Survive! Foolish Bottom!

Although the stuttering was the same, the one that was the most tolerable was the last choice. As he chose ‘M-mind your own business!’ the redhead got angry.

[Sungjae]

“What? Are you actually crazy?”

“Look at the way this bastard talks,” Haeun mumbled as he glared at the redhead on the screen. He was full of the intention to fight if a hostile choice appeared, but another character appeared and began to talk the redhead out of it. 

[Ilhyun]

“Sungjae-yah. Calm down.”

[Ilhyun]

“That’s a first, were you not feeling well? You’ve never skipped practice before…”

[Sungjae]

“Hyung,1 why are you accepting all of his arrogance?”

[Ilhyun]

“Lee Sungjae.”

[Sungjae]

“Don’t hold me back! For how long do I have to see that punk acting like that?”

[Sungjae]

“Hmph!”

The redhead, Sungjae, eventually sniffed and left. Ilhyun, who had been talking him out of it, made a strange expression and said, ‘Don’t mind it,’ but he was probably in a sticky situation. Although he’d only made a choice once, the situation flowed well on its own. 

While Haeun was flabbergasted, another character appeared. This time, his hair was yellow. Although it wasn’t his place to say, the color of his hair was awesome. Maybe because they were idols, but the colors were diverse.

[Junwoo]

“Parkha-hyung, the fans were saying it would do well to not forget where you came from. I’m curious what they’d say if they saw you right now~ I’m just saying.”

This guy’s way of speaking was also on another level. The redhead who cursed honestly was rather better. After that, Haeun, who was angry, chose anything and quickly skimmed over the scenes. 

After that, quarreling and idol activities with the members continued. Although Haeun’s head was empty, he realized that something was strange.

The cold shoulders from his members of the same group? He didn’t care about that. The main character, ‘Parkha,’ who was timid, stuttered, and couldn’t get angry? That was frustrating, but he could say it was the character’s set-up. 

But why… were the characters only men?

― Huh? That’s because it’s a BL game.

His first play ended in a definite bad ending. This game’s bad ending wasn’t a usual bad ending; idol ‘Parkha’ became a flop of a flop that no one remembered and struggled in poverty. Since he picked the choices however he wanted to, it was a result that couldn’t be helped. 

Since he’d already turned it on, he made it to one ending, but he was still unable to understand. As soon as Haeun saw the bad ending, he called the friend who’d recommended the game and asked about there only being male capturable characters. And that was his reply. The confession that was peaceful as could be.

He’d said it as if it was obvious, so for a moment, Haeun almost accepted it saying, ‘Ah, really?’

Park Haeun stuttered a beat too late.

“What? B… BL?”

― Yes. Boy’s Love.

His friend replied without hesitation. Park Haeun reflexively criticized him.

“Don’t roll your tongue, bastard.”

― Parkha… Do you not know what a boy is?

At the shameless voice, his teeth grinded on their own. That was supposed to be a joke too. Wait, he wouldn’t be sincere, right? Although he’d given up on English and played around, he wasn’t that bad.

“Don’t bullshit. Why’d you recommend this? Do you like this kind of stuff?”

As he coldly cut off the joking question, the voice of his friend, Yongseok, became serious. 

― Why? Although it being homo is a little… If you play it, it’s a masterpiece. It’s fun.”

“Ah, fuck. Whether or not it’s a masterpiece…”

There was no way he would want to diligently pick choices to seduce those rude bastards. However, it seemed that Yongseok still didn’t know what the problem was.

― It’s not like you’re actually going to date them, so what’s the problem? It’s suitable for all ages, so there’s no dirty drawings.

“…”

Although he didn’t like how he accepted those words, it was true. Yongseok continued talking as if to convince him. 

― Anyway, you don’t have anything to do either.

“Why don’t I have anything to do?”

― You can’t even move because you’re hospitalized. Just try clearing it. I started it by being fooled too, but I played only that for a fucking week. 

Haeun was quiet as if he was being convinced. The next words drove the nail home.

― But it was fucking hard. I heard there was a true ending or hidden character if you cleared it all, but I couldn’t clear it because it was difficult.

At the words that provoked his competitiveness, he picked up the game that he was going to throw away.

Park Haeun played ‘Euratsha Idol’ for nine lengthy days as he took short naps. 

There were four capturable ‘Eu-idol’2 characters. Thanks to going to the lengths of shortening his mealtime to play the game, he cleared the difficultest level and succeeded in coaxing two members on the first day and two members on the second. 

The problem was after. Because ‘Eu-idol’ was an idol-raising game, dating was not the only content. 

[Parkha] 

“Sob… Thank you so much to everyone who gave us this big award. I want to say I love you to the people who were with us until we reached this spot: to my members, CEO, manager-hyung, coordi-noona,3 writer MZ’s-hyung who gave us a good song, and our fans who cheered us on.”

