Episode 1
1
Ten years.
It was the time he had spent striving to achieve a single goal.
Even when others said he was too late, he believed it was possible if he kept working hard.
At least, until he received the notice to stop.
“Hyeonu. Let’s stop now.”
“...Excuse me? What do you mean?”
“Ha...”
A sigh laden with both frustration and pity.
Truthfully, Hyeonu already knew.
That it was impossible now.
Hyeonu was twenty-nine years old.
Debuting as an idol was out of the question, and even debuting as a solo artist was virtually impossible.
In this industry, at twenty-nine, others had already achieved something, were being called seniors by younger people, and had some experience under their belts.
“You know it too. You’ve done enough.”
“Th-then what about me...”
“I can connect you with another agency, but you know how it will end, don’t you?”
Singing songs that never charted, getting called to no-name events, and eventually fading away like that.
Then, occasionally reminiscing about a glorified past before returning to ordinary life.
“Well, I’ll introduce you to a job that pays enough to get by.”
Of course, he hadn’t given up right away.
If age was the problem, there were fields where age didn’t matter.
Hyeonu had gone around to every other agency along that path.
Naturally, not to debut, but as a producer.
With everything he had learned over ten years, even if he couldn’t become a producer, surely he had at least built up the qualifications to learn.
“I’m sorry.”
“It might be a bit difficult.”
“We don’t have any openings...”
But the answers he received were all the same.
Come to think of it, even he had to wonder—who would hire a trainee with ten years of experience and no actual career?
In the end, Hyeonu had no choice but to return to his former agency.
“See? You made the right choice. They pay well, don’t they?”
“...Thank you.”
The job he was introduced to was one where he couldn’t utilize anything he had honed his entire life.
Could the guilt of using up ten years of a person’s life, then denying them even a chance by saying they had no talent and were too late, really be this small?
“Hey, rookie! Lunch break is over.”
“Ah, yes!”
It was time to return to his daily life.
After ending such a grueling day, he came home at an awkward hour—too late for dinner.
A cramped space of only a few pyeong.
The small compass where Hyeonu could unfold his dreams, the only place he could.
While learning dance and song for ten years, he had also picked up composing and writing lyrics by watching others.
“Let’s just do about three hours today.”
This evening was the same as yesterday.
One small cup of instant noodles and a triangular kimbap.
For Hyeonu, meals were now nothing more than a means to stave off hunger, nothing more and nothing less.
“The things I wanted to do...”
The song currently at number one? He didn’t know.
The current trends? He didn’t know.
He didn’t have the leisure to check such things in the first place.
Hyeonu wasn’t doing this to get his name on the charts, but to accomplish the things he truly wanted to do, one by one.
Perhaps he was happier now than he had been during those ten years.
The anxious demeanor of worrying about what criticism he would face each day had completely disappeared.
Of course, his once fair skin had taken on a dark, healthy tan, and his handsome looks had become nothing more than eye candy.
The fully cooked instant noodles had somehow lost all their broth, and the triangular kimbap he had intended to eat warm had gone cold.
Hyeonu, who had been working without realizing how much time had passed, was startled to see the clock strike twelve.
“Already this late...”
He wasn’t tired yet, but he had no choice.
He had to wake up at six and go to work.
Just as he lay down in bed and tried to close his eyes, his mother called.
“Hello?”
“Yeah. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing fine. Whose son do you think I am?”
He spoke with the brightest voice he could muster.
He thought he sounded happier and more carefree than anyone else, but as expected, he couldn’t fool his mother.
“Alright... don’t overdo it. Your health always comes first.”
“Of course. You know me. I’m a big baby about pain.”
“Come visit sometime. Okay?”
“Yes. I will.”
It wasn’t a call they made often.
Burdened by the guilt of not having succeeded, Hyeonu couldn’t easily ask after his mother, and his mother worried about pressuring her son unnecessarily, so neither could readily exchange such greetings.
As always, Hyeonu lay on the slightly chilly floor, endured the day, woke up sharply at six without fail, and dragged his heavy body out of the house.
“Ugh... it’s cold...”
He wasn’t worried about catching a cold; what worried him first was how much the heating bill would cost.
Even in this bleak reality and cold, Hyeonu never gave up.
Even if he never saw the light someday, couldn’t he at least escape the darkness?
“Hey, rookie. After you eat, get us some coffee.”
Ten thousand-won bills placed on the table.
Hyeonu showed a friendly smile and crumpled the bills into his pocket.
“Yes, Foreman.”
Since it was a place where he worked with his body, the meals were decent.
Having skipped dinner, Hyeonu was quite hungry, so he filled his tray with rice and finished it without a crumb.
Before the morning calisthenics began, Hyeonu finished brewing coffee for the foreman and his senior, then quickly joined his crew just before the exercises started.
“Heh, did you eat well?”
“Yes. I ate well.”
“We need to finish up the place we worked on yesterday, so have your tools ready.”
“Yes, Foreman.”
Thanks to his bright greetings and ever-present smile, Hyeonu was fairly well-regarded.
“Starting calisthenics!”
The exercises began shortly after.
He moved his body, barely suppressing the fatigue that washed over him—a routine so familiar he could do it with his eyes closed—when he felt something trickling from his nose.
