The Remote Control Bomb
The System was joking, wasn't it?
By claiming to help me, it was messing with my mental state even more.
“Still, it's a relief. Now I won't have to deal with strange gazes, and I can dance and sing properly again!”
Watching this chattering guy, I was starting to give up on even speaking.
“Anyway, you accept me now, right? If you just trust me, I can take out all the bad people who want to harm you! With all our strength!”
Deciding to ignore the guy, I walked out of the bathroom without a word.
“Where are you going?”
The System followed me out into the hallway and walked alongside me.
Fortunately, it seemed like it wasn't visible or audible to anyone else's eyes.
Since I didn't even pretend to listen and just walked straight ahead, the System must have realized it wouldn't work, so it used its ability.
***
“...What is this?”
A space where only the System and I could communicate was created.
The space took the form of an amusement park, or rather, it was just an amusement park. And my body was riding on a merry-go-round.
“What are you doing?”
On the opposite side, the System was riding the merry-go-round and winked at me.
“Hey, why are you getting so upset? Let's make up.”
“Make up? I never fought with you. I didn't even bother to interact with you in the first place. You weren't worth the effort.”
Then the System turned its head with an incredulous look and chuckled.
“Wow, you have no filter. I worked so hard to help you. If it weren't for me, your friend over there would have had his head bashed in today.”
Referring to Hyeon Si-woo.
“How can I believe your words?”
“You keep saying that.”
“I once believed someone, got hit hard on the back of the head, and came to my senses.”
The System looked at me with pity, as if I was stuck in a swamp of distrust. Soon, the merry-go-round's speed increased.
“Aren't you grateful that I returned your ability? If this is how you are, I'll take it back again?”
While holding on to the spinning merry-go-round to fight off dizziness, I shouted.
“So that's why you don't trust me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You use my weakness to threaten me with your power. You can turn me into a bodyX at any time.”
The System listened silently to my words.
“In the first place, since you came out like that, how could I trust you? No matter how much I listen to you, if things don't go well later, I don't know what you'll do. I can't even do business with a guy like that, let alone be friends.”
The merry-go-round stopped.
“Now that I hear it, that makes sense.”
“...”
“I'm sorry.”
The guy knew how to apologize too.
No, it could be that he was trying to lure me in by first bending.
I couldn't let my guard down or open my heart lightly, no matter what.
“Then let's do it this way.”
The System got off the merry-go-round and approached me, handing me something.
I looked at what was placed in my hand. It was a remote control with only one red button.
“What is this?”
“A bomb.”
My head froze for a moment.
“A bomb?”
So, is this the kind of bomb I was thinking of?
“To be precise, it's a bomb that blows up my existence in a bang!”
The System explained with a smile.
“If you press this, I will disappear from this world without a trace.”
Thoughts multiplied.
Really? Or is it a lie?
It might be a lie. There's no reason to trust something so important to me.
“In this way, will we become a little more equal? You'll have the power to erase me from this world at any time. You're no different from having my weakness.”
I stared at the remote control in my hand and fell into thought for a moment.
“Still can't trust it.”
It was easy to make a fake of this.
Handing over a remote control with no functions and saying “a bomb that can erase me” was possible.
“I can't even test it by pressing it right now.”
Still looking at me with distrustful eyes, the System shrugged its shoulders.
“There's no other way. If you can't trust me, I can't prove it anymore. Still, I hope you trust me.”
The System said with a somewhat bitter smile.
“If no one in this world trusts me, that would be a bit sad.”
Haa...
What to do...
“My head is spinning.”
Was my head spinning from the merry-go-round or from this spinning conversation?
I decided to think about it for a moment. Even if I don't trust this guy, the quest will come anyway, like now.
I couldn't ignore the quest forever, and if ignoring the quest causes an incident, my mental state would break.
“In the end, whether I ignore it or not, there's no situation where I can completely protect myself.”
I had no confidence in not being shaken.
“...Okay.”
In the end, I reluctantly accepted the System's proposal.
“For now, I won't completely ignore you. But I'm not saying I trust you. If I see any strange aura even a little, I'll immediately ignore you.”
Then the System's face brightened.
“You thought well!”
It was a bit suspicious, but there was no other way for now.
Instead, I fiddled with the remote control in my hand. I didn't know if this was real or just a thrown item, but...
“Hey.”
When I pretended to press the remote control, the System screamed.
“Kyaaah! No!”
Based on the reaction, it seemed real.
“Bad people! Trying to kill me.”
Of course, it could be acting.
