The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

[Your reward will now be given.]

[Meeting with the first regressor will begin.]

[The wordline will collapse.]

[Please prepare for incoming shock.]

I held my breath. I didn’t know what would happen from now on, and only the system’s frantically ringing voice warned me about the upcoming change. I didn’t know whether someone would drop from the air, shoot up from the ground, or appear in front of me; it was all unknown.

Creak.

I heard the door open from the front. It came from the room where Do-Seung and Yeon-Hoon were sleeping.

“Ah…” This wasn’t good. Perhaps, my members were coming out to go to the bathroom, but I needed to settle the situation before the regressor appeared.

“Tae-Yoon…?” Soon, I saw Do-Seung stare intently at me after getting out of his room in pajamas.

“Ah…” It was then I realized how I was supposed to meet the first regressor. The regressor didn’t shoot up from the ground or drop from the sky; instead, he possessed his body from this world.

‘…Didn’t something like this happen before?’ I thought and remembered Yeon-Hoon in a similar state in the past.

“Bong Tae-Yoon…” Do-Seung walked towards me, and I stared at him. His eyes widened and the ends of his fingers trembled. Each and every step he took looked pained and strained. Anyone could see that he was stunned by this whole situation. Do-Seung glanced at me from top to bottom and then hugged me so tightly that I almost suffocated.

“Ah…” Though I had a good guess on why he was acting this way, I simply patted Do-Seung’s back wordlessly. I would’ve also trembled in shock if I was in the same position as him. He had seen me die as a penalty for failing the system’s mission, but I was now standing before him alive. It didn’t matter whether I was the Tae-Yoon from his world. He would simply be surprised by the fact that I was alive and moving. I felt Do-Seung’s body tremble slightly and lightly pat his back.

“…Are you okay, Do-Seung?”

“Haaa….” Do-Seung moved away after hugging me for a while. Then, we sat in front of each other and looked at one another. There had never been a reason for Do-Seung and me to hug each other for so long like this or stare into each other’s eyes so tearfully.

“Do you feel…better now?” I cautiously asked. The reason why I wanted to receive the reward of meeting the first regressor was to have a conversation with him. I wanted to know what kind of life he lived and what his regression was like. And above all, I wanted to know if…he was even a little happy as a result.

“Tae-Yoon…” Do-Seung wiped his eyes again as he looked at me and said, “…Everyone died.”

“What?”

“…After I failed the first mission, everyone died in the end,” he said and hung his head low. “I’m sorry Tae-Yoon…” After apologizing to me, Do-Seung began to whimper softly. I stared at Do-Seung without saying anything. There wasn’t much I could say to ease the great sadness that was tormenting him, and I hugged him quietly. Do-Seung also swallowed back his tears in my arms.

But I was shocked. ‘So, does everyone die in the end if I fail the first mission…?’ That seemed to be the case if I considered everything Do-Seung said. Perhaps, that was only expected. If one of us died, I doubted my members, and I would be able to keep our sanity. We wouldn’t be able to do any of our activities or practices and even complete our daily lives anymore. We would probably be floundering aimlessly in shock, not knowing where to go from then on.

But the system would have no consideration for us, and even as we struggled to grapple from the shock of failing the last mission, it would give us another mission with a different member’s life on the line. And accomplishing the system’s mission in a state where our bodies and hearts were in tatters would be naturally impossible.

‘…Yeah, It won’t make sense.’ Do-Seung’s words hit me more strongly after thinking about this. He said everyone died. That also meant that he failed all the missions after the first one, and as a result, all the members died. There was no way his heart was in one piece after going through all that.

“It will be all right, Do-Seung…” I knew that my words wouldn’t change anything, but this was the best that I could offer to him right now.

“Do-Seung, are you really all—”

“Tae-Yoon,” Do-Seung cut me off and told me, “You mustn’t fail the mission.” He grabbed my arm tightly so that his fingers dug into my skin, “You must use all means possible…even commit a crime if you have to, but you must succeed…” He spoke each word with great force. The weight of his words felt different coming from someone who had gone through the worst.

“Ah…” This wasn’t the time for me to lower my guard. I had been too calm when I needed to be more desperate and urgent.

“…Do-Seung, let me ask you some questions. Is that all right?” I asked.

Do-Seung nodded.

“At what time point did you regress? Did you regress after living for a couple of years after the car crash? Or did you regress right after the car crash?” I needed to know how this system and world operated.

“…I regressed right after the car crash. I lost consciousness after the crash and when I woke up, it was the day before we went traveling.”

“Did you hear the system’s voice then?”

“Yes.”

“What was the first mission you received?”

“It was to win The Showcase 2.”

