Chapter 2: Boomer System (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 2: Boomer System (1)
My parents were profoundly indifferent to both of their children.
They were generally irresponsible and, at times, violent.
My upbringing could be summed up in a single sentence: I only realized that people usually ate three meals a day once I started elementary school.
Unlucky in the guardian department, my older sister and I spent our childhoods under neglect, abandonment, and high-handed arrogance.
My sister’s childhood likely wasn't much different from mine.
Yet, despite growing up in the same environment, she must have felt for her much younger brother. She supported me both materially and spiritually until I became an adult.
Even when I considered giving up on college because I had no way to pay tuition, or when I was scouring part-time job listings, telling her I’d endure living at home just until I saved up enough for a security deposit.
My sister, who had been fiercely hoarding money, dragged me out of that house right around the time I graduated high school—a time when I couldn't even look after myself.
And she insisted on enrolling me in university.
"This isn't free money. I’m going to get every cent back later."
"……I’ll pay you back as fast as I can."
"Yeah, yeah. Let me enjoy some filial piety from my brother in my old age."
"Is it even possible to survive your old age on 15 million won?"
"It’s fine. I’m going to charge you compound interest."
"The professional world really is ruthless."
Regardless, with 15 million won in my hands and no set repayment period, I was able to completely sever ties with that house.
From then on, I only had to be responsible for myself.
A university friend, after hearing the epic saga of my life as a corporate servant at Hanpyeong Industry, once asked me seriously:
"If there are that many weirdos at your company, wouldn't it be better to just quit early?"
My answer, as I sat across from him mechanically editing a video titled 'Hyung-line Fluff Compilation.zip', was: "I’d love to."
Who would want to keep working at a company that pays peanuts and works you like a dog?
Especially when it involves sticking fruit stickers on the faces of guys my age whom I have zero interest in.
But I couldn't. I wanted to pay back the debt I owed my sister as quickly as possible.
Especially once I reached an age where I realized exactly how much money a fresh member of society could actually save.
I didn't even want to waste time switching jobs; I endured through sheer grit and spite. My only healing was the bank balance slowly creeping toward my target goal.
The day I finally managed to pay off the 'Noona-loan' with the money I’d saved by grinding my soul into dust.
We promised each other that we would live doing what we wanted, even if it was just once a year.
Even if we couldn't meet often because we were both busy, we’d chat through messengers……
'Ready to buy me a bag at the duty-free shop?'
'I’m ready to have them broadcast a missing person's report for you at the duty-free shop.'
'You think I won't do it?'
……Talking about things like that.
And then, in the winter of the very next year, my sister passed away in an accident.
It happened less than thirty minutes after we had parted ways in front of a cafe near her house.
Our last conversation was so mundane I can't even remember it.
That hour on that day was my final meeting with my only family.
Is there anyone who hasn't imagined their dead family members coming back to life at least once?
But the dead do not return. That is what death is—the end.
My confused heart turned cold. In its place, a directionless rage filled my head.
'How do I wake up from this dream?'
For the first time in my life, I desperately wished for my alarm to go off even a second sooner.
So this nightmare of a sleep would end, and I wouldn't have to recall the emotions of the past two years.
But the alarm did not ring. I felt as if I had been left alone in a silence of unknowable depth.
+
[SYSTEM] A 'Handover' is being processed for 'Party B.'
+
Another new message flashed before my eyes.
Let it talk all the shit it wants.
I pulled the covers over my head and lay back down. If I didn't, I felt like I might smash my head against the wall.
However, there was one thing I had overlooked.
In a world where words appeared in thin air, there was no guarantee that any other supernatural phenomenon wouldn't occur.
The details of the 'Handover' began to flow unilaterally into my mind, as if I were reading a book or a document.
+
[SYSTEM] Handover Progress Status
▷ Notification of Task Commencement Period: February XX, 20XX (Synchronization complete and unchangeable)
▷ Manual Confirmation
▷ Process Confirmation
+
I was about to smack my own head a couple of times when I noticed something strange among the unfamiliar information.
The year listed as the task commencement period was nine years ago from the current year.
The season was the same. It had been early autumn until yesterday, but the commencement period pointed to February.
