Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Genius Idol's Entertainment Conquest Method
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"Raon, right? Yo-han’s told me a lot about you. Must’ve been tough coming up from Busan all by yourself at such a young age. You’re not too tired, are you?"
"No, thank you."
I was currently riding in a car with a Seed Entertainment staff member who had come to pick up Ban Yo-han and Seo Moon-gyeol.
He introduced himself as Kwak Sang-hyun from the Seed Entertainment management team and kept chatting away at me nonstop.
It felt like he was showing this much interest because I’d come from a big agency.
But he just seemed like a naturally sociable guy. Perfect personality for working in management.
"Can I have some water?"
"Sure, grab whatever’s in the back."
True to his word, the back seat had several 500mL bottles of water rolling around every time the car stopped or turned.
It was a brand I’d never seen before.
I didn’t think too hard about it and just twisted open one of them to take a sip.
"Come to think of it, what about school, Raon? Gyeol and Yo-han are already graduated, but it’s March now—high schools should’ve started, right? If your school’s in Busan... Oh, wait, you were at True, so probably in Seoul."
To buy time while I pretended to chug down the entire bottle like my throat was parched, Seo Moon-gyeol answered for me.
"He graduated."
Hold up. Someone’s answering for me?
"Huh? Gyeol, I think I heard wrong. Say that again?"
"He graduated high school."
Caught completely off guard by this bombshell about my academic history—rivaling a secret origin story—I spat out the water I was drinking.
"Pfft...!"
Did the water go bad? Was my hearing messed up now? The ‘he’ that Seo Moon-gyeol was talking about... wasn’t me?
"Cough, cough!"
The water had gone down the wrong pipe, stinging my throat.
"......"
After coughing my lungs out and finally catching my breath, I noticed two pairs of eyes staring at me weirdly.
Kwak Sang-hyun was even glancing at me through the rearview mirror while driving. Focus on the road, hyung.
"So, what’d you say?"
Ban Yo-han in the passenger seat grimaced, wiped the water traces with the tissue I’d handed him, and I checked my hearing.
"We had graduation together in February."
Even in this chaos, Seo Moon-gyeol calmly answered my question.
"You came to my graduation?"
"Yeah. You graduated with me."
"That’s your thing... I’m only 18?"
"Early admission."
Seo Moon-gyeol looked a bit puzzled as he said it, like I was asking about something I should already know.
Of course. It’s his real life, so he’d know.
But I’m not On Raon?
I schooled my expression to act casual, but Ban Yo-han’s sharp gaze—picking up on my inner turmoil—flashed in the room mirror straight at me.
If that smart, perceptive fox started digging into my—no, ‘On Raon’s’—story, I had no confidence I wouldn’t look suspicious.
Let’s sort this out. Fast.
‘On Raon’ was born in 00. This game world is March 2017, so Korean age 18. Should be second year of high school.
But the system said no affiliation.
I figured he’d dropped out due to age.
Graduated this year? At 18?
Even with early admission like Seo Moon-gyeol said... Is graduating two years early even possible in this country?
"That’s unusual. I heard early admission is only up to a year early. Am I wrong?"
Kwak Sang-hyun voiced the exact same thought I had, and Ban Yo-han answered.
"It’s rare, but possible. Fast birthdays aren’t really early admission."
No one gets that.
"...Yo-han, explain it simpler?"
"Normal elementary school entry age is 6 internationally. Specifically, you can enter if you turn 6 by the entry date."
"Right."
"Back then, the cutoff was March 1st, so even Korean age 7, if your birthday was January or February, you’d be 6 internationally and could enter. That’s a fast birthday."
"Mm, got it roughly. So early admission?"
"Like Sang-hyun hyung said, early admission lets you start a year early at international age 5."
Ban Yo-han checked Kwak Sang-hyun’s expression to confirm he followed, then continued.
"Long story short, Raon’s birthday is January or February, so he could’ve started elementary at Korean age 7 anyway, but used early admission to start at Korean 6, international 5."
