Chapter 208: Role-playing Interview (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 208: Role-playing Interview (1)
‘Am I still half-asleep?’
I rubbed my eyes and looked down at the floor next to my bedroom door again.
A manga book, its cover a vibrant pink and drenched in sparkly effects, lay there facing the entrance as if offering a morning greeting.
Is he actually lending this to me? Just because I said I was looking forward to the next part of the story?
It was interesting, sure, but I hadn't intended to borrow the next volume from Kang Gi-yeon. More than anything, my current situation wasn't exactly one where I could say, "I know you think poorly of me, but that manga was pretty good. Could I have the next volume?"
Still, it was an awkward position to refuse, so I ended up getting into the car with the second volume I’d been offered out of the blue, despite never having asked for it.
After the music broadcast ended, I pulled out the manga book in the car on the way home.
“Are you going to read that now? Want me to turn on my phone flashlight for you?”
Lee Cheong-hyeon, sitting next to me, asked.
“I’m fine. It’s not that dark.”
“You’re the one who told me to work in bright places because I’d ruin my eyes.”
That’s because you use your laptop without wearing blue-light-blocking glasses. Speaking of which, I already ordered a pair for you. They’ll arrive tomorrow.
“I can’t wait. The last volume ended on such a cliffhanger.”
“What kind of scene was it?”
“A new male lead candidate appeared at the very end.”
“Didn’t you say a male lead candidate appeared last time, too?”
“This is a different guy. It looks like there’s more than just one or two candidates.”
In the manga’s setting, Princess Soda of the Cream Kingdom already has a fixed fiancé, but for some reason, the number of men getting involved with her increases with every chapter. Even though the Princess herself is doing her absolute best just to become the King.
“...Do people read those kinds of stories just to see who the Princess ends up with?”
Park Ju-woo showed interest. He must have been eavesdropping on our conversation.
“Probably?”
“No, Kang Gyeon has his own philosophy about it.”
“What philosophy?”
“He says, ‘I don’t watch stories where the protagonist doesn't progress.’”
“Aha.”
I think I get the gist of it. Princess Soda is quite the proactive character, after all.
Still, the fact that I had the leisure to read a manga book in a moving vehicle was something worth celebrating. If it had been me a few months ago, I would have been running simulations in my head at least 300 times just to make sure I didn't forget the choreography sequence.
Ever since my Dance Proficiency hit double digits, the malicious comments regarding Kim Peps’ dancing had decreased significantly.
≫ Kim Peps’ dancing has improved so much
Did he take performance enhancers?
└ They say even a dog can recite poetry after three years at a school, so I guess it took Peps a year since he’s technically a human.
└ If a wooden doll became a person, he basically got a new lease on life.
≫ Wow, but seriously, what’s up with Kim I-wol? lol Did he awaken or something?
└ Ah, he was originally a steamed bun hiding his true power.
└ Why was he hiding it that much though?
└ lolololol
≫ Look at Kim Peps’ solo stans running wild just because Gyeon-type-man isn't there... lol
It’s not that your oppa’s dancing got better, it’s just that the ceiling got lower, creating a relative upward effect. Let’s not get delusional.
└ Have you bastards even watched the fancams before talking this crap??
└ Yeah, our I-wol’s dancing improved like crazy~ He broke through the ceiling, it’s a convertible now~
└ Kim Peps fans are seriously closing their eyes and ears to reality...
└ How is this closing eyes and ears...? Honestly, I didn't feel like he was lagging behind at all in this performance.
└ Yeah, there were actually a lot of good parts. If they hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have even known his part was changed the day before.
≫ More than anything, his use of his body and gaze has improved a lot.
It’s not that he was bad before, but I-wol wasn't exactly the type to be good at controlling his intensity or making eye contact.
During the mission, his camera timing was spot on (before, it felt like he was struggling to find the camera, but now it feels like he distinguishes between scenes that look good when he looks at the camera versus when he doesn't). His waves are natural too, so there’s no sense of disharmony even when he’s mixed in with the other members... I can’t even imagine how much effort he must have put in to get to this point.
└ This is exactly what I wanted to say. He’s become so relaxed in finding the camera. Even when his back is turned, it feels like he’s thinking about how to show his body.
≫ It’s so damn easy to live as a male idol.
Even if you dance like Kim Peps, you get praised as a 'growth-type idol.'
Wasn't he just doing a shitty job at his main profession in the first place? He couldn't do a damn thing and just coasted along, and now that he’s finally doing his part, they’re plugging him into dramas and variety shows lol. Other members work their asses off for days and don't get screen time, leading to panic attacks, but since he’s the oldest, he gets coddled and acts all happy. It’s honestly disgusting.
└ Wow, can we seriously not report this person?
└ It’s annoying enough that you’re dragging an innocent kid to bash him, but why bring up a sick kid? Don't you dare even mention Spark anywhere. It makes me feel sick just thinking we’re in the same fandom.
└ I’m so pissed off. Who said someone got a panic attack because of I-wol?
└ Do I have to say it for you to know? It’s as clear as day.
└ It’s because of people like you spreading your head-canon that rumors get started... Please, have some self-awareness.
└└ Peps gave us a reason for controversy first, which led to people deducing the situation. Why are you coming at me? lol Does the truth hurt?
└└└ Get a life, OP, please. Go outside and talk to people lol. Since you’re just stuck in your room clutching your keyboard, your head is probably no different from a monitor.
└└└ Guys, let’s just ignore this below.
...At any rate, the comments had decreased.
I wasn't even that hurt by them. It was because my fancam view counts had almost caught up to the other members' numbers.
