Tae-Yoon¡­!¡¯ </em>Yet, Yeon-Hoon couldn¡¯t leave without Tea-Yoon even if his lungs burst here. He made onest big push, cut through the current, and reached Tae-Yoon.


    <em>Ssh!</em>


    Yeon-Hoon managed to clutch the edge of Tae-Yoon¡¯s clothes. Then, he ced his arms between Tae-Yoon¡¯s armpits and kicked his legs toward the surface. Because he had one more body to carry, he needed more muscle strength. His body couldn¡¯t showcase much power as it wascking in air. Though Yeon-Hoon tried his best, he couldn¡¯t surpass the limits of an ordinary person¡¯s strength.


    He just needed to go a bit more till he reached the surface. Yeon-Hoon extended his hands but couldn¡¯t reach it. He began to sink again while clutching Tae-Yoon. Though Tae-Yoon had requested Yeon-Hoon to take care of his body, Yeon-Hoonmented the fact that he had failed to even keep that promise.


    He slowly lost his vision. He lost strength in his body and his heart began to beat at a slower rate. It was a sensation he had felt countless times now. Death often came so cozily like this. Tae-Yoon was about to leave his body to these sensations when¡ª


    <em>Shaaaaa! </em>Two figures swept through the currents and appeared in view. Though Yeon-Hoon was clutching hard onto Tae-Yoon¡¯s body without letting him go, the figures separated the two. Then, they each took one person and rose to the surface.


    <em>Gasp!</em>


    ¡°Haaaa!¡±


    <em>Siiigh.</em>


    His head ached because of the sudden increased in oxygen. He hurriedly spat out the water that had entered his nose and mouth, and all the senses in his body heightened its guard and signaled to his brain that he was still alive. Yeon-Hoon looked at the person who had pulled him up.


    ¡°¡­Woon¡­¡±


    ¡°Are you crazy Yeon-Hoon! Why would you just jump like that!¡±


    ¡°¡­Thank you¡­¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s talkter.¡±


    Lee Woon saved Yeon-Hoon.


    ¡°Hey! Bong Tae-Yoon! Wake up! You damn¡­¡±


    And Do-Seung saved Tae-Yoon. Then, as Do-Seung and Woon each carried Tae-Yoon and Yeon-Hoon on their backs, they swam to the nearestnd. There, Dong-Jun was already waiting for them and calling 119.


    ¡°I¡¯m at the riverside below Hannam Bridge. Two people fell into the waters!¡± Though he was on the phone, Dong-Jun didn¡¯t snag the CPR. He simply waited and helped pull Yeon-Hoon and Tae-Yoon out of the waters. It was no easy task to pull up an unconscious and soaked full grown man, and after Tae-Yoon was brought ashore, they began to perform CPR. Though Yeon-Hoon tried to take the lead, Do-Seung and Woon took turns doing CPR.


    ¡°One, two, three, four, five¡­¡± Though they did artificial venttion and massaged his chest, Tae-Yoon showed no response.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon¡­¡±


    Woon and Do-Seung¡¯s faces darkened.


    ¡°Gaaasp!¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    Tae-Yoon spurred out a heap of water from his mouth, and Do-Seung quickly brought his ear to Tae-Yoon¡¯s chest.


    ¡°It¡¯s beating! His heart is beating!¡±


    Tae-Yoon¡¯s heart was pumping much stronger than before.


    ¡°Haaaa.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s alive.¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon copsed to the floor and breathed a sigh of relief. Yet, they soon found something strange.


    ¡°¡­Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon?¡±


    ¡°¡­Why isn¡¯t Tae-Yoon waking up, you guys¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Though Tae-Yoon¡¯s chest was moving up and down and hisplexion improved, Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t open his eyes.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Wake up¡­I told you to wake up!¡±


    ¡°Ha¡­haha¡­¡±


    Do-Seung and Woon shook Tae-Yoon¡¯s body hard and Dong-Jun slumped to the ground like someone who had lost everything.


    ¡°Wait, you guys,¡± Yeon-Hoon said while approaching Tae-Yoon. Do-Seung, Woon, and Dong-Jun sensed that something changed about Yeon-Hoon¡¯s eyes and focused on him.


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon, are you a regress¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I am a regressor now.¡± Though it was one sentence, this was enough information to exin everything. The three people looked at Yeon-Hoon with wide eyes, and Yeon-Hoon exined.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon¡­ won¡¯t wake up no matter what you guys do right now. In the first ce, his soul isn¡¯t in this ce.¡±


    ¡°¡­What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°His body is here but his consciousness has recently be the system and is wandering somewhere in the universe.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What did you say¡­?¡±


    ¡°Tae-Yoon became the system?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­I used to be the system but Tae-Yoon became one instead of me and sent me here.¡±


    Do-Seung, Woon, and Dong-Jun looked back at Yeon-Hoon like they still couldn¡¯t understand. Yet, it would take a while for Yeon-Hoon to exin everything from beginning to end.


    ¡°The most important thing is that Tae-Yoon is working toe back here on his own terms. Though I couldn¡¯t find the method, there could be another way for him to also exist here.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­Haa. This is soplicated.¡±


    ¡°¡­In the end, Tae-Yoon sacrificed himself again.¡±


    ¡°¡­Yeah.¡±


    A heavy silence befell all the members. Then, after organizing their thoughts, they asked themselves what they needed to do right now.


    ¡°Then, I suppose we should protect Tae-Yoon¡¯s body for now.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know when and how he wille back¡­but he can.¡±


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s lift Tae-Yoon¡¯s body first. We can¡¯t just let him lie on the cold dirt floor for so long.¡±


    ¡°The ambnce car ising soon. Let¡¯s go to the hospital first. Then, we can have Tae-Yoon¡¯s body examined and treated for his other injuries.¡±


    Though the situation couldn¡¯t be seen in a very positive light, they had to do what was necessary. They first raised Tae-Yoon¡¯s body and made him lean against one of the pir legs of the Hangang bridge. Then, they carefully wiped the dirt and sand grains on his face. They allmented that the fact that this was the limit of what they could.


