Chapter 372

Chapter 372

“A survival show has too many variables, as you said. I don’t think it’s necessary to go through all that,” I said.

“Is that right? Since you debuted through such a show, I thought you would prefer it.”

Cheongryeo glanced at me and Eugene, then said gently, “Don’t worry too much. I’m sure those who are destined to make it, will make it. Haha!”

I felt a chill go down my spine. This bastard had already made up his mind.

This won’t do.

“Wait.”

I grabbed Eugene’s arm and stood up.

“I understand that you are upset, but let’s talk again after we’ve cooled down a bit,” I said.

“Well, I wouldn’t say I’m angry. It’s true, isn’t it?”

You’re obviously pissed off. Don’t pretend otherwise.

“Why are you overreacting? I’m saying everybody should get a fair chance,” he said.

“I like that— Mmf!” Eugene began, but I clamped a hand over his mouth.

You be quiet.

“All right. Let’s talk about this again tomorrow,” I said.

I was about to get up and drag Eugene away quickly, but turned to Cheongryeo first.

Oh, whatever. I’ll say it.

“Thanks for coming to the airport today. See you tomorrow.”

He seemed slightly taken aback by this, but in that moment, I needed to get the youngster under control.

“You… Watch your mouth,” I said, smacking Eugene on the back as soon as we left the room.

“Ow! Moondae, that hurts!”

“The situation is a mess right now. Even if you’re right, you have to think carefully about what you’re saying,” I said.

“He didn’t do that! Why should I?” he demanded.

Well… He does have a point. Cheongryeo was more openly hostile than I expected. It took me by surprise. I had expected him to soothe Eugene, then leave him behind as a trainee at his own agency, saying he was removing competitors or something like that. Instead of trying to use him, he had instead focused on establishing his dominance. I tutted. It left a bad taste in the mouth.

There’s no doubt that he’s struggling to stay afloat, too. He had finally gotten used to the idea that there was no going back after all he’d been through, but now he was experiencing another reset. It was a wonder he hadn’t completely lost his mind already. I let go of Eugene and repressed a sigh.

“Right… It’s not like you did anything wrong. But he has his own sh*t going on,” I said.

Eugene shrugged. “We all have our own sh*t. That doesn’t mean that we can behave like assholes,” he said in English.

Well… Eugene hit the nail on the head every time, to the point that I was running out of things to say to him.

“Right. In any case, you’ve got some jet lag to work through. Get some sleep. Where are your accommodations?” I asked.

“I don’t have any!”

I stared.

“The plane ticket was expensive. Should I get myself a motel room?” he said cheerfully.

“Just… just come with me.”

I had no idea how to explain this to Chungwoo, but I couldn’t let the guy sleep on the street when he’d used up all his money to come to Korea.

If only he wasn’t seventeen… I dragged him to the studio apartment that I myself hadn’t spent too many days within.

I pushed the bell just to be polite.

“Gunwoo?” Chungwoo said, coming to the door.

Eugene brightened. “Chungwoo’s here? Did he get here first?”

“As I told you, he’s a relative. We live together,” I said.

“Okay…” Eugene said, looking slightly put out. Then, he turned to Chungwoo and asked, “Do you know me?”

“Huh?”

Chungwoo seemed to consider what was going on for a moment, but he eventually burst out laughing. Because of how young Eugene was, he didn’t seem suspicious.

“Did you tell him about me?” he asked.

“Yes. This is Cha Eugene,” I said.

I explained that he and I had been pen pals for a college program, and the guy had suddenly come to Korea on a whim.

Chungwoo seemed impressed. “He’s pretty brave.”

“Brave? Hardly.”

If that had actually been the situation, he would have been immediately forced to go right back home again with hardly a hello. As things stood, apparently his family had complained quite a bit, but they seemed to be pretty liberal overall. He’d gotten permission to come to Korea after the fact. I massaged my eyes.

I’m sure they will send him some money to cover his expenses, at least. The situation wasn’t as bad as it could be. He had guardians who would look out for him.

“Do you mind if he stays here for a few days until he finds a place?” I asked.

“Of course not. My friends have stayed here before, too,” Chungwoo said.

“Thank you for having me!” Eugene said. He immediately took over the guest room that doubled as the utility room, and I went back to my room to strategize.

How was I going to deal with this situation? I checked the status window just in case. What’s the point of thinking about the status window, though?

[Companions]

[Shin Jaehyeon: Working hard (//-^)]

[Cha Eugene: Adjusting to new room (>ㅅ<=☆)]

I could easily guess what working hard meant for Cheongyreo, and that was a problem.

Is that a shadow over his face in the emoji? Does that mean he is f*cking upset? Phew. My head was hurting.

A message crept onto the status window. It was Big Moon.

[Are you all right?]

“Yeah.”

It wasn’t like they were trying to kill each other. I should have expected this sort of problem—or at least been ready to handle it.

[Gunwoo, uh… If you could only debut in the same group as one of them, what would you do?]

I debated over this for a moment, but the answer was clear to me.

