Chapter 316

Chapter 316

What had happened in the past year that had caused a signed poster from a rival in the same industry to end up in this apartment? And why Cheongryeo, of all people?

Isn’t this around the time when that bastard was busy going behind my back? What had prompted Moondae to get an autograph from that reset-obsessed bastard? He didn’t seem to be the sort to shill out money for a fansign just because he’d won the lottery.

As I’d expected, there was another reason for it.

“Oh! I won a ticket after buying some clothes!”

His life had been entirely reset by winning the lottery, and even if he wasn’t into clothes, it seemed he’d bought a lot of clothes all at once after determining that he could afford them. Since winter clothes were especially important—a person could freeze to death without them—he’d purchased a few coats and padded jackets all at once, during a sale.

“I don’t know much about clothes… I just bought everything from one store, based on an employee’s suggestions…”

As it happened, that store had been an outdoor brand that VTIC was the model for. He’d enrolled in a lucky draw for fun, and won a fansign ticket as a result.

I’d have preferred it if you got into a TeSTAR fansign… but then again, that might have made things really weird. Why did he enter the draw for a male idol group’s fansign event in the first place?

“The performance we went to see last time was amazing… And I became more interested in idols after that. A member of that group was on a variety show with you, too…”

So it was my fault. I get it. I looked away from the poster, a frown on my face. It probably wasn’t anything I needed to worry about. Moondae seemed to be studying just fine.

“When was it?”

“Yesterday!”

It seemed that he’d gone to the fansign to celebrate his first round of tests being over, just like last time. He’d be given another year’s reprieve anyway, and I’d told him not to think about the second round yet and only focus on the first. It wasn’t surprising that he’d decided to do something fun.

And to be honest, I’d expected a status abnormality similar to the previous one, where all he had to do was avoid failing any one subject.

[Status abnormality: “Pass or Die!” (3)

Avoid failing any subject in the second-round written exam of the “Grade Seven Open Competitive Civil Servant Exam” or die.

Yeah, I thought as much. So next year, all he had to do was get accepted into the first round and avoid failing any subjects in the second. I knew the questions that would be on the test up until next year, so there would be no problems.

I tried to explain this to him, but he surprised me by saying, “Actually… I already took the second round… From what I can gather from my own grading, I don’t think I failed any of the individual subjects!”

“…!”

“I got really lucky with some of my guesses! Though I don’t think I’ll pass, of course…”

Even so, this was a surprising accomplishment.

“That’s more than enough. You did well.”

“…! Right! Thank you!”

This meant we could clear the new status abnormality within a month without any extra effort. I nodded as I strategized our next step mentally.

“Don’t clear it right away. Stall until right before next year’s second-round results are out, then do it. Buy yourself some extra time.”

“Right!”

This meant I would probably return in September next year as well. I checked the current date on my phone. It was September, and I’d returned to this body following the passage of a full year.

“You told me to wait this time, too, so I did as long as I could!”

“Good job, again.”

The voice echoed in my head like it was laughing.

Then there’s nothing much I need to do today. I could probably spend my time trying to probe Moondae to make sure nothing out of the ordinary had occurred over the past year, other than the autograph from that bastard. I logged onto my stocks app, picking which ones to sell and continuing to chat with the voice.

“How do you like the boarding school?”

“I like it! The people there are friendly… and they’re good teachers, so I’ve been doing great. The food is good, too!”

I see. After a few sales and purchases, I exited out of the app.

Now he shouldn’t have any money problems, even if he focuses solely on his studies for the next few years. While I listened to him describe how he’d spent the year, I went out to the living room and was greeted by an interesting sight. It was a man with flowers in place of his head. To be precise—it was the hologram character that I’d created for Bespoke Singer. A doll of the May Bridegroom sat in the middle of the sofa.

The hell? It seemed as though Moondae had been very pleased with the achievements of his own… body.

“You bought this, too?”

“You sang so well… I thought it wouldn’t hurt to buy one as a keepsake, you know?”

I’d been the one to allot a sum of money every month for him to spend and blow off some steam, so it didn’t matter to me as long as he was enjoying himself. But I pushed the doll aside, feeling rather uncomfortable about its presence as I sat down on the sofa.

The voice cautiously brought up a subject that he seemed to have been working toward. “Uh… Once I get my grades for the second round… Do you think I could go to the end-of-the-year TeSTAR concert and see you? I didn’t get to go early this year because I was studying, you see…”

I got the feeling he’d been preparing this line since yesterday.

With a grin, I said, “Hey, you don’t need my permission. If you think going won’t hurt anything, then go.”

“Great! Thank you!”

There was no need for him to thank me. Though, it would be rather conspicuous to go to a male idol’s concert in my body.

But wait.

“That fansign event.”

“…?”

“It was yesterday, right?”

“Yes!”

I inspected the VTIC-signed poster again. A fansign event for a brand, rather than an album, would invite quite a few people who were not fans. But even so, he’d probably stood out.

“He was very kind.”

I didn’t like the sound of that at all. Just to be sure, I accessed WeTube and input a search query. Combining today’s date, the name of VTIC’s current album, and the clothes brand, I found a fancam of the fansign event, just as expected. Scrolling down through the comments, I found what I’d feared.

- 22:34 Cheongryeo talking to a male fan. Hilarious!

I clicked on the timestamp, and Gunwoo’s back as he received an autograph appeared on the screen.

The voice gave a little shriek. “Oh god! I-I didn’t know there would be videos uploaded like this!”

