NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1
“Are you still considered a human being?”
I was surprised to see an idol crying in front of me.
“Why are you asking?”
“If PD had a conscience, he would never have edited me that way!”
I looked at him as he shouted in anger. I had gathered trainees who had trained for years but couldn’t debut as idols and created a competition program. The idol before me ranked 4th, which was not a bad result.
Above all, it was a result that I had created.
To be exact, through editing.
“The genius of editing,” “the devil’s talent,” “a young and genius 33-year-old PD” — those were the adjectives that followed me, Seo Hoyun.
I quite liked that.
Because it brought in money.
“But you ranked 4th.”
“So what? Everything important has already disappeared. The public is cursing me like crazy. Even my friends, who I have been practicing with for ten years, have stopped contacting me. They say I’ll get hit with eggs if I go out on the street.”
“Well, at least you’ll live longer.”
“What do you mean?!”
“If you get cursed at, you’ll live longer.”
I lit a cigarette with a snap of my lighter and took a deep drag, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke. The idol looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.
“You know you can’t sing, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
“At the beginning, you said you wanted to be famous no matter what. You were passionate, so I edited your videos and put them up. You were talentless, but with a genius dancer concept, you became an annoying yet eye-catching celebrity. You were even called my nephew on TV, despite looking nothing like me.”
I repeated what I had read online, and the idol’s face turned red and blue in embarrassment.
“I helped you because you said you wanted to be successful.”
It was an obvious statement. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t have placed 4th. I told him objectively, but he trembled in anger.
“Did I ask for that?”
“At first, didn’t you say that was all you needed?”
“…”
“If you’re having a hard time, just look at your bank account balance. That should make you happy.”
Sometimes, when the director gets drunk and talks nonsense in my head, and the world seems meaningless, I look at my bank account balance. Then, I pat my chest and say, “Well, what else is there in this world? Money is everything.”
He gritted his teeth and shook his head. I glanced at my phone. It was time to leave.
“If that’s all you want to say, then I must go. I have a busy schedule.”
“… PD.”
Just as I turned to leave, he called out to me. Then, like a ghost, he rolled his eyes and cursed at me.
“I hope you fail miserably, PD. You’ll regret it one day. The day when the tables are turned, you’ll understand my frustration. But it’ll be too late even if you beg and plead.”
“Wow, how scary.”
I chuckled, amused by this situation on an already difficult day.
I quickened my pace, leaving him behind as he cursed me. I had to go back to the production office and edit again.
And so, I decided to view it as a comical incident.
That was 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 hell.”
The loud ringing noise was bothering me. Can’t I even get a peaceful sleep? I slept only four hours the last three days, chugging energy drinks while editing. It was probably my alarm.
The system window appeared as I tried to open my eyes in frustration.
[Congratulations, Seo Hoyun! You have been chosen as a player for the game, Unknown Idol Tycoon. Congratulations on your 10 years of 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 as though a brick had hit me while I was asleep. As I sat up and glanced at my phone, the system window remained on the screen. I let out a bitter laugh, turning my head away.
“Whatever.”
I placed my phone down and returned under the covers to sleep. Perhaps I had overworked myself with editing the previous day. However, the system window continued to float above the ceiling, casting a dim blue light in the dark room, which created an eerie atmosphere.
Ding!
“…”
Ding!
“… What a dream.”
The system window kept ringing, preventing me from going back to sleep. I got up groggily, and the system window came into clearer view.
[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. What kind of dream was this?
I rubbed my face and stood up, realizing this dream might last a while. I headed to the bathroom, hoping to wake myself by washing my face. After splashing cold water on my face, I looked in the mirror.
“…What the heck?”
The dark circles under my eyes from late work nights and my slightly bloated face had vanished – everything had changed.
My face was smooth. No, that wasn’t the only difference. My face…
It was Seo Hoyun’s face from ten years ago.
This was pure horror.
Trembling, I touched my face and stepped back. It shouldn’t be this vivid, even if it was just a dream.
How many people would be thrilled to say, “Yay, it’s the ten-year rejuvenation!” I ran back to my room from the bathroom.
“What’s wrong, hyung?”
“S-Seo Hojin.”
“Wow, did you finally go crazy?”
My younger brother, Seo Hojin, who was drinking water, nonchalantly responded until he saw my face and spewed water from his mouth.
“Phew! Cough, cough… Hyung, did you have plastic surgery?”
“What are you talking about?”
“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? Are you trying to resemble Seo Hoyun from ten years ago?”
Seo Hojin approached me and grabbed my face, turning it this way and that.
He was still Seo Hojin. Normally, I would have protested him touching his older brother’s face, who was like the sky, but I couldn’t do so now.
[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 quickly grabbed my wallet, and then I noticed the resident registration card that was next to it. The first digit had changed.
“What is this?”
[We congratulate you once again! Seo Hoyun has become a player in the game 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.
[Hoowoo / Real name Seo Hoyun, idol under Daepasung Entertainment. Debuted in 20XX.]
It was definitely my face. Even though I was supposed to be listed as a broadcasting PD from QBS!
There were no articles that simultaneously praised and criticized me, such as “Is it right to keep airing programs edited by the devilish editor Seo Hoyun?” and “Petition for broadcast sanctions against Seo Hoyun.”
All that was left were articles related to the failed idol profile.
[Hoowoo! I’m the new idol under 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, the prodigious talent, and the editing virtuoso, transformed into an obscure idol?
***
“I’m sorry, hyung.”
Seo Hojin’s face turned pale, and he apologized to me.
- This wasn’t a dream. (I asked Seo Hojin to hit me to wake up from the dream, but it just hurt.)
- I was transported into the game that Seo Hojin has been playing lately. It’s a mobile game called Unknown Idol Tycoon, where you raise idols.
- Although I turned 23, everyone else was still the same age. (Seo Hojin was still 23.)
And… the most important thing, the last thing.
“My brother is now an idol… the type of idol who gets ridiculed for not knowing basic common-sense quizzes and has their MR removed? The kind who must smile brightly whether it’s raining or snowing?”
“Seo Hojin… stop annoying people with unnecessary details and be quiet…”
“I’ll shut up now.”
I became an idol, but not just any idol – one of the most obscure idols out there. Only one page appeared when I searched for myself on a search engine.
What was happening? My head throbbed, so I rubbed my forehead. The system window still hovered next to 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? Why did it have to be me? Where the heck am I?
“What about the file I was working on until yesterday?”
“It’s gone!”
I had hit Ctrl+S and backed it up, but it’s still gone?
“This is insane… Insane… INSANE!!”
I grabbed my head and muttered like a lunatic, causing Seo Hojin to roll his eyes.
“Isn’t that the least important thing right now?”
“Shut up.”
I recalled the system window I had seen before.
Infamy points. People cursed me more and more as the program became controversial. The idol who had last cursed me.
– “I hope you fail miserably, PD.”
Ah, I failed…
– “You’ll regret it one day. The day when the tables are turned, you’ll understand my frustration.”
I understand now. Can I ask for forgiveness again?
– “But it’ll be too late even if you beg and plead.”
Ah, it’s too late…
“Hyung, snap out of it!”
“My save file…”
I pounded my head and muttered. The conclusion had been reached.
It looked like I had become an idol.
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