Chapter 38
Chapter 38
This time my roommates were Lee Jae-young and Kim Hanul.
Having successfully won the bottom bunk and first shower slot through rock-paper-scissors, I was now... lying comfortably at ease.
I'd already confirmed they weren't the type I could have a real conversation with, and I'd decided that closing my eyes to recharge my stamina was a better use of time than pointless small talk.
But there was something I needed to check before that.
Namely, that message that had popped up right after my ranking announcement.
'Achievement unlocked: <99%......?>'
—You achieved 1st place in the first ranking announcement of 'MAKE100%'...did you?
[A new save point slot has been added as an achievement reward.]
'What is this ambiguous achievement.'
If it can manipulate time and foresee the future, shouldn't it at least be able to hack a broadcasting station?
A question arose, but I set it aside for now. Finally being able to actually use that save point function was far more important.
Until now I hadn't really seen the use of this save point feature, but now I did.
'If I really can't stand it, I'll just hit them once each and reset.'
Just the thought alone felt like great consolation. Of course, I knew that hoping things never came to that was still the priority.
Anyway, given that I had no idea what might happen at any moment, I used it without hesitation.
'Use save point.'
"......."
After a brief silence, the System responded.
[Saving....]
For something that transcended time and space, the loading was painfully slow.
Perhaps self-conscious about it, the message dotted out ellipses sparsely as I watched, then I closed my eyes.
Praying that my tomorrow self wouldn't explode.
* * *
And then I opened my eyes inside a dream.
There was no proof it was a dream, but I just had that kind of feeling.
I heard the sound of water flowing somewhere, and a cold wind blew. I blinked to widen my field of vision, and beyond the railing I saw pitch-black river water.
'Railing?'
Come to think of it, for some reason I was gripping the railing with one hand.
Dust, thick with long neglect, clung to my palm. The gritty sensation was unpleasant, so I unconsciously let go.
Then my body lost its balance and I fell backward with a thud.
Perhaps because of the recoil, something that had pooled in my mouth trickled down my chin.
I thought it might be drool and quickly wiped my mouth with my fist.
'.......'
Not drool, but blood.
Relieved I hadn't shown a disgraceful sight, I wiped the back of my hand on the sidewalk blocks.
The reason I wasn't startled by the sight of blood wasn't because I was a psychopath, but simply because the pain I felt inside my mouth was only a dull sting.
When I swept the inside of my cheek with my tongue, another layer of stinging was added. It felt like it was torn. Had I been hit by someone?
Wait.
'Stinging?'
Is it possible to feel a sting in a dream?
That was the moment I finally realized something was off. A raindrop fell from the sky, plop.
It landed right on my lips and soaked in, leaving a bitter....... Hold on.
This wasn't a raindrop.
'It's like alcohol?'
Flash!
Blink, blink.
"......."
[Hint ready.]
A message floated before my eyes.
"Oh, he's awake."
"Of course he's awake, you idiot! Why pour alcohol in his mouth?"
The sound of cackling laughter rang out around me.
Grasping the situation with a foggy mind, I barely managed to squeeze out a word.
"......What is this?"
Kim Hanul, who was looking down at me, waved the paper cup in his hand. Without a clue what it meant, I pulled myself up first.
Then what met my eyes was a cramped room swarming with about ten trainees sitting packed together.
It wasn't just our team. There were trainees I was seeing for the first time, and some who were familiar.
Among them were various snack bags, scattered paper cups.
And a liquor bottle.
"What on earth are you......."
"Hey hey, the idol's getting mad."
I rubbed away at my lips, which still tasted of alcohol.
"Ha."
I let out an irritated sigh and lowered my head. Belatedly I noticed my neck area was damp too.
They'd completely poured it over me.
"You wouldn't wake up even when we tried. It's more fun if you join in."
I never wanted to join in.
And likely, they felt the same way about me.
'What's rubbed him the wrong way again.'
I hadn't lived such a sheltered life that I'd be shocked by something like this. When you live as a trainee, there are plenty of stories you hear even when you don't want to.
But this was the first time I'd witnessed it up close like this, so the unfiltered patheticness pushed aside my composure and seeped in.
'Can't even hold out against crap like this.'
Ordinary things like alcohol, cigarettes, dating—they all become problems for an idol.
Setting aside the question of whether that's right or wrong, any aspiring idol would know this fact. If you plan to do whatever you want and live however you like, then why did you even come all the way here to become an idol?
'Well, it's always been this kind of place.'
Isn't it a place where far more people leave after realizing their dream is absurd than those who achieve it?
Given the nature of the program, it also made sense that there were still plenty of guys who hadn't figured out their place yet.
'They'll vanish soon anyway, so no point caring.'
"......."
A moment of unease crept up.
Because I suddenly remembered someone who had said something similar.
—Isn't it enough that I kept you from ending up on a program like that?
......Ah, really irritating.
"You crying?"
"Did that tiny bit of alcohol get you drunk?"
'Guess I really am drunk.'
Well, I would have needed experience to make that call.
With a first experience like this garbage, I doubt I'll ever want to drink again. Not that I had any intention to.
After calming my head, I stood up at once. Lee Jae-young's voice followed after me.
"Where are you going?"
To tell the production team everything.
Of course, that was a lie.
One unexpected fact I'd learned since joining this place was that, contrary to what is shown on broadcast, the surveillance was surprisingly lax.
24-hour close-up cameras? Blind spots were everywhere, and even the installed ones didn't operate late at night.
Even if something was filmed, the likelihood was high it would never be aired. The program being sleazy is one thing, but trainees being sleazy only subtracts from ratings.
Which meant that right now, not getting entangled was the best course of action.
"See? He won't even deal with kids like us."