    ¡°Wait you guys.¡± Yeon-Hoon suddenly said while standing tall.


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon?¡±


    ¡°Why¡­?¡±


    Yeon-Hoon looked at the sky and quickly scanned his surroundings. It was a strange sensation he only felt. Because he had spent a long time in the universe after bing part of the system, he was familiar with this feeling.


    ¡°Get Tae-Yoon and quickly gather here!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Gather!¡±


    Though the members were stunned, they followed Yeon-Hoon¡¯s order. Dong-Jun, Do-Seung, and Woon supported Tae-Yoon and approached Yeon-Hoon. And when all five Siren members were gathered, Yeon-Hoon looked up to the sky once again.


    ¡°The world lines¡­ are twisting right now.¡±


    ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°The world lines are twisting?¡±


    ¡°I¡­don¡¯t know where we will be thrown off too, so we have to stay as close together as possible.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    <em>Craaaack!</em>


    It was then, giant cracks began to form in the sky.


    ¡°¡­What in the world?¡±


    ¡°What¡­the hell¡­¡±


    ¡°Are my eyes ying tricks on me¡­?¡±


    They all stood stunned from seeing such a surreal and supernatural activity and the phenomena that Yeon-Hoon told them about began to ur.


    <em>Ziiiiing¡ª!</em>


    Like the times when one used Insight, the world flowed at a slower rate. The only unusual urrence this time was that all four of the members were equally perceiving this change. They looked each other in the eyes to share what they were also seeing. Then, their surroundings began to change with Siren in the center. Eventually, they reached one ce.


    ¡°¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    ¡°This is¡­ crazy.¡±


    The new ce they arrived at was very familiar to all the members. It was <em>The Showcase 2</em>¡¯s final performance¡ªthe moment they heard the results.


    ¡°¡­No.¡± The most memorable part about that scene was Do-Seung. He was crying while clutching Tae-Yoon who had suddenly copsed on stage. After regressing a total of fifteen times, Do-Seung was all too well aware of what this scene was.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoooon!¡± It was the moment when he failed his first mission and Tae-Yoon died. Do-Seung who had regressed fifteen times looked at Do-Seung who regressed only one time. It was then, Do-Seung and the other members realized what Yeon-Hoon had meant when he said all the worldlines were twisted. All the worlds they had lived in were bing mixed up.

 Chapter 254

    <h4>Chapter 254</h4>


    Kang Do-Seung ran towards the first regressor. His back as he ran towards his distant past looked very frantic. He reached his hand towards his wailing self but Kang Do-Seung¡¯s hand only seemed to swipe the air in vain.


    The fifteenth Kang Do-Seung recognized the first regressor Kang Do-Seung, but the first regressor Kang Do-Seung seemed to not be able to recognize him. Only then did the Siren members realized that although the worlds were mixed up, the ones on the other side didn¡¯t recognize them. All they could do was look helplessly at the devastation.


    ¡°Do-Seung...¡± Lee Woon approached Kang Do-Seung and patted his shoulder in constion. The first regressor embraced Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s cold dead body and began to sob. The atmosphere of The Showcase 2 Final Stage became frigid. The stage hosts did not understand what was happening and stood still in shock, and the producer in charge failed to take appropriate measures in an unexpected emergency.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon...Please open you eyes...¡± Kang Do-Seung tightly hugged Bong Tae-Yoon.


    The 15th regressor Kang Do-Seung stared at the first regressor Kang Do-Seung sorrowfully as if the old wounds that he thought had healed a long time ago were throbbing again. He looked at the scene in front of him as if he was about to cry.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Do-Seung...Let¡¯s go...¡± Lee Woon pulled Kang Do-Seung¡¯s arm. Just in time¡ª


    <i>Crck¡ª!</i>


    The sky of this world began to crack, and it was the same phenomenon as before.


    ¡°Guys! Hurry up!¡± Woo Yeon-Hoon called out to them. Kang Do-Seung and Lee Woon joined the rest of the members, and the Siren members tightly hugged each other. Yeon-Hoon hugged Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s drooping body with all his might.


    Ziiiing-! Now, no one knew what the next world would be. It could be someone else¡¯s world, not just Kang Do-Seung¡¯s. Or perhaps, another Kang Do-Seung¡¯s world coulde out. However, they all knew one thing¡ªit was that this world would present its most terrible memories one after another.


    ¡°Guys...don¡¯t get agitated...No matter what you see, don¡¯t act rashly.¡±


    They had no idea why this was happening and why the worldlines had twisted.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon wille back.¡±


    The only thing they could do was just hang in there, waiting for their maknae, who would be desperately struggling.


    ***


    The universe was just a quiet space, and everything flowed in order. While watching this huge world of mass flow harmoniously without error, I felt like I could feel what order was in chaos. After sending Yeon-Hoon down to the ground, I was slightly immersed in feelings of transcendence. The thick world line created by y members and I was connected to the original world line. The ident with the truck driver, which was the point where the worldline jutted out, was treated only as a minor incident.


    This world was now flowing in one direction without any differentiation. In one world, there was only one worldline¡ªthis was the firstw I learned after bing the system. Therefore, if there was a moment when the world was unlikely to lead to one line, the world ordered the system to create oneplete world, and to carry out thatmand, the system made the extreme choice of ¡®infinite regression¡¯ until a world that was best to join the original world came out.


