Survive! Foolish Bottom! - CH 5

Was he dreaming of playing Eu-idol? It was too vivid and there were too many strange parts for it to be a dream. However, seeing that he’d opened his eyes in an unfamiliar room, it’d be strange if it was real.

He pinched his cheek just in case, and it hurt immensely. And he felt that his cheeks were strangely softer than usual.

“What… Is it because I slept for a fucking long time?”

He mumbled as he scratched his head. Normally, his skin was on the good side. Anyway, it wasn’t a big deal. His usually calm hair was like a bird’s nest, but he blamed it on sleeping wrong.

However, he soon had no choice but to accept the situation seriously.

『The tutorial is starting (๑•̀ㅁ•́ฅ✧) Leave the room and greet your members!』

It was because the cheerful voice he thought was a dream spoke to him like it was natural.

“Ahhh, fuck!”

Haeun reflexively cursed first and felt for his ears. He thought he might be wearing earphones, but he couldn’t find anything. Was this a prank? He tried to deny reality but felt a strong hunch that it wouldn’t be.

Haeun, who had been hesitating, eventually approached the doorway. He slightly turned the doorknob, peeked out of the door, and saw a fairly spacious living room. Fortunately, he didn’t see anybody.

However, as he carefully stepped outside, he heard a voice as if they had a sixth sense.

“You finally came out.”

“”

There was no way someone could do that unless they’d been waiting in front of the door. Park Haeun, who claimed he had no fear, couldn’t not be surprised. Haeun jumped and turned towards the direction of the voice.

The first thing he saw was bright red hair. To get that color like freshly-made gochujang, he definitely had to bleach it multiple times. Haeun, who bleached his hair often to maintain his yellow hair, felt a deep sense of kinship for a moment.

“Hey. Are you in your right mind? Our comeback is right around the corner, but you don’t go to practice?”

However, Haeun came to his senses from his rude words.

Haeun knew those sentences well. They were the lines of the first scene whenever he started Eu-idol. He didn’t know when he first started playing, but at the start of the game, it wasn’t possible for Haeun to practice whether or not he pressed ‘Start practice.’ So getting cursed at by the capturable character ‘Sungjae’ was an unchangeable routine.

Haeun couldn’t reply because he was diligently looking around. Then, the person crossed his arms, displeased, and continued speaking.

“Why, are you going to say you were tired because of our schedule again? Day by day, your arrogance is unbelievable. …Look at your expression. Did I say something I can’t say?”

Although there were a few differences in the details, the outline was the same. His appearance was also surprisingly similar to the drawing of Sungjae in the game. Haeun forgot what was happening and reminisced with admiration.

When he started the game, this rude line had made him boil over with anger, but every time he repeated it, his anger got weaker. Around the end, he felt friendly. There was also the power of skipping at an appropriate time. When he was about to say something harsh, he passed over it.

“Say something.”

However, as he continued listening, it felt more annoying than Sungjae’s lines in the game. Haeun didn’t change his displeased face and glanced at the other person’s face.

It was really similar.

“Hey, Park Haeun.”

He inquired again.

Fortunately, he was still confused and couldn’t understand the situation. If he hadn’t been, he would’ve already gotten in a fight or done more. At the same time that Park Haeun tried to control his temper as he looked at the other’s annoying face and questioned if this was a prank, he heard a voice that joined in late.

“Sungjae-yah, calm down.”

Ilhyun had started stopping Sungjae at this time in the game too. The man, who appeared with gray hair and a gentle impression, also looked similar to Ilhyun in the game.

He asked with a voice full of concern, “You really look under the weather. Were you feeling that bad? You’ve never skipped practice before…”

Haeun reflexively recalled what happened next. Currently, in the game’s tutorial, the main character got severely sick because of overworking when their comeback was right around the corner. So he was unable to practice.

‘If I get a bit mad now, it’s Sungjae’s route. If I reply like I’m fucking timid, it’s Jung Ilhyun or Yoon Junwoo’s route.’

Although he hadn’t thrown away the suspicion that it was a prank, Haeun, who was a skilled player, recalled the strategy information of Eu-idol. What would happen if he didn’t reply angrily or timidly?

The surrounding environment was too vivid for it to be a VR game. When he touched his face, he didn’t feel a VR headset, and he’d never heard about virtual reality games advancing like this.

However, the quality of the appearances were too high to say it was an act made by bringing ‘Euratsha Idol’ players in costume. And above all, they looked too serious. If it was an act, they could win awards.

