‘Is he out of his mind, calling this late at night?’
Sure, given our line of work, it wasn’t unusual to work well into the night, but it was already past midnight.
I’d thought Goldie #1 was at least a sensible guy, but apparently not.
I answered the phone reluctantly.
“Hello.”
—Ah, Moondae.
Goldie #1’s voice on the other end sounded somewhat dazed.
—Um… Ah, can you talk right now?
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
—Okay. Um…….
Goldie #1 hesitated for quite a while before slowly continuing.
—I heard about it too.
“What?”
—That our company… did some bad things to you guys.
“…!”
He was just going to say it outright like that?
His company must be in chaos trying to deal with the emergency, so it wouldn’t have been strange if he had gotten a rough idea of what happened.
What was strange was that he had suddenly called me.
‘What does he plan to do about it?’
I got the answer to that question the very next moment.
—Um… I’m sorry.
“…….”
So that was it.
Well, what I could say was obvious.
“It’s not like you were the one who did it, hyung. You don’t need to worry too much about it.”
If his company had ordered him to pass along an apology, those words would mean absolutely nothing.
If this was something Goldie #1 had decided to say personally, they would probably comfort him.
‘That should be enough.’
But Goldie #1’s response was unexpected.
—…No. Actually, I think I had a vague idea of what was going on too. I just pretended I didn’t know and let it slide.
“……!”
—I heard things about you guys from the company sometimes.
I heard Goldie #1 sigh over the phone.
—I didn’t know it was this bad… but anyway, I guess I rationalized it. I probably thought you guys were already doing so well that it wouldn’t cause any real problems.
“…Hmm.”
—But when I thought about it again today, I realized I would’ve been really pissed off if I were in your position.
His voice trembled slightly as he spoke.
—So I called to apologize. Um, I was originally going to call Chungwoo, but it seemed like you’d taken the most damage, so I called you first.
Well, now.
‘His company really must have been turned upside down.’
People didn’t suddenly develop guilt for no reason.
Things over there must truly be such a disaster that even one of their artists had started looking back on what had happened.
‘Still, the fact that his first thought was to apologize instead of getting defensive is admirable.’
There was probably an aspect of this where he wanted to ease his own conscience, or thought it might help his company somehow… but what could you do?
When you got down to it, this guy was barely college-aged himself.
Just having the courage to apologize was enough for me to consider him a decent person.
I readily accepted the apology.
“It’s okay. I was a little surprised, but it’s all over now.”
With your company being the one that’s screwed right now, there was no reason for me not to accept an apology from you.
Words were cheap anyway.
—Right. Thanks.
I heard Goldie #1 let out a relieved sigh over the phone.
—Ah, and Seulhwi asked me to tell you he’s sorry and thankful too. He said you treated him well during the shoot.
“……?”
Who was—
Ah, right.
The Hanguk University guy.
‘I guess I’ll call him Goldie #3.’
I gave an appropriate response.
“I didn’t really do anything… but anyway, got it.”
—Yeah. ……Gasp, wait. Is it one in the morning already??
“Yes.”
Goldie #1 let out a bizarre cry.
All the gravity vanished from the conversation in an instant.
—Whoa, shit, I’m really sorry. We were monitoring the broadcast and….
“I was too. It’s fine.”
Apparently, they had also watched The Past Is Calling together because the Hanguk University guy was on it.
“Still, it is about time to sleep.”
I gave him an appropriate closing line, and Goldie #1 took the hint and ended the call.
—Ah, right. Um, sleep well. I’ll be rooting for your promotions.
“Yeah. Thanks. I hope you get good results too, hyung.”
The conversation ended peacefully.
But I had a feeling that from now on, we probably wouldn’t greet each other or acknowledge one another as casually as we had back around their debut.
‘Can’t be helped.’
That was probably just how things worked between competitors.
I shrugged and switched my smartphone to silent mode so I wouldn’t be disturbed again.
‘Sleep.’
Then I slept so soundly that I didn’t even notice Seon Ahyeon and Bae Sejin returning to the dorm.
Thanks to that, I didn’t see the text that arrived before dawn until the next morning.
[Hoobae, looks like your experience as a civil-service exam student came in handy. Congratulations^^]
What the hell does this bastard want now?
I nearly spat out my brunch.
‘When the hell did he even send this?’
I checked the timestamp.
Four in the morning.
‘Guess he sent it on his way to the salon.’
What a nuisance.
With thoroughly unamused eyes, I stared at the contact name VTIC Cheongryeo sunbaenim, whose profile picture was the retriever puppy I’d seen when we filmed that insurance commercial.
