Chapter 178

Chapter 178

Time passed. I couldn’t guess how much, though, because of the blackout curtains covering the windows.

“Why don’t we start at the beginning? Was it really a good choice for you to join Idol Incorporated?” Cheongryeo sat opposite me again, jotting down keywords in a notebook that he’d suddenly produced, as he calmly spoke. “It was an efficient way of getting through your initial missions, that much is true. You chose to participate without knowing that others awaited you, no doubt… so it was a good choice.”

Am I supposed to be thankful for the compliment?

“But it doesn’t make for the best strategy in the long run. Your contract’s a short, five-year one, and your reputation will have wasted away by the end of it… The agency is unorganized, and it’s unclear if you’ll ever see a contract renewal.” He smiled faintly. “It’s best to avoid survival shows if you’re confident that you can get past the early days safely.”

I said nothing.

“Come see me at LeTi when you start over. I’ll make sure you can debut right away.”

He no doubt wanted to keep me nearby just in case his team f*cked up again, and he needed to start over. I resisted the urge to scoff.

Listen to this snake. Revision, the status abnormality in his status window responsible for resetting his progress, was deactivated. This meant he could no longer die to start over from the beginning. The bastard had already been aware that he’d die and travel back in time if he failed a mission. So he’d probably guessed that death was no longer the reset button it used to be now that his missions were at an end. That was why he was trying to take advantage of me. But his behavior puzzled me.

How is he so certain? He had no way of knowing that my death would reset his timeline. No matter how much of a lunatic he was, what gave him the idea this was the case? I wanted to delve deeper into this question, but now wasn’t the right time.

One wrong move, and he’ll bash my skull in himself. It wasn’t a good idea to aggravate him.

It looks like you have no desire to give up on your present life of your own accord. Have a taste of this sledgehammer, I could easily picture him saying. I had to use everything at my disposal—something that I knew and he didn’t. My status window, and my traits. Think.

I was starting to gnash my teeth from fury, though, so I decided it was time to respond first. “So your goal is to use me to reset everything again if another problem occurs after I debut at LeTi?”

“No, of course not.” Cheongryeo looked a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry about all this. As I told you, the situation is a little bleak. If you’d like, I’ll be sure to help you finish your missions much more quickly in our next go around. We’ll also come up with a plan together, to make sure your career pans out far more conveniently and profitably.”

The part that befuddled me the most was that he seemed perfectly sincere, at least for the moment.

He’s going to ask me to start over again if something similar happens, though. I doubted my death would have the effect he was counting on in the first place, but he was easy to predict. After we’d done it once, he’d ask me to do it again. The bigger problem was that in this lunatic’s brain, this situation was a one-time thing, and he had come up with an adequate way to compensate me for it.

He doesn’t think it’s a big deal at all. Given that he had a different approach to dying than I did, forcing me to do a single reset was simply a little embarrassing, warranting an apology, nothing more. Of course, nothing I could say would make him see reason.

I sighed, and Cheongryeo got up from the chair.

“You seem tired. We’ll stop here for today… Is there anything specific you’d like for dinner? I’ll get it for you, if possible.”

It seemed to be evening, then. At least I was able to glean this much.

“No. Just let me go, and I’ll tend to my own dinner.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. Uh, give me a moment.” Cheongryeo left the room.

I’d never expected it to work, but based on his nonchalance, I obviously wouldn’t be able to appeal to his pity. The only way would be to slowly build up the impact.

I hope this works. I’d spent the duration of our pointless conversation navigating to my traits.

[Trait: “Energy Drink (B)”]

- Keep a clear mind and a healthy body!

: All fatigue buildup speed reduced to 50%

Energy Drink. It was the trait I used to keep my body going when our schedule got rough. It allowed me to keep working on only a couple of hours of sleep during our comeback weeks for a few days, at least. I wasn’t unrealistic enough to hope I had any chance of using it to look around while he was asleep or anything, of course.

He cleaned the room goddamn well. It was completely empty. Even the bathroom, which I’d managed to check earlier after some very uncomfortable and silly maneuvering, held nothing but the basic facilities.

It’s like he’s done this before. I had no idea who he’d threatened during his repeated attempts to get the information he needed to make this possible, but it seemed a very likely hypothesis. In any case, I was saving the trait for another time.

Until then, I wait. I’d sit by and monitor the situation until he believed that I’d grown resigned to my fate. I looked down at my handcuffs and tutted. It would be a difficult holiday.

A few days passed. Calculating the hours I slept and the timing of my meals, I guessed three or four days. I’d responded carefully to make him think that I was starting to see the appeal of his plan so that he didn’t turn to more violent methods of making me kill myself. It went something like this.

“Does LeTi pay its idols only after detracting the training costs?” I asked.

“No. The moment you produce revenue after your debut, that’s when you start to get paid. It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“Sounds like a nice company… Not that I want to join them.”

“Haha.”

After having several similar conversations, I began to touch on more sensitive topics in an attempt to collect information.

“Even if I’m on holiday, they’ll be suspicious if I don’t stay in touch. Has nobody contacted me?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

“I guess someone did, then.”

“Haha, does it show? I sent an appropriate response, so don’t worry. I made sure to sound like you, too.”

This bastard knew how to unlock my phone.

Was it during that insurance ad? I remembered unlocking my phone so I could take pictures of the puppies.

