Chapter 394
Chapter 394
Lee Se-jin knew he was living a successful life.
He had beaten hundreds-to-one odds to become a trainee at a major agency, survived the fierce competition within, and finally made his debut.
Among the dozens of idol teams that debuted that year, his group achieved the best results, even winning the Rookie of the Year award. They were currently sailing on smooth waters.
‘Objectively… it’s a success.’
He thought he would naturally be happy. A prime of his life filled with a sense of accomplishment.
But they say the scenery changes depending on where you stand.
‘How ridiculous.’
It was strange how he could feel anxious and stifled at the same time every single day.
Teammates stuck in a rut, the company’s hollow new plans, and opinions that vanished after hitting a wall.
Being able to see exactly what needed to be fixed but being unable to do anything about it made a person feel utterly helpless.
—Hey, Lee Se-jin, let’s just take it easy, okay? Can’t you read the room? I’m fucking exhausted.
—…Sigh, you’re right. It really is tiring…. But if we do it now, tomorrow will be a bit easier. Let’s just go through it one more time~
He knew reality was different from dreams. His boiling head had long since cooled down.
Even so, he occasionally felt a sense of injustice for no reason.
While traveling between schedules, while preparing for an album, or while catching a few winks of sleep at dawn.
‘…….’
The feeling of having been cheated would suddenly wash over him, sinking into a bitter annoyance.
Perhaps that was why. Why the words of this survival participant, whom he had only recently met, pierced him to the core.
—You just didn't realize it, but your efforts created valuable results elsewhere.
Effort and achievement. The restoration of that cycle. Those might not have been the exact words used. But that was how they sounded to him.
‘What am I even expecting?’
It could have just been some trivial psychological test floating around somewhere on social media. No, it probably was.
He likely only brought it up to change the mood because the atmosphere had turned awkward while watching the concert.
And yet, Se-jin had snapped at him with dead seriousness. He couldn't help himself.
—Do it.
It was as if a button had been pressed.
‘What is wrong with me, seriously.’
Even so, he had no intention of taking it back. Lee Se-jin remained silent, staring at the Ryu Gun-woo in front of him.
“…….”
Ryu Gun-woo didn't smile awkwardly at the sudden silence, nor did he open his mouth to answer.
Instead, he raised his hand.
‘…?’
And then, a strange motion followed, as if he were touching something in mid-air….
—…!!
“Ah.”
In an instant, sensations exploded in his mind like fireworks.
It felt as if a stream of water that had been blocked by a dam was suddenly unleashed.
Everything rushed in as if what was originally there was finally finding its rightful place.
—Thanks again for stopping me from dropping out.
—Ah, I love our group so much.
—TeSTAR is going all the way to contract renewal. Everyone trusts each other, right~?
Memories and emotions filled his head. Emotions that were once natural, countless memories created at the turning points of life, pain, excitement, inferiority, worthiness, victory.
Achievement.
His place.
—I wish we could do the Seoul concert for just one more day.
—Right! Let’s do it!
—Stop talking about things that are realistically impossible and start packing your bags….
—Ugh…. Mo-Moon-dae, you’re sad too, right?
—…It’s not like I’m not sad.
—See, everyone feels the same! It’s the company’s fault~ It was too short~
In that moment, Keun Se-jin realized the cause of the helplessness he had been feeling.
‘Because I’ve lived the dream.’
That was it.
He had already lived a life where effort was rewarded with achievement.
He had realized that even if he hit rock bottom, he could recover and challenge himself again, and that his final challenge could actually succeed….
A life where he knew what it felt like to work passionately alongside people he could trust and respect.
“…….”
The dizzying downpour of memories ended. Lee Se-jin raised his head. He saw the face of his friend, quietly watching him as if worried about his condition.
A real teammate he hadn't seen in a long time.
‘The results of my efforts are somewhere else, huh.’
To think he’d say something so subtly enticing, which didn't suit him at all.
“You’re right.”
It was exactly as he said.