"Whoa, wild."
"Whoa, wild."
"...Yeah, not many go that far. And from the year 03 kids entered elementary, fast birthdays were gone, cutoff moved to January 1st, so no more."
Anyway, if class know-it-all Ban says so, it must be true.
"But Raon, why act like it’s news if it’s your story?"
"Hearing it laid out like that makes it feel fresh."
"Riiight..."
The atmosphere carried a faint suspicion, not full doubt but enough to notice.
I had to explain my awkward behavior. Or risk losing the dorm spot I’d just secured.
"...Actually."
As the car stopped at a signal, all three gazes turned to me.
I infused just the right amount of bitterness into my voice.
"The shock from leaving True was so huge, I was out of it for a while. I’m fine now, but some memories from back then are fuzzy."
Acting has perks like this, huh.
It was a hasty cover, but pretty plausible.
Would a high schooler’s mental stay unshaken after leaving a company he’d been with for 3 years to audition solo on a survival show?
I’d seen trainees get psych meds from all the pressure inside and out.
Coincidentally, in real life, I’d bolted from my agency during high school too.
‘Even this overlaps with ‘On Raon.’’
Felt weird.
As spring rain began pattering on the car amid darkening skies, the mood inside plummeted to rock bottom. Stifling.
"......"
No need to pity me that much. I’m not On Raon, I’m On Ha-je.
Moments later, unable to bear the silence I’d brought on myself, I blurted out.
"I’m totally fine now, so no worries! Really!"
Maybe appreciating the introvert’s desperate effort, Kwak Sang-hyun jumped in.
"Yeah, yeah. Tough kid. The ones who endure anywhere win, and your voice says you’ll be fine."
"Yeah. It’ll work out this time."
As I thanked Kwak Sang-hyun and Seo Moon-gyeol’s warm encouragement and sighed in relief.
Ban Yo-han, who’d been lost in thought in the passenger seat, glanced back casually in his soft tone.
"Yeah. Hope it works out."
What the hell, you crazy fox...?
Seeing my face stiffen a bit, Seo Moon-gyeol thought I was upset recalling bad memories and patted my shoulder.
That snapped me out of it.
"Same school means you knew each other before? Same class or something?"
With my new ‘fuzzy memory from trauma’ setting, Seo Moon-gyeol answered again.
"About half a year in second year."
"Not even a full year?"
"Raon transferred in second semester of second year. Different classes in third."
"What department was I in?"
I went full shameless now.
Thanks to the system, I was confident these guys would buy it.
Seo Moon-gyeol’s face flickered with complexity before softening into a kinder tone.
Seemed like he’d even gotten Ban Yo-han’s natural charisma.
"Practical Dance."
"Transferred schools when joining True?"
"Yeah. Heard he came from abroad. Went to the US in elementary, came back after passing True’s global audition."
"Ah... ha......"
What day is it today? Fix one backstory, another unravels.
Just leave player past mysterious and origin unknown.
Anyway, now I get why character info restored and I have Advanced English. Explains why ‘On Raon’ was bad at Korean too.
Early admission, studying abroad, audition pass, transfer... This guy lived so hard?
Kwak Sang-hyun, quietly listening while driving, asked amazedly.
"Gyeol, you know a lot? Thought ‘mountain is mountain, water is water’ was your motto. No one at the company thinks you’re apathetic."
"Right? No one. Who doesn’t know."
Ban Yo-han chuckled lightly, chiming in.
"Been a while since I heard Gyeol talk that much."
"Whoa, you too? Same here!"
Ban Yo-han and Kwak Sang-hyun bantered cheerfully up front.
Maybe small age gap, or Seed not that big.
No stiffness or hierarchy you’d expect between staff and trainee.
"Kinda."
Seo Moon-gyeol brushed off the teasing unusually indifferently for a trainee, glanced at me, and continued a bit stiffly.
"Rumors spread fast at our school."
"Ahh... yeah. True transfer student? Name, age, background, what you did—whole story out in a day......"