Chapter 1
“I’m being removed from the debut lineup?”
I heard the news that I was being kicked out of the debut group only one week after the lineup had been officially finalized.
“Yeah. That’s what happened.”
The team manager spoke with a gloomy expression and gave that answer without any explanation.
What? That’s what happened?
“That’s not something you can just say like that.”
“Se-ah, calm down a little.”
“Do I look like I’m in a position to calm down right now?”
This was the second time I had been removed from a debut lineup.
When my first debut opportunity fell apart three years ago, I was disappointed, but I accepted it. I was much younger back then, so I told myself it was okay.
But not anymore.
If I missed this chance, there was no telling when another one would come.
“Is there anyone among the trainees who’s better at singing and dancing than me?”
“…”
“Since last year, I haven’t lost first place in a single weekly or monthly evaluation.”
My anger boiled over, and the words came out before I could stop them.
For seven years, I had worked myself to the bone.
Then—
“Shin Se-ah, what’s with that attitude?”
An irritated voice cut in.
I turned toward the speaker.
It was Assistant Manager Lee from the New Talent Development Team.
As always, he was wearing the hostile expression he always showed me.
“No matter how angry you are, you should still be respectful. Is that really the attitude a trainee should have?”
“Ha.”
Respect?
I couldn’t help laughing.
The same words sounded very different depending on who said them.
My laugh clearly annoyed him even more.
Veins bulging on his forehead, he pointed at me and launched into a lecture as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“That’s your problem. That personality of yours. You need to learn how society works. You should know what you can and can’t say to your superiors.”
“…”
“You’ve been a trainee since you were a kid, so your social skills are really—”
He clicked his tongue as if looking at something hopeless.
The way he blamed everything on me made my fists tighten.
Social skills?
Right.
Funny that he should mention that.
“The company told me to do it. You made me drop out of middle school and high school.”
“Why are you blaming the company for everything? Did you have no choice at all?”
“Assistant Manager Lee, that’s enough. Se-ah, you stop too.”
The manager tried to calm things down as the argument grew more heated.
But Assistant Manager Lee wasn’t finished.
“You don’t socialize with the other trainees, and you don’t even try. That’s why the decision was made to remove you. You have no teamwork at all.”
“Assistant Manager Lee!”
“Shin Se-ah, you can’t keep living like this. Being young only excuses so much, you know? ”
I was willing to hear him out.
But how was I supposed to stay quiet when he was saying such nonsense?
“Then it’s okay when you ignore your superior’s orders?”
“What? You little—”
“And besides.”
Did he think I’d come here because I didn’t know the real reason I was being removed?
“Those are all excuses.”
“…What?”
“This is because of Park Heena, isn’t it?”
The room immediately fell silent.
Just as I thought.
I let out a bitter laugh.
“There’s not a single trainee who doesn’t know she’s Director Park’s daughter.”
Trainees had eyes and ears.
No matter how much people tried to hide it, everyone knew.
Actually, I wasn’t even sure they had tried to hide it.
Even someone like me, who barely paid attention to the other trainees, knew.
Just a few days ago, Park Heena and I had gotten into a huge fight.
Honestly, it wasn’t the first time.
I wasn’t the type to ignore someone who picked a fight with me for no reason.
But that last argument had been especially bad.
We had almost come to blows.
And now, today…
I was being told I had been removed from the debut lineup.
It wasn’t hard to connect the dots.
“Did she ask you to remove me? Because she couldn’t work with me?”
“…Se-ah.”
The manager called my name gently.
But he didn’t deny it.
Even Assistant Manager Lee, who had been yelling just moments ago, stayed silent.
Right.
That confirmed it.
“Ha, seriously…”
I laughed bitterly and ran a hand through my hair.
I was genuinely disgusted.
Seven years of my life had been erased by a single person’s words.
“You seem really upset right now. I’ll give you a few days off. Get some rest and cool your head—”
“No.”
Still, because of that, I was finally able to make a decision.
“I’m quitting.”
