Chapter 4
[Divine potions do not contain human ingredients.]
[No matter how much you consume, they do not cause addiction.]
That status window kept repeating endlessly the whole way to the drug test.
Which only made it more suspicious.
Thankfully, the test results showed there wasn’t even the slightest trace of narcotics in my body.
I had been incredibly nervous.
What if something showed up and I suddenly got labeled a drug offender?
I was even worried that if something did show up, Park Hee-young might get dragged into it too.
The fact that my singer came to mind first made me realize I must have gotten used to being a manager.
Ha.
After being praised for being a rare, righteous young man with strong respect for the law, I returned to my rented rooftop room and lay flat on the floor.
I lived in a rooftop room on a three-story building.
There was a bakery on the first floor.
At dawn, the smell of bread drifted up, and I considered that one of this place’s welfare benefits.
Lying there, I took out the Silver Ticket from my wallet.
“But how do I turn on the roulette?”
The status window appeared.
[Say “Roulette.”]
So I said, “Roulette.”
Unlike before, a silver roulette wheel appeared.
[Silver Roulette (Life) instant draw begins.]
Since it said (Life) in parentheses, it looked like each ticket color had different categories.
I inserted the Silver Ticket and spun the wheel.
After a moment, it stopped.
[B-Rank Calming Potion]
[Reduces anxiety symptoms by 10%.]
At first I thought stamina potions would’ve been better.
Boo Jung-tae didn’t even really have articles or comments about him, and the worst hate comments he got were things like Stop stuffing your face.
But after thinking about it…
There might be no potion more necessary for celebrities than this.
Even someone born for the stage like Park Hee-young could suddenly get hit by anxiety.
And while I was thinking only of using it on celebrities…
I forgot I myself was basically the symbol of anxiety symptoms.
I tucked the potion into my inner pocket.
After wasting my few hours of rest on the drug test, I had to go pick up Park Hee-young immediately.
Unlike when I worked with Boo Jung-tae, this team moved as a group, so messages about schedule changes and pickup arrangements poured nonstop into the group chat.
I was replying to unfamiliar teammates one by one when Park Hee-young called.
“Was I a total mess yesterday?”
“A little. Why?”
“My mom says she can’t show her face and smacked my back.”
“It wasn’t at a level worth worrying about.”
“When you come later, take some kimchi.”
“Really? I can finally eat ramen with kimchi together.”
I said that politely, then opened my fridge.
There was still kimchi my parents sent…
And young radish kimchi made by Boo Jung-tae’s sister-in-law.
This week I’d make kimchi stew.
Kimchi fried rice.
And eat young radish kimchi too.
After making a thorough meal plan, I shut the fridge.
* * *
I had been thinking about how to keep getting potions.
And this was my conclusion.
The achievement I earned was First Fellow Singer.
Which meant being able to spin roulette probably depended on my own growth.
I wondered if other kinds of growth counted too.
So I signed up for a gym.
Tried working out.
Read English vocabulary words.
But none of that helped.
Though maybe I just wasn’t trying hard enough for it to count…
Thankfully, Bronze Roulette appeared often enough to keep things interesting.
Sometimes it showed up tied to special performances for one reason or another.
But my roulette luck was terrible.
Mostly FF-rank.
Only once had I gotten C-rank.
Other than the C-rank ones, I drank the potions the moment I got them.
Even brief peace was worth it.
That helped enough that Park Hee-young began trusting at least my stamina.
But her schedule was still brutal.
I was now soaked in caffeine instead of alcohol, trying to avoid drowsy driving.
Looks like dying from overwork in your twenties is what happens to managers of top-tier trot singers.
And today was a strawberry festival celebration stage.
Even before arriving, I felt like there was something important I was supposed to remember.
But I didn’t have the energy to think deeply.
Before going on stage, Park Hee-young brought over a bottle of strawberry soju and handed it to me.
“Let’s have a drink before going up.”
“Yes.”
I quickly pulled out paper cups I always carried and poured drinks for the team.
When we all raised cups and shouted cheers, the big screen showed us and the festival crowd cheered.
Park Hee-young knew how to make people cheer even offstage.
Maybe this was the experience of a thirteen-year veteran singer.
She overwhelmed the crowd singing her mega-hit, I Love You, Darling.
It was strange.
I heard this song every schedule, but I liked it more and more.
And at the same time…
Watching stages was getting harder.
Because standing on stage had been my dream.
Since I had to drive, I put down my cup, grabbed the company camera to film Park Hee-young, and moved beside the stage.
While taking photos—
I saw a child in the audience.
And my heart seemed to stop.
One of the five members of the girl group Square from my dream.
The leader.
Park Yu-na.
The same girl who in my dream stressed me out saying she was going to go drinking with that trash director.
She was there.
She should be in sixth grade this year.
And it was exactly the face I had seen in the dream.