    Of course, I now became the system directly and forcibly joined the world we built to the original worldline. Regardless of what happened, since our worlds were connected to one world, we didn¡¯t do anything against the principle of the universe. I was finally able to enjoy peace in a long while. While it was only a temporarypromise in the mask of peace, it was a long time since I didn¡¯t have to worry about the death of my older brothers.


    I swam in space and closed my eyes. Although my sensory organs did not actually exist, the meaning of closing eyes still existed; so when I thought I was closing my eyes, that meant I was closing my eyes. When I opened my eyes again afterwards, I said goodbye to the short peace and prepared for my next steps. I made my way to the world line.


    I couldn¡¯t leave this space because I had be the system itself. My empty body was probably left below with my members as they desperately struggled to face their situation. I had no ns to leave my body forever like that. The future I wanted was a future where the five of us lived together. My dead body was not part of that n.


    The worldline throbbed while letting out a gleaming glow. Like this, it felt like a living creature, and I patted it with my palm. Memories of every moment built up by mankind permeated to my mind. Humanity sounded like a grandiose word, and I had to crush that grand idea with my hands for a bit now. I reached out and looked at the end of the worldline. The core of the system, which was hanging at the end of the worldline separated from the line and approached me.


    I held the core in one hand and grabbed the worldline in the other, and what I was trying to do was go against the nature of the system.


    <i>Wriiiiing¡ª!</i>


    I grabbed the worldline and began to twist it. The secondw I learned after bing the system was that if there was one system, there was also a system of reversal. Of course, there was not always a system of reversal. When the worldline that was flowing in one direction went awry, the system of reversal was born every random cycle, which could be hundreds or thousands or even decades, to reverse the direction of the worldline.


    The system of reversal¡¯s only goal was to overturn the worldline. The system of reversal itself was not bad; just as everything had yin and yang, it was bound to exist naturally. Of course, I called out the system of reversal in quite an artificial way as I had forcefully made the worldline jut out and forced the world line to twist in the opposite direction.


    <i>Wriiiiing¡ª!</i>


    Although it was only the end of the worldline, a line headed only in a straight line had never shown such curvature. The worldline deliberately made it ¡®jut out¡¯, and as a result, a gray shape hovered around it. Now that the worldline had gone awry, the system of reversal begun to be born. The shape gradually took on a concrete shape. The face became a face I was familiar with, and the body also became a body I was very familiar with. This was only natural.


    Because I was the system, the system of reversal that originated from me took on my form. I faced myself. The purpose of the system of reversal was to reverse the direction of the world. But now, instead of the system of reversal, I was the one turning the world in the opposite direction.


    Above all, it was not a system cause by a natural process but an artificial system created by me. Due to the above variables, the reversal system did not seem to function properly as it stood still and didn¡¯t do anything.


    Originally, it should have designated incarnations, and after punishing regressors, it should have worked topletely turn the world around. However, because I was now twisting the worldline, the reversal system could not find targets to designate as incarnations and above all, it could not perform its main function to turn the world around.


    The worldline twisted a bit more and more parts started to reverse. The system of reversal raised its empty eyes and looked at me, and his eyes stared at the worldline. He must be super confused as the system of reversal¡¯s goal was to reverse the world in the opposite way, but I was already doing that. If that was the case, the system of reversal would probably make one choice¡ªto turn the world back around while I turned the world in the opposite direction.


    <i>Tap. </i>


    The purpose of the system of reversal was to turn the world in the opposite direction. If I was already turning the world in the opposite direction, the system¡¯s goal would be to turn it back in the opposite direction. The opposite of an opposite direction was the forward direction.


    The system of reversal and my role have been switched, and I began to have a power struggle with the system of reversal. It was quite ridiculous that the system of reversal was trying to make the world flow in the forward direction. Like this, it became difficult to say who was truly the system of reversal.


    Of course, the worldline was not something that could be twisted so easily by force. It was only going through a period of confusion for a while now, but once I took my hands off it, everything would go back to what it was. The system of reversal that was born by twisting the worldline would disappear as if it was never there, and the worldline that I forcibly twisted for a while would be aligned correctly again.


    But what if I didn¡¯t take my hands off? Then the system of reversal would not disappear, and the worldline would not stretch in a straight line. In other words, the human world, which had been going on for hundreds of years, would not be able to take a step forward¡ªall because I grabbed and twisted the worldline. This was the kind of insane power the system had.


    Of course, the world of humanity may not matter much from the perspective of the universe. Since I was the owner of this system, not the owner of the universe, I didn¡¯t know the universe¡¯s will at all.


    However, given that there was only a single worldine in this vast and infinite space, it seemed like there was no other intellectual life other than humanity. A universe that just existed without any intellectual life was no different than not existing; no matter how expansive and infinite it was.


    If I was the universe, I would never want the worldline of humanity to end like this, and maybe the universe felt the same way as me. The eyes of the reversal system seemed to awaken, and the eyes, which seemed to be empty from the moment it was born, began to make eye contact with me with a clear will. It seemed the universe ust have tried something to prevent me from stopping humanity forever like this.


    The other Bong Tae-Yoon took his hand off the worldline and grabbed my arm. Although it didn¡¯t have a body that could be called an arm, the system of reversal was in the shape of my body in this space anyway. Was it trying to physically fight me? Since this was a space where force didn¡¯t exist, it wouldn¡¯t mean anything. However, the universe seemed to be bigger than I expected. The other Bong Tae-Yoon¡¯s face shone for a moment and then brightened up enough to blind me and engulf both of us.


    <i>ssssh¡ª!</i>


    It wasn¡¯t the universe that I opened my eyes to afterwards. The space that I saw seemed to be modeled after the Salt Desert somewhere in South America. There was no distinction between the sky and the ground, and there was only an endless horizon. Beyond this space, I saw wreckage of brokens floating around and burning trees growing. It was a world that could not exist in reality and existed beyond the universe. I couldn¡¯t describe it as anything else except that it was an imaginary world.