"Hey! Saying 'kids like us' is too harsh."
"But it's true."
Even as I moved my feet, the giggling continued.
The cramped room released me outside in just three steps.
It was only after I closed the door and leaned my back against the silent hallway wall that I realized my fist was trembling.
I opened my hand, shook it out, and crossed my arms.
When my state of mind is convoluted, I should bury it under something even more convoluted.
'System.'
[Hyeon재 usable hints remaining: (1)]
[Progress Hyeon황: Prologue (Warning ×0)]
The warnings had changed from ×2 to ×0.
It seemed the warning counter reset each time a save point was created. What unexpected generosity.
'A new hint appeared, too.'
Judging by the situations so far, hints are highly likely to be directly connected to warnings.
The sooner I look at one, the more beneficial it will be. Since I never know when I might cross the System's mood again.
There was nothing more to think about.
Might as well use it now, as a change of air.
'Use hint.'
"......."
It was fine until I felt awkward because nothing happened.
I sensed something had gone wrong right after that.
'Hey, wait.'
Suddenly, both my feet started moving on their own.
'Hey!'
Unlike my clamorous inner voice, no words came out of my mouth.
My head spun furiously.
What command do I need to use in a situation like this?
Shut down? Stop? Halt? Enough?
But none of them worked, and my hand ultimately wrenched open the door I'd just escaped from.
The noise inside died down in an instant.
The eyes that had been so brazen moments ago now flickered with bewilderment. Just what the hell did my expression look like?
'Wait.'
Is it really going to hit them?
I hadn't even decided to go that far yet?
A cold chill ran down my spine. The illusion of an emergency light blinking flashed in my head.
Ignoring all of that, I—no, the System—strode deep into a corner of the room, swung an arm out.......
"Come out."
And grabbed someone's shoulder.
"......!"
The startled person's body tensed up. Whether he did or not, I seized his wrist and forced him to his feet.
Then I dragged him out into the hallway, just like that.
Slam!
The door shut with a brutal sound.
"......."
"......."
Right after, control over my body was released.
The System had abruptly vanished. Leaving me stranded alone in an atmosphere that was frosty beyond awkwardness.
'This is seriously too much.'
Shouldn't it at least tell me what to do before disappearing?
I pressed the back of my head against the wall and wiped my face. I was so utterly at a loss that I just wanted to sink deep underground.
"......."
"......."
The silence weighed heavily on the two of us.
But the miracle of me getting buried in a subterranean burrow did not occur.
'Damn it.'
In the end, I opened my mouth first.
"Jae-hyun."
The fingers that had been fidgeting shyly flinched.
"You're a minor, you know."
"......."
"This goes a bit beyond just ignoring camp rules, doesn't it?"
Jae-hyun's head dropped heavily.
'You don't care about the law, but you care about me staring at you?'
I couldn't even manage a hollow laugh.
To think I stayed up nights to save a kid like this. A mixture of emptiness, helplessness, and something close to disappointment seemed to tangle together inside me.
"Um......."
Jae-hyun's mouth moved, and his eyes grew redder by the second. Still, no excuse came back.
As if there could be one.
After watching him a little longer, if only out of the bare affection I had left, I turned my back.
'Where's Han Neuti's room?'
Since my bed had been occupied by thugs, I had no choice but to occupy someone else's.......
[Beep—]
'......?'
I stopped mid-step with my foot still raised.
Then smoothly, as carefully as stepping around a landmine, I set it back down.
'Why?'
Could Jae-hyun be a recruitment target too?
No, probably not. During the first grade evaluation, unlike Han Neuti, I didn't see any light from Jae-hyun. I remember that clearly.
'Then what?'
Everything was full of questions, but one thing was certain.
Whenever the warning sounded before, I'd always managed to get through it by doing the opposite of whatever action I'd been about to take.
So that meant.......
I creakily turned back toward Jae-hyun.
And then I placed a hand on the shoulder that had begun to tremble with quiet sobs.
"Jae-hyun."
Ah, I have nothing to say.
"If you have anything to say, say it."
So I tossed the burden back to him.
Even as I spoke, I was uncertain. Is this really the right thing to do?
In this environment, where even attending just one gathering together can get you packaged off in groups as being 'birds of a feather', I'm supposed to console an underage drinker?
"......Huh?"
That's when it happened. Jae-hyun suddenly touched my sleeve.
He clutched my sleeve so timidly that for a second I thought a bug had landed on it, and then Jae-hyun began pulling me somewhere, as if to escort me.
Since Jae-hyun was an even more severe paper doll than Kim Sanho, it's more accurate to say I silently let myself be dragged along.
We arrived in front of the water purifier on the 3rd floor, which was completely empty now that half the participants had vanished.
There wasn't a single passerby. It was so desolate that destroying evidence here felt almost too perfect.
After maintaining a long silence, Jae-hyun eventually swallowed dryly, as if having made up his mind.
"Hyung."
The end of his voice trembled.
"Lee Jae-young hyung......."
Lee Jae-young?
"The stuff he's been saying about you behind your back, don't you know......."
I didn't know.
But it wasn't surprising either.
"What kind of stuff?"
"That you and him, were at Mary together......."
"Ah."
So the 'couple of Mary people' Ahn Jiwon mentioned was Lee Jae-young after all.
'Then it's pretty obvious what he's been saying.'
I knew my image among Mary's trainees wasn't good. The reason I quit being a trainee was closely tied to that, after all.
While I was pondering what to do, Jae-hyun's lips parted again.
"And, also."
"......."
"That you'll absolutely never be able to debut, stuff like that."
"Huh?"
"He kept saying it, so I... it was weird......."
.......
"Hold on, what did you say?"