Chapter 1
Chapter 1
"You're good-looking!"
There aren't many professions that allow you to confidently shout an assessment of someone's face at a complete stranger. I stared at the person in front of me, anticipating the question that would follow.
"Are you interested in becoming an idol?"
The business card in the other person's hand jabbed sharply near my solar plexus.
The card had a company logo written in a crude, basic font occupying the center, all by itself.
'Sorasum Entertainment.'
An unimpressive design.
A name I had never heard of or seen before.
Normally, I would have refused without a second thought or any further deliberation.
So, you know... if it had been a normal situation.
[Beep—]
[Will you accept the Tutorial?]
[※ If not accepted, simulation cannot proceed]
"......."
Right now, I didn't have the luxury of choice.
I nodded, taking the business card.
* * *
A few hours earlier, I had opened my eyes in bed.
I blinked up at the familiar ceiling of my study room, then buried my face in my hands. A self-reproachful remark slipped out.
"In your situation, how dare you sleep, Seo Cha-gyeom......."
I slapped my cheeks a few times to shake off the drowsiness. I fumbled around my bedside for my glasses, put them on, and staggered out of bed.
Then, as if being dragged, I moved and sat down at my desk.
Even while I was opening my workbook and clicking a new refill into my ballpoint pen, my brain didn't seem to have fully escaped dreamland. I could tell because I spent ages stuck on a problem with an 88% correct answer rate.
And I got it wrong.
"Ha."
I confess. I would have gotten it wrong even in sound condition.
I flimsily tossed the pen aside and ruffled my hair. The sound of Christmas carols drifted in from outside the window.
Like a person exorcised, I stared up limply at the ceiling.
'Was today the 25th?'
Well, in my current predicament, every day was just one more tick on the countdown to the college entrance exam anyway.
Nineteen years old. A re-examination student.
I knew very well that the sight of me struggling even with a basic problem was pathetic. Enough that if someone raised a cane and asked what I'd been doing all this time, I'd meekly hold out the palm of my hand.
But still, if I were to offer a bit of an excuse.
I wasn't doing nothing.
I was doing something... it just didn't work out, that's all.
"......."
What's the point of offering a long, drawn-out explanation now?
Pulling my creaking chair back, I got up. I intended to get some cold air and clear my head a little.
So, I threw on a mask and coat, left the study room, and before I could take more than a few steps, I ran into this person.
"You're good-looking!"
"Yes, thank you."
I gave a brief bow and tried to walk straight ahead, but a hand caught the nape of my neck from behind.
That level of rudeness had now entered the realm of art. I clutched my tightening collar and turned around with an incredulous look.
"Are you interested in becoming an idol?"
"Yes, I'm sorry......."
[Beep—]
"......Didn't you just hear a sound?"
"Huh?"
The woman in front of me looked up at me with a puzzled expression. It seemed I was the only one who heard that warning sound just now.
'Am I developing hearing loss?'
Could it be exam stress?
......All from that bit of studying?
Taking advantage of my dazed state, the woman eagerly thrust her business card out.
"At least just take my card!"
"Ah, uh, just a moment."
[Beep—]
Again.
This time, it came accompanied by a headache. I clutched my head and staggered. I felt the other person hurriedly grab my arm.
"Are you okay?"
With my head lowered, I nodded with difficulty. My head started ringing and spinning so much I couldn't tell if the ground was turning or I was.
Maybe it was from deeply ingrained habit. The thought that I had to get out of there first dominated my mind. I forced my pain-scrunched expression to relax and lifted my head.
In front of me were the woman with a worried look and, floating in the air.......
[Will you accept the Tutorial?]
[※ If not accepted, simulation cannot proceed]
"What is this?"
[Beep—]
That was the last thing, my utterly dumbfounded voice,
before I opened my eyes in bed.
"......?"
I bolted upright.
I sprang up like a spring, then immediately collapsed, clutching my dizzy head. It was an unsightly display, but I had no room to care, nor any need to.
Because this was my study room.
From one hour before, at that.
"What?"
What happened after this could be summarized in a single word.