I put the remote control back in my pocket.
“I don't know if it's real or fake, but I'll watch over you from now on.”
At that moment, my body suddenly floated up and was placed somewhere.
“?”
My body was moving onto the roller coaster just before it started.
“Haha, this rotten...”
***
After finishing the crazy day at the amusement park, I returned to the accommodation.
I told Won Ji-an about what happened today too. Won Ji-an listened to my story with a thoughtful face.
“Anyway, we returned to normal, right? There won't be any more things to worry about.”
While feeling relieved as per Won Ji-an's words, I thought maybe this was what the guy intended.
Things that magically solve themselves as soon as you listen to his words.
“Hyeon-ssi almost got injured, but you stopped it, right?”
I didn't know for sure, but according to the System's words, it seemed so.
“It really worked out.”
“Yeah.”
Still, I couldn't let my guard down. The System was still an object of distrust.
Quietly organizing today's events in my notebook, I took the remote control out of my pocket. The red button on the remote control was flashing.
“If I press this...”
Would the System really blow up and fly away right away?
“Will there be a reason to press it?”
Won Ji-an muttered in a small voice from beside me.
“I don't know. I don't even know if this is real in the first place.”
“You can't know if it's real until you press it.”
I couldn't make trust with this, but I decided to put it in the safe anyway. To prevent any accidents like someone pressing it by mistake.
“I wonder if I made the right choice.”
After muttering that, Won Ji-an patted my shoulder.
“Don't worry too much. There was no other choice right now. Soon it's debut, and to properly perform on stage, recovering your ability was the priority.”
“That makes sense...”
I knew it was unavoidable.
So, I accepted it.
Life inevitably comes to moments of compromise.
“I did receive a quest reward this time...”
A gacha ticket.
But I decided not to open it.
I didn't want to get immersed in the System or items again.
If I get addicted to those things, I'll end up being the me who can't do anything without the System.
“I'll use it when I'm really at my limit.”
So, I decided to use the gacha ticket from the quest reward later, and closed the System window.
***
There wasn't much time left until the debut. The members gathered again in the practice room to start practicing the debut song.
“Okay, let's start.”
All of them had the look of not expecting anything from me.
I understood. The members had probably reached some level of detachment now.
“...Eh?”
Music flowed from the speaker, and I handled the first move.
When I started dancing, the members' expressions changed. The atmosphere in the practice room also started to change drastically.
“What?”
“Why are you suddenly good?”
“Oh, what happened!”
Some members who were dancing shouted in surprise.
Especially Lee Hae-won and Na Jae-hyun stopped their group dance to watch my dance instead.
Na Jae-hyun, with his mouth open, pointed at me and shouted.
“Just a while ago, you were dancing like you were dissected by an alien! How did you get to dance like this again?”
At that moment, I almost stumbled with my feet while dancing.
“That's a bit harsh, isn't it?”
From behind, Jeong Hui-min threw in a comment that the words were harsh.
But I nodded in agreement. After all, until yesterday, I was indeed dancing strangely, like I had been dissected by an alien.
“Hahaha...”
They must have seen it that way to others' eyes.
Suddenly, I thought about how amazing Do Won-woo was in the original story, who debuted a large entertainment company with such dance skills.
Even while dancing like he had been dissected by an alien, he survived with just his face. It was indeed a great talent.
“Congratulations.”
At that time, Hyeon Si-woo belatedly congratulated me with a time lag.
“Ah, right.”
Then, as if remembering something, he suddenly took something out of his pocket. It was a talisman.
“I think this had an effect.”
Oh, please.
“That doesn't seem to be the case...”
Before he could deny it, the members crowded around Hyeon Si-woo who was holding the talisman.
“Eh? What is it?”
“Won-woo gave me this talisman. It seems to be a talisman that makes you dance well.”
“Wow, amazing. Do such things exist? But why does Hyung have it?”
“I don't know. But didn't this have some influence? It seems it had an effect.”
Behind the members who said they would copy it and carry it around as a joke, I turned my head and met Han I-jae's eyes.
“...”
“...”
Perhaps we both had similar thoughts.
“That's just superstition.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Well, but what kind of magic did you cast? You suddenly became normal.”
“Haha, that's right.”
Clearly, Han I-jae's gaze had softened compared to before.
Until not long ago, he had looked at me like an air conditioner installed in the Arctic.
“It's fortunate.”
Han I-jae came next to me and patted my shoulder, saying the last words.
“You worked hard.”
“Yeah. You too, Hyung.”
With that, I was able to return to normal somehow.