“Did the system offer you a turning point or anything like that?”

“No,” Do-Seung calmly answered all my questions. He had regressed right after the car crash while I regressed five years after that incident. That meant Do-Seung regressed without having seen the future.

‘It must have naturally been harder for him to succeed in the mission then.’ It would’ve been a miracle that Siren was able to join The Showcase 2 in his worldline, and simultaneously, that made me think that Do-Seung might have even less information than me. I knew all the way to the future in five years but Do-Seung didn’t. Thus, it seemed it was better for me to ask him about the system than the future.

“After you failed the first mission, how does the second mission come up?”

“The second mission changes according to your situation. For me, the second mission was to debut in half a year and reach 50,000 sales in the first week.”

“And did you…?”

“Yeah…even though Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna worked really hard, it didn’t work out in the end.”

“Haaa.”

50,000 sales in the first week could be considered a lower count, but it was almost an impossibility in an agency like WD Entertainment. They probably released their album without any marketing, investment, or preparation beforehand. Above all, all the Siren members would’ve been greatly shaken up from the death of Tae-Yoon in his worldline. They probably wouldn’t have been able to do a proper job.

There was a brief silence before I cautiously opened my mouth. “This could be a difficult question for you to answer…but because it’s really important, I will ask you.”

I knew it wouldn’t be easy for Do-Seung to hear this question, but since I had to know the answer, I hardened my heart and asked, “When I died, did I gradually die from a heart stop or did all my physical abilities halt in a supernatural way?”

This question would probably be very difficult for Do-Seung to answer, but I needed to know in the hope of finding the system’s weak point in the case that I failed the first mission. At that time, perhaps, I could aim for a second chance. Do-Seung’s eyes began to waver. It seemed he was trying to recall a memory he had been repressing, and I grabbed his hand tightly.

After some time, he managed to utter, “You died slowly as your heart stopped. It seemed the system couldn’t completely ignore the rules of nature…” Do-Seung replied weakly and sighed. The inside of my heart churned because I felt like I had done something I shouldn’t have done. But this was too important to skip, and I was glad to know the answer to my question. Thus, I simply hugged Do-Seung tighter.

[Recovering worldline.]

[Your meeting with the first regressor will end soon.]

The system’s alarm rang again, and I felt a strong sense of urgency. Thus, I asked my last questions. “What were the special abilities you received from the system? Insight? Precognitive Vision? Or is there something else?” I wanted to know if there were other abilities the system gave.

“…Special abilities?” Do-Seung looked like he had no idea what I was talking about.

“...What about surprise missions? How often did they come up?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Before he could finish, Do-Seung’s body fell limp like a doll with its thread cut off.

[Worldline has been successfully recovered.]

[Your meeting with the first regressor is over.]

The system’s voice told me.

“Ah…” I stared at the view in front of me blankly. I didn’t expect our meeting to end so soon. Most of all, I felt a great sense of regret and self-hate rush toward me soon afterward.

‘I can’t believe it…’ The last words I said to Do-Seung weren’t encouragement, telling him that he went through so much and he did his best. Instead, I just asked him what special abilities he received and what surprise missions he got. I was the worst. My plan was to listen to his story and talk, but because I felt afraid after hearing that I needed to succeed in the mission at all costs, I had used all that precious time selfishly.

“Haaa….” I couldn’t calm my heart with the wave of emotions. I tried to get a grip and recover my rationality again. I needed to organize the information I just got. Even when one of us died from a failed mission, we didn’t die immediately because of the law of nature. If I prepared some things in advance, perhaps, I could aim for a second chance. And if I failed my mission, a second mission similar to the first situation appeared.

‘Furthermore, it looked like Do-Seung had no idea about special abilities, turning points, or surprised missions.’ This was important information. This meant that Do-Seung and my regression were similar but clearly had different parts.

‘But how was he supposed to accomplish these crazy missions without special privileges?’ I thought immediately. There were so many instances where I would’ve failed without Precognitive Vision or Insight. On this dark night, my thoughts became deeper, my concerns grew, and my emotions became more frantic.

“…I should end things here.” But I decided to stop thinking for today. I already generally organized the information I retrieved today, and I could think about the rest later. I needed to prioritize maintaining my body in optimum condition right now. I planned to move Do-Seung back to his room and also go to sleep. Thus, I was wondering how I could move this big mass when I suddenly heard the door open from the back.

Creak.

“…Are you still not asleep yet, Tae-Yoon? Haha.”

“…”

Dong-Jun slipped out of the room.

‘…The heck?’ I thought everyone was asleep but perhaps, Dong-Jun could’ve heard the conversation I shared with Do-Seung just now.