Survive! Foolish Bottom!

That’s right. If this was really a game, it would be over if he ended it.

It was a smart idea if he said so himself. Haeun quickly complimented himself. If not for the game, he wouldn’t have to stand on the stage for a comeback, and even if a strange phenomenon caused him to start this game, it would be over once he ended it.

As expected, it was a genius conclusion. Although it was a shame you didn’t think of it earlier, you saved the day, Park Haeun.

“…”

He waited for quite a while after he spoke, but unlike his expectations, there wasn’t any reaction. An exit window didn’t appear with a ‘ta-da,’ and a Yes/No button didn’t appear either.

…As expected, the people throwing a fuss outside must’ve been cosplay maniacs who acted well. Haeun had been thinking happily when he heard a voice. However, a sparkling pink passage appeared in front of his eyes as if a game script was being outputted.

It’s not possible to end the game

It was bright, clear, and cheerful, and it felt like the emoticon at the end of passage had really been converted into a voice. It was also a robotic voice like a phone’s AI. 

He’d only been able to think it was because of a special speaker when he only heard a voice. Things were different when words appeared in front of his eyes. 

Wanting to cry, Haeun picked a fight. ‘Don’t bullshit me! How was this made? Isn’t this like a hologram?’

Although he waved his hand on the words, it only passed through. It felt like CG rather than a hologram… Using computer graphics was evidence that this wasn’t reality, but Haeun didn’t think of that.

‘If this is a game, why can’t I end it?’

In case the people outside overheard, he had to continue the conversation inside his head. It was a relief that the system replied to his inner mumblings. 

‘Euratsha Idol’ Virtual Reality is still in its beta test version 

In the beta test version, it’s not possible to ‘Save in the middle’ or ‘Save and end!’ 

‘Then I can just end without saving.’

(…)

There was no reply as if to say it would obviously not be possible.

‘Fuck, why isn’t there anything that works?’

(...)

‘I think it’s bullshit.’

It was suspicious how it only shut its mouth when it needed to. Haeun began to take a look at his surroundings like a detective to find the culprit who could be somewhere.

But then.

‘…’

He spotted a mirror. 

The mirror’s reflection of him was not the appearance he knew. Where did the strong youth in his 20s with hair dyed yellow with bleach, piercings dangling from his ears, and eyes raised upwards go? A pretty boy with bright mint-colored hair and tearful eyes stood there.

He looked too similar to the main character’s face on the main screen of Eu-idol. If this was a prank, there was no way this would be possible unless they fixed up someone’s face in one night.

If this was really a game… Was this a level of  difficulty where you couldn’t save in the middle and absolutely had to see the end of the game?

Park Haeun asked the most serious question of his life. ‘What do I have to do to end it?’

『You can safely end the game when you see one out of 5 total true endings! (´･ω･)(´_ _)』

It replied like it had been waiting. However, the word ‘safely’ strangely rubbed Haeun the wrong way. Haeun recalled the ‘Starving flop idol of flop idol’ ending that he’d seen multiple times. 

…Did that mean if he saw a bad ending, he couldn’t safely end the game?

‘What kind of fucked situation is this.’

There were four true endings where he shared passionate love with a capturable character and only one ending where he succeeded as an awesome superstar idol. Honestly, he didn’t want to share passionate love in real life with those males. He didn’t have a girlfriend, but that had nothing to do with his free will. He meant that he didn’t want to have a boyfriend. It was alright when they were an illustration on his phone, but he didn’t have confidence to whisper his love to realistic humans in front of him. 

So the only answer was the last ending where he hit big as an awesome idol. However, the problem was that Haeun didn’t know if he, who wasn’t even aware of the dance for his comeback stage tomorrow, could see the last ending. 

‘No… It’s not that I don’t know, but I need to see it. What’s there that I can’t do?’

""

Park Haeun didn’t want to imagine kissing, holding hands, and dating a fellow man. And all the men in this game were full of annoying personalities. Love? It would be a relief if he didn’t commit murder.

‘I need to stay on my toes.’ Park Haeun firmly resolved. ‘They say that when you fight a tiger, all you need to do is stay on your toes.’

Although there was a part that was slightly wrong, since there wasn’t anyone to correct him, it was a good thing. 

『You’ve played for one day!(*´-｀*)ゞ You have a comeback stage today (_ _*) Good luck!』

As soon as he woke up, the system’s voice greeted Haeun.

Yesterday’s tutorial ended without any earnings. His resolve to stay on his toes didn’t go as planned. Maybe because he hadn’t slept well, he heard multiple times that he looked under the weather, and stilling his legs that were about to tremble automatically was hard work.

In the car with the members, the one who’d been severely nervous was also Haeun. Although everyone looked nervous, no one else became deadly pale as he had.

Park Haeun lived and died for his self-proclaimed swag. Normally, he would’ve been proud of experiencing riding a van to a broadcasting station. However, the current situation was not one he could like. 

A regular person who’d never debuted, Park Haeun’s comeback stage was right around the corner. 

“Ha…”

“Are you nervous?”

Sungjae glanced at him as if Haeun was pathetic and didn’t give him any more interest, and it seemed that Junwoo was relaxing his nervousness by looking at a game on his phone. The person who’d started a conversation was the leader, Ilhyun.

“Yeah, I’m a little nervous.”

Truthfully, he was extremely nervous to the point that calmly replying was a miracle. 

With a stiff expression, Ilhyun replied as if to encourage everyone, “We’ll do well. We worked hard.”

…However.

This was the result.

“…”

A heavy silence. Here was an idol who almost cursed and suddenly did aegyo at the music show interview before his comeback stage.

It seemed that all the members were out of it. They weren’t in a state of panic or running about in confusion; it was closer to indifference. However, it wouldn’t be because it was alright; it looked like they couldn’t react because they couldn’t handle so much of a shock. 

The MCs were the first to pull themselves together. Although they’d led many interviews, it must have been their first time experiencing something like this, but they said an ending comment and led the members out of the camera. 

Out of the members, Ilhyun, the leader, was the first to come to his senses. Ilhyun sent the members off-stage as if he was getting pushed. After hurriedly escaping to a place the camera didn’t reach, there was only silence between them for a while.

Even Yoon Junwoo, who’d never shown himself being properly flustered, looked disoriented. His expression was still bewildered. 

“You…” Sungjae was the first to open his mouth. He looked as if he’d seen a ghost. “What did you… just do?”

His voice shook like he was afraid at first, but it became increasingly angry.

“Are you in your right mind? If you’d gone any further, you’d have cursed.”

Although it was true that Sungjae was rough and easily got angry, his current anger was reasonable. It was a situation where Haeun would have nothing to say if he had 10 mouths.

“Are you trying to ruin our album? No, not the album, but the whole group?”

It even looked as if he was actually confused and not just angry. For most situations, or even if it had been a filmed broadcast, they might’ve gone forward shamelessly. However, the scene of Parkha about to curse had aired. Haeun didn’t know what to do as he bowed his head like a sinner. Because he was in such a difficult position, he forgot the shock of having to soon stand on stage.

‘Fuck, someone tell me what to say when this happens.’

As if it reacted to that complaint, a system window appeared with a ring.

‣ “S-sorry. I really wasn’t thinking that…!”

‣ “I-I did that because I have a plan.”

‣ “S-Sorry. I’ll die if you tell me to die!”

Why was there a choice about dying? He disliked all the given choices. Wait, was it even possible to resolve the situation if he said something?