“Punk…” 

Haeun’s eyes became red, and he wiped under his nose. It wasn’t because he was crying but a side effect of pulling all-nighters the past few nights.

If he described him positively, he was naive and kind, but from Park Haeun’s standards, he was a foolish main character. At first, he’d only known how to cry and stutter while being treated like a flop; how had he become able to say a dignified acceptance speech like this… He was deeply touched.

It was the last ending he had barely able to see. Maybe because he’d skipped almost everything, but capturing the characters wasn’t that difficult. However, the last ending where he succeeded as an idol and won a big award at the end of the year was extremely difficult. To see this one thing, he’d paid and suffered. 

Despite seeing the day brightening through the window, Haeun’s feelings were still lingering. He felt tired because he hadn’t slept for the past few days, and he felt a little empty, but the feeling of satisfaction was larger. 

Because his feelings lingered like before, he couldn’t put his phone down. As he entered a search engine, his recent searches were all related to ‘Eu-idol’: ‘Euratsha Idol Yejun strategy,’ ‘Eu-idol Ilhyun strategy,’ ‘Eu-idol last,’ ‘Eu-idol hidden character,’ etc.

He searched ‘Eu-idol last ending’ to share his thoughts on seeing the last ending. Bloggers’ posts popped up.

[From Eu-idol’s last ending: an imagine of Sungjae being jealous]

[I want to see Ilhyun and Junwoo fighting over the Player in Eu-idol’s last ending]

[Eu-idol last ending…]

…There were mostly posts without real content. Then, he saw a post on the official blog of the creators. 

‘Release of the Virtual Reality version of Euratsha Idol is around the corner! Finding beta testers…’

Eu-idol was being released as a VR game?

The only VR game he’d tried were shooting games at the arcade. This was his first time hearing of a dating simulation being released in VR. Was it possible to implement the background or characters in 3D? Although it might not be fun because he’d already cleared it, he was full of the intention to request out of loyalty for a masterpiece like this.

Haeun opened his tired eyes and completed his request form. 

「Thank you! Players who are chosen will be contacted individually​​.」

Haeun saw the passage and made a satisfied expression.

And he fell asleep like that. 

『Welcome to the world of ‘Euratsha Idol’! (๑›‿‹๑)』

Someone’s bright voice interrupted Haeun’s sleep. The window that had popped up was almost the same as what he’d seen in the game.

『Player’s information is saved (๑⊙ﾛ⊙๑) Should we sync?  ღ’ᴗ’ღ』

“Y-yeah…”

Half-asleep, Haeun nodded his head. He must have fallen into a deep sleep after shortening his sleep time to play the game. From his memory, he must have started the game, but it seemed that he’d dozed off and not sensed that he’d started a new play.

…For what ending had he turned it on again? He flapped his hand around to press a button, but there was nothing to be pressed. However, the bright voice replied to Park Haeun’s thoughts on its own.

『In the process of syncing…………  φ(-ω-。`)』

『Welcome [Top★ Idol of the Year] ‘Parkha’-nim♥! ヾ(*´∀｀)ﾉ』

『Shall we start like this? (〃∀〃)ゞ』

He didn’t feel anything strange about the passages that appeared in a row. Instead, he nodded his head fervently in his mind. It was similar to pressing the agree button without reading what it was about. 

‘Yeah… I need to start…’

『The game will start with ‘Pro Idol Mode’  (●´∀｀)ノ~ Have an enjoyable time!』

While Haeun was half-asleep, the system window diligently displayed the sparkling words. Soon, scenes replayed quickly inside his head. It was the first introduction story of ‘Euratsha Idol’ Haeun had skipped.

「The main character dreamt of being an idol to give people dreams and hope, but he doesn’t have anywhere to go after the company he was a trainee in fails. He almost gives up on his dream, but the main character receives a casting offer from an agency that’s famous for their actors. He enters the debut team of the company’s first idol group. 

However, because the member line-up is suddenly flipped upside down at the last second because of the main character, after they debut, his relationship with the other members is strained. And the albums they’ve released so far are all old-fashioned manly4 concepts that don’t suit them.

Can the Player raise the main character, who’s about to fail at his career and social life, into the best idol who’s got both a career and love?」

The replay ended with the main character, ‘Parkha,’ wiping his tears and saying ‘Help me!’ with a pitiful expression. 

Haeun finally came to his senses and opened his eyes. 

‘…Where is this?’

Footnotes

 Hyung is an honorific used by Korean males to address another male older than them who they are close to. Abbreviation for Euratsha Idol. Noona is an honorific used by Korean males to address a female older than them who they are close to. 상남자 concepts are strong, manly man concepts. Think ‘Boy in Luv’ by BTS.