Chapter 292
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 292
Ding!
Ding!
Di-ri-ring!
[Checking Player 'Seo Ho-yun’s' Notoriety Points.]
[Checking...]
[……]
[……]
[……]
[Verification complete.]
[…Confirmed that a portion of Notoriety Points exists. Minimum requirements for game start have been met.]
[Synchronizing with the real world...]
“Ugh…”
An endless stream of alerts pierced through his ears.
He reached out and flailed his hand to turn them off, but grasped nothing but air. He pulled the duvet over his head and curled deeper into the covers.
His eyelids felt like lead. It felt as if fatigue had become a tidal wave, crashing over his entire body.
There was something important he had to do… Right, the thick taste of iron spreading in his mouth… Min Ji-heon looking on in horror… and Jeong Cheong-yeon staring at me…….
…Jeong Cheong-yeon?
“……!”
His eyes snapped open.
As he bolted upright, he saw a swarm of system windows floating before him.
[Congratulations, Seo Ho-yun! You have been selected as a player for ‘Unknown Actor Tycoon.’ Congratulations on being rejuvenated by 10 years!]
[Seo Ho-yun: A rising rookie actor under WH Entertainment.
Age: 25
Traits: Completed military service.
Was once a genius PD, but no one remembers him.
(※ Excluding specific individuals)]
[If you fail to clear the game, you will be unable to log out forever.]
Crazy.
Is this for real?
“Ha…… Ha, haha. Hahahaha.”
He burst into hollow laughter, pacing around the room for a long time before rubbing his face with his hands.
Me? An actor?
And a "rising rookie," at that?
Slap!
Since reality didn't quite feel real, he struck his right cheek hard. The pain registered instantly.
“It’s not a dream.”
Rubbing his stinging cheek with the back of his hand, he calmed himself and surveyed his surroundings. He had woken up in the new apartment they had moved into after Seo Ho-jin’s personal information had been leaked. In one corner of the room, half-unpacked boxes sat untouched.
The situation was remarkably similar to when he had transformed from a thirty-three-year-old PD into a twenty-three-year-old idol.
‘…Seo Ho-jin.’
Right. Just like back then, Ho-jin might exist here too. And he might have his memories.
He flung the door open.
“Seo Ho-jin!”
But there was no sign of Seo Ho-jin.
He checked every single room, but his brother was nowhere to be found.
‘Fuck.’
He ran a hand roughly through his hair and sank onto the sofa.
“…Calm down, Seo Ho-yun.”
He slowly retraced his memories.
He had been forced to become a player in Unknown Idol Tycoon, rejuvenated, received a reality-check quest, and then—
“Play Guide.”
—A system window had appeared, stating that a Play Guide was ready.
A long block of text unfurled before him.
[PD Seo Ho-yun, who lived his life ruining others', has been transmigrated into ‘Unknown Actor Tycoon.’
With the exception of specific individuals, no one remembers you as a PD.]
[To escape this world and return to where you originally lived—to become an idol again—you must clear ‘Unknown Actor Tycoon.’
If you fail to clear it, you will be unable to log out forever.]
[Become a Hallyu star or a 'Ten-Million-Viewer' actor!]
‘The "Idol" part was changed to "Actor."’
Furthermore, to return to Unknown Idol Tycoon, which he had to clear to become a PD again, he had to clear this place first.
With trembling hands, he picked up his phone and searched for ‘Seo Ho-yun.’ Unlike the idol ‘Seo Ho-yun,’ quite a few pages of information popped up.
[Seo Ho-yun
TV Actor, Film Actor
Agency: WH Entertainment
Debut: 20XX Web Drama ‘Gold Over Stars’
Awards: 20XX Baekho Film Festival Best New Actor (Our Small Revolution)]
The black-and-white profile picture of him wearing a black turtleneck felt alien, as if it weren't him at all.
[Seo Ho-yun Confirmed for Casting in Horror-Survival Drama ‘Dead after Hope’]
From news articles to various portal sites and social media.
