Chapter 396

Chapter 396

It took quite a while to calm down the VTIC member who wanted out of the show. The production team seemed to have misunderstood, thinking that he wanted to leave because the stress was too much, and they nearly showed up with their cameras. It was a good thing that we managed to get him to settle down before that.

That could’ve gone real bad. I called in Cha Eugene, Ryu Chungwoo, and Cheongryeo to help me stop him. Despite how unpleasant he could be, he was still the leader of VTIC, and a situation like this required his involvement.

Crammed inside the tiny vocal practice room, the five of us stood in suffocating silence.

F*ck… Even Chungwoo, who should have been planning how to win votes from the other trainees right now, was standing around with an uncertain smile on his face. I didn’t know what to think.

From now on, if any interim reward turns out to be a random package, I’m going to ignore it. Goddamn system and its mobile game gacha nonsense.

I massaged my brow and said, “So listen… We’re all in a similar situation here.”

Judan was staring at nothing, confusion plain on his face. I spoke with certainty, not bothering with frivolous details. I needed to get to the point.

We are in some kind of strange parallel universe, and we are trying to get out.

I wasn’t sure anybody would believe such a thing without a clearer explanation, but I had no other choice at the moment. He knew nothing, and I couldn’t just start with, Listen, I’m not actually Park Moondae… That would really make me seem like an unhinged person.

I will take it slow for now and just handle any questions he has as they come. There was no other way. Cheongryeo simply smiled, not interrupting, which forced me to carry on with my one-man show.

“Wait,” Judan finally said, raising his hand. “Let me ask you a question.”

“Yes?”

“What is thirty-two times six?”

“192…?”

“Yes.”

He began to ask each of us a math question. It was just multiplication, so it only took a bit of thought on our part to answer correctly.

What in the world is he doing? He continued until he’d asked Cheongryeo as well, then nodded.

“So this is not a dream. Hmm.”

We stared.

“I think I am getting a sense for this situation.”

“…?”

“It uses grammar that would be easy to interpret for someone who is used to certain niches. I never thought I would experience this for myself,” he muttered, with no expression on his face. Then he rubbed his chin. “Actually, I’m not a hundred percent certain that this isn’t a dream… Let me go and wash my face. I suppose I should find out if cold water actually feels like cold water.”

He shot to his feet and headed to the bathroom. The door slid open, then shut behind him. All of this had happened inside of ten seconds of him beginning to talk.

[Wh-what do you think he actually means?]

I responded with an effort. I was starting to get a sense of what was going on.

Numbers.

[??]

Logic doesn’t really work in a dream. It’s difficult most of the time to carry out quick and accurate calculations.

[Oh…]

People would usually pinch their cheeks or something like that, though—not do this. I wondered if this bastard had always been this way.

“He’s always been interested in unique ideas. Looks like he hasn’t changed. He’s just trying to adjust to the situation,” Cheongryeo whispered, conscious of the camera that was probably being installed in a corner somewhere outside the door.

“He’s your member. You’re talking about him like he belongs to a different group from you,” I said.

“Hmm. I haven’t used him in a while.” He grinned softly, lowering his voice even more so that only I could hear. “He might seem obedient, but he can be quietly uncooperative at times… I found it a hassle always having to take that into account.”

What a fabulous combination of descriptors.

“In any case, it’s not impossible to deal with him. He won’t introduce any unpredictable variables,” he concluded easily.

But his words only made me feel more odd.

Doesn’t he feel anything? Someone from his group had recovered their memories. I’d expected him to be amused, or want to kill me, or something like that. He tapped his chin with a finger, then raised his voice so that the others could hear him.

“I’ll have to work through the more specific details with him, but first, we have to send them back.”

Cheongryeo smiled and turned his head. He was referring to Eugene and Chungwoo, and both likely knew this.

Eugene didn’t even blink. “I’ll stay where I want to stay.”

“Then we can leave. Let’s go to the next practice room,” Cheongryeo said.

“Wait,” I said.

It seemed they quarreled every time they spoke.

Chungwoo intervened with a troubled smile, however, before I could mediate. “Eugene? Let’s leave for now. They are part of the same group. No doubt they want to have a private conversation.”

Eugene did not argue with this, simply shrugging. “Okay. You two talk, then.” He did, however, add, “Moondae, come with us!”

No, thanks.

“It’s best that I help out by explaining, since I’ve been doing this for so long,” I said.