'It’s not like I’ve gone back in time or anything.'
I turned my gaze toward the window, where lush greenery should have been. Instead, I saw a few bare, skeletal branches.
'……!'
The view outside the window was the epitome of a chilly winter.
The sun was up, but the window was fogged with condensation, and I could clearly see the empty branches, devoid of a single leaf, swaying in the wind.
'Where’s my phone?'
I reflexively reached for my phone. It was lying right next to my pillow, as usual.
But the model was different from mine. Strictly speaking, different from my 'current' one.
What lay before me was the flip phone I had used nearly ten years ago.
Back when everyone else was switching to smartphones, I had gotten this one to focus on my studies since the device cost was a burden. In a Korean society where adult smartphone usage exceeded 90%, a brick phone that looked like it could only make restricted calls had appeared.
Too many things were wrong.
The face of Center Emperor Choi Je-ho, looking much younger than in my last memory, and the phone that should have been thrown away long ago because it wouldn't turn on—everything pointed to a single possibility.
As if possessed, I entered my old password on the lock screen. Like magic, it unlocked.
What was even more unbelievable was the date displayed on the phone.
'……It’s nine years ago.'
The exact date notified by the system as the task commencement period, and the time when I used to look up English vocabulary on this very phone.
The year when Center Emperor Choi Je-ho, who was the same age as me, was twenty, and the year Spark would have been sprinting toward their debut.
I felt the blood drain from my body.
I rubbed my face with both hands—a face that felt dry, or rather, about 3,400 days younger and more supple than yesterday.
Noona…….
I think I’m fucked…….
A bright winter morning.
A room so quiet it was peaceful, thanks to the other person sleeping deeply.
And me, sitting inside it, having suddenly woken up nine years younger.
Except now, I (29, office worker) was being coerced into becoming an idol with my sister and my future held hostage.
I checked my face, faintly reflected on the dark screen of the turned-off phone.
Even through the black screen, I could see my improved complexion and significantly reduced dark circles. It was exactly how I looked right after graduating high school.
'I really did get younger.'
Was the reason I felt so refreshed when I woke up because of this rejuvenation? If so, that’s actually a bit depressing.
It wasn't just me getting younger; since all of time had wound back, it felt more appropriate to say I’d come back to the past.
I could know for sure if I could use the internet. But with this brick phone, that was out of the question.
A sudden, ominous thought struck me.
'I haven't died and ended up in some kind of afterlife, have I?'
I knew it sounded insane, but if this was the underworld, maybe words appearing in the air made sense.
However, the probability of a twenty-nine-year-old man dying while making a banner for an idol group that had just announced their disbandment was about as slim as the logic of this current situation.
Even if something had gone terribly wrong, I didn't think I, who had been living perfectly fine, would have suddenly dropped dead.
Besides, making a dead person debut as an idol in the afterlife?
Are they insane?
It was more rational to assume time had been rewound.
'Wait.'
If time itself has been rewound, then I don't need to debut as an idol to save my sister, do I?
I just need to find her right now and convince her to listen to me so she can live a long life.
I hurriedly searched for my sister’s number in my contacts. But the phonebook was empty.
It was a level of cleanliness that shouldn't exist on my phone, which used to be packed with the numbers of various company presidents.
Fortunately, I had memorized her number. I quickly punched it in and hit call.
— The number you have dialed is not in service.
But the response was an unexpected automated message.
I checked the number again, but it was definitely correct. Something was wrong.
'Noona never changed her number.'
It didn't matter. If I couldn't reach her by phone, I could just go see her.
I grabbed the phone and stood up from the bed.
But my momentum didn't last long.
'Where was Noona’s house again?'
I couldn't remember the neighborhood or the building name where she lived. Other memories were vivid, but it was as if that specific part of my memory had been scooped out.
Just as this thought occurred to me, a long passage of text appeared.
This time, it looked more like a document than a message.
+
[SYSTEM] The 'Life Reuse Manual' is being notified to 'Party B.'
▷ If you wake up at a point in the past relative to your previous life, your life is considered 'reused.'
▷ Once a reused life begins, returning to the previous life is not permitted.
▷ Memories and knowledge acquired in the previous life can only be used within the permitted scope; violations will result in sanctions.
