Chapter 92

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

Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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

“…….”

I made eye contact with the opponent. And I muttered softly.

“…I think I’ll remember it every time I record from now on.”

“Haha!”

Cheongryeo waved his hand.

“You don’t have to worry. Actually, I just made it up. I modified a recording studio ghost story a bit.”

“……Um, I see.”

“But you know the recording studio ghost stories are real, right?”

“……!”

Cheongryeo laughed a few times and talked some bullshit, then disappeared saying he would go wash up.

“……Whew.”

I passed it.

I tried hard not to make a fed-up expression.

‘That guy definitely knows something.’

That bastard who knew about this damn status window or regression tested me with a ghost story smokescreen.

‘How does he know?’

He didn’t seem to be convinced. It meant he didn’t directly check my status… then did he deduce it based on the situation while having background knowledge?

…No, this is also ambiguous.

‘There are too many uncertain points.’

I wiped the cold sweat off my forehead while pretending to organize my hair. And I decided on the next action.

Soon Cheongryeo returned.

“It was good that I brought a rechargeable electric kettle. Mix it moderately with cold water and use it.”

“Ah, thank you very much.”

I received the cylindrical device Cheongryeo held out.

It wasn’t a thermos, but an electric kettle.

‘No wonder the Americano was boiling.’

While admiring the production team who made only cold water come out to take care of useless details, I did what I had to do.

‘Status window.’

First, I checked that guy’s status window.

Judging by the tendency so far, there were usually hints in traits and status abnormalities to guess what kind of person that person was.

‘There’s nothing to lose by checking.’

But the moment the popup appeared.

A hint I didn’t even expect rushed in.

[Name : Cheongryeo (Shin Jaehyun)]
This person cannot be checked currently.
※Required condition : Check the second ‘Truth’

“…!”

I immediately turned my body towards the bathroom. It was to hide my agitation.

And I slowly moved to the bathroom and closed the door.

“…….”

There was no camera inside the bathroom.

“Whew……”

But the microphone was still attached. I closed my mouth to avoid muttering any bullshit, and checked the status window again.

[※Required condition : Check the second ‘Truth’]

I didn’t misread it.

It meant that to check Cheongryeo’s status window, I had to receive the ‘Truth’ reward that I had put on hold.

‘Is it rushing me?’

Or it might have been demanding it because Cheongryeo was really connected to this situation.

‘It feels like looking at content with a level limit in a game.’

Either way was plausible, so it was hard to be certain.

‘…You want me to restart the status abnormality with such an uncertain hint?’

It was a crazy thing to do. That’s why it felt more uncomfortable.

‘If the goal was to rush me, more extreme means could have been used.’

What if the status window was waving a carrot saying that guy really had a clue?

“…….”

I decided.

‘Anyway, I can’t live while the status abnormality keeps appearing.’

My guess that the status abnormality would disappear if I cleared it this way was, strictly speaking, no different from a hopeful thought.

And no matter how much I delayed this, it was 300 days. After that, I had to receive the reward.

‘I’d rather get what I can get now.’

I didn’t know how Cheongryeo would act once this timing passed. It was better to finish while we were still searching each other out.

‘…Popup.’

[Successful 1st Place!]
You succeeded in taking 1st place through the terrestrial music broadcast !
!Time limit : Met (Great success)
!Status abnormality : ‘Death if not 1st’ removed!
: Check the Truth ☜ Click!

I slowly raised my hand and brought it to ‘Click!’.

And just like last time, my vision blacked out.

* * *

A building rooftop where a cold wind was blowing.

“…….”

A man was holding a cigarette in his mouth. Smoke scattered, pushed by the chilly winter wind.

Even though it was a temperature where one might cough in the cold air, the man didn’t blink an eye.

He just looked down with brilliant glints in his eyes. A shining night view flowed. An advertisement was coming out on the electronic billboard across.

It was a brand he had once filmed for.

To be precise, his group.

‘From where did it start to get twisted……’

While looking at the color scheme of the brilliant video, the man suddenly fell into thought.

Overseas expansion at the wrong time? A concept that didn’t fit the trends? Members who lost their initial intention? Investors of the agency who only put useless wind into them?

“…….”

And he reached a conclusion.

‘It was wrong from the beginning.’

To begin with, the member composition was wrong. There were too many useless members.

No, they weren’t useless, they were a hindrance.

‘If I had formed it, I wouldn’t have done it this way.’

He only then admitted it. He had lived wrongly.

‘Emotion, tears. Those are things you only use when selling stuff.’

People want to sit once they stand, and want to lie down once they sit. Personal circumstances, unavoidable stories… those are all just excuses muttered with the mouth and sold cheaply.

“…….”

After admitting it, he felt relieved. The man smiled broadly and threw the burnt-out butt into the sky.

And just like that, he fell below the railing.

Clatter.

Along with the noise of kicking off the railing, the man fell below the high-rise building, to the road.

But when the man regained consciousness.

“…!!”

He opened his eyes in a small room of an ordinary house.

“……What.”

The screen of an old mobile phone he picked up reflected a boy’s face.

……It was himself before becoming Cheongryeo.

* * *

“Huff!”

I regained consciousness while taking a breath.

And I immediately turned on the water.

Squeak.

Cold water poured down with a creaking sound. I immediately splashed water on my face.

“…….”

It was exactly the same as during ‘Park Moondae’. It was a composition of looking into someone else’s past circumstances from a third-party perspective.

And… this guy this time was definitely Cheongryeo.

‘Shit.’