Sh*t. I could expect no outside help until the holiday was over.

At least this told me that he was checking my phone, which meant it was likely to be somewhere inside this house. I would keep this in mind.

A few more days passed, filled with meaningless attempted persuasions, excuses, and disconcertingly useful tips regarding life as an idol from Cheongryeo.

Then it was time.

“Today is... Moondae?”

“Cheongryeo.”

It was the third time I’d woken up. I assumed it was probably early in the morning, or perhaps a bit later than that. I sighed, my head buried in my pillow. My nose and throat burned when I breathed, and my head felt heavy.

I spoke slowly. “Do you have some medicine for a fever?”

The terrible aches all over my body that never failed to come every time I took a break had begun. As usual, I was burning up now that I was resting, even though I hadn’t really been able to relax mentally.

Just as I expected. I had guessed correctly.

These spells of fever and fatigue are probably a side effect of the traits that let me use more energy. The same thing had happened with the temporary Sleep is for the Dead trait, not just my Energy Drink trait. I’d gotten sick every time I’d used these traits to their fullest extent and then taken a break from work. It had struck me as odd. That was why I’d come up with a hypothesis, about which I was all but certain now.

The status window has something to do with this. My body reacted to the fatigue only when nothing important was on my schedule. And I could now make full use of the timing of these fatigue spells.

“Medicine?”

It would throw him off his game. He probably never imagined that I’d fall sick after only a few days of captivity.

“One moment.” Cheongryeo closed the door and left instead of coming inside.

Good. He hadn’t just told me this was a good time to die since I was sick, or anything similar, so things were going well.

I caught him off guard. He’d grown complacent, thinking that he had full control of the situation. In his mind, it was probably already a done deal that I would be resetting the timeline in a few days.

Cheongryeo was carrying medicine and water when he reappeared. They seemed to be non-prescription drugs.

So he had emergency drugs on hand. That was a pity. This meticulous crackpot.

“It’s a painkiller and a fever reducer. Take some.”

They came complete in their own packages. I took the pills, since it wasn’t likely he’d seen the need to mix something in.

Then I said quietly, “Uh... What about seeing a doctor?”

“We’d attract too much attention, the two of us. I’m sorry. Uh… You’ll get better right away if you restart.” He had returned to the same tired argument, though it was just a suggestion.

I’ll go for it now.

After a show of hesitation, I said in a hoarse voice, “As I told you before, I like my current group. Even if I put together the same team after I restart, it won’t be the same. We won’t have been through the same things together. Can’t you just let me go so I can continue to live here? Please.”

It wasn’t the sort of thing I’d usually say, but a sick person could be expected to grow emotional. More importantly, one of my traits activated just in time.

[“Words of Persuasion (A)” activated!]

Excellent. This did not, however, guarantee he’d be persuaded, since it only boosted emotional impact. He was a perfect example of the trait’s limitations.

“I’m sorry…” Cheongryeo muttered briefly, the emotion gone from his face.

I’d only managed to make him feel apologetic.

Fine, you son of a b*tch. I planned for this. I was silent for a long time, letting the quiet stretch between us. Then I said slowly, “My head hurts too much to move… Please help me to the bathroom.”

“All right.”

I knew he wouldn’t refuse. He supported me with an arm below my shoulder like he was helping someone with a limp. Doing so distracted him, making him focus on his own movements rather than my own.

Now. I wrapped both my arms around his neck. Then, with the handcuffs resting against his neck, I pulled.

“Damn it!”

The metal chain between the cuffs pressed against his neck, and as expected, he struggled frantically. I leaned all my weight on the cuffs and kept struggling around so he couldn’t pin me down, but he kept on hitting me.

F*ck. I think he just broke a rib. I couldn’t let him go, however. Twisting my arms, I forced his head sideways.

“Gah!”

In my current condition, with my hands cuffed as they were, it was next to impossible for me to break a healthy adult’s neck. I would just continue to apply pressure until Cheongryeo passed out.

His face grew pale as he struggled to draw air, but he turned his head to glare at me even as this happened.

F*ck, he’s a nasty son of a b*tch… But that didn’t matter.

I have to keep to the plan! In the end, I twisted the cuffs and struck him hard on the back of the head. There was a thud, and he suddenly went limp. I’d done it.

Gasping, I scrambled to my feet. My knees were weak.

“God f*cking damn it!”

My wrists were probably ruined. What a mess.

The rush of adrenaline prevented me from feeling the pain, however. I wriggled my way through the door and found something I could use as a cutting implement—a lightbulb. It shattered when I chucked a book at it, and the sharp shards of glass tumbled to the floor. The shards broke even more easily because it was an old lightbulb.

“Good.”

I cut my hands a few times, but eventually managed to get the cable ties off my legs. Now that I could actually run away should I need to, I continued with my plan. I stretched, trying to relieve the stiffness in my neck.

There was still a long way to go.

***

“So, you’re awake.”

Cheongryeo, who was tied to a chair opposite me with cable ties, raised his head without even a moan.

“You sure bought lots of spare cable ties.”

He didn’t respond.

“You had plenty of tools on hand, too, so I got the cuffs off without issue.” I raised my wrists to show him they were free. “You’re a very meticulous person, Cheongryeo. It made things much easier for me,” I said with a grin.