“PD, how can you even call yourself human?”
I was indifferent, even with a crying idol in front of me.
“Why?”
“If you had any conscience, you wouldn’t have edited me like that!”
I glanced at her as she screamed in anger.
Despite her long training period, she didn’t debut as an idol and ended up in a competition show for trainees.
Ranking 4th wasn’t a bad result.
More than anything, it was a result I had created for her.
To be precise, through editing.
The editing genius, a talent bestowed by the devil, a young genius PD at the age of 33.
That was the label that followed me, Seo Hoyun.
I quite liked it.
Because it brought money.
“But you ranked 4th.”
“So what? The important things are already gone. The public calls me crazy. I’ve lost contact with friends I’ve practiced with for ten years. I get eggs thrown at me on the street.”
“You’ll live a long life then.”
“What?!”
“They say you live long if you get cursed at.”
I took out a cigarette and put it in my mouth.
I flicked the lighter and a flame ignited.
After taking a deep drag and blowing out the smoke, the idol looked at me with an incredulous expression.
“You know you can’t sing, right?”
“What did you say?”
“Early on you said you wanted to make it big no matter what. I liked your passion, so I gave you a nice edit. As a bratty but genius dancer, an annoying yet hard-to-ignore celebrity. There’s even talk you’re my niece even though we don’t look alike at all.”
Her face turned red and blue as I repeated the comments I had seen online.
“You said you wanted to succeed, and I helped you with that.”
It was a given.
Without me, she wouldn’t have made 4th place.
I told her objectively, but she clenched her jaw in fury.
“Did I ask for that?”
“At first, didn’t you say that was all you wanted?”
“…”
“If you’re struggling, look at your bank account. That’ll make you a bit happier.”
Sometimes, when the director poured alcohol on my head and went nuts, and the world seemed meaningless, I would look at my bank account.
Then, I would pat myself on the back.
Yeah, what else was there in the world?
Money solved everything.
She bit her lip and hung her head.
I glanced at my phone and saw that it was time to leave.
“If that’s all you have to say, I need to go. I’m busy.”
“…PD.”
As I turned to take a step, she called out to me.
Then, with eyes turned up like a ghost, she cursed me.
“PD, I hope you crash and burn. There will come a day when you’ll regret it. The tables will turn, and you’ll understand me. But even if you beg and cry, it’ll be too late.”
“Wow, how scary.”
I laughed.
My day hadn’t been going well, so this was an amusing turn of events.
Leaving her cursing behind, I quickened my steps.
I had to go back to the production department and edit again.
I thought of it as an amusing incident.
Until the system window appeared.
***
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
[Infamy points +100]
[Infamy points +350]
[Infamy points +500]
[You have accumulated enough infamy points to start the game.]
[Loading…]
“Oh, what the fuck?”
The loud ringing noise was bothering me.
Even dreams should have limits.
I had only slept four hours over three days because of editing and energy drinks.
It was probably my alarm.
Just as I was about to open my eyes in irritation…
[Congratulations, Seo Hoyun!
You have been chosen as a player for the game Unknown Idol Tycoon.
Congratulations on your 10-year rejuvenation!
Seo Hoyun: Unknown idol from a small company.
Age: 23.
Characteristics: Completed military service, has zero talent in dancing.
He was a genius PD, but no one seemed to remember him.
(※Except for certain individuals)
You will be permanently logged out if you fail to clear the game.]
I felt like I’d been struck by lightning.
As I sat up and glanced at my phone, the system window remained on the screen.
Looking at it, I let out a hollow laugh and turned my head.
“Go away.”
I tossed my phone aside and went back under the covers.
It seemed I was seeing strange things because I’d been working too hard on editing.
“What a bizarre dream…”
I must have overexerted myself yesterday.
But the system window floating above the ceiling didn’t disappear.
The faintly glowing blue system window in the dark room felt surreal.
Ding!
“…”
Ding!
“…What a dream.”
I couldn’t force myself back to sleep with the system window continuously ringing.
As I groggily got up, the system window came into clearer focus.
[Quest Alert: “Reality Check!”
Let’s accept reality.
You are no longer a genius PD but a player of the Unknown Idol Tycoon game. You have become an idol who is not well known.
Accept reality 0/1
Success: Receive the title “Failing Idol”
Failure: Permanent logout.]
Permanent logout?
I jumped out of bed in a panic, terrified of the ominous title.
I rubbed my face as I stood up.
It seemed like this dream was going to last a while.
I staggered to the bathroom to wash my face, hoping the cold water would wake me up.
After splashing my face and waking up a bit, I turned to the mirror.
“…What the heck?”