This bastard had also come back to the past.

Even roughly putting it together, it seemed he had returned after ruining his career and succeeded.

A chuckle came out at the thought that his side was more fitting for a web novel plot, but before that, anger rose up.

‘So you blocked me from checking the status window for this reason…!’

Since the ‘Truth’ reward would have been meaningless if checked through the status window.

No, rather than that, why on earth was this a reward?

Since Ryu Gunwoo’s past had a direct connection to my circumstances, I accepted it when it appeared.

But no matter what bullshit Cheongryeo did, what did it have to do with me that it was given grandly as a ‘reward’?

‘You should have given me hints related to the status abnormality instead…!’

…The anger that surged up only barely subsided after I stuck my head in cold water for a long time. And I barely derived a rational conclusion.

‘…It must mean I can obtain hints.’

If I could hear information from this person experienced in this strange supernatural phenomenon, I would surely be able to understand how the situation is going.

In that sense, it seemed this status window was giving hints step by step as if proceeding with a game, but…….”

Ding.

[‘Death if no award’]
: If you fail to receive the Rookie of the Year award at the most authoritative domestic awards ceremony within the set period, you die.
Remaining period: D-365

…Looking at it doing this bullshit again, it seemed it just wanted me to suffer.

‘Still, it’s a bit better this time.’

It seemed I would be able to take something like Rookie of the Year as long as an anomaly didn’t occur.

That ambiguous ‘authoritative’ standard was bothersome, but even so, the candidates… well, there were three. If judged by objective results, there was no way we would be pushed back.

In the trend then where it was hard to catch public popularity, no matter what rookie debuted in the second half of the year, it was impossible to surpass TeSTAR from Idol Inc.

‘Rather, terrestrial 1st place is harder.’

While having calmed down a bit, I wiped the water from my face.

And holding the kettle I received from Cheongryeo in my hand, I walked out of the bathroom.

“I used it well. Thank you very much.”

“Don’t mention the thanks, anyway I’m glad you used it well.”

I returned the kettle and sat across from Cheongryeo.

And I took out some snacks from my backpack and handed them over.

“Since we have to stay up all night, if it’s okay, why don’t you have something sweet.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Cheongryeo took them immediately, but only made a gesture of opening them and didn’t eat.

‘I don’t know if he’s managing himself or being wary.’

While pretending to rummage through my backpack, I checked Cheongryeo’s status window again.

This time it appeared properly.

[Name: Cheongryeo (Shin Jaehyun)]
Singing : B+ (B+)
Dance : S+ (S+)
Appearance : A+ (S-)
Talent : A (A+)
Trait: Judgment (A)
!Status abnormality : Correction (Inactive)

‘Are you crazy?’

What kind of stats were these… they were at a veteran level.

I was thinking of checking the trait first, but my eyes automatically went there. I almost bit my tongue.

‘But potential is not infinite.’

The vague expectation that all stats might have a limit of EX missed the mark.

Anyway, I got a grip and looked at the content I originally intended to check.

First, the trait.

[Judgment (A)]
: Valuable things are rare, and garbage is everywhere.
-Human resource judgment ability +150%

‘It’s a talent like a businessman.’

If the ‘Truth’ flashback I had seen earlier was true, it might have been a talent gained while reflecting on life before death.

However, what was on my mind was that there was only one trait.

‘Was there no such thing as trait drawing?’

…The difference with me was quite clear.

Anyway, I moved on to the next.

This time it was status abnormality.

[Correction (Inactive)]
: Let’s try again
-Upon failure, return to the beginning.

…I got goosebumps.

And I recalled the conversation just now.

-I’m challenging hard to become an idol who succeeded without controversy this time… but what’s this. I keep dying in accidents and returning to the past!

‘The idol ghost story he muttered earlier… was it his own story?’

Surely if I failed to remove the status abnormality of the ‘~ or death’ type, the status window would return to when it was first created.

It was a chilling deduction.

However, this status abnormality was in an ‘Inactive’ state.

That alone was a great harvest. Since it meant there was a way to deactivate it.

‘For now, the organization is finished.’

Next was additional investigation.

I put down my luggage and stared at Cheongryeo again.

“Is the snack check finished?”

“Yes. There’s nothing much.”

“Haha.”

He was still not sure, right?

As expected, that bastard didn’t know much about me. He had just tested me.

Then it meant this side was superior in terms of information power, so that time it was my turn to test him.

Be exposed.

“Um… sunbaenim, would it be okay if I ask for advice?”

“Of course. I don’t know if I can give you advice, but… do you have a worry?”

“Yes. It’s nothing else… but by any chance, how did sunbaenim start with your teammates?”

“…Um, if it’s the start?”

I brought the completely cooled coffee and purposefully took a sip slowly. And I continued speaking sluggishly.

“Since our team had a unique formation process… I think we certainly have a strong consensus in that area, but I’m curious how other groups are.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes. Through what process did VTIC sunbaenims come to debut together?”

“…….”

Clearly in the ‘Truth’ flashback, this guy picked ‘members’ as the fundamental cause of VTIC’s failure.

‘Surely this bastard changed members in the middle.’

I didn’t know what kind of means a mere trainee had used, but it was an almost certain guess. Since at that time VTIC was living well as a top-tier group without major controversy and was sturdy.

“Um, it’s an interesting question.”

Cheongryeo smiled and lifted the snack I gave him.

With a crunching sound, the nuts were chewed and disappeared. I silently waited for an answer with a serious face.

Now, be agitated.