Chapter 370

Chapter 370

Things were hectic backstage at the awards ceremony, which was about to go live.

“Hey, you forgot this!”

“Sohyeon’s here!”

Marshmallow was extremely busy this year, as per usual. In fact, it was normal for members to arrive late because of their personal schedules and then have to rush to get ready. One of the staff members, who was helping to prepare for the performance, nodded to herself.

They’re all so pretty. Marshmallow looked tired, but they were an idol group that was wildly successful. They looked like women whose looks and health were maintained with much care.

Though I suppose that’s because they picked pretty girls to start with. The staff member had her reasons for thinking like this and one of them was right in front of her.

“Do it and do it properly.”

“Of course!”

The trainee dancers who were here with them were also quite the lookers.

I heard that LeTi is going all in this time on their new boy group. It wasn’t wise to believe all the celebrity gossip that went around, but about half of it usually turned out to be true. There were about seven trainee dancers and they were all very handsome.

Hmm. With nothing to attend to for the moment, the staff member stole a glance at them. It was likely that she would see them on a music show next year. Being a little nosey and guessing at that sort of thing was fun. Her eyes found one of the boys who looked particularly calm.

Wow. He’s so LeTi. He wore black slacks and a button-up shirt, and had slightly gloomy vibes. He could only be described as neat, and his good looks were the sort that felt refined and calm. There was also something delicate and light about him that made him come off as rather cold, too.

Whoa, the staff member thought, a little stunned. The trainee suddenly turned toward the staff as if he had something to say.

“…!”

Their eyes met.

Uh oh. She quickly tried to turn her eyes away to pretend that she hadn’t been staring at them.

Oh! He’s smiling. The trainee bowed his head gently. His smile was so natural that it was obvious he had done this exact thing at least a hundred times. There was nothing forced or fake about it that would make an onlooker feel uncomfortable. The staff member bowed in return, impressed.

Wow… It’s clear he’s had a lot of idol training. This wasn’t necessarily true. Ryu Gunwoo—the current LeTi trainee who had once been a member of TeSTAR, a daesang-winning idol group well into their five-year career—was sighing with relief.

I nearly asked for my microphone. He was so used to this sort of thing that he had relaxed, feeling at home without realizing it. What was more, the thin glasses that he was wearing felt a little out of place, and they were bothering him.

I’m wearing contacts, but I’m also wearing fake glasses… He couldn’t see the point in it. No good could come of the trainee dancer looking more conspicuous than the idols themselves.

Wasn’t that sort of thing criticized even back in the day? The criticism was likely to have been even more severe during this time—certainly not less. The moment he saw the way that Marshmallow was dressed, however, he scrapped this thought.

What in the world? He was greeted by layer upon layer of chiffon and glittering artificial crystals. It was like a red carpet in the dressing room. In fact, he wondered how they could even dance wearing such elaborate dresses. Gunwoo looked down at his own costume and put two and two together.

We must be butlers or servants or something like that. It was cringe, but this was around the time when over-the-top concepts were on trend. He took it in stride.

All that matters is that I make myself known. His part was just a short dance in the intro.

“Thank you for having us!”

“Thank you, Marshmallow!”

He bowed to Sohyeon, with whom he’d danced only once during rehearsal, then headed out with the other trainees.

He could hear someone whispering in a low voice, “She’s so f*cking beautiful.”

“Yeah. But her personality…”

Wow. Gunwoo was abruptly forced to accept that Cheongryeo’s careful selection regarding who made it into VTIC had been necessary. It hadn’t been without reason that he had chosen Sino and Judan despite their relatively low ranking amidst the trainees.

A lot of them are no good. Maybe the agency had lost their edge and chosen members based only on looks and charm, but it seemed to him that some of them were lacking in sense.

“Hmm?”

“It’s nothing.”

Cheongryeo, who had been standing next to him, noticed where Ryu Gunwoo’s gaze had landed and had plenty to say.

“Oh, him. I tried having him in the group… Three years after our debut, his girlfriend uploaded a post exposing all the details of his nasty personal life.”

Gunwoo said nothing.

“Haha. People never change, do they?”

Gunwoo wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that the guy had been buried in cement and thrown into the river in a past life.

Regardless, he set aside that mental tangent.

“I hope you aren’t going to go overboard because it’s your first stage…” Cheongryeo said.

“Nope. I’ve got it,” Gunwoo said.

As the trainees went up on stage with Marshmallow, each wrapped up in their own little worlds.

