Chapter 28
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: X Appears Again
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[The one who locked Cha Jae-hyun in the bathroom is X.]
I stared blankly at the shocking truth floating in front of my eyes, unable to believe it right away.
‘X? That bastard who killed me?’
X. I’d been too busy with debut preparations to pay attention for a while.
After debuting, I figured with people always bustling around us, X wouldn’t dare approach recklessly, so I’d let my guard down….
I got careless.
“X-fuck.”
“What’s up?”
Eun Hae-sol’s voice came from the upper bunk where he’d been sleeping. He must’ve woken up because of my muttering.
“Nothing.”
No sooner had I answered than Eun Hae-sol fell right back asleep.
My mouth said it was nothing, but this was a big deal.
X had shown up again. Not content with pushing me off the rooftop last time, now he was messing with Cha Jae-hyun.
If X was the one who locked Cha Jae-hyun in the bathroom, maybe he didn’t have a grudge against me personally.
Then what did X want? To block our group’s path forward? But why go to such extremes?
I’d seen plenty of people casually spewing hate comments wishing our group would flop, but there were none who prayed for it with their whole heart and actually acted on it.
No, this went beyond crazy—it was criminal and dangerous.
Preparing a fake staff necklace meant they’d planned this meticulously….
Whoever it was, they weren’t ordinary. Hell, just shoving me off the rooftop made them a murderer beyond ordinary.
‘What should I do?’
If the police caught X in this investigation, things would resolve easily.
Unfortunately, a chilling feeling told me that wouldn’t happen.
* * *
The next morning.
“They couldn’t find him.”
That was the news I heard the moment I stepped into the living room. They hadn’t found X.
Cha Jae-hyun, who’d just finished a call with the manager, said with a dark expression.
“Of all times, there was an error with the broadcast station’s CCTV right then, so they couldn’t check it. The police say they’ll keep investigating, but it seems like there are a lot of obstacles.”
Just as I’d expected.
Of course, the main quest ‘Find X’ wouldn’t resolve this easily. Did that mean I had to find him myself in the end?
That’s when Song Yu-bin cautiously spoke up.
“Why go so far as impersonating staff? Did they just hate seeing us on stage that much?”
Baek Si-woo, who’d been sitting on the sofa watching drama clips, chimed in casually.
“Must be some jobless loser with nothing better to do.”
If it really was just a pathetic crime by some idle loser like Baek Si-woo said, that’d be great, but unfortunately, this was the work of the murderer X.
I was going crazy wanting to tell the members that truth, but the fact that I couldn’t was agonizing.
“Everyone, be careful.”
With X still at large, we needed to stay vigilant every moment.
‘X showing up again means they’ve got some scheme brewing.’
I sat on the sofa and organized my thoughts.
First, exclude everyone who was in the waiting room at the time X took Cha Jae-hyun. And I needed another clue….
“Hyung. What did that guy look like?”
Cha Jae-hyun, drinking water in the kitchen, looked my way. He touched his chin as if thinking, then spoke.
“That guy? He was about your height, but his face was half-hidden by a hoodie and hat, so I couldn’t see it.”
“What about his voice?”
“Sounded like a young guy, but his voice was really soft.”
“Hmm….”
A soft voice?
It could be naturally soft, or he might’ve made it that way on purpose. No way to know which, but it was useful info, so I jotted it down.
I was writing down what Cha Jae-hyun described in my notebook when Baek Si-woo suddenly shoved his face in.
“What’s that? Why are you writing this down?”
“Just in case it’s useful later.”
“You’re totally obsessed with detective games.”
“It’s not a game.”
Detective games? This was life-or-death for me.
Baek Si-woo finished talking and noisily crunched on snacks.
“Don’t drop crumbs everywhere.”
“Jeong Eun-ho nagging is seriously the worst.”
“You still watching that Kim Jung-sik drama or whatever?”
“It’s not Kim Jung-sik, it’s Kim Jong-sik. You memoryless idiot!”
“Why are you guys fighting?”
Song Yu-bin sat next to me, holding his smartphone. Glancing over, I saw the music chart rankings on his screen.
‘Right. The rankings.’
I’d been distracted by all the incidents around me and forgotten.
Baek Si-woo munched on snacks and said.
“Now that music shows are done, maybe the rankings went up?”
I pulled out my smartphone and checked the chart. The ranking on the screen was….
“Off the chart.”
Hearing me, the members started to check their phones but pulled back.
“Too bad.”
“What can you do.”
“Still, people were talking a lot about how pretty our music show set was….”
“That’s just among fans. Looks like we’ve got a ways to go for mainstream fame.”
“Let’s keep fighting.”
Disappointing, but unavoidable. We’d grit our teeth and prepare harder for the next album.
Just then, Cha Jae-hyun walked out of the kitchen and said, looking at us.
“Come to think of it, how’d our album’s first-day sales do? That’s what matters.”
“Oh, right.”
We should check the album first-day sales too. We huddled together again, peering at the smartphone screen.