The achievement Lee Se-jin had worked himself to death for was elsewhere.
“It was… somewhere else.”
And it had been that way from the start.
“Ah~ Moon-dae Moon-dae, how are you right every single time?”
“…!”
Lee Se-jin laughed out loud.
Seeing Ryu Gun-woo—no, Park Moon-dae—with his eyes wide as if surprised that Se-jin had recognized him, was incredibly delightful.
Before the confusion and curiosity about this utterly incomprehensible, supernatural situation could take hold…
A refreshing sense of relief came first.
Lee Se-jin returned to being Keun Se-jin in an instant.
Since he had already debuted in another group, I thought I might have to spend a long time persuading him while he went through an identity crisis, but….
“Moon-dae, you were surprised I recognized you right away, weren't you!”
[Gasp.]
He just came back as if a switch had been flipped.
He didn't even stumble. He just kept his head down for a moment and then snapped it up.
And after immediately deducing that I was the Park Moon-dae he knew despite my Ryu Gun-woo appearance, he was now leaning back on the sofa, chuckling.
“Ah~ how did you do this? Was it like… nanomachines or something that gave me my memories back?”
“Where did you even see something like that?”
“Webtoons?”
I fell silent for a moment, watching the guy laugh as if he were in a manic state.
Did I… touch something wrong?
[It’s probably because he’s happy!]
Is that so?
Then… his life in Zairop must have been even shittier than I expected. If that’s the case….
……Maybe dumping all my Fame points wasn't such a bad choice after all.
I watched him slowly regain his composure and spoke quietly.
“I’ll start by explaining the current situation, so listen up.”
“Ah~ I should definitely listen.”
Since he already knew the general circumstances, I skipped everything else and told him about the system overload.
I thought he might complain that I did something unnecessary or make a fuss about it being cringy, but he just listened to the explanation seriously.
He was someone who played games quite a bit, so he seemed to understand the concept of Fame Exp used here fairly well.
Thanks to that, I was able to finish the story.
Or rather, I intended to finish it.
“So… with the Fame I gathered, I just pulled you…!”
The moment I said I had "pulled" him, he suddenly lunged forward and tried to hug me.
It was the kind of behavior reserved for emotional moments like winning first place or a concert, so for it to happen here meant….
“Thanks.”
“…!”
“Actually, you didn't even need to make me snap out of it. I already debuted in another group… so we can't promote together anyway.”
“…….”
It seemed his worries had been greater than I thought.
Anyway, I’m sorry, but what I did wasn't an act of charity.
I patted him on the back.
“No, I’m going to use you as a spy.”
“…??”
“Let’s hear about the current state of the music industry from someone who’s already debuted.”
Keun Se-jin’s expression went blank for a moment, but he soon burst into laughter.
Hey.
“Bwahaha! That’s what you came up with? Ah~ Moon-dae, how can you be so dishonest~?”
What is he talking about? In this bizarre world where years are mixed up, even the knowledge Cheong-ryeo has isn't perfect, so the more information we gather, the better.
“Alright, alright. Se-jin will give you lots of info~ I’ll even promote you and call you to variety shows!”
He grinned.
“Happy now? Does that put your mind at ease, Moon-dae Moon-dae?”
“Yeah, do a good job.”
Stop laughing, you punk.
Just as I was considering playing his Zairop debut-era morning call video to make him scream…
Beep-beep-beep-beep.
“We’re back!”
The door opened, and the guys who had gone grocery shopping returned.
Keun Se-jin jumped up.
“Oh~ my members!”
“…! Se-jin, you’re back?”
“Ohhhh! Welcome back!”
Keun Se-jin cracked up at the welcoming shouts.
“Wait, you’re saying welcome back to someone who was already home! Welcome back to you too, Yu-jin!”
“Hehe! Hyung!”
Ryu Cheong-woo, who followed the two inside, placed the groceries on the table with a pleasant expression and spoke to me.
“You acted like you might not be able to bring Se-jin’s memories back. Is this why you called us over today?”