    The other Bong Tae-Yoon and I stood there, and I regained my physical senses.


    <i>Clutch¡ª!</i>


    ¡°Hmph!¡± And I could feel the familiar sensation of Bong Tae-Yoon squeezing my neck. I was flustered that I was being choked as soon as I opened my eyes. I wondered howmon would it be for people to be killed by a version of themselves.


    Gaaasp! I felt a simr sensation as the time when Kang Seok-Doo almost killed me. I wondered what would happen if I died here. No, would I even die in the first ce? I didn¡¯t know what was going to happen, but I didn¡¯t think it would be anything positive as I wouldn¡¯t be able to reach the future I wanted.


    Of course, I had no intention of quietly following the wishes of the universe. The other Bong Tae-Yoon was the same as me, so since we had the same body, there was no difference in strength between us.


    ¡°Argh!¡± I escaped his clutch by kicking him in the stomach. This time, I rushed at him, and like this, our tedious and lengthy battle began.

 Chapter 255

    It was difficult to say whether the fight was ongoing. Strength seeped out of my fist and my arm trembled. I was so weak that I could barely stand. Tae-Yoon from the opposite side was heaving on the ground.


    ¡°Haaa¡­haa¡­haaa¡­¡± My heart thumped roughly. In this space, me and the other person were just humans with ordinary physiques in the end. We couldn¡¯t surpass the limits of the human body to move or fight. Yet, we still fought without rest for the past couple of hours. It was difficult to endure as a normal human.


    ¡°Haa¡­haa¡­¡± I distanced myself from the other Tae-Yoon as much as possible to collect my breath. I dragged my heavy legs and took a couple of steps. Unfortunately, my quickly sank into the floor and didn¡¯t move. In the end, I copsed to the ground like that. My heart beat rate didn¡¯t decrease and I tasted blood in my mouth.


    My breathing became more coarse, and I heard air escaping out of me like something ripping in the wind. Perhaps, it was better for me to never get up like this. Tae-Yoon from the other side approached me. While wearing a loose, white shirt, he grabbed onto my cors. He had also lost most of his strength like me, and a powerless fist pounded on my face. It had been a while since I didn¡¯t feel pain.


    I saw myself reflected on the thin surface of water fluctuating on the floor like a mirror. My face was all swollen up, bruised, and bloody. My members would be shocked to see me in this state, but I thought it was ridiculous for me to think about such things right now.


    <em>Punch¡ª! </em>


    The other Tae-Yoon struck my face with more force this time. With it, my body leaned to the side and copsed. Both I and the other Tae-Yoon fall together. It was too pitiful to be called the final strike. This was just nothing more than a dogfight. I felt as if my heart was beating right beneath my throat.


    The sky here was especially white. There was no sun or moon and I wondered where the light came from. Did its lighte from the remains of the crumbled? I felt pathetic for thinking such thoughts right. I was in a space where I didn¡¯t know whether I was in reality or not. Since the other side finished attacking, it was my turn to go.


    ¡°Fuu¡­.¡± I clutched my knees and got up. This ce¡¯s ground was floored with shallow waters. Because of that, the sky and the ground reflected off each other so that it looked like there was no above or below. If I wasn¡¯t caught in the situation I was in, I would¡¯ve thought it was quite a neat and cool ce. I clutched the other Tae-Yoon¡¯s cor and struck his face a couple of times. My weak punched failed to make any significant impact and my body twisted with my opponent and we both fell together. I choked the other Tae-Yoon¡¯s neck. Because I couldn¡¯t choke him with strength, I was putting my weight on him.


    Rather than choking him, I was pressing my body onto him. Though it didn¡¯t target pressure around the respiratory tract as well, it was enough to pain on my opponent. The other Tae-Yoon under me floundered. He must not even have an ounce of strength left in him, but he struggled with all his might and looked up at me. He raised his fingernails and scratched my arms.


    I had no intention to let go. I thought I could Tae-Yoon like this and felt a sense of thrill filled my heart. Yet, expectations often turned to disappointment.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± The other Tae-Yoon let out a battle cry and flipped me over. Our situation reversed and the other Tae-Yoon choked my throat. Yet, unlike me who simply pressed down on him, he was really putting pressure and force around my throat. I couldn¡¯t breathe, and my legs and arms meaninglessly floundered on the ground. Perhaps, things would befortable if I continued to endure like this.


    I raised my head and looked at the other Tae-Yoon. There was a sense of strange exhration circling around his face. We would only be able to escape this ce if one of us died. It appeared the other Tae-Yoon had sensed this boring fight would finally end. I gave up on resisting. I was too tired to do anything more. Yet, the moment I tried to five up, I recalled my members¡¯ faces.


    This was almost cheating. How was I supposed to give up like this?


    ¡°¡­Ahhhhh!¡± I flipped the guy again. Then, I climbed on top of him and punched. I didn¡¯t even have the strength to choke someone.


    <em>Punch¡ª!</em>


    <em>Punch¡ª!</em>


    As bones and flesh contacted, dull and meaningless sounds rand out. I had never hit someone so mechanically. This didn¡¯t even feel like a fight anymore but purebor. It seemed the other Tae-Yoon also became too exhausted to resist. I saw no more will and fever left in his eyes. My fist stopped in the air and I met the other Tae-Yoon¡¯s eyes.


    After our long, repetitive fight, we recalled the reason why we were fighting again. A great surge of awkwardness and puzzlement swept me upon the realization that it was all meaningless. The other Tae-Yoon stared at me. Now that I thought about it, did my face always look like this?


    It felt so unfamiliar. I felt chills and cold sweat trickled down my back. I looked down at Tae-Yoon and Tae-Yoon stared up at me. No, Tae-Yoon looked down at me and I looked up to Tae-Yoon. Above and below intertwined so that it was impossible which was which. My consciousnesses expanded and my fist, which was frozen in air, trembled.