That same night, a post was uploaded to an internet community which focused mostly on talking about idols.

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[Addition to potential male idol debut group from LeTi]

Most people seem to believe the guys who were in the Marshmallow intro at the Gold Disc Awards are the debut team.

=======================

The post continued on, using GIFs, selfies that had already been leaked, and a variety of other things to introduce the trainee dancers who were seen at the edges of the screen briefly. Rumors had already spread about most of them among serious fans of the agency, but there was a face nobody recognized among them—Ryu Gunwoo, who had performed a short duet dance with Marshmallow’s Sohyeon.

========================

It looks like he hasn’t ever been revealed before. Seems to have joined the debut team recently?

=======================

Marshmallow had performed one of their trademark cheesy songs, but the intro itself had been marvelously produced with the luxurious princess concept played out to perfection. The drama of it all meant that it was unlikely that the trainee dancers would be recognized for their skill or their looks. There was something peculiar about this dancer, however.

- Wow, look at his eyes LOL

- How does he do that?

Gunwoo had located the cameras with perfect precision every single time he was on screen. Though he tried not to stand out too much, his experience performing had still shone through. He had been forced to make a conscious decision to just roll with it since he would look even more awkward if he tried to ignore the cameras on purpose.

This had an unintended effect, however.

- Look at that trainee turning toward the camera along with Sohyeon. They’re both so good-looking. Such a pair!

- You’re right! Jaehyeon (?) and the other new guy are the only ones who can find the cameras, it seems. It’s pretty obvious that they will be the mainstays of the new debut group LOL

- Oh no. I’m already LeTi’s slave. My heart is racing again

Along with Cheongryeo, who had skillfully controlled the intensity of the performance based on dozens of years of experience, Gunwoo’s name was coming up a lot in the comments.

- LeTi is so evergreen LOL

- Wow, they’ve got that LeTi brand of good looks all right haha

- LeTi fans, have some mercy. Tell me who that lovely guy in the glasses is

└ No idea… He’s completely new

└ Stalkers are probably the only ones with any idea who he is

Of course, this was about as far as talk about Gunwoo went. They’d only appeared as back-up dancers, therefore only idol fans deeply interested in LeTi paid them any mind. Even that, however, felt quite new to Gunwoo.

It’s been a while since I had to go looking for people’s reactions online like this, Gunwoo thought, lowering his smartphone. It was a good thing that he had kept his expression neutral. In addition, he had made sure not to stand out too much. However, that he was becoming known all over again reminded him of the day that the first Idol Inc. performance had been revealed.

Back then, seeing a few encouraging comments had been enough to make him feel better, oddly enough. It all felt strangely nostalgic.

[♪♪♬♪♩♬♪]

A re-run of the Gold Disc Awards was playing on TV. Ryu Chungwoo, who had been working on a slideshow in the living room, glanced up casually and seemed quite taken aback.

“Wait, is that you in the back?”

“Yeah,” Gunwoo replied.

He had suddenly become an idol trainee out of nowhere, and apparently he’d already had his on-screen debut.

Wow. Though it was probably the first time Gunwoo had ever been on TV, his relative did not seem particularly excited or nervous.

He seems… satisfied? This seemed to be the most accurate description for the look on Gunwoo’s face.

I can’t believe he’s reacting like that to his first appearance on TV. Given how calm he was, it was no wonder that Chungwoo had believed Gunwoo to be older than him all those years ago.

I’m not the strange one here. Chungwoo shrugged. Putting aside his slideshow for a moment, he stared at the TV screen along with Gunwoo.

“Oh, there you are again.”

“Yeah.”

Chungwoo had resolved to not make fun of Gunwoo regardless of how good or bad his dancing was, but there was no need. Gunwoo, who appeared here and there on the fringes of the shot, appeared to be shockingly natural on stage. Chungwoo gaped.

“Gunwoo… No wonder you wanted to be an idol. You’re good at this.”

“Well…” Gunwoo was balling his hands into fists, but Chungwoo failed to notice.

***

There! The status window pop-up appeared only after the re-run of the awards ceremony began. I was studying it closely.

[Your reputation is increasing…]

+ 10000 EXP

I had been awarded an enormous 10,000 reputation points.

That’s pretty generous. Even if we were early on in this new game, this was still a lot of points to give just for making an appearance as a trainee. If this were a real game, the quick progression would have ruined the experience for players.