‘Come to think of it, I did tell this guy that I’d studied for the civil-service exam.’
I had unintentionally provided something resembling proof of credibility.
I quickly typed Yes, thank you and sent it, intending to leave the message tab.
But before I could, another message arrived.
Bzzzt—
[(Image file)]
Out of nowhere…
it was a gift coupon.
“…??”
When I opened it, I found a Chocolate Set for Cheering On Exam Takers sold by a franchise café.
Did he seriously send this as some kind of joke?
[I sent it to cheer on your promotions too. Isn’t it almost time for your new song?]
That…
was true.
It was almost time for us to release our repackage album.
And just as planned, our promotional track had come from among the candidate songs we’d received from the composer who had worked on Golden Age’s song.
‘The arrangement turned out well.’
Kim Raebin’s arrangement had passed by an almost unanimous vote, although Kim Raebin himself still didn’t seem very confident.
The funny part was that he wasn’t worried about his own skill.
He was worried about the environment.
—We certainly selected a genre currently standing out on the digital charts, but what if, by the time we release the song, a new trend has arrived and completely changed the standard for mainstream appeal…?!
—That’s not going to happen, Raebin. Calm down.
We’d had conversations along those lines several times lately.
I held back a sigh.
‘He should worry about his own foot.’
Kim Raebin’s foot had recently been declared perfectly healed to the point that it no longer required stabilization.
Thanks to that, choreography practice was going extremely smoothly.
‘He would’ve gotten that result a week earlier if he hadn’t insisted on doing indoor climbing.’
I could respect his enthusiasm for fulfilling the schedule, but he really was stubborn.
“What if the critics absolutely tear it apart because we aimed too hard for mainstream appeal….”
“No, Raebin~ Don’t worry and eat.”
He was even doing it over breakfast right now.
Anyway, the point was that the album preparations were proceeding smoothly.
‘If I was going to muzzle that company like this anyway, did I really need to build that whole elaborate plan around the composer?’
I meant sharing the composer with Youngrin and even dragging Cheongryeo into it.
As I put a seaweed-wrapped bite of rice into my mouth, I thought about it.
‘Hmm, Youngrin’s results were good this time too.’
The new song Youngrin had released two weeks earlier after I deliberately shared Golden Age’s composer with her was also currently near the top of the digital charts.
A few days ago, she had even thanked me separately once more for introducing her to the composer.
‘Ah. Is that why they were even more pissed off?’
If Golden Age’s company had heard somewhere that I was the one who introduced that composer to Youngrin, it made even more sense that they had gone out of their way to latch onto me recently.
‘Things probably went even better once emotion got mixed into their work.’
It was rather ridiculous if they were doing reverse viral marketing themselves and then got angry because I’d merely shared a composer, though.
‘Well, it’s all over now.’
Nothing had happened that crossed any serious ethical line, so those guys—who were already barely keeping their heads above water dealing with T1—probably couldn’t afford to cling to their resentment for long.
‘All right. Then after Youngrin, we’re next.’
The final batter was Cheongryeo’s group, VTIC.
‘Sly bastard.’
He had quietly stepped back while talking about tour and comeback schedules, but that was basically the same as saying he would only put his money down after watching the entire rise and fall and seeing the result proven.
‘He’s only putting it in as a B-side, not even the title track, yet he made such a fuss.’
As expected of a perfectionist with Reset Syndrome.
…Well, looking at it the opposite way, the fact that this lunatic was cooperating obediently at all was probably his own way of showing cooperation.
‘I can tolerate him if things keep going like this.’
I sighed and moved my thumb over my smartphone keyboard.
[Yes. We’ll have to work hard. I’ll enjoy the chocolate. Sunbaenim, I hope you have a good day.]
[You too.]
Good.
Clean.
Looks like this guy secretly likes the composer’s song too, considering how much more cooperative he’s being.
‘And even if Golden Age’s side isn’t pulling any tricks anymore, it’s better if no unnecessary rumors start.’
In several ways, this setup was fine.
I nodded and returned my attention to my meal.
Or rather, I tried to, but my smartphone vibrated again.
Bzzzt—
“…….”
[Ah, my birthday is next month. The 27th.]
What do you want me to do about it?
Fed up, I turned off my smartphone.
I should just finish eating.
“Everyone put your dishes away properly, right?”
“Yes!”
Someone did come to clean the dorm, but out of basic human decency, we at least put our dishes in the sink.
Then it was free time.
“Uahahahaha!”
Normally, everyone tended to spend their free time in their own rooms, but today the living room was crowded with people who had come out to watch Cha Eugene play some weird dancing game.