“Are you a VTIC fan, Moondae?” Eugene asked.

You think that’s the reason?

“I’m going to charge them a fee for my services later,” I said.

“Wow!”

Now leave. I let Chungwoo lead Eugene out.

Chungwoo turned around as he left. “Oh. Moondae?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t worry too much about securing votes for me. If I’m disqualified here, that probably means I wouldn’t have been of much help to the team. And I have no intention of letting that happen,” he said gently and firmly. “I’ll earn my own votes.”

He had addressed me as Park Moondae, which meant he was saying this as the leader of our group.

Well, then.

“All right,” I said, nodding.

He smiled and pulled the glum Eugene out of the practice room. The door slid shut.

“You’re going to charge us?”

“You think I should?” I said.

“Haha.”

I felt the urge to slap myself in the face, but resisted.

Thankfully, Judan returned before I succumbed to my urge to flee the room. His hair was dripping with water.

“This seems to be reality,” he muttered. “I thought I might have lost my mind, or that this might be a dream… In the worst-case scenario, I thought this might be some kind of supernatural phenomenon. Who knew that the last option was the closest thing to the truth?”

Wait.

“Is that why you wanted to drop out of the show?” I asked.

“Yes. You must always assume the worst,” he replied.

“Oh… right.”

That is… never mind. In any case, if he’d accepted this was reality, it would be easier to move on with the explanation. I got to the point.

“We’re currently doing our best to return to our reality. We would like it if you cooperated with our plans.”

This was where things got difficult. If he considered this situation to be a good opportunity, I could have a major headache on my hands.

“Of course,” he said.

“…?”

That was fast.

“I dreamed about living in a fantasy like this when I was younger, but I’ve grown into an adult with no dreams or hopes. I just want to leave.” He continued with no expression on his face, “I can’t give up on the life of a daesang-winning idol with ten years of experience under my belt, as well as real estate, a hefty bank account, and fame.”

I spoke with effort.

“But you still have to serve in the military.”

“That holds true here as well.”

That’s… true.

“But here, I’ll have to start over from scratch, with no money or fame. I will have to do all that hard work all over again. Comparing situations, it’s obvious which is the better option.” He nodded. “When adults say they want to go back to the past, they don’t really mean it. Once we’ve built a foundation, most don’t want to repeat the same process. People just like to talk that way, that’s all.”

I nearly turned around to look at Cheongryeo.

“In any case, we’ve found ourselves in some form of game, and Moondae, you are a key player.”

“It seems so, for now,” I replied.

“All right. I appreciate your efforts,” he said, with another emotionless nod. “It seems to me that I must be a character who appears later in the plot, albeit briefly, and serves as a useful support character.”

What the hell are you talking about?

“I guess I’m happy that I’m not the antagonist, at least… Oh, sorry. I’ve been binging novels and movies and whatnot recently to pass the time.”

That doesn’t sound like what’s actually going on. But given the situation, it was in my best interest to make sure that he felt stable. I played along.

“Those are hobbies that an idol can enjoy easily,” I said.

“Yes.”

He nodded with satisfaction. His lips parted as if he wanted to say something more, but he soon returned to a more businesslike tone.

“So Ryu Chungwoo—if I can call him that—I should give him my vote. I suppose that’s all I can do at the moment?”

I was about to agree for now when a voice clipped in, gentle but cold.

“Not quite.”

Judan flinched, his tone growing more formal.

“Cheongryeo.”

“You aren’t as skilled as you were in the real world, are you?” He seemed to glance at Cheongryeo cautiously, then nodded quietly.

“No…”

“Then you should work on getting things back on track first of all. No matter how good our plan is, we can’t get anywhere if our performances are subpar,” Cheongryeo said with a faint smile, watching Judan closely. “Even if you have returned, as you said, as an idol with ten years of experience, you can’t claim that all of that is really yours if you can’t back it up with your skills.”

“…!”

“I want you to show the people who gave you your wealth and fame that their investment was worth it. Got it?”

“Yes…”

The shameless VTIC member who’d been saying such strange things suddenly stood at attention. Apparently, rebelling or complaining never occurred to him as an option.

It seems Cheongryeo has been whipping him into shape for a while. He’s got complete control. It seemed he tightened and relaxed that control whenever he saw fit.

“Right. It’s good to have you. You know that, right?” Cheongryeo said.

