09. The Craziest Bastard in This Place Is Me (3)
09. The Craziest Bastard in This Place Is Me (3)
Ji Suho said he'd basically been camped out at the convenience store in front of my house.
"Thing is, you don't really go outside as much as I'd expected, Hajin."
Well, yeah — it was winter break. With nothing left but the graduation ceremony, I had no reason to be out and about.
But there wasn't much point saying that out loud, so I just nodded. Adding only one thing.
"You could have called."
"……"
For a second a look that said "didn't think of that" flickered across his face, but I must have been imagining it.
"Anyway, the reason I came today — you can probably guess."
Ji Suho spoke in a level tone.
"I came because I really think you should debut with us at Miro. Letting you slip away like this would be a genuine waste."
Nice.
But biting the hook wasn't the same as reeling in the line. I kept my face as cautious and worried as possible and asked back:
"You really mean that?"
Ji Suho nodded emphatically.
"Seo Taeil agrees. So do the other staff who watched your audition tape. You have real potential, Hajin. And you'd fit our company's direction well — I'm sure you'd like it here too."
Manager Kim aside, there was something conspicuously absent about the mention of the Head of Department. So — as I'd suspected — the one against me was the Head of Department?
Making a mental note to figure out Miro's internal politics as fast as possible, I neatly folded up the empty milk carton I'd finished.
"We really want you to trust us — no, to trust me — and come with us."
"Ah… okay."
'Trust you?'
There was a time I'd fallen for lines like that.
Trust me. Follow me. I'll promise you a rose-colored future. Whatever they said, at the end of the day they were all salaried employees, workers inside capitalism who lived and died by marketability. I'd just been too young to know that.
'The second some kid better than me shows up, I'm out anyway.'
The words that climbed up to the tip of my tongue got swallowed under a mild smile. No need to poke at anything here. As I'd said before, kids at my level were a dime a dozen anywhere in the country — push back too hard now and the door to Miro really might slam shut.
'That said, I can't just let this slide either.'
It wasn't like I'd spent those three days just lounging around. I looked at the man in front of me, who was clearly assuming I was mulling over his pitch and had been stringing together every persuasive line he could think of. In my head, the intel I'd gathered surfaced fast.
Name: Ji Suho. Age: mid-thirties. And.
The man who'd successfully launched Miro's next-next group Enderway (there'd been an article on it), who had a long-running friendship with the notoriously prickly Seo Taeil (I checked Onestagram), and who'd risen over the past few years as Miro Ent's fresh new wind — that Guardian Spirit of Miro (per Manager Kim himself).
The industry was crawling with certified geniuses. This guy could just be some competent Manager #1 who'd caught the right wave at the right time, but…
'Better make sure.'
Whether that impressive short-run résumé came down to this bastard's actual ability or from knowing the future — that, I had no way of telling yet.
Which meant I absolutely had to confirm this guy's identity. If he was the Selreg, I needed to grab him by the collar right now. If he wasn't, I had to lock him in as my ally, no questions.
I was potentially about to seize control of an entire agency — good luck finding better starting conditions for my first collaborator than this.
But how? Mid-thought, as if reading exactly what was in my head, the system window blinked and pushed a new message.
title: Emergency Quest — Special Reward description: You may use one designated Trait viewing pass (self excluded). View 'Ji Suho's Traits? (Y/N)The reward I'd gotten after that tearful presentation. Right — that. Hoarding it now would just leave me with an unscratched lottery ticket. Without hesitation I hit YES.
Who are you. As if scanning him, blue light swept over Ji Suho. A pop-up appeared beside him.
label: Ji Suho (Awakened) Modifiers: 'Of Burning Passion,' 'The Deepest Shadow' Trait: Star Maker☆ — Recognizes those with the makings of a star 'by fate.' (Hit rate 77%) — Different-colored auras appear depending on the star's caliber. Special: Affected by a 'past timeline' through contact with the Selected Regressor. (Déjà vu)"What?"
"Yes — huh?"
"…Ah, sorry. The terms you're offering just floored me a bit."
I was so startled I'd talked down to an adult more than ten years my senior. I patched it up fast, but I couldn't tear my eyes off his Trait window.
"You can really do this, Hajin. I guarantee it."
Now that I'd seen his Trait, every single line coming out of his mouth was suspicious.
Either way, having confirmed that this guy had made contact with the Selreg, I had to make him mine, no exceptions. So — what to do, I mulled it over as Ji Suho launched into another passionate pitch in front of me.
Lay all my cards on the table and ask (threaten) him to work with me.