“No, it was a matter of probability… and I couldn't exactly tell a guy whose group is doing fine to go and disband.”
At that, Keun Se-jin began to wail exaggeratedly.
“Sniff… Moon-dae Moon-dae, if you knew how much Se-jin suffered, you really couldn't say that. You really… shouldn't say things like 'doing fine,' okay?”
“Why?”
He dropped the act and turned serious.
“Hey, working with guys who deserve to fail is pure torture.”
“…? Saying they deserve to fail is a bit….”
“No. These guys really need to fail!”
“…….”
You’d fail along with them, so what are you talking about?
Anyway, he seemed to have no intention of compromising on that point, so I didn't bother trying to persuade him. Whether Zairop got trashed or not was none of my business.
Instead, the conversation shifted to what I and the other TeSTAR members had been up to.
As we ate samgyeopsal grilled in a frying pan, the conversation flowed naturally.
“Wow~ in the meantime, you even exchanged numbers with A-hyun? Moon-dae Moon-dae, isn't that too much discrimination? Did you ask A-hyun first?”
“Do you think I would?”
Seon A-hyun asked first, you idiot. I briefly thought of the Seon A-hyun here, who had once sent me a photo of a landscape, then pushed the thought away.
I wanted to stop thinking about it, but Keun Se-jin had no intention of letting it go.
“The three of us will be able to hang out again soon~ You said all you need is for Moon-dae to win a Grand Prize.”
What a pipe dream.
“Is a Grand Prize some neighborhood dog’s name? Like it’s that easy to win.”
He smirked.
“You can just aim for the Digital Grand Prize.”
“…!”
“What, we have Rae-bin~ Can’t he just cobble together a Grand Prize-worthy song? Since this place is like a dream anyway, we don't have to worry about things like plagiarism.”
Cha Yu-jin answered confidently with a slightly dejected face.
“Kim Rae-bin has no memories.”
“Eh? Then how did he participate in the survival…. ……You just dragged him along.”
“…….”
“Man… oh, our poor Rae-bin. He shouldn't go around getting scammed. You really hooked him~”
It’s quite irritating to hear a guy who would have been the first to scam someone in a similar situation clicking his tongue like that.
“So now only Rae-bin and A-hyun are left. What, does that mean I was taken care of late? How could you commit such an atrocious act as leaving your best friend in another group….”
“I told you, it was random.”
It wasn't something I could control, you punk.
I ate my late-night snack while dealing with the guy who was intentionally trying to get under my skin.
The conversation was non-stop and nothing special. …To the point where it felt like we had already returned.
Of course, we hadn't actually returned, which is why the conversation reached this point.
“Se-jin, so for now, you’re planning to continue preparing for Zairop’s comeback?”
At Ryu Cheong-woo’s question, Keun Se-jin gulped down some water.
“I… wow, I have so much to do.”
“…?”
“Ah, I guess I really was twenty here. My heart was so soft and kind~ Moon-dae, honestly, you were touched too, weren't you? Because I was so kind?”
“What?”
“Seriously. I lost out on so much.”
For these words to come out of the mouth of this efficiency-obsessed man….
“Do you have a plan?”
He grinned.
“Yeah. First, I’m going to stop by the salon.”
“…?”
“Why?”
“Yep. I’m going to dye my hair black.”
And the next morning.
The guy who had stayed up almost all night chatting and playing reportedly stopped by his designated salon at the crack of dawn and changed his dyed hair back to black.
—Keun Se-jin: If I bleach it again, even Se-jin’s sturdy hair will melt, so nope, absolutely impossible lol
This was definitely not something a mere third-year rookie idol could do on his own right before a comeback. But Keun Se-jin did it. That guy, who had developed his social skills to the extreme. And after returning to his dorm… he apparently did something.
[Lee Se-jin: Doing as my heart leads (U▽U~♪)]
I’ll just say that for half the day, every time I checked, this status was displayed more than half the time.
And that evening.