Times five.
......I repeated it a full five times. This nonsense.
* * *
Isn't that a gift a bit too big for a mere re-examination student to receive as a surprise?
But there was no such thing as a refund for this gift.
Whether I hid in my room.
Whether I ran away at full speed.
Whether I avoided reality and fell asleep.
The outcome was always the same. It meant that every single time, I opened my eyes in bed, and every single time, I had to curse at the innocent study room ceiling.
And so, after five rounds of trial and error, I realized by instinct that I absolutely had to take the business card from that artistically rude agency employee.
So, what did I do?
"Right here!"
I took it, what else.
I stood in front of the small two-story building and blankly stared up into the air.
[Progress: Tutorial (Warning ×1)]
'Wish that thing would just turn off.'
A snide remark nearly burst out of my mouth, but I barely held it back.
That 'Warning ×1' written up there was from when I hesitated earlier.
Even my deficient brain could easily deduce that if the warnings accumulated, I would be sent back to the study room bed.
And since I never knew when another warning might come, I had to be careful beforehand.......
Wow, since when did I become this docile?
"Our company is a new agency that just opened last month, so it's still small, but the trainee pool is really great."
The employee rattled off what sounded like the top 3 most common lies of small agencies while leading me inside. I shuffled along like a condemned man.
My feelings were complicated. I felt like I could do anything to understand this situation that had suddenly crashed down on me.
As if reading my inner thoughts, the letters in the air twisted and formed a new message.
[Hint ready.]
'A hint?'
"This is the practice room. Stay and look around for a bit!"
The employee, having brought me to the door of the practice room in the basement, scrambled back up to the first floor.
Left alone, I crossed my arms and glared at the message.
"......."
Where's the hint, why isn't it giving it to me?
I even swung my fist at the message, but only the sound of slicing air could be heard. It apparently couldn't be physically touched.
'I can't even smack it into working.'
Now what?
I let out a sigh and took off my glasses. I wanted to make this incredible situation at least a little blurry.
That was when the practice room door clicked open.
"......Who are you?"
The voice was too cautious to be startled.
I pushed off the wall I was leaning against and faced the voice's owner head-on.
It was for the sake of greeting, but a remark different from what I intended popped out.
"The trainee pool really is great."
"Huh?"
Droopy eyes reminiscent of a countryside puppy with inner double eyelids, neatly kept dark brown wavy hair.
A tall height that made even plain training clothes look well-put-together.
Above all... he was good-looking.
In the place I used to belong to, people were sorted by visual. Face, of course, but also height, weight, body type, and posture.
If I were to rank this guy by the standards of those days, he would definitely rank comfortably in the top tier.......
"Perennial 1st place trainee Seo Cha-gyeom?"
"......."
He recognized me here?
And even attached an embarrassing modifier like that?
Stunned into silence for a moment, I eventually gave a small, throat-clearing cough. Then I bowed politely, pretending nothing was wrong.
"Hello."
"Ah, yeah. What brings you here?"
"...Well, about that."
I didn't even know myself. Just what the hell was I supposed to do?
I tried to think of the most universal excuse for my current situation. On-site interview, educational tour, illegal trespassing, etc.
A tour was still probably the most.......
[Hint ready.]
[<Use Hint> Tutorial will now begin.]
An ordinary, what?
[Hint provided.]
"I want to debut."
"Huh?"
'Wh-what?'
Those words just now were definitely not my own.
I mean, the words came out of my mouth, but it wasn't by my will. Really. My mouth moved on its own, I tell you?
Deciding to become independent on its own and even choosing a career path is commendable, but the problem was it seemed to have put my life up as collateral.
I couldn't just take this lying down. Sensing another movement, I nimbly clamped my mouth shut with both hands.
"Debut, I, wi, I will de... I will debut. Debut. I will debut."
The result was my crushing defeat.
Thanks to that, the statement that almost sounded full of ambition instead became pathetic, like a student's answer during a high-pressure interview. I really wanted to die.
"I seeee......."
See, that guy even looks pitiful right now.