    I held my breath and my heart stopped beating. I heard ringing sounds in my ears, and I closed my eyes. The world surrounding me disappeared temporally, and when I opened my eyes again¡­


    ¡°Haa¡­.¡± The only one who existed in this vast space was me. The other Tae-Yoon didn¡¯t exist from the very beginning.


    ¡°Ha¡­.haha¡­.¡± I recalled back my memories and fumbled with the past. I fell to this ce alone. The only one I fought wasn¡¯t Tae-Yoon from the opposite side.


    ¡°¡­It was me.¡± I was alone the entire time. When I saw my face on the water¡¯s reflection, I saw that it was clean, as if I had never suffered a single hit. I got up and looked above. This space was also not reality. I extended my hands towards the sky. The ends of my fingers were able to reach the incredibly high-looking sky. Everything in this space was an illusion. I raised my hand and easily peeled the sky off.


    <em>Spliiiiit¡ª!</em>


    The sky split like I was ripping drawing paper and the universe appeared beyond it. The world of reversal which I thought had been with me was standing in front of the worldline and looking at me. I departed from this illusive world and took a step towards the universe. I thought I was given a physical body here, but there never had been a time when I did. I moved into my universe after bing the system and moved the world of reversal that had established itself in front of the worldline to the side.


    80% of the worldlines I had intertwined was extending out in its normal pathway, and without using my hands but my will alone, I twisted the worldline to the side. I had only used my hand before because I was familiar with doing that, but there was no need for me to do anything harder in this space. I could do anything by just thinking.


    I twisted the worldline to the side again and bound the world of reversal above. This universe¡¯s will had used the world of reversal to imprison me in the damn illusion world. That was probably how dangerous it was for one to forcefully twist the worldline. Something like this probably never happened before¡ªwhere someone who fell victim to the system became the system itself.


    Yet, I didn¡¯t n to go easy. It wasn¡¯t because I felt emotions like regret and vengeance. After all, I wasn¡¯t the only one who had to suffer this injustice, and more than thousands of other people throughout human history had gone through the same thing. Thus, I wanted to do a violent protest so that the universe would realize. It seemed the rule that ¡®you can¡¯t y too nice¡¯ applied not just in human rtions but everywhere.


    I looked at the world of reversal. In the universe¡¯s perspective, that was probably be more like the main system than me. The system that should be protecting the worldline was actually hindering it and the world of reversal was actually trying to straighten the worldline, following the will of the universe.


    I twisted the worldline further. Though only its end had been slightly twisted before, arge part of it was not getting twisted up. Not just the thick worldline made up of my members¡¯ world lines but all the previous worldlines was getting pulled in. I was haggling with the entire world lines that humanity had piled up until now. I looked at the reversal system again. It didn¡¯t show much of a response yet. I thwarted the world line a bit more. As before, no reaction came.


    I was twisting more than half of the world line now. There was no turning back now and soon, Ipletely flipped the worldline over.


    <em>Shaaaaa¡ª!</em>


    ¡°Finally.¡± The reversal system showed a response. My body became more faint while the reversal system took a definite form. Afterwards, a blinding light enveloped the entire universe. The rules changed. Left became right and up became down. The universe hady its decision. I became the reversal system while the reversal system became the main system. Usually, the main system and the reversal system wouldn¡¯t change roles just because I flipped the worldline over.


    This was only possible with the universe¡¯s intervention. Yet, I was satisfied that I had fulfilled my minimum goal to flip the worldline. This space was no longer mine. The system now floated me up into space and looked at me with machine-like, empty eyes. Then it began to reorganize the twisted, messed-up worldline. The world had be quite a mess while I was flipping the worldline. Many worlds ovepped while past, present, and future was happening at once.


    Rather than immediately punishing me as the system, it prioritized spreading the world that was on the brink of copse. Afterpletely reorganizing the worldline, the system stared at me again. It didn¡¯t open its mouth but simply told me in an rm.


    [You aren¡¯t permitted to approach.]


    It was saying that I wasn¡¯t permitted to exist in this space like this. It was as it said. The reversal system didn¡¯t exist in the universe but designated someone as its incarnation to stop the regressors. The worldline had returned to normal and the system was operating normally. Then, I also needed to fulfill my role as the reversal system.


    [Designating Incarnation.]


    I looked at the ends off the worldline¡ªthe world that was currently progressing. I needed to find my incarnation there, and there was no easier decision I could make.


    [Will you choose Bong Tae-Yoon as your incarnation?]


    Though I didn¡¯t need to say the words out loud, I still said it, ¡°Of course.¡±


    [Reversal system is operating. Input your mission to your incarnation.]


    This was the mission my incarnation would need to receive. The original goal of the reversal system would be to kill all the world¡¯s regressors¡ªthe Siren members¡ªand flip the world again. Yet, I certainly didn¡¯t wish for that.


    [Work with Siren members and watch theirst.]


    [Upon sess, death.]


    [Upon failure, death.]


    [Mission period: 100 years]


    What kind of reversal system would give a mission like this? But whatever anyone, I was the reversal system now. Who could stop me when I was the one who gave out the missions? I closed my eyes. It was now time for me to ascend to this world as the reversal system¡¯s incarnation.

 Chapter 256

    How many deaths had they witnessed? Yeon-Hoon sat on the floor and thought while stroking Tae-Yoon¡¯s face. While twisting the worldlines, they had to witness hundreds of deaths. Among these deaths, there were their deaths but there were also deaths that belonged toplete strangers. Though these were strangers¡¯ deaths, there wasn¡¯t a single one that wasn¡¯t miserable and pitiful because they came from the worldline¡¯s turning points.