Combining all the information, the twenty-five-year-old actor ‘Seo Ho-yun’ was a rising star beloved by Chungmuro, and it seemed he had recently been cast in a new drama.
“What on earth is this…?”
His head throbbed. Clutching his forehead with one hand, he used the other to search for another term.
The Dawn.
………Nothing.
‘Kim Seong-hyeon,’ ‘Seong Ji-won,’ ‘Kang Yi-chae,’ ‘Jeong Da-jun.’
He entered each name into the search bar, but only different people appeared. When he tried calling the numbers he remembered, he either got a message saying the number didn't exist or a complete stranger answered.
‘Shit.’
This meant one of two things.
Either The Dawn never debuted here, or those four simply didn't exist.
Next, he typed in ‘Ju Woo-seong.’
[Ju Woo-seong
Singer
Agency: WH Entertainment
Group: Black Call]
“…He’s still the same?”
He checked a few more names.
Everyone else was the same. It was as if the world had been carved out specifically to remove everything related to The Dawn and the idol ‘Seo Ho-yun.’
……And Seo Ho-jin didn't exist either.
“……Is this my unconscious mind?”
…He couldn't be sure. He couldn't identify a pattern or categorize it based on a single experience.
The system was too unstable to begin with. Errors kept popping up at every turn.
This time, too, things ended up like this after he encountered Jeong Cheong-yeon….
Ding!
[This is reality, not your unconscious!]
The system window appeared right on cue to refute his words.
The look he gave it was anything but friendly.
“……So I’ve really been dropped into ‘Unknown Actor Tycoon’?”
And The Dawn, built with my blood and sweat, has vanished?
And I have to be an actor to go back to being an idol?
[………Yes.]
The blue windows slunk away from his field of vision as if they were walking on eggshells.
He took a deep breath and called out to the thing as if spitting the words out.
“……Hey.”
Then, in a polite yet low voice, he delivered his thoughts on the current situation.
“…[Bleep]— Are you really [Bleep] trying to die? Do you have any idea how much I’ve suffered? Who the hell are you to [Bleep] waste all my time like this…. I should have [Bleep] destroyed you the moment you said you were just going to reset [Bleep]……. [Bleep]. Give me back my brother and my members right now, before I throw you in a washing machine and [Bleep]— shake the life out of you!!!”
[…….]
The system window, which had vanished like scattering sand, reappeared only after thirty minutes had passed.
[Let me explain once more….]
Sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, he picked at his ear while listening to the system’s excuses.
It claimed that numerous beta servers had been created before Unknown Idol Tycoon was fully constructed.
While most were discarded after testing, they had failed to completely delete a few. It explained that meeting Jeong Cheong-yeon had caused a glitch in the system, and he had been caught right in the middle of it, falling into this place.
[In conclusion, you can return!]
The system window flickered with a blue light as if to emphasize the point.
[—Though we have to fix the error first.]
An unnecessary footnote was added, but as long as he could return, that was enough.
He asked the next question he deemed important.
“Is the flow of time here the same as where I was?”
[No, well… if we calculate it, roughly one month here is about one day there?]
After weighing several factors, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the system window.
“So you’re saying all you have to do is fix the error?”
[Yes! We’ll correct it quickly. There shouldn't be any major problems!]
“Then I can go back, and the kids will be safe?”
[Of course!]
Having secured the answers to his questions, he curled his lips into a smirk, went back to his room, and lay down on the bed.
[Eh? What are you doing??]
“I needed some rest anyway, so this worked out. Since I can go back once the error is fixed, I’ll just take a break in the meantime.”
[Pardon?]
When he made a gesture as if to sleep, pulling the duvet up to his neck, an urgent alarm sounded.
[What about your schedule as an actor??]
“Fuck off.”
The blue light trembled violently before pouring out a long string of text.
[No, no, wait a second!]
[Even if it’s due to a glitch, the basic prerequisites of the system do not change.]