“Yes… Thank you.”

Judan was only able to leave the practice room after receiving a full training schedule under the guise of advice regarding his practice routine.

He really is good at this. It seemed that he had gotten the hang of controlling people throughout his many resets. I looked at him as he crossed his arms and smiled.

“I tried to steer things in the most efficient direction. It’s turning out not so bad,” he said.

“I think it would’ve been better for his mental state if you’d coddled him a little more,” I said.

“It’s fine. He’s the sort that will only move when he’s pressured to. If you give him too much wiggle room, he’ll try to get smart,” Cheongryeo replied calmly.

“If you poke him in the right way, he can sometimes produce good ideas about an album. He will be of use to the team.”

“Right.”

No doubt Cheongryeo knew the guy better than I did, given how long he’d worked with him. I didn’t bother to argue with him. He cupped his chin in his hand.

“We will have to adjust our post debut schedule a little more. Hmm. The fun never ends.”

Wait.

“What about the person you are going to boot off the team?” I asked.

You haven’t forgotten that’s the priority, have you? He cocked his head to the side.

“Hmm? I handled that already. The disqualification is going to happen during the finals.”

What?

“Don’t tell me you haven’t even started yet? Or are you just going to trust in yourself and roll with that, like you said?”

“I’ll handle it myself,” I said.

“Haha.”

He didn’t try to annoy me any further. Unfolding my arms, I spoke. There had been something I had been intending to say regarding Judan’s recovery of his memories.

“That just now was totally random,” I said.

“Yes.”

“But if we grow more famous as idols and I continue my search for companions, I think I might be able to return the other members of VTIC’s memories.”

“Hmm.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“We will have to think about that. It seems that we have more cards in our hand than we expected, but we can’t assume that’s a good thing.”

“All right.”

If you say so. I decided not to ask any more about it.

He said, “This is the first time, though.” He lowered his gaze and muttered nonchalantly, “So this is what it’s like.”

I asked, “Are you upset?”

“Not particularly… It’s just that it’s been a while since I’ve considered this sort of situation. It’s a little unfamiliar.”

He did not explain any further. There was no expression on his face. Perhaps he was recalling a time when he’d looked forward to something like this happening, or at least imagined it.

Right. This new turn of events seemed to have affected him in some way. I did not bother to ask how he was feeling and just sat on the floor for a while. Only after I heard the staff say that filming was about to start did I slowly get up and leave. He did not bring up the subject again, but even though I had decided I would never again except one of the game’s packages, I reneged on that decision after some more thought—I would have to wait and see.

More time passed. The same tension persisted on set, as if the situation with Judan had never happened. The cameras were running.

I’ll wait. I waited for that day’s filming to end, and the cameras to run out of batteries again, giving me an opening. Midnight had come by that point.

I found the person I was looking for, seemingly trying to decide if he should go to sleep. The others were busy practicing late into the night, as might be expected given the finals were coming up.

“Judan,” I said, my tone slightly formal. He got up from the practice room floor and muttered quietly, “Let’s avoid anything that will invite suspicion. Act like you usually do.”

If you insist.

I leaned toward him and said, “Woodan, do you have anyone here that you are close to?”

“Not really. The trainees I used to practice with didn’t get to join the show.”

All right. Different question.

“Are you aware of who is friends with who, and who dislikes who?”

“Just as much as any of the trainees,” he replied.

That’s enough. I needed information from an existing trainee at the agency. I also needed someone undercover who could go around talking naturally.

“Could I have some of your help?”

He was silent for a while, apparently thinking. Then he said,

“I’m not very good at convincing people.”

Perhaps he believed that I was going to ask him to gather votes for Chungwoo. I grinned and settled down comfortably.

“That’s not what I’m going to ask.”

“What is it, then?”

“I just want you to have a conversation with me while others watch.”

There was a limit to how many votes Chungwoo could get. When it came down to an anonymous vote, if the trainees had to choose between someone they had trained with and a powerful new competitor, the former was the obvious choice. Unless there was a powerful lure, people would not vote for him. I had a strategy to combat this.

I need to scatter the votes. I was going to manipulate which contestants, besides Chungwoo, the other would vote for.

“It won’t be anything unpleasant. It’ll be a compliment, in fact.”

As Chungwoo had requested, I would let him win his own votes. I was simply going to encourage the other contestants to avoid voting for the others instead.