    Watching a shocking scene repeatedly was something that would wear down one¡¯s soul. Though they believed that their mentality had superseded a normal person¡¯s while regressing a dozen of times and trespassing into the universe as the system, this was something that they couldn¡¯t endure with just supernatural mentality.


    ¡°¡­Hey guys,¡± Yeon-Hoon called the members in a low voice.


    ¡°¡­Sorry?¡±


    ¡°¡­Why?¡±


    ¡°¡­Did something happen?¡±


    All their eyes looked quite soullessly from watching the repetitive, strange phenomenon for a long period. Tae-Yoon still didn¡¯t wake up. What could he do as the leader in a situation who knew how long would continue? Perhaps, it would be better to make the members stop watching.


    ¡°Let¡¯s think of this as sleeping. If we close our eyes and wait¡­then, this will definitely be over.¡±


    ¡°¡­Should we?¡±¡°¡­That¡¯s preferable.¡±


    ¡°¡­Haa.¡±


    Siren members gathered to one spot and closed their eyes while leaning against each other. While that happened, the sky split, and they prepared for the uing change in the universe. Everyone remained calm in the face of a familiar phenomenon. Like that, Yeon-Hoon stroked each of the member¡¯s faces once as they stood in a circle.


    ¡°It will be over soon.¡±


    There were many emotions attached to Yeon-Hoon¡¯s gesture. Yeon-Hoon felt apologetic to his members because it felt like all this suffering came to them because of him. At the same time, he felt proud of his members for enduring this far without letting each other go. Lastly, he had slight hope that in the end, everything would be over. All the members made a faint smile at Yeon-Hoon¡¯s gesture.


    They thought they would experience another gruesome scene again but a phenomenon different from before urred. The sky stopped splitting and began to return back to normal as if it was rewinding. Siren members who had been closing their eyes in preparation opened their eyes and looked up at the sky.


    ¡°¡­Yeon-Hoon, something is strange.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that¡­?¡±


    ¡°I think this is the first time something like this happened.¡±


    When they were thinking that things were bing strange, the ground shook intensely.


    Boom¡ª!


    ¡°Yeon-Hoon!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Grab Tae-Yoon!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon clutched Yeon-Hoon tightly and Do-Seung pulled Woon and Dong-Jun with all his might. As if there was an earthquake, the ground began to shake harder and made more vibrations.


    ¡°Guys! Don¡¯t panic¡­and always stick together!¡±


    ¡°¡­Okay.¡±


    ¡°I understand¡­!¡±


    Siren members moved closer to each other above the shaking ground. Yeon-Hoon extended his hand out to Do-Seung while Do-Seung reached for Yeon-Hoon¡¯s hand. The moment Do-Seung grabbed Yeon-Hoon¡¯s hand, all five Siren members were able group together.


    <em>Boom¡ª!</em>


    <em>Booom¡ª!</em>


    The ground¡¯s shaking grew drastically worse than and the sky split once more. All the members hugged Tae-Yoon¡¯s body together. In his unconscious state, Tae-Yoon could suffer big casualties if he was exposed to the chaos around them.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon will return¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­I know he will.¡±


    ¡°¡­He definitely wille back.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just wait a bit.¡±


    They all hugged Tae-Yoon tightly and the ground began to flip.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°What the hell¡­!¡±


    ¡°Everyone grab each other tightly!¡±


    The location of the sky and earth flipped while Siren members began to fall. Strong winds flowed onto them as if they were going to rip their bodies into shred. Yet, the members didn¡¯t loosen the strength in their arms as they clung onto each other. They simply closed their eyes and prepared to pierce through this struggle.


    The world¡¯s background changed scenes continually¡ªit became medieval,ter modern period, and the current. Forest, ocean, and cities swept past them and all four seasons flowed in sequence.


    As if they were traveling past time and space, they kept falling to somewhere. Then, the floating sensation they all felt with their bodies instantly disappeared. Yeon-Hoon raised his head cautiously and heard waves rushing.


    <em>Shaaaaa¡ª!</em>


    It was the familiar smell of the ocean. All the Siren members raised their heads and looked around their surroundings. It was a scenery they couldn¡¯t forget. This was the ocean in the nighttime¡ªSokcho. From a distance, there were the past Siren members who had never experienced a regression even once.


    ¡°I heard that they arrest people if they shoot fireworks here.¡±


    ¡°¡­Really¡­?¡±


    ¡°¡­Yeon-Hoon, you look really disappointed to hear that.¡±


    ¡°¡­No¡­I guess we can¡¯t shoot any.¡±


    ¡°Then, should we shoot some and make a run for it?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I mean¡­there¡¯s going to be no problems if we don¡¯t get caught.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s with Dong-Jun¡¯s personality¡­¡±


    ¡°No, what?¡±


    ¡°Give me a moment.¡±


    ¡°Huh, Tae-Yoon? What are you doing¡­?¡±


    <em>Pop¡ª!</em>


    ¡°¡­Our maknae is crazy.¡±


    ¡°Wow¡­but this is so pretty.¡±


    ¡°Ugh¡­wait¡­someone ising from over there.¡±


    ¡°Run guys!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Should we leave the firecrackers?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­let¡¯s just go! Quickly!¡±


    Cheap fireworks shot to the sky. The past Siren members ran to escape the beach caretakers and, there was a stic bag filled with firecrackers that they didn¡¯t use yet casted away on the sand. The beach caretakers eventually gave up on catching the Siren members and only the ck stic bag remained on the beach.


    ¡°¡­This is Sokcho.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it is¡­¡±


    ¡°It is Sokcho.¡±


    The Siren members stared intently at the Sokcho ocean waters that was dyed in ck. Regardless of how many regressions each of them went through, they all unanimously had the memories of their day at Sokcho. They didn¡¯t why they arrived at this ce of all ces after passing through time and space. But it would be foolish for them to seek a reason right now.