The dark circles from excessive overtime, the increasingly haggard face, everything had changed.
My face was clear.
No, that wasn’t the only problem.
The face…
It was me from ten years ago.
It was pure terror.
I touched my face here and there in disbelief, then recoiled in horror.
Even in a dream, this vividness was impossible.
How many people would be thrilled to say, “Yay, it’s a ten-year rejuvenation!”
I ran back to my room from the bathroom.
“What the heck, hyung.”
“S-Seo Hojin.”
“Were you startled? Have you finally gone crazy?”
My dongsaeng, Seo Hojin, who was drinking water, casually responded, then spat out the water when he saw my face.
“Pfft! Cough, cough… Hyung, did you get plastic surgery?”
“What?”
“Why does your face look like that? Did you really get plastic surgery in just a day? Has medical technology in Korea advanced that much? Your face looks like Seo Hoyun’s from ten years ago…”
Seo Hojin stepped closer, grabbing my face and turning it side to side.
He was still Seo Hojin.
Normally, I would’ve snapped at him for touching his hyung’s face, but I couldn’t.
[Seo Hojin: Seo Hoyun’s younger brother. College student.
※ This person remembers you.]
I looked at the system message that popped up next to Seo Hojin.
“Move over.”
I hastily grabbed my wallet, and found my ID card lying nearby.
The first digit of my birth year had changed.
“What the heck is this?”
[Once again, congratulations! Seo Hoyun, you have become a player in Unknown Idol Tycoon.]
“Hyung?”
Seo Hojin was also stunned, murmuring like he was in a dream.
His hand trembled as he picked up his phone to search for my name.
A page came up.
[HouHou, real name Seo Hoyun, an idol under Daepasung Entertainment.
Debuted in 20XX.]
No matter how I looked at it, it was my face.
Originally, it should have said QBS Broadcasting PD!
When I searched the news, there were no articles praising or criticizing me, like “The Devil’s Editing Seo Hoyun, Is This Right?” “Petition to Sanction Seo Hoyun for Broadcasting,” or “PD Seo Hoyun’s Show Hits Highest Ratings.”
None of them existed.
Only articles related to a failed idol profile remained.
[How How! I’m HouHou, the new idol from Daepaseong Entertainment. Please take care of me!]
“This is crazy…”
“Hyung!”
My head was pounding, and I clasped it with both hands, feeling like I was on the brink of a breakdown.
Seo Hoyun—the brilliant PD, possessing a talent bestowed by the devil, and a genius in editing.
He was not an unknown idol?
***
“I’m sorry, hyung.”
After grabbing Seo Hojin, who looked pale, and talking it over, the conclusion was this:
- This wasn’t a dream. (I asked Seo Hojin to hit me so that I could wake up from this dream, but it just hurt.)
- I was transported into the game that Seo Hojin has been playing lately. (A mobile game called Unknown Idol Tycoon. It seems to be a game about raising idols.)
- Although I turned 23, everyone else was still the same age. (Seo Hojin was still 23.)
And… the most important thing.
“Hyung is now an idol… the kind I’m thinking of? The kind that gets their MR removed as a basic and gets bashed to death for not knowing a trivia quiz question? The kind that has to smile brightly whether it rains or snows?”
“Seo Hojin… Don’t make it worse with those oddly specific details. Just be quiet.”
“I’ll shut up now.”
I became an idol.
Not just any idol, but the most unknown of them all.
Even a search on the green portal only brings up a single page.
What the heck was going on?
I rubbed my forehead as a headache crept in.
The system window was still floating beside me.
[Quest complete: “Reality Check!”
Let’s accept reality. You are no longer a genius PD. You have become an idol.
Accept reality 1/1
Success: “Failing Idol” title acquired!]
Seeing the “Failing Idol” title spinning above my head made me feel like I would vomit.
Why me?
Why the heck me?
And where the heck am I?
“What about the file I was working on until yesterday?”
[They have been deleted!]
I pressed Ctrl+S and even backed them up, but they were deleted?
“This is insane… Insane… INSANE!!”
I mumbled like a madman, clutching my head, and Seo Hojin rolled his eyes.
“Is that really what’s important right now?”
“Shut up.”
I recalled the first system window I saw.
Infamy points.
The more controversial the program, the more people cursed me.
And the last idol who hurled curses at me.
— PD, I hope you crash and burn.
Hey, I’m ruined…
— The tables will turn, and you’ll understand me.
I get it now. Can I beg one more time?
— But even if you beg and cry, it’ll be too late.
Ah, so it’s too late….
“Hyung, snap out of it!”
“My save file…”
I buried my head and muttered to myself.
The conclusion was clear.
I had apparently become an idol.