‘Should I go back inside?’
I’d come out because I felt like I was always staying in my room, but it was too noisy.
Still, moving sounded like too much effort, so I found something else to focus on.
‘…It’s about time I opened it.’
If anything, doing this while things were noisy would be more comfortable because it would leave less room for other thoughts.
‘Status Window.’
For the first time in a very long while, I began settling my stats.
[Name: Park Moondae (Ryu Gunwoo)]
Level: 17
Title: None
Singing: S-
Dancing: B
Physical attractiveness: A-
Charm: B+
Trait: Infinite potential, International Student (A), Bacchus 500 (B), Snatching Ear (A)
!Status Abnormality: Death Unless You’re in the Audience
Points Remaining: 2
The first thing that caught my eye was my Singing stat, which had entered the S range.
‘I’m pretty proud of that one.’
It had been a good stat to invest in.
I’d gotten plenty of use out of it, from variety shows to our promotions.
After that, the Points I’d gained from leveling up also stood out, but something else bothered me more.
‘Why did that happen?’
I didn’t know why, but my Charm had naturally increased from B to B+.
‘I don’t think I’ve done anything particularly likely to raise my Charm.’
I hadn’t opened the Status Window recently, so I didn’t even know when exactly it had increased.
“Hmm.”
Either way, an increase was a good thing.
I calmly folded my arms.
Now I just needed to distribute my Points and close it.
Since the new album would be coming out soon, this was the perfect time.
‘The standard choice would be… Charm.’
It was the most efficient option, since spending only one Point would let me enter A grade.
“Good.”
“What is?”
“…!”
Damn.
Apparently, I’d been concentrating so hard on keeping the Status Window open that I’d spoken out loud.
Cha Eugene, who had just finished the game, was staring at me with wide, bright eyes.
‘Well, I didn’t say anything else.’
There was nothing to worry about.
I was about to give him some vague response when a thought suddenly occurred to me.
Why not see what these guys thought?
“Hmm. I’m just asking.”
“Yes!”
“What ability do you think is the most necessary for working as an idol?”
“Hmm? It’s like… personality?”
Individuality.
‘Can I roughly translate that into Charm?’
It was exactly the kind of answer you’d expect from someone whose Charm stat was good enough to be rare even within the same profession.
But Kim Raebin immediately cut in from right beside him.
“You need to give a more professional answer! Hyung! I believe it is the ability to properly interpret and perform a song. I think expressive ability is important.”
Right.
Ultimately, that could also be converted into the same Charm stat as Cha Eugene’s answer.
“I’m professional! You’re bland!”
“No! Your answer lacked sincerity!”
As I watched the two start arguing, a gloomy voice joined in from the side.
“…Fundamentals.”
Bae Sejin.
Apparently, he was naming the thing he personally felt he needed.
Meanwhile, Big Sejin joined Cha Eugene and Kim Raebin’s argument with his own comment.
“You need to be good at everything~ Why are you trying to rank things like that?”
“Nevertheless, if we are trying to select the more important…….”
It was chaos.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.’
I’d just leave them alone until they reached some conclusion.
Shaking my head, I decided to use the interval to check something else.
The event pop-up.
[The True Taste of Fame!]
10,000,000 people remembered your existence!
: Legendary Trait Draw ☜ Click!
Ten million people.
At that point, it was impossible to even imagine that number of people physically gathered together in reality.
What was even more frightening was that this had appeared quite some time ago.
By now, I was probably…
heading toward fifty million.
‘Whew.’
It gave me a sense of accomplishment and chills at the same time.
Anyway, I’d click the Trait Draw.
Dudududududu—
Along with the familiar image of a slot machine, the slots began spinning.
‘Hero started at B grade by default… so does Legendary start at A?’
Well, if ten million people knew who I was, getting something at least that good would make sense.
But there was gold mixed into the slots.
‘What?’
Apparently, instead of guaranteeing an A grade, it now only increased the probability of getting a higher grade.
‘This feels like some mass-produced trash game.’
I glared at the slot machine as gold, platinum, and rainbow colors spun through it.
‘Anything is fine as long as it’s useful for promotions.’
It seemed about time to ditch International Student and replace it.
Something that helped me pull off concepts would be good.
Hell, I’d even take something that made my hair stronger.
The slots gradually slowed.
Then stopped.
Fortunately, it landed on platinum.
Papapang!
[Trait]
Acquired “Now That You Mention It, You’re Right (A)”!
“…!”
But displayed there…
was the name of a Trait I had seen somewhere before.
Only the grade was different.