“What else? I’ll have to choose whoever is likely to become more famous in a shorter period of time,” I said.

[Th-that simple, huh?]

“Yeah, that simple.”

I sat on the edge of the bed.

“If going back is the goal, efficiency comes above anything else.”

The faster I moved through this, the faster I could return to TeSTAR’s reality. I couldn’t let myself be bogged down by emotional conflicts.

Maybe the system wants that sort of thing to happen. I had no intention of playing the fool here. And when everything was said and done, Cheongryeo was the one who had the advantage at the moment. Even if the situation and the timing of our return were not quite normal, the level of information and experience that he had regarding the next few years was next to inhuman.

But even so, it would be better to have both since it would cover a more varied audience. I wonder if there is anything that we can offer Cheongryeo? Maybe then he would consider having Eugene along for the ride. He might even forget about his temper tantrum, too. I frowned.

There was a rather polite knock, followed by the door opening without ceremony. It was Eugene, of course.

“Moondae! I came up with a plan for tomorrow!”

“What?”

Eugene… came up with a plan?

“Let’s go find Kim Raebin.”

“…!”

“It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know about TeSTAR! We can still turn him into an idol.”

Well… Yeah. Maybe Raebin was the answer. I grinned.

“All right.”

“Hehe!”

Eugene sat down on my bed, still dressed in the clothes he’d been wearing all day, but I overlooked how impolite this was. He had just offered some helpful advice. And if he managed to find Kim Raebin, he would find it easy to predict what he would do, since the two of them had been trainees together.

“Do you have any idea where he might be?” I asked.

“Yes! His place in Gangwon Province!”

So I guess that means we will have to buy train tickets. And one more thing.

“Moondae, what are you doing?”

“Looking for Kim Raebin,” I said.

I logged onto the internet and accessed WeTube as well as SoundMist. If this place was really the ideal world for everyone, it was pretty clear to me what Kim Raebin would be doing. He would be composing.

***

Kim Raebin was seventeen years old this year, and about to start another year at high school. Now that winter break had arrived, he was doing his best to prepare for his future.

I passed! He was aiming to become a composer. He had just been hired for his first job, exchanging emails with an agency in Seoul. This was an impressive feat, considering his young age and the fact that he had no connections, but sadly, neither he nor his guardians had any professional knowledge. As a result, he was planning to fit himself out with a uniform for a nearby high school next week.

Instead of staking everything he had on making the most of his amazing talent, he was living out a more peaceful life.

“Raebin, you go on inside before the sun sets!”

“It’s already that late, huh? If you’ll excuse me,” he said.

It was close to sunset, and he had just been about to go home after helping out in the greenhouse where his grandparents grew strawberries. Raebin exited and was about to lock the door behind him when he heard somebody shout.

“Kim Raebin!”

“Yes?”

Everyone around here was older than him. Whoever was calling out was speaking to him like he was younger than them, so he replied politely and turned around. He was greeted by the sight of complete strangers.

Who are they?

“It’s Kim Raebin, all right!” said one of them, who was wearing a jacket haphazardly.

“Yeah,” said the other, who wore a long, padded jacket.

For some reason, he felt like they weren’t younger than him.

Then that means… Is this the high school bullying that I heard about? He had sat through school bullying education and learned that some bullies would even visit students who hadn’t been admitted to a high school yet so that they could “teach them a lesson.” He had never been bullied in his life, but perhaps it was about to happen for the first time.

Kim Raebin, who had managed to intimidate everyone his age because of how fierce he looked most of the time, froze as he considered this absurd theory.

“One moment,” said one of them.

The two boys who were approaching, however, seemed simply glad to see him. Their first meeting was rather intense.

“…!”

One of them had the brightest eyes that he’d ever seen. They almost seemed to glow yellow, as he held out his hand and pointed at Raebin.

“I’m the one who found Kim Raebin!” he shouted.

“…?”

Does he want something from me? More importantly, it’s rude to point at someone like that!

Before Raebin could even ask a question, however, the other guy said, “Yeah. You found him.” He turned to Kim Raebin. “Nice to see you, Raebin.”

His voice was clear and firm, while also pleasant to listen to. He looked somehow cold and delicate at the same time, but his eyes were warm. Raebin felt something hot building at the base of his throat. It was like his heart was aching. For some reason, he got the impression that he knew them from somewhere.

Why is that? he wondered gravely. Then he jumped to the most logical conclusion—a theory that he considered highly likely to be correct.

Mustering up an apologetic look, he said, “I’m sorry! I can’t really remember, but I seem to know you two from somewhere!”

“…!”

Raebin failed to notice the surprise and the mysterious sort of emotion that passed over their faces. He asked cheerfully, “Are you relatives on my mother’s side?”

Perhaps they were family that he had met when he was very little, and couldn’t remember. There was a brief silence.

“No.”

“Then you are…”

“I have a proposal for you,” said the guy with the delicate face. He smiled faintly. “We would like to scout you.”

“S-scout?”