Baek Si-woo and Song Yu-bin naturally rested their chins on both my shoulders to look.
“The first-day album sales….”
“How is it?”
All eyes focused.
Album first-day sales. Just as important as digital performance.
Clicking the post, a table of first-day album sales appeared on screen.
“Around 170,000 copies?”
At my words, all the members widened their eyes and looked at each other.
Baek Si-woo, munching snacks, asked.
“Yu-bin! Is that high?”
“We have to call this high. I heard debut albums rarely hit 170,000 first-day.”
“Really? Ooh~”
170,000 copies….
Higher than expected. I was surprised.
Ignoring the chattering members, I checked the comments.
[Comments]
- Lololol
- Selling well
- Already 170k?!
- How’d you build a fandom so fast?
└ Song and MV were good lol
└ Saw the self-cam, their personalities are no joke... Seems like they pull fans hard
└ Heard that first-love memory manipulation video homage to Love Letter helped a ton
I’d been anxious from all the appearance-shaming and hate since debut, but now I finally felt relieved.
‘Even if digital is weak, solid album sales mean we don’t have to worry.’
That’s when it hit.
“We’ll be doing a fan signing soon, right?”
First fan signing event.
Thinking about meeting fans face-to-face made my heart race for some reason.
As I clutched my chest, Baek Si-woo muttered.
“You okay? Arrhythmia or something?”
“As if. Just excited to see the fans.”
“Heh. You must really love the fans?”
Then Song Yu-bin’s worried voice came.
“It’s right up close with fans. What if I mess up my words?”
Baek Si-woo teased.
“Feels like Yu-bin would do this: Wh-where you from? I-I ate fri-fried rice today~”
“Hyung! I’m not that bad?!”
The two immediately started bickering.
‘Baek Si-woo’s fine, but Song Yu-bin’s a bit worrying.’
He’d gotten trashed online for poor expression control from nerves on stage. If he froze up at a fan sign, it’d be fodder for trolls.
“Yu-bin. After schedule, let’s practice fan signs with hyungs in spare time.”
“Am I that bad?”
Song Yu-bin drooped his head sullenly. Baek Si-woo patted his shoulder with a serious face.
“It’s okay. You’ll get better.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! We’ll help.”
The bickering from moments ago was gone; they were harmonious again.
Watching them, I stood up.
“Still time before schedule? I need a nap.”
“Sleep more, Jeong Eun-ho.”
“Go in, hyung!”
Click—
Entering the room, their chatter faded.
Eun Hae-sol was still asleep. Just in case, I climbed to the upper bunk and lightly shook his back.
“Awake?”
“Mmm….”
Seeing him dead to the world, I relaxed and turned away.
“Sleeps like a log.”
Muttering, I lay on my bed. Then, softly to the air, I said.
“Activate inventory window.”
With a hum, the inventory window appeared. Inside, ‘Kwon Hee-yul’s Memory Chapter 1’ was visible.
‘I learned X’s identity with the Orb of Truth, so now it’s time to check this.’
Following Eun Hae-sol’s memory, now Kwon Hee-yul’s.
I had no idea why this damn system gave me these items….
But I had to check. What memory did Kwon Hee-yul have?
“Use item.”
No sooner had I spoken than my vision went white. I squeezed my eyes shut against the pounding vibration in my ears.
When the sound faded, I entered Kwon Hee-yul’s memory.
* * *
When I stepped out of the company building, a blinding white world filled my view.
I stepped onto untouched snow. As I lifted my foot for another step.
“Hee-yul.”
Turning back, the members stood there.
They’d come to see me off out of consideration, but seeing them at the building entrance filled me with inexplicable misery.
“Where you headed?”
“Home.”
“Wanna grab one last meal together? My treat.”
“Nah, I’m good. I ate already.”
The members smiled bitterly.
When it was finally decided I’d be cut from the debut lineup, the thought I had hundreds of times.
‘What am I gonna live on now?’
No answer.
I’d run solely toward idol debut, killing myself in the process to open that door. I believed effort alone was the key to success.
But my key couldn’t open it. No matter how hard I tried, I learned then—bone-deep—that some doors effort alone can’t unlock.
‘Think positive.’
In that unfair, harsh environment, it was the mantra I repeated inwardly to avoid going mad.
It was my survival method, to not die.
Smiling at the members, I said.
“I’m really okay.”
Even if I couldn’t open this door, there’d be another I could.
As I turned to go.
“Kwon Hee-yul!”
It was Jeong Eun-ho’s voice.
He fidgeted as if about to say something, then finally spoke.
“I’ll call you later.”
After hesitating so long, just that simple “see you later.”
Ungrand as it was, I can’t say how grateful I was.
Feeling tears welling, I tilted my head up to the sky.
White snow was falling.
“Yeah. Bye.”
That was the end.
How to describe this feeling.
Frustration? Sorrow? Futility? Carrying that tangled mess of emotions, I kept walking.
I had to think positive. It was the only way to stay sane….
That day, it felt like the world crashed down all at once.