[Even if we fix the error, if you don't perform quests and gain awareness, you could end up trapped here.]
[Since a portion of your experience as an idol is reflected, you won't be starting from absolute zero, so it will be easier than last time!]
[It’s the beginning of the quest, so it’s not that hard! I’ll show you an example.]
Quest Arrived!
‘As an actor, let’s start preparing for the drama!’
You, who were shoehorned into a supporting role through connections.
Before starting the drama ‘Dead after Hope,’ listen to the explanation regarding your assigned role.
Meet the PD and other stakeholders……
He waved his hand over the new window that appeared.
“Yeah~, not doing it.”
He closed his eyes and added indifferently.
“Just take responsibility and fix this mess yourself.”
[No! I told you I need Seo Ho-yun’s cooperation!]
It kept chiming noisily, so he sat up in annoyance.
“Hey, what kind of game company tells a player what to do after harming them with an error?! Just quietly hand over the compensation and clean up the mess.”
Tsk. He clicked his tongue and was about to lie down again when the flickering window, seemingly hesitating, displayed a sentence.
[…The points you collect here can be used even after you return.]
He stopped moving. He lifted his head and waited quietly, and the next words followed.
[And please read the quest to the end.]
Quest Arrived!
‘As an actor, let’s start preparing for the drama!’
You, who were shoehorned into a supporting role through connections.
Before starting the drama ‘Dead after Hope,’ listen to the explanation regarding your assigned role.
Meet the PD and other stakeholders 0/1
※ Time Limit: 23:59
If you exceed the time limit or fail, you will not be able to return to the server with the idol setting.
Time limit?
“Fuck.”
A curse escaped his lips automatically.
“Are you insane? This is an error too, right? You can fix this, right?”
The system window whined, saying it couldn't help it and that it had already warned him he could be trapped here forever if he didn't perform quests and gain awareness. It even claimed that failing to perform quests might have negative effects on his physical body.
His head began to throb again.
[Please cooperate just a little. If you think about it, it’s not such a bad deal.]
“…….”
[The time flow between the ‘Idol’ server and the ‘Actor’ server is different, so it will be a great opportunity to accumulate a lot of points.]
Curses leaked out of his mouth like a prayer, but he didn't snap back with a "fuck off" as he had before.
Points were very useful, and they would be the means to recover Seo Ho-jin’s memories.
Ding!
As if sensing his hesitation,
Actor Scenario Arrived
Would you like to start?
Yes/No
A scenario quest window announcing the start of the game appeared at the perfect time.
[Are you really not going to do it?]
“Shut up for a second.”
Lee Kang-seok existed here earlier.
Yoo Hyuk was here too, right?
And even Min Ji-heon.
His brain whirred faster than it ever had during his student days, and he slowly pulled the corners of his mouth up.
“……Hey.”
If only a portion of his experience as an idol was reflected in his acting career, then all the things he had done to the people around him would have been erased.
“What happens to the things that occur here once I return to being an idol?”
[…Why are you asking such an unsettling question?]
“Answer me.”
The thing, which had been reluctant to answer, vanished like smoke as if sighing, then slowly etched out the letters.
[……They don't remain.]
“Not even people’s memories?”
[Yes. Only Seo Ho-yun will be able to remember all the activities that take place here.]
He burst into laughter.
“So no matter what I do, no one will know once I go back….”
I guess it pays to live a good life.
“Start the actor scenario.”
[AUTO: Starting Main Scenario.]
How well-behaved had I been while living as an idol?
[Why, why are you laughing like that? You haven't lost your mind, have you?]
This was an opportunity arranged by a god who took pity on me. So that I could run wild to my heart's content.
“You brat.”
I’ll collect points while I’m at it and dig into the system’s flaws. The timing of Jeong Cheong-yeon’s appearance was suspicious, after all.
And while I'm at it—.
“Have you ever seen me fail at anything?”
—I’ll shake down the bastards I don't like.