It meant that my dancing was finally worth watching. I had come a long way from the days when my only goal was not to make a mistake. I’m proud of myself.
Just as I was finishing the manga book with a light heart, the car arrived in front of a small studio building.
“I-wol, let’s get out!”
“Yes!”
Today, a web variety show filming was scheduled. Between drama promotions, the drama’s popularity, and the comeback hype, I was spending days as busy as the year-end tax settlement period at Hanpyeong Industry.
Among all that, today’s filming was in a format I had never experienced before.
The web variety show Act on, which was now entering its second season, had a simple set of rules.
First, four to six people are randomly placed into small rooms.
Each person is given a differently molded character belonging to a single group, but a common keyword does not apply to only one person. In other words, it was a variation of the 'Liar Game.'
From their respective rooms, the individuals must figure out what kind of character they are to join the conversation. They must exclude the person who has nothing in common with them and identify the final target who doesn't belong to the common group.
The unique thing about this show was that every person was given a similar but different character.
Even if everyone was given the role of an 'Idol,' if one person misunderstood the 'Main Vocal' attribute as just 'Singer' and referred to themselves as a 'Solo Singer,' they could become the target.
As someone who was exhausted from using my brain, it was a taxing task, but now was not the time to be picky.
I didn't need to be the star; I just needed to do well enough so they’d play our music video at the end of the broadcast. That way, I could gather more PR points. And please, let there be no other idol group members in this episode...
I prayed fervently as I stepped out of the car. Someone placed a blindfold over my eyes as soon as I reached the building entrance.
The moment the blindfold was removed, I heard the sound of a door closing behind me. I was left all alone in a set slightly larger than a phone booth.
As I looked around, a familiar atmosphere greeted me.
Grey interior. Pale green partitions.
A clean desk, dual monitors, and a Noditech keyboard and mouse set.
I didn't even need to look further.
‘An office worker.’
That damn 'In.My.Office' hype. It was driving me into a corner like this.
From a distance, I could hear the voices of other people sounding amazed. From what I’d seen on the show, it seemed the individual sets were slightly separated, and it appeared to be the same structure this time.
While I was secretly swallowing my tears, a narration echoed from the ceiling.
『Hello, everyone. Welcome to the world of Act on.』
The familiar mechanical voice I’d heard during monitoring filled the room.
『For the next 30 minutes, you will be given time to explore "your own space."』
It’s a bit heartbreaking that this tiny office is my space. Can’t you just send me home? Besides, the floor area seems a bit too narrow to actually work here.
As if reading my grumbling thoughts, the narration spoke again.
『Do not lose sight of what your role is. Now, let us begin!』
Along with a warning beep, the timer on a large digital clock began to move. I could hear the sounds of people screaming and busily opening and closing drawers from all around.
Suddenly, I remembered what Lee Cheong-hyeon had said as a form of encouragement before I got out of the car.
‘Hyung! Show them the power of an S University admit!’
Cheong-hyeon, there is no power in someone who only got admitted.
Still, I’ll try. This seems like the perfect program for the instrumental of 『MISSION』 to play in the background. I’ll do my best to create some cool scenes.
I started by logging into the PC. As an office worker, most information is usually found on the computer.
The clean desktop only had a messenger app and a recycle bin.
‘All the previous message logs are here. My department is... the Data Team.’
Just in case, I checked the recycle bin, but it was empty.
On the calendar, meeting schedules were written down for every Wednesday. Cross-referencing with the messages, there were indeed traces of me uploading meeting minutes every Wednesday.
Except for one time last month when there was an additional meeting on a Friday, there was nothing unusual. If I mentioned that, I might be singled out as the target for no reason.
‘Is the desk clean because it’s modeled after Do Yeong-hwan?’
The wallpaper was the default one, too. Out of habit, I checked the program list in the Control Panel, but there were no programs installed other than the messenger. Well, they probably couldn't install things like Bdobe because of copyright issues.
Fortunately, there were a few things in the drawers. A half-used stack of business cards with the name 'Jo Yong-han,' Post-its, and so on.
On the back of the business card, a few lowercase letters and numbers were handwritten. It was likely a password.
When I tried to log into a virtual website using the password, a window popped up saying it was an incorrect ID, and the login failed.
‘Huh?’
Thinking I might have typed it wrong, I tried a few more times, but the login still wouldn't go through.
This narrowed the possibilities down to a few cases.
First, if the scale was large: I could be an industrial spy who forged the business card.
Second, if the scale was small: It was highly likely that I was no longer a member of this company.
If I were an industrial spy, I wouldn't make a mistake like leaving behind a business card with my handwriting on it. If my brain only worked that much, I should quit being a spy and look for another job.
In times like this, the best thing to check is the web page history. You can see saved accounts and passwords, recently visited sites, and cache all at once.
I checked the computer usage history in the web browser settings.
The domain where the ID was saved was a server commonly used by companies. Seeing that the bookmarked pages included digital trend news, the IT category of a news page, and Do-tion, it was certain that this was a computer used by a regular employee until recently.
I noted down the download times of all the installed files and folders and then attempted a Windows backup.
After the backup was complete, I recovered the organizational chart from the recycle bin to check the team structure.
There was one Team Leader, one Deputy Head, one Assistant Manager, and three employees.
There was no special mark on my name in the organizational chart. However, the final modification date of the chart was one day before the time set on the PC.
The fact that I belonged to the company until yesterday when the chart was made, but my account was now blocked...
There was only one conclusion.
“I’m a resigned employee.”
To think that I, the only non-employee of a small company, was the target. I didn't know if I was lucky or unlucky.
Things were getting interesting. My brain was starting to whir into gear.