▷ If it is determined that memories and knowledge from the previous life interfere with achieving the tasks of the reused life, the use of existing memories may be restricted without the consent of 'Party B.'
▷ Accessories (Resume, Scheduler, etc.) are provided for a smooth life reuse.
+
I didn't fully understand everything, but one thing was clear.
Something was very, very wrong.
I only woke up because my eyes opened, but it was already being processed as a 'reused life.'
It felt like receiving a defective product that was already unboxed when I bought it, only to be told that unboxed items are non-refundable.
I might have wanted to change my lifestyle, but that didn't mean I wanted to change my life.
By the time I reached the fourth point, I wanted to give up on thinking altogether.
To put it simply, if I tried to achieve the 'final reward'—reuniting with my sister—through a dark path without hitting the KPIs, some form of coercion would be triggered.
For instance, by erasing the memories that served as the link to her.
'If I resolve to go to the place where the accident happened and wait until she shows up…….'
I tried to recall the date of my sister’s death and the location of the accident.
And I failed. I couldn't remember a thing, as if my mind had been wiped clean.
What are the odds of a person suddenly defying the flow of time?
And on top of that, being forced into a career change you were never destined for, with your family and future held hostage?
And the possibility that the assigned job is to be an idol who must shine brilliantly?
And if you refuse, you have to work forever at the company that made you pull all-nighters seven days a week until yesterday?
I don't know the exact odds, but I know a 'fucked' case when I see one.
I passed through the stages of denial and anger and settled into a state of resignation.
As long as the condition for my sister’s survival was attached, I had no choice but to accept.
It was filial piety I hadn't been able to fully show while she was alive. How could I not do it?
I also never wanted to be involved with that godforsaken Hanpyeong Industry ever again.
Then all that remained was to make a grand debut as part of a six-member boy group.
Spark and…… debut?
A chill ran down my spine. It wasn't just a dagger to the heart; my vision went dark.
Objectively speaking, Spark wasn't a bad group.
It was just that I had a personal grudge against them; based on their individual stats alone, I should be begging them to let me in.
If you were to broadly categorize idols active in our country:
Spark had one foot in the 'problematic' group and the other in the 'bashed' group.
Everyone’s public past was clean. No drugs.
However, starting with personality controversies, Spark was a group that frequently got embroiled in all sorts of scandals, establishing themselves as the idol scene's premier issue makers.
≫ If you want to learn noise marketing, look at Spk.
└ Isn't Spk just noise, not noise marketing?
└ You gotta admit the marketing though, their recognition skyrockets every time a scandal breaks lol.
Imagine me joining this group.
A group of visuals who were never criticized for their looks, even if they were bashed for everything else—imagine the reaction when 'Ordinary Person 1' joins them.
≫ One muddy fish spoils the whole pond, right? He’s dragging down the visual average all by himself. Is that a talent too?
└ Five of them are Grade A water, but one is industrial waste, so the pollution is insane. No names mentioned.
└ Is that face for real for an idol? My heart feels small just looking at it.
Similarly, imagine the reaction when 'Ordinary Person 1' joins a group of gems who were considered presidential candidates of the idol scene based on talent alone.
≫ One muddy fish spoils the whole pond, right? His robot dancing is insane. Is that a talent too?
└ I’m getting second-hand embarrassment just watching, but he’s so damn confident. His mental game is Tier 1 at least.
└ What’s the point of a Tier 1 mental game if the body is trash-tier?
My presence was bound to pour gasoline on an already controversial group. Just imagining it was the worst.
Why me, of all people?
Why Spark, of all groups?
There must be at least two hundred people who want to debut as Spark more than I do.
I stared at the message still floating in the air with eyes that had likely lost all their luster.
Then, a certain part caught my eye.
+
▷ Accessories (Resume, Scheduler, etc.) are provided for a smooth life reuse.
+
Accessories.
Is it like a Welcome Kit? Hanpyeong Industry was such a shitty company they never gave me anything like that.
I glared at the screen, wondering how I was supposed to receive these 'accessories.'
Then, a truly new screen appeared.
What popped up before my eyes was a resume with a familiar layout.
The resume of none other than me, 'Kim I-wol.'