    They walked towards the ck stic bag. Though they weren¡¯t able to make physical contact with anything in the previous worlds¡­


    ¡°We can grab things now?¡±


    ¡°Wow¡­¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s also a lighter in here.¡±


    All their gazes gathered to one ce. Yeon-Hoon ced Tae-Yoon on the sandy beach and made him lean against his shoulder. Do-Seung activated the light and tried flicking its wheel. Dong-Jun set up the firecrackers on the sand and Woon checked if the beach caretakers were far away. They didn¡¯t know why they wanted to shoot firecrackers now, yet they simply wanted to see the sparks that they couldn¡¯t see theirst time here.


    The firecrackers caught fire. The firecrackers were the type that shot up sparks into the sky and shriveled up. Five firecrackers shot up to the sky and burst.


    <em>Pop¡ª!</em>


    <em>Pop¡ª!</em>


    <em>Pop¡ª!</em>


    <em>Pop¡ª!</em>


    <em>Pop¡ª!</em>


    Though it was a shabby and short explosion, it gave them quite a deep feeling as five firecrackers exploded one after the other.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice.¡±


    ¡°It really is.¡±


    ¡°It would¡¯ve been if Tae-Yoon also saw this.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure he is also watching.¡±


    Eventually, thest explosion lost its spark and shriveled up.


    <em>Shaaaaa¡ª!</em>


    Time changed once again and brought the members to the moment they barely managed to evade from crashing into the truck driver. Then, they were transported to the time they won The Showcase2 to their brilliant debut stage to the dream-like first win in a music show. There were many nights where they lost sleep from practice and evenings where theyughed their hearts out from the smallest jokes.


    Scenes from this life that this world¡¯s regressor Tae-Yoon had written unfolded before them like a panorama. Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, Woon, Dong-Jun, and Tae-Yoon looked at the world speechlessly. The thought about the dream Tae-Yoon had and the moments he yearned for the most; and how much Tae-Yoon gave up for those things.


    Do-Seung chewed on his lips, Woon secretly wiped a tear, and Dong-Jun sped his mouth shut. Yeon-Hoon repressed tears that were about to burst and watched the scenes while watching Tae-Yoon¡¯s choices and thoughts. Soon, a bright light nketed them. They each hugged one another and closed their eyes. When they opened their eyes again, they were sitting on the Hangang beach.


    ¡°¡­We came back¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­Ha¡­Haha.¡±


    ¡°Wow¡­.¡±


    ¡°Haa¡­¡±


    This was the ce where Tae-Yoon fell to with Kang Seok-Du. The twisted-up wordline returned to its normal sequence and order. The countless deaths they had seen until now all felt like a lie.


    ¡°Ha¡­hahaha.¡± Dong-Junughed humorlessly as hey with his limbs spread apart.


    ¡°We returned¡­.¡± Do-Seung murmured in relief.


    ¡°Thank goodness¡­¡± Woon said while looking at the sky.


    ¡°¡­Hey guys,e here.¡± Yeon-Hoon was looking at Tae-Yoon, and at Yeon-Hoon¡¯s call, all the members gathered. Yeon-Hoon¡¯s gaze didn¡¯t depart from Tae-Yoon¡¯s face. Tae-Yoon¡¯s eyelids were twitching.


    ¡°¡­Do you see this?¡±


    ¡°¡­What¡¯s happening?¡±


    ¡°Wait.¡±


    ¡°¡­Tae-Yoon?¡±


    The fact that his eyelids were twitching meant that his eyeballs were moving; and for his eyeballs to move, he needed to have consciousness.


    ¡°¡­Tae-Yoon,¡± Yeon-Hoon said in a low voice.


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon¡­¡± Do-Seung called Tae-Yoon¡¯s name.


    ¡°Tae-Yoon.¡±


    ¡°Bong Tae-Yoon!¡±


    ¡°Ahhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh!¡±


    Yeon-Hoon clutched Tae-Yoon tightly and Do-Seung wrapped his arms around them. Woon and Dong-Jun also supported them from behind. As one lump, Siren members rolled over the sandy beach for a while. With tears andughter mixed together, they sensed that they had freed themselves from all regressions and only had a rosy path waiting for them.


    ¡°¡­I returned you guys.¡±


    This was the end to regressions that had continued on for so long.


    ***


    During the month of December when one could feel the winter weather quite well, there was a music award overseen by WNet. It was the time when musicians who had disyed the most impressive results gathered to one ce and congratted each other¡¯s works. My members and I wore our best outfits and attended the awards ceremony. We did our celebratory performance and also watched other singers perform.


    Because it was the first major award ceremony of this year, it could be said the awards and recognition you get in this ce could influence your results in other award ceremonies. Perhaps, because of that, my members appeared more nervous than usual.


    ¡°What are you guys shaking for?¡±


    ¡°You know, we have to get the Grand Prize¡­¡±


    ¡°Grand Prize¡­Grand Prize¡­Grand Prize¡­¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh. Do you think we can get the Grand Prize?¡±


    ¡°Haaa¡­let¡¯s calm ourselves.¡±


    Though they had received greater awards than this in their regressions, they were getting overly nervous.


    ¡°I thought you guys used to get the grammys? What are you getting so anxious about?¡±


    ¡°But this is¡­ourst life.¡±


    ¡°There are no things like regressions anymore.¡±


    ¡°We have five regressors here. It will be pretty embarrassing to not get the Grand Prize on our first year.¡±


    ¡°How will other people find out that we are regressors?¡±


    ¡°We know. Us. We won¡¯t be able to be proud of ourselves.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s quiet our voices. The people in the next table could hear us.¡±


    Perhaps, we had chattered too loudly, and Yeon-Hoon requested us to lower our volumes. We all talked in more hushed voices than before. Many things had happened for us to reach this ce. First of all, the news that I fell into Hangang river with Kang Seok-Du became mega news in the nation and even spread overseas.