—Keun Se-jin: Oh my, thanks for the invite. I see a lot of familiar names.
He finally joined the TeSTAR group chat, which now had five members.
And the namesake who had done something similar as soon as he regained his memories reacted like this:
—Bae Se-jin Hyung: (Welcoming hamster emoticon)
It was surprising to see them getting along so well.
And honestly, I thought Keun Se-jin would be embarrassed about the things he said to Bae Se-jin when he didn't have his memories.
—Keun Se-jin: Ah, Hyung-nim, didn't you and Moon-dae tease me way too nonchalantly last time? lol ㅠㅠ
I didn't expect him to bring it up himself. He really was something else.
—Keun Se-jin: lol I was surprised because your way of speaking is still so merciless. My young 20-year-old self was so flustered that a rib almost came out of my nose.
—Bae Se-jin Hyung: No.
—Bae Se-jin Hyung: It’s just because I keep playing psychopath roles.
I don't think that’s what he meant, but Keun Se-jin sent an emoticon of a bear bursting into laughter anyway.
I tapped on the keyboard.
—Did you make good use of your new hair color?
—Keun Se-jin: Yep. Please look forward to Zairop’s next promotions ^^
I don't know what he did, but it looked like Zairop’s lifespan was either going to be extended or drastically shortened.
After enjoying the cheers from Cha Yu-jin and Bae Se-jin, Keun Se-jin changed the subject.
—Keun Se-jin: Anyway, Moon-dae needs to become famous for the other members to remember...? That’s how it works, right?
Did you really have to put that into words in a text…?
—Keun Se-jin: Hurry up and get famous so we can invite them to the group chat. I’ll help you with all my heart and soul lol
—Keun Se-jin: I’ll let it slide this once that you’re doing unit activities without Se-jin. Instead, you have to give Se-jin the center position when we go back.
—Bae Se-jin Hyung: ?
—Keun Se-jin: No, not you Hyung, me.
This time, Cha Yu-jin sent a basic emoticon of someone laughing hysterically. It was a total comedy.
[Hyung, your expression has brightened up ㅠㅠ You must be in a good mood!]
Is that so?
Well, it’s not a bad thing. I smirked as I watched the useless banter pass by in the group chat.
‘Should I just leave it be?’
The main point finally came out of Bae Se-jin’s mouth a moment later.
—Bae Se-jin Hyung: Um… about your survival show.
—Bae Se-jin Hyung: The final live broadcast is coming up, right?
He was right. Wise, LeTi’s survival show, which had escaped being a storm in a teacup thanks to various bits of clickbait and stage marketing, was about to have its final broadcast.
‘I heard there’s one more elimination announcement during practice, though.’
I simply confirmed it.
—Yes. There are only a few days left.
—Bae Se-jin Hyung: I’ll go to cheer you on.
“……?”
Is he serious?
‘Wait… is it better to start showing that we’re close from now on?’
Even so, you said you’ve been sticking to a mysterious image until now. Is that really okay? Your psychopath image will definitely vanish.
—Won’t Hyung’s agency or the staff try to stop you?
And this reply came back immediately.
—Bae Se-jin Hyung: Let them.
—Keun Se-jin: (Surprised bear emoticon)
—Cha Yu-jin: That’s cool! So cool!
They were really having a field day.
—Ryu Cheong-woo Hyung: (Sweating and laughing emoticon)
—Ryu Cheong-woo Hyung: Anyway, let’s do our best for the final. It reminds me of Idol Inc.
‘Idol Inc.?’
I let out a hollow laugh. There was no way something as crazy as that insane program would happen in the final here.
“Ha.”
Just then, a voice came from beyond the wall.
“Hyung, were you laughing at my KakaoTalk message?”
“…No, at Keun Se-jin.”
Come to think of it, Ryu Cheong-woo was in the room right next to mine.
I quietly shut my mouth and focused on the messages.
—Yes (Puppy emoticon). Let’s work hard.
Without having the slightest inkling that something truly insane would indeed happen in the final.