'Just what exactly are you?'
I meant those letters, the culprit behind this whole mess.
The appearance did look like a system message commonly seen on mobile phones. But, no way, did someone implant a chip in my brain?
Tyranny of a major corporation? Alien invasion?
Before that, was this even reality?
Any guess I made right now would be pure nonsense. Before I could lapse into a panic, I hastily shook off the thoughts.
'Calm down, let's stay calm.'
Unlike its ambiguous identity, the System's intention was obvious.
It wasn't that my judgmental ability had suddenly skyrocketed to instantly grasp this science-fiction-like reality, but because a new message had just appeared before my eyes.
[A designated Objective exists!]
[Objective: Sign a contract with Sorasum Entertainment and aim to debut as an idol. (Progress will reset upon failure)]
In short, if I wanted to protect my ordinary daily life, I had to obediently sign with this company and debut as an idol.
A hollow laugh escaped me. Why on earth did this bolt from the blue strike me?
'......No, I guess I can't call it a completely unexpected bolt from the blue.'
Because there definitely was a time when being an idol was my everything. Even if it only amounted to a flimsy, one-sided relationship called a dream.
Seven years as a trainee at a major agency. I dedicated no small amount of time to becoming an idol.
I crumpled my whole self to get through the narrow door that was debut, and there were many times I wanted to just chop my limbs off altogether.
Even so, it was okay.
Because being an idol was my only reason for existing.
Because I thought I couldn't be anything other than an idol.
But at the end of last year, I ended up quitting being a trainee by my own hand.
The sense of helplessness that washed over me was far scarier than the emptiness of feeling like a third of my life had been severed.
At the very end of the unfamiliar competition called entrance exams, I had to learn how to run again from scratch, and sometimes I let out heavy sighs when tally marks poured over my workbooks.
So if you ask me whether I regretted it.......
I don't know.
Because I had lived my life turning away from everything related to idols. News of former colleagues, past memories. Even my own feelings. All of it.
'But now, after all that, you're telling me to do it again?'
Was this situation an opportunity for me? Or a curse?
No, if I had no choice but to do it, I decided to think of it as an opportunity.
I raised my head and asked the guy.
"Haven't the other trainees arrived yet?"
"Huh?"
"The other trainees."
"Huh?"
The guy blinked his innocent eyes.
I was about to glare but realized he was a complete stranger and smacked the bridge of my nose with the back of my hand. Then I asked again.
"I said, where are the other trainees."
"Before that, let me tell you about our President first."
"......Why a story about the President of all sudden? Don't tell me, like the 100th birth of a true Lord or something......."
"What are you talking about?"
An ominous feeling crept over me.
I slowly inched backward toward the door. I was planning to bolt the moment any cult-like keywords came out of that mouth.
Whether the person in front was blatantly sizing up an escape or not, the guy leisurely turned on his phone. Then he tapped the screen a few times.
Soon, the sound of a sorrowful violin melody played from the practice room speakers. The guy raised his head again and slowly opened his mouth.
"They say our President had a lot of money but was a very lonely person."
Right from the start, it reeked of a scam.
"And the only person this President loved was a nephew."
Was this maybe one of those happy TV show stories?
"That nephew's dream was to be an idol, and the President, wanting to make that beloved nephew's dream come true, founded this company."
"......."
"And they also brought in a trainee who had been dropped from a debut team and had nowhere to go."
A shadow fell over that kind face, the sort that stimulated sympathy even when he stayed still. The trainee he just mentioned seemed to be him, of course.
'All I asked was how many trainees there were.'
Now I felt sorry for no reason.......
"But then that nephew suddenly developed an interest in art and went abroad to study, you see."
Wait a minute.
"So I'm the only one left. There are no other trainees."
Without any hesitation, I grabbed the door handle of the practice room behind me.
'It was a company with literally nothing but the building.'
There was no need to hear or consider anything else. In the brutal idol market of today, how could you trust a company with no foundation like this?
I would rather plaster my brain with the Korean national anthem and—
[Beep—]
No, hey.
Couldn't I at least start from a proper place?