Watch him a little longer first and figure out whether he's someone I can trust.
Option one is high-risk, high-return. Option two is low-risk, low-return. And as for me — I'm the kind of guy who won't rest until I've called it whether I can afford the pot or not; the kind who's never touched stocks, gambling, drinking, or smoking, precisely because once he started he'd never stop.
"I'm truly confident that—"
"Team Lead Ji."
"Ah, yes."
"What color am I?"
"Excuse me?"
At my no-warning fastball of a question, Ji Suho's eyes went wide as saucers and his mouth just opened and closed.
"What? W-what did you just say…"
While he was stammering, groping for words, I lobbed the fastball unsparingly.
"What color was Seo Taeil? He's got to be at a pretty high tier, right?"
"H-how, how could you possibly—"
Ji Suho was almost trembling now, like he'd seen a ghost, so I pulled a chocolate bar out of my pocket and held it out — a "don't freak out" gesture.
"I can see status windows. Sounds like I'm crazy, right?"
"No…"
"So that's what I'm asking."
I stayed with my legs crossed, watching him steadily. Ji Suho's eyes trembled as they darted to the empty air I'd pointed to, mouth hanging open, then back to me. I gave him my sweetest smile back, laced my fingers together, and rested my chin on them. Prettily as I could manage.
"Do I have what it takes to be an idol?"
"What?"
"It really seems like this life, I'm fated to be an idol."
Well? What does my fate look like — tell me, oh Guardian Spirit.
Ji Suho kneaded the chocolate bar I'd given him until it was fully melted before he finally spoke.
"I don't remember exactly when it started. It just began appearing at some point."
Everything, he said, came completely by chance.
At a bookstore he'd suddenly felt the urge to stop into, at a restaurant where he'd ducked out of the rain on impulse, on a vacation somewhere he'd taken time off to visit — Ji Suho met, as if by fate, people with the makings of a star.
"How did you know they were people who could become stars?"
"I could just tell. The redder the color, the bigger the potential. When a bit-part actor with a red aura hit it big as a supporting lead in a weekend drama a few months later, that's when I knew for sure — I'd developed some strange ability."
He said he'd become the Guardian Spirit of Miro mostly by leveraging this ability. He added that when someone was headed for a controversy or crisis, the aura would turn black or disappear.
For a manager on the talent side, that was basically a cheat-code skill.
"That's how I recognized you the moment I saw you on the subway, Hajin."
Huh? What?
"The subway?"
"Yes. You don't remember? I mean — that was the first time I'd ever been treated like a cult recruiter, so I got flustered and couldn't follow you."
At the word "cult," a scene from not so long ago flashed through my head.
—Um, hi there.
—Yes, I already believe in the {Way.}(#mx2tdvz0p9dq)
—Huh?
—It means we're fellow disciples, so please move along.
…the day I was heading to the Rene audition. I closed my mouth, embarrassed as the memory came back late. I'd been dead certain he was a fringe recruiter. So that had been him.
"I was disappointed I'd lost you, and then Chief Jang got in touch. Honest to god, I actually shouted out loud that this had to be fate."
So he was the reason Miro had rolled out the red carpet for me? I nodded as the timeline started clicking together.
But there were still questions left.
"So — I'm curious about what color aura you saw on me."
"Ah, that…"
Ji Suho brought both hands together and, hesitating just a touch, tilted his head.
"White. And a very bright white, at that."
"You said it was blue or red. So doesn't that make me a bust?"
"It's a color I'd never seen before, and even I got a little thrown by it, but… the feeling was still there. I felt strongly that I had to bring you in."
"What if I turn out to be nothing after all?"
"If there's no potential to become a celebrity, no light shows up at all. The fact that light did show up means there's something there."
If it were red, red; if blue, blue. This vague white light left the thread tangled. There was no reason for Ji Suho to lie to me at this point. Color aside, it was now clear that this guy could be useful to me in more ways than one.
Which meant the real question now was how many of my cards to show.
'Can Ji Suho actually be trusted?'
Instinct told me he wasn't a dangerous person, but how could anyone read someone's insides in one sitting? Making him an ally was one thing; laying out everything I knew was another.
After a brief moment of thought, I decided to open up only as much information as would leave Ji Suho feeling like it was fair.
Nothing convinces two people they're in the same boat like a swap of secrets.
"…As I said, I can see a status window, and I'm carrying out quests it gives me. That's why I was trying to become a trainee at Miro too."
Maybe having taken one hit already softened the next one — even at this ridiculous otaku pitch, Ji Suho held up better than expected.