In the dream, Yu-na had said she was from this town…
And that after seeing Park Hee-young perform at the strawberry festival, she decided to become a singer.
There she was.
Clutching her backpack straps with both hands.
Staring at Park Hee-young with a completely entranced face.
I had suspected it.
Now I was sure.
That wasn’t just a dream.
It was a prophetic dream.
I looked back at Park Hee-young’s stage.
Yes.
It was absolutely the kind of performance that could make Park Yu-na fall in love at first sight…
And come running to Seoul three years later.
I had seen many singers up close.
I’d also trained as an idol myself for years.
But I had never seen anyone like Park Hee-young.
Someone with raw star power.
Someone who didn’t just enjoy the stage…
But went mad when standing on it.
No…
Actually, I had seen one.
Min Ji-ho.
That guy from The Idol Chosen by the Nation…
I wasn’t that shocked that people from the dream existed in reality.
I could see roulette windows now.
A prophetic dream was easy enough to accept.
But what made my heart sink was something else.
I knew Park Yu-na could never become Park Hee-young.
And thinking about the wounds that little girl would suffer…
Hurt in advance.
Because everyone is born with different natural talent.
But there is one thing that can compensate for all talents.
There is a skill that may not guarantee huge idol success—
But can make failure impossible.
Producing.
Creating songs and performances that amplify what the members have.
I need to study composition.
Since I had learned classical piano for years as a child, composition was relatively accessible to me.
As for software—
The composer hyung who arranged most things during The Idol Chosen by the Nation used Logic, so I decided to learn Logic.
If I got desperate, I could ask him for help.
In the past, pride would have stopped me from even considering it.
But now I knew that pride would choke me later.
So breaking it became easier.
I scraped together every last coin I had.
Split payments into installments.
And bought the cheapest used equipment possible.
Looks like I’d be starving for a few months.
* * *
After that…
It was endless schedules again.
After a month, I remembered Director Kwak saying I’d quit in three months.
Seems he overestimated me.
Anyway, I came home and fell asleep immediately.
Then—
A sudden flash.
I cursed and opened my eyes.
The status window was there.
[Sudden Event! Overcome the Crisis]
The moment I saw the word crisis—
I felt a chill down my neck.
Instinctively I grabbed my phone.
Today was Jang Yong-gyu’s turn to alternate driving with me.
Just before passing out again, I opened the group chat.
Strangely there were only two unread messages.
[Hee-young unnie is at my place right now. Me, her, and Ki-hoon are having a late-night meal and sleeping. Yong-gyu oppa, just enter the password and come in. 9023]*
[Yong-gyu, pick up Hee-young at ten and have a safe trip.]
No messages after that.
I checked the clock.
One hour until today’s music festival schedule.
Which meant camera rehearsal was in one hour.
By now they should’ve all arrived.
Checking the stage.
Doing makeup.
…Right?
That’s what I told myself.
But for some reason I felt uneasy.
I called Park Hee-young.
No answer.
Then I called the apartment owner Yoo Sun-ah.
Then Jung Ki-hoon.
Then Jang Yong-gyu.
No one answered.
“Ah, damn it.”
I was instantly wide awake.
I ran out of the house.
Calling over and over on the way.
Still no answer.
Thirty minutes later, I got the address from the group chat and pounded on Yoo Sun-ah’s door.
“Sun-ah noona! Hee-young noona! Ki-hoon hyung!”
This is insane.
Obviously all three left already—
That was what I thought.
Then screams came from inside.
I immediately punched in the password Sun-ah had shared and ran in.
Jung Ki-hoon came running to the entrance, face pale.
“Hae-won… I think Yong-gyu hyung disappeared…”
“Who cares right now?! Hee-young noona! At least get her out here fast!”
I shouted.
Park Hee-young came running out with wet hair from hurriedly using the shower.
Behind her, Yoo Sun-ah came out carrying hair and makeup tools.
Before a major accident happens…
Several ridiculous coincidences pile up.
Again and again.
The four of us realized that in real time.
And ran out frantically, piling into Park Hee-young’s car.
As I sped toward Olympic Park, Yoo Sun-ah struggled trying to curl hair using a tiny battery-powered iron.
“Ah, I’m going crazy!”
While she was losing it, Jung Ki-hoon said to me,
“Hae-won, can you pick up the outfit? It’s on the way…”
“No! We have to be on stage at Olympic Park in thirty minutes, what are you talking about—”
My phone kept ringing.
Festival staff.
Since Yong-gyu wasn’t answering, the company must have redirected them to me.
“Ah, damn, I’m going insane.”
I shoved an earbud in and answered.
“Yes, yes. We’re very sorry. One manager suddenly disappeared… Yes! We absolutely won’t be late for camera rehearsal. Yes, yes. We’re so, so sorry. Yes. Sorry.”
I mechanically repeated apologies…
While driving at a speed
I had never even imagined I would dare go.