I took a screenshot and modified the colors.

“Gunwoo?”

He was wearing a hat, and probably glasses, too. He matched the description I’d given Cheongryeo of Gunwoo perfectly, didn’t he?

Sh*t… I checked the poster again, just in case. What name had he given?

Don’t tell me he gave the name Ryu Gunwoo…

- To Big Moon

I stared.

Big Moon?

“It’s a handle I’ve used in the past… I didn’t feel it would be right to use your name.”

That had been a fantastic call on his part.

Phew. I quickly exited out of the image of Cheongryeo smiling and signing.

“Stay away from him from now on.”

“F-from Cheongryeo?”

“Yes. He’s a lunatic.”

“Oh!”

I’d given him a hint so that he would try and locate Gunwoo for me, but I now knew Gunwoo’s exact location, number, and even address. There was no need to add to the unpredictability of this entire situation by meeting with the dangerous, volatile bastard.

Speaking of which, was Gunwoo so hard to find because I sent him off to a boarding school? Things were finally starting to make sense. I rubbed my chin.

Once I’m done here, I’ll contact him and… No. I was getting ahead of myself.

Who knows if that will even be possible? I had no idea what would happen when Moondae’s status abnormalities came to an end. In the worst case, he would simply vanish, since my reward would be complete. And even if he remained in this body… he would probably want to return to his own. He’d even gotten Cheongryeo’s signature using a nickname he’d previously used.

“I thought you were good friends with Cheongryeo. Who knew he was a— Uh, Gunwoo?”

“I’m not. We just look that way on camera.”

“Oh…”

I would have to think about this for a while. It was a good thing I had some spare time today—I had the time to think as much as I wanted. After coming up with a few theories and necessary backup plans, I began to prepare a meal.

There were no particularly urgent matters to take care of after that.

“Gunwoo, you’re good at cooking, too…”

“Oh, thanks.”

Since we shared a body, it was nice that I only needed to cook one serving. The prime-time variety show featuring me and Ahyeon as guests was playing on the TV—the one where we ended up in the Joseon era and solved puzzles.

This is probably when I rooted out the industrial spy within our agency. I’d been really busy, that much was true. I watched without much interest as I showed off my smarts on screen.

“The variety shows are great, but you’re most amazing on stage. “Present” was so good! I wish you guys would have a comeback already…”

I’d raised my stats without holding back, but how could he say that when it was his body I was using? A compliment was a compliment, however, and felt nice just the same.

I said casually, “The comeback’s on the fourteenth of next month.”

“Whoa!”

“Don’t tell anyone.”

“Of course not! I don’t have anyone to share the information with anyway. Nobody talks about idols at the boarding school!”

That’s a given. The voice hummed, making random little noises that seemed to indicate his excitement. But Moondae soon calmed down, and his voice grew more gentle, a little careful, even.

“Uh, Gunwoo, you’ve been helping me every time you wake up… Is there nothing I can help you with? Like the time you made that phone call to the police. If you have anything I need to do, I’ll do it!”

Something he needs to do? I recalled that Cheongryeo would try to kill me in two months’ time. I thought about that for a moment, but soon shook my head. I’d been able to handle it just fine on my own. He needed to pay attention to his own status abnormality. I couldn’t give him anything more to do.

“There’s nothing else. Just focus on your studies.”

“Right…”

He seemed put out.

Oh, come on. This attitude only grew worse as midnight approached. In fact, the voice sounded almost anxious. Moondae doesn’t say as much, but spending the year alone must have been hard. It wasn’t surprising, since he had nobody to talk to about this. Perhaps he needed something to do or think about that wasn’t studying.

As bedtime approached, I brought up a new subject. “Do you have anything to ask me or tell me?”

“Me?”

Yeah.

He hesitated, but he soon said quietly, “Uh, Gunwoo… What did you think of my nickname?”

“Your nickname?”

Big Moon probably came from his name, Moondae, which sounded a lot like “big moon” in Korean, but there was nothing unique about it. However, it was slightly familiar to me.

“Uh… You know that account you used to run? I left comments on your videos pretty often.”

Oh.

“So that was you?”

“You remember?”

“Yeah. You left a comment on every upload.”

“Yes!”

I realized it was the same nickname that I’d seen the first time I’d clicked on “Reveal the Truth.” I hadn’t paid much attention to the comments, but I remembered them now—he’d posted a comment almost as soon as I uploaded it. That was why I remembered him.

So he was interested in idols even back then, too? It was a unique experience, learning that he’d been the one behind those comments. I shrugged.

“If you’re interested in that sort of thing, why don’t you buy a camera yourself and try making your own fancams?”

“Sh-should I?”

“After the exam is over, of course.”

“Of course! But even so… Wow.”

He seemed to feel a little better, his tone relaxing. It was time.

“Yeah. Consider it. See you next year.”

“Okay…”

Sleep came slowly. It was quite peaceful.

***

“Gunwoo… Gunwoo?”

I opened my eyes. It was morning, just like every time I woke up. The temperature was similar, too, so it was probably September of the next year.

“Gunwoo, that’s you, right? Gunwoo!”

“Yeah.”

Moondae seemed to be panicking. Had he summoned me because there was some kind of problem? I sat up immediately, but the voice seemed to be echoing wildly in my head. He seemed to be sobbing.

“You… you… The car accident…”

Oh. F*ck. I picked up my phone immediately.

[June 22]

It was four days after the anniversary of our debut, and the day I’d fallen into a coma because of our deranged former manager.