It might be an absurd thought, but Park Haeun might really have entered the game of Eu-idol and was in the middle of playing. Then if he opened his mouth on the spot and took the wrong route, it would be troublesome. Of course, it would still be troublesome if they brought excellent actors and were making fun of him. Since he definitely would be ridiculed if he reacted wrongly.

In the end, Haeun couldn’t do anything and stood idiotically with his mouth shut.

“…You must really be tired, go inside and rest. There’s still time left.”

Kind ‘Ilhyun’ seemed to feel sorry for Haeun’s state. He asked kindly, “Do you want medicine?”

Ilhyun was the only capturable character with warm and kind attributes. Although he didn’t have a good relationship with the main character, he worried just because he was sick. He wasn’t confident that this was real, but because he looked so similar to the 2D face of Ilhyun he’d seen through the screen, he felt a strange sense of familiarity and admiration.

Haeun had been about to reply thoughtlessly, ‘Thanks if you do,’ but he quickly shut his mouth. Was it because unlike the main character, idol ‘Parkha,’ he was rude or because his way of speaking like he didn’t know how to be thankful? Not really.

If he received medicine now, he would feel much better, but the interest of the capturable character would rise. And it wasn’t the one who gave him medicine, Ilhyun, but Junwoo’s interest.

As he played, he thought he was seeing a strange kind of guy when he received medicine from Ilhyun and the interest of Junwoo, who was irrelevant, rose.

“No, I’m fine.” Haeun tried his best to speak as plainly as possible and shook his head.

Ilhyun, who was friendly but not close with him, didn’t ask any further and nodded as if to assent.

“Um, uh… Then I’ll go and rest.”

Looking down, Haeun hurriedly tried to enter his room. He came out for nothing. He should have ignored the words telling him to leave the room and say hello. He needed some time alone to figure out what had happened.

Truthfully, with his anger, he wanted to start a fight by grabbing them by the collar, asking them if they were joking with him, and tell them to give him the camera. If not for the strange sense of difference… and an intuitive feeling he shouldn’t, he would’ve done those things.

Since he didn’t know when he’d lose his temper and get angry, Haeun tried to run away and leave. However, the last member, who had not revealed himself so far, grabbed Haeun.

Yoon Junwoo. With the determination to see every ending, he’d captured him, but he was the most challenging character to deal with to the end.

A personality that openly shared their feelings, like Sungjae’s, felt more comfortable since Haeun had many friends that were the type to get instinctively angry and fight bluntly. Park Haeun thought that males strengthened their friendship as they did that.

But Yoon Junwoo wasn’t good because he pretended to be kind and gentle on the outside. The people who liked him must’ve thought that the outside and inside being different was charming, but it wasn’t the type that Park Haeun liked. Especially in the beginning of the game, he acted in a way that made him not want to befriend him.

As he captured him, he acted fake to show his kind side to the main character, but currently, he was at the ultimate level of rude.

‘Junwoo’ began talking with a faint smile, “Well, whether or not you don’t feel well, do well somehow. Since tomorrow is our comeback.”

“Uhuh…”

At the foolish reply that he didn’t want to believe came out from his own lips, Haeun wanted to bite his tongue.

“If this album screws over… Hm.” Uncaring, Junwoo naturally continued what he was saying. “Hyung, don’t you dislike disappointing other people?”

There was no one else that could throw subtly thorned words. As soon as Haeun heard those words, he felt like he’d get indigestion.

The main character was timid and had a kind of angel-disease1, so he had a personality that worked overly hard to meet others’ expectations. However, he was not disturbed because the idol ‘Parkha’ didn’t want to disappoint other people. If he felt bad for ‘Parkha’ suddenly getting mocked, he could just hit ‘Junwoo’ once.

Haeun only got goosebumps at the fact that their comeback stage was tomorrow.

Fortunately, Haeun was not tone-deaf, bad at dancing, or had a poor sense of rhythm. However, compared to a pro idol, he was at a ridiculous level.

If this was a real situation, would he really have to stand on stage? When he played the game, he’d only moved his fingers, and he didn’t know how the song or dance went. It was terrifying and awful news.

There was nothing more to hear. In the blink of an eye, Haeun went pale and ran inside the room. As if Junwoo was satisfied with shocking Haeun, he didn’t hold him any further.

Haeun, who’d closed the door in a hurry, leaned against the door and thought, ‘Fuck, what do I do?’

Not spitting out that thought refreshingly was Haeun’s last patience. The fact that he might have to stand on stage was too overpowering for him to nitpick whether or not this was a game.

Just then, Park Haeun thought of something extraordinary. What if…!

“End game! End game!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.