But what do I care? I didn’t quite like what I saw, but I was ready to use all of the points I’d been given.

As it happened, I got a series of other pop-ups as well.

[Conditions Met]

: <Companion Recruitment> unlocked!

-> Click

Finally. A new feature had been unlocked. A luxurious tab with an image banner had been created expressly for the purpose of accessing this feature. The image consisted of two shadows shaking hands.

[Companion Recruitment]

Find relevant companions to join you on your journey.

I knew it. From the moment I’d learned the inspiration was 127 Section, I’d known the game feature being utilized was character draws. That meant it was totally random who I would get as a companion. Though this more closely resembled a real mobile game than the trait draws, there was little difference beyond that.

It said that I would find relevant companions, so… I glanced at Chungwoo, who was seated beside me.

“Huh? What?” he said.

“Nothing.”

Relevant had to mean someone who had known my situation back when I was Park Moondae, or someone close to me in this timeline.

Well, let’s go for it, anyway. I got up from the living room and went into my bedroom, closing the door behind me.

[Gunwoo! Are you going to do it now? Good luck!]

“Yeah.”

Eyes glued to Big Moon’s messages, I moved my fingers.

Ten successive draws… I don’t think so. I would start with just one. I pushed the button, and the screen began to spin. A bright star appeared, falling across the background image featuring the darkness of space.

The star promptly died out.

[Failed!]

What was that?

[Try again?]

- Uses 1000 EXP

I stared at the status window, at a loss for words. Then the reality of my situation sank in. I had just lost a thousand reputation.

Goddamn gacha game!

[Sorry! So sorry! That wasn’t me! I mean it!]

“I know…”

I realized that there had been a slim chance of losing like this in 127 Section, too. And it was the developers who were to be blamed for the garbage odds, since they had planned the monetization model for the game.

Curse you T1! But I also work for T1. That didn’t change the fact, however, that they were all about the money. I had a contract with them, so I had first-hand experience with this reality.

Wait. I realized something. I moved past the status window and looked at past pop-ups. I soon found what I was seeking.

[- Collect companions and awaken them]

Recruitment and awakening were two separate things.

Don’t tell me…

“So the points used for recruitment and awakening are two different things,” I said.

In other words, I would need more points after collecting companions to awaken them.

[Oh no!]

Of course.

Awakening was the equivalent to leveling up, and collection was the draws. Of course, it took extra money to level up the characters after you drew them.

That was just how things worked in gacha games.

I took

a deep breath.

[G-Gunwoo, are you okay?]

“Yeah.”

I’m fine.

Perfectly fine.

Massaging my eyes, I kept on pushing the “Recruit Once” button.

Bronze and silver stars flew across the black space background and, finally, a photo appeared.

It seems to have worked properly this time—

[★★ Kim Ikje / Supporting vocalist]

[★ Lee Haram / Supporting dancer]

[Accept these draws?]

Who the hell are you guys? Turns out I had been hasty in my relief.

Why am I getting people I don’t recognize? It was obvious. These characters were only a couple of stars, which meant they were just filler for the draw pool. Repressing a groan, I put a hand over my face.

Where did the stars come from? There was no star system in 127 Section. That’s a real gacha system, you bastard!

[Th-that wasn’t—]

“I know.”

It was probably the system. It seemed I was mistaken about something. The bastard of a system didn’t really want me to settle down here after all.

What’s with these shenanigans? Or is it just trying to trip me up? Is it trying to make me give up after the extra line I added in about the awakening? This is hilarious. Anybody could waste money gambling. You just needed to set aside your willpower.

All it takes is a finger to click! I sent the new companions to my reserve inventory instead of accepting them. I had seven thousand points left, and I used five thousand rapidly tapping at the button.

[Oh, god!]

Don’t seem so shocked. I was intending to use this much, anyway! The lights flashed again.

[★ Choi Dongho / Supporting rapper]

[Failed!]

[★★ Jin Yuntae / Visual Member]

[★★ Kim Seokwon / Supporting dancer]

More names I did not recognize passed by.

Another failure? F*ck!

In the end, however, a splash of fancy aurora lights appeared.

[♪♬♪]

Musical notes flew past above the stars.

“…!”

I swallowed.

Surely… Is it finally someone who knows something about my situation? Splendid light exploded from the status window after shooting across the dark background.

A message popped up.

[WOW!]

[★★★★★ Cha Eugene / Center]

Both Big Moon and I stared silently.

What…?