    The news said that a kidnapper suffering from schizophrenia kidnapped me and attempted tomitted joint suicide and shocked not just our fans but many across the world. It was one of the biggest event that happened in the entertainment world. It didn¡¯t take long for Kang Seok-Du to get caught by the police and receive a sentence of twenty years; his sentence took into consideration that I was discharged from the hospital without suffering much injuries and case ended quite cleanly.


    Then, I spent the next four months focusing on healing as various people from thepany, broadcasting stations, Only One, and Kang Hyun-Sung asked about my well-being. And after that¡ªalthough everyone was against it, we prepared for oureback. We couldn¡¯t let our image be kidnapped idols on the public¡¯s mind for any longer.


    With the skills and wellbined memories from my members¡¯ regressor days, we were able to do aeback that exceeded imaginations and had a massive hit. It was such a hit that we were able to erasebels of us as kidnapped idols to just sessful idols. We swept the daily, weekly, and monthly charts with the album in question; and after receiving another Triple Crown from music shows, we halted our activities.


    We seeded in reaching 1 million sales in the first week for our album, and our album continued to sell well even after, recording an astronomical number of total sales. Though we were newbies and rested quite a long period, we amassed sess even better than before. We busily carried out various schedules after that and while preparing for our winter anniversary singles, we were invited to attend the awards ceremony.


    The award ceremony had already given out the rookie award and other special rewards. As expected, Only One took the rookie award. Nobody was surprised by this result, and we thought we could simply get the rookie award in other award ceremonies. Our goal was to get the Grand Prize here. The next award on the list was what could be considered the practical Grand Prize in the  music award ceremony. It was called the ¡®Song of the Year¡¯ award.


    A middle-aged actor went up the stage as the award presented. The actor was famous for working in Hollywood and going back and forth from East to West. The candidates for the ¡®Song of the Year¡¯ award rolled up on the screen. Among them, there was one song that confidently took one of the spots.


    Siren¡ªBlue Ocean


    This was the song that put us on Billboard and marked ourst regression. During the time when my kidnapping incident became huge news, ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯ became viral and even reached 9th ce on Billboard. It reached its rank for quite a long period too, and it was the k-pop song that was mots yed in and out of the nation this whole year.


    ¡°Haaa¡­.¡±


    ¡°I should stay calm¡­stay calm¡­stay calm¡­¡±


    ¡°We can do it¡­can do it¡­¡±


    Perhaps, that was my members were more nervous, because it really appeared like we could get the ¡®Song of the Year¡¯ award. The middle-aged actor scanned his audience while standing in front of the mike.


    ¡ªThis is the song that had received the most love this year. Many of you probably expected this song to win¡­


    The actor trailed off to pique people¡¯s interest. A tense and nervous atmosphere flowed across the giant concert hall. At the end of this suffocating silence, the actor announced.


    ¡ªCongrattions. The Song of the Year is Siren¡¯s ¡®Blue Ocean¡¯.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­Oh.¡±


    ¡°¡­Wow.¡±


    ¡°Wooow.¡±


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Ah, ah, ahhhh!¡±


    ¡°Ohhhhh!¡±


    ¡°Amazing¡­!¡±


    We got the song of the year award. Sparks exploded and the spotlight scanned us.


    ¡ªSiren¡¯s Blue Ocean aplished Triple Crown All-Kill, reached ninth ce in the Billboard Hot 100, and so on. Above all, it was the most streamed K-pop song of this year. This song is still in the upper ranks in chart right now and¡­


    While the announcer exined our song¡¯s records and information in the background, we walked towards the award ceremony stage. There was Only One in our pathway. Whether it was the good or the bad, they were rivals who went through so much with us together. We exchanged hand shakes with them. Kang Hyun-Sung stood in front of me and said, ¡°Congrattions.¡±


    ¡°¡­Thank you.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me. It¡¯s you who did a good job.¡±


    ¡°I have many things to thank you for. I will pay you back whatever the means.¡±


    ¡°I got it. You should go now.¡±


    After a short exchange with Kang Hyun-Sung, I moved to the stage. The award presentor gave us The Song of the Year trophy. Yeon-Hoon received the award as the group¡¯s representative and passed it down across the group for each of us to carry it. It felt heavy and cold. Though it was just a simple chunk of gold metal, there was something about it that made my heart feel warm.


    It was now our turn to give our award speech. Traditionally, it was the leader¡¯s job to do this. Yet, Yeon-Hoon was about to speak but quickly handed the mike to me after ncing in my direction. I looked at him in surprise, but Yeon-Hoon smiled and nodded. I stood in front of the mike. I saw countless people. I would be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t nervous. But I believed there was a truth that I could only express at this moment and carefully opened my mouth.


    ¡°There had been many hidden moments we had to work hard for until now.¡±


    I looked at each of my members.


    ¡°There were times we despaired, times we rejoiced, and days we cried¡­all such time passed so that we could reach this point.¡±


    Yeon-Hoon ced his hand on my shoulder. Do-Seung approached me from behind and Woon and Dong-Jun stuck closely to my side.


    ¡°Even from now on, we will continue to show you all a team that makes music happily. Sailors, Ms. Seung-Yeon, Ms. Hyuna, Director Yoo Won-Dong, and everyone, thank you.¡± Then, I thought about thest words to say to all those who had supported us until now. I needed to choose my words carefully because time was limited. Though I raced through the dictionary inside my head, the only farewell words that came to my mind was nothing extraordinary.


    ¡°This was Siren¡¯s Bong Tae-Yoon. Thank you.¡±


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