The other guy with the intense look shouted like a cheer captain, “Become an idol with us!”

“What…?” Kim Raebin grew extremely confused.

The other guy took out his phone and showed him the screen. He had Raebin’s account open.

“This is your account, isn’t it?”

“…!”

Before he could even respond, the other person continued calmly, as if he was already sure that Raebin would agree.

“I’m sure that you’ve thought about performing this song yourself on stage.”

Raebin gaped as if mesmerized, forgetting to shake his head.

Five hours later, he found himself scheduled to meet them in Seoul. His little dream of becoming a producer had just been massively sidetracked.

***

[Cha Eugene: Reveling in his victory (>ㅅ</)]

Ever since we had exchanged numbers with Raebin and returned to Seoul, Eugene’s status had looked like this from time to time.

It did go well, I thought, shaking my head with an incredulous smile.

Given his personality and his talent, it wouldn’t have been strange if he’d already have been duped into some fraudulent scheme. It seemed that it was only his fierce looks that had prevented that from happening so far. The method we’d employed to persuade him had been unique as well.

But I’ll think about that later. For now, I had to do something about this guy. I looked above Eugene’s status.

[Shin Jaehyeon: Thinking about his dog (//~^)]

This is driving me nuts. I tugged at my hair and stood up. I ended up leaving the studio apartment, despite how late it was

As expected, he was in the agency’s practice room, and all alone, too. I went inside, but he didn’t react.

“Why are you still here? It’s past midnight,” I said.

“I don’t know…” he said. He was staring at the mirror with no expression on his face. “No reason in particular.”

You weren’t hoping to stave off your thoughts by practicing? Instead of saying this out loud, I sat down beside him.

“There is something I wanted to say to you before, but didn’t.”

I chose my words carefully.

“Thank you for sending me photos of Kongi.” He said nothing.

“I can’t raise a dog because the situation doesn’t allow it, but it was nice to have pictures to look at,” I said.

Cheongryeo stared into the distance for a long moment. “Do you think he’s doing all right?”

“I believe we’ll find out soon enough.”

“I don’t know about that.” Cheongryeo didn’t seem agitated or angry—he simply muttered these words slowly. “Believing doesn’t guarantee anything, does it?”

“No,” I said.

He was telling me that whatever it was that I believed, I shouldn’t really expect it to come true. But I had also been thinking about something the past few days.

“There is one thing I’m sure of.”

“What?”

I crossed my arms, taking a deep breath. “The system is being far too friendly.”

Cheongryeo turned his eyes toward me.

“Would you be friendly toward someone who tried to kill you? I would try to get rid of them,” I said.

If the system was really all-powerful and could create entire worlds for us to experience, it could be rid of us just as easily.

“But instead, it filled this place with everything we could want. Youth, the best environment, talent, money…”

I violently repressed the emotion I could feel rising in my throat.

“Even my parents are back.”

Cheongryeo flinched.

“There is no reason for it to be so good to us when we are its enemy. It has something it needs—a reason it’s trying to soothe us and make us feel good about being here.”

“It wants us to choose,” he said, putting a hand under his chin.

“…!”

Cheongryeo continued, “Are you saying that it wants us to choose this place?”

“Yeah,” I said calmly.

“If there is no way out, then our choices wouldn’t matter. It’s because we can leave that it’s making us want to stay. And given the structure of all this, the most likely way to leave is… at the end.”

“The end?” he said.

“Yeah. Clearing the game. If we succeed at becoming idols again, I assume there is going to be some sort of reward.”

We would reach the end when we cleared all the quests presented to us by the system. Perhaps we would be given the choice of finishing and returning to reality, or remaining in this world.

I lay back on the floor. It made me feel as though I was lying in the practice room at my own agency.

“This is just a guess, but it feels to me like it’s very likely. What do you think?”

Cheongryeo moved his hand away from his chin.

“I have a question.”

“What?”

“Is there a reason that we can’t just stay here?”

“I want to return to the real world,” I said immediately. “And I know that you want the same, too. That’s why you didn’t mention your dog until I did.”

He had subconsciously wanted to ignore his real life, rather than suffer by trying to hold onto the past.

Cheongryeo leaned back against the wall, so that we were both sitting the same way we had when we first found ourselves in this world. He said slowly, “I’m not so sure.”

Goddamn defense mechanisms. But instead of criticizing him, I kept my mouth shut. He had probably despaired of ever going back more times than could be counted.

F*ck it, I’ll be understanding this time. It would be worth it.

“But… Kongi hasn’t been born yet,” I said.

“…!”

“We should meet him before that.”

“We should make that happen,” he said.

I stood. “That’s why I think we should make a certain kind of group.”

It would be neither VTIC nor TeSTAR, but a group that would be the most efficient in the least amount of time—a group that wouldn’t take future risks into account and one that would put profits before stability.

“The type of group that can win the Rookie of the Year and a daesang in their first year,” I declared. “Then we’ll reach the ending and go back.”

I was suggesting we form a short-term project group.