He stared blankly for a moment, working something out in his head, and then, apparently deciding it was his turn to ask questions, started firing them off.
"May I ask what these… quests are?"
"If I fail to clear a quest on time, I get a penalty. And the penalty is honestly worse than you'd think."
"Do you just need to become a trainee?"
"I do have to track someone down, too… but at the end of it all I have to debut. Like I said. This life, I'm fated to be an idol."
Ji Suho listened to my answer and thought for a while, showing a slight hesitation as he gauged my reaction. I might be on my fourth-ish life over here, but to him I was just some nineteen-year-old. Was he being too formal with me? Right around when I was starting to wonder, Ji Suho carefully opened his mouth.
"So."
"?"
"Is the reason you're trying to become an idol only that quest?"
Oh. That was a question I hadn't seen coming.
"…Does it matter?"
"To me, at least, it matters a great deal."
'Why does this guy seem more serious about my idol career than I am?'
(Awakener) 'Ji Suho's 'Star Maker☆' mode is active.While I was still figuring out how to answer, the system window flashed. Ah — so this was his manager's instinct kicking in.
"If I'm going to bet on a white aura I've never seen before, I need to know exactly what's in my hand."
"…You're saying you'll help me?"
"I've got a situation of my own where you have to debut, Hajin. Well — messy adult stuff."
Ji Suho spoke bitterly and turned the subject away, but I got the gist. I'd already guessed he was clashing with the Head of Department over me. Coming to find me in person meant they'd had it out over something.
"Which is why it matters to me."
"……"
"If you just clear your quest and bolt, I'm in trouble too."
'Ji Suho' is 'reacting' to you. Your conversation from here will determine whether he's recruited, based on his 'reaction rate.' Companion Recruitment Progress ?/??A new system window rose above Ji Suho's head. Whatever it was, this "companion" probably meant the companions mentioned in the quest.
I met Ji Suho's eyes. His modifier said 'Of Burning Passion,' all right. His gaze was already brimming with life, laced with a careful intensity — it was almost too much to sit under. At some point I'd started disliking that kind of raw earnestness. It made it harder to paper over how empty I was inside with polished words.
Did I want to be an idol? That question was still hard to answer. But,
'This person won't throw me away.'
For him, at least, there was no one else who could take 'my' place. The white aura he'd seen only came from me, and the crazy bastard who could see the system window was only me.
After turning it over, I decided again to give Ji Suho just enough of the truth to satisfy him.
"That's the most fundamental reason, yes."
"Then—"
"But I'm not going in half-hearted either."
Debuting as an idol just to stop the regressions was too thin a reason — being an idol came with more to carry than most people realized. I knew that better than anyone.
The gift Chief Jang had passed to me came back to mind. I probably wouldn't be able to measure the weight of that gift in my whole life. Which meant I could say this next part with sincerity.
"Whatever happens, I don't intend to disappoint anyone."
'Ji Suho' is 'reacting' to you. (Reaction rate 73%) 'Ji Suho' can be recruited. Recruit? (Y/N)"Looking forward to working with you, Team Lead Ji."
That was how I became a Miro trainee — with the fifth regression pledged as collateral.
title: Single Quest 01. 'In Search of a Lost Dream.' description: The fastest way to untangle a snarled thread is to find where it starts. Become an idol trainee within the time limit. Time remaining: 39 days. (Base 60 days) Quest complete. reward: Access pass to clues for tracking the regressions.
After finalizing the trainee contract, a few days went by as I sorted out everything around me. In the meantime the year turned over — I was twenty now — and Dad got a job offer from a new company.
"They said I'd have to work on a contract basis for about a year first, though…"
"Go for it, Dad."
"Really? …You okay with that? Not embarrassed to have a contract-worker dad?"
"Are you embarrassed that your son's a retaker and half-unemployed?"
"Who could ever be embarrassed of our brilliant son?"
"Same for me."
I carefully took Dad's worry-lined hand. Without a word, he held mine back.
"You start next week, huh? That… singer thing."
"Yeah. Ah, it's not that big a deal. I've done it before."
"Right. Whenever it gets hard, tell me."
I smiled and shrugged.
"Come on, how bad could it be."
And on my first day at Miro Ent.
I knew immediately something had gone wrong.
"…Rene and Miro fought over casting me, Miro won, I had a huge fight with Seo Taeil-sunbaenim and stormed out, and Team Lead Ji got down on his knees and begged to bring me back?"
"It's not true?"
Unbelievable. Seriously.