“Rookie. You’re bleeding...”
His mind spiraled for a moment.
His vision blurred and sounds grew distant.
The last thing he saw before his eyes closed completely was the foreman and his senior colleagues rushing toward him through his narrowing field of vision.
“...”
He thought he had closed his eyes for just a brief moment.
But the scene unfolding around him was all too familiar in Hyeonu’s memory.
“This is definitely...”
Ten years ago.
The place where he had auditioned.
Now that he thought about it, this was also the spot where he had been notified of the end.
“...How cruel.”
He remembered collapsing vividly.
Then where was this?
It was most likely a dream.
If it was a dream, was he having a lucid dream?
He had once heard that if you became aware you were dreaming, you could do anything you wanted.
He suddenly raised his hand and waved it in the air to see if he could use magic, and the surrounding gazes gathered on Hyeonu.
“Ahem...”
Coughing for no reason, Hyeonu lowered his hand and looked around again.
The place where he had auditioned, and the people he had seen there.
Even the ones who had succeeded ten years later.
“...This is too much.”
Was it trying to inflict this pain until the very end?
Showing him the times he could never return to and the people who had achieved his dreams in his stead.
Hoping to wake up quickly if it was a dream, Hyeonu pinched his thigh with all his might.
“Ah.”
But why did it hurt?
Why was a sharp shock traveling up his thigh?
His belief that it was a dream remained unchanged, but doubt began to sprout through the cracks.
This time, a little more gently.
When Hyeonu pinched his cheek, the same sharp pain rushed in, leaving him dazed.
“It’s... not a dream?”
That meant he had returned to the past, ten years ago.
Was such a thing even possible?
Strange gazes gathered on Hyeonu as he pinched himself alone, but this time, he didn’t care about such looks in the slightest.
If by any chance.
If he had really come back ten years ago, it meant he had been given the opportunity he had so desperately wished for once more.
“Next... Mr. I Hyeonu?”
“...Yes!”
It seemed to be Hyeonu’s turn, as he heard the voice announcing the start of the audition.
The slightly unpleasant gaze of the attendant sweeping over him from top to bottom.
Following the attendant, who gave an incomprehensible nod upon seeing Hyeonu’s face, he headed toward the audition site where the judges were waiting.
The room he arrived at after walking down a corridor that felt endlessly long.
Back then, he had been so nervous that he stuttered through his self-introduction and even simple questions.
‘So what if it’s an audition.’
Hyeonu had experienced atmospheres far more brutal than this.
The pressure the word ‘audition’ carried was light compared to everything Hyeonu had endured.
The moment he tried to open the door and enter, something appeared before Hyeonu’s eyes.
[Quest: Pass the Audition]
[Reward: Reputation +1]
“Qu...est? Reputation? What is this?”
Something you would only see in a game.
He wondered if it was a dream again, but he had already confirmed it wasn’t.
His questions about the incomprehensible window continued to grow, but judging solely by its contents, it didn’t seem to be anything harmful to him.
“I don’t know what kind of reputation it is, but...”
In any case, Hyeonu and the status window shared the same goal.
Passing the audition.
“Excuse me. Aren’t you going in? If you stay like this, you’ll be disqualified. Other people are waiting.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I’ll go in.”
“And if you look that nervous, it leaves a worse impression. Where do you think this is? It’s entertainment, a place that selects people to stand before the public, isn’t it?”
For having given such a dry, borderline rude gaze, it was truly good advice.
“You’re right. Thank you.”
The business smile honed by ten years of trainee life.
The attendant’s cheeks flushed slightly for a moment, and soon a cough was heard.
“Ahem! So hurry up and go in! Before you’re disqualified.”
“Yes.”
He didn’t even need to take a deep breath.
Passing this audition was already a certainty for Hyeonu.
When he opened the door and went inside, three judges with haggard eyes were waiting.
Deep dark circles and expressions as if their souls had left their bodies—they looked utterly exhausted from having seen countless auditions.
“Please introduce yourself.”
“Hello. I’m I Hyeonu.”
“Nineteen... the age is fine... your specialty is singing?”
“Yes. Singing.”
“Singing?”
“Another singer?”
It wasn’t a very welcoming reaction.
Then again, almost everyone listed singing as their specialty, so it was a natural response.
‘How can their reactions be exactly the same as back then?’
At the situation unfolding as if scripted, Hyeonu gave a light smile, and the judges looked at him with interest.
‘Hmm... he doesn’t seem very nervous...’
Above all, he was tall and had striking features.
With looks like these, he could switch to acting and do just fine.
“Have you ever been street-cast?”
“No. Never. This is also my first audition at JK Entertainment.”
“That’s good. Shall we hear your singing right away?”
“Of course.”
“I suppose we’ll have questions once we hear you sing.”
It meant he had to be above average.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t even have any questions.
“Start when you’re ready.”
“Yes.”
Hyeonu cleared his throat lightly with a cough and prepared to sing the same song he had sung at his first audition.
[Adjusting based on user I Hyeonu’s stats.]
A window that popped up out of nowhere.
He flinched for a moment, but he couldn’t stop the song, and soon he began to sing.
“I sometimes thought of...”
The moment he uttered the first note.
The listless judges instantly straightened their posture and changed their expressions.