“…What?”
The manager looked stunned.
As if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.
I repeated myself.
“I’m done.”
With this damn idol dream.
* * *
From fourth grade in elementary school to the second year of high school.
The thing I’d devoted seven years of my life to had failed completely.
For a while, it felt like my entire world had collapsed.
But life kept moving forward.
And it moved forward fast.
“Thank you! Have a nice day!”
The lunch rush finally ended, and things quieted down.
As I caught my breath, the café owner rested his chin on his hand and sighed.
“What am I supposed to do when you leave, Se-ah? You’ve probably increased our café’s sales by fifty percent.”
Then raise my pay by fifty percent.
You’re paying me minimum wage and talking like that.
Of course, I couldn’t actually say that out loud.
So I just smiled.
“Haha, come on.”
“I’m serious. You’re preparing for employment now, right?”
“Yeah. I’m going back to school and starting properly.”
Today was my final day at work.
I’d quit all my other part-time jobs too.
I’d saved enough money for tuition and academy fees.
Now it was time to focus on preparing for the civil service exam.
“Still, it’s such a waste.”
“What is?”
“Have you really never considered becoming an actress?”
Here we go again.
I just smiled.
The owner either couldn’t read my expression or chose to ignore it.
“No, seriously. It’s a waste for someone with your face to live as an ordinary person.”
“Haha…”
Well, that was the one thing I agreed with.
But becoming a celebrity wasn’t exactly easy.
“It’s not that simple.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“I just want to live a normal life. Like everyone else.”
Yeah.
A normal life.
That was all I wanted now.
Ding.
“A customer just came in, Se-ah.”
“Ah, okay.”
I’d barely had time to rest.
For my last day, customers just kept pouring in.
I put on a polite smile and walked back to the counter.
“Would you like to order?”
“…”
No response.
I looked up and saw someone whose face was completely hidden under a hat and mask.
Why are they dressed like that?
Not my problem.
I waited for them to order.
But what came out of their mouth wasn’t an order.
“…Are you Se-ah?”
“…?”
Who?
I looked at them cautiously.
Then they slowly lowered their mask.
“…Oh.”
The familiar face underneath made me freeze.
“Oh my goodness, wait! ”
The café owner somehow appeared beside me.
“Isn’t that singer Rian?”
“Haha…”
Seo Rian smiled awkwardly.
The owner started making a huge fuss.
But I barely heard any of it.
I was too busy staring blankly at Seo Rian.
After hesitating for a moment, she finally spoke.
“It’s been… a long time. Have you been doing well?”
She was right.
It really had been a long time.
Seven years?
Actually, probably longer.
Near the end of my trainee days, we had both been too busy to meet.
When I first became a trainee at Signal as an elementary school student, Seo Rian had already been part of a debut team.
Now she had been debuted for over ten years and was promoting as a solo singer after leaving Signal.
Back then, I followed her around almost like she was my real older sister.
But after I left the company, I thought we’d never meet again.
Suppressing my complicated emotions, I smiled.
“It’s been a while, unnie.”
“Oh? You know each other?”
“Yeah. A little…”
I answered awkwardly and looked back at Seo Rian.
She somehow looked even more conflicted than I did.
“Se-ah. After you left… I was really worried.”
“…”
“You completely stopped answering my calls.”
The emotions in her eyes felt overwhelming.
This was exactly why I’d cut off contact with everyone from my trainee days.
Because I knew they’d look at me with pity.
I forced myself to smile brightly.
“I’ve been doing fine.”
“…”
Seo Rian’s eyes widened.
As if she’d just seen something shocking.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you smile like that. Your personality… has changed a lot.”
Ah.
So that was why.
She wasn’t wrong.
I’d changed a lot.
I’d worked endlessly to change.
More accurately, I’d worked endlessly to appear changed.
I smiled sweetly.
“I was immature back then.”
“…I liked you back then. Listening to you always made me feel better. You were cute too.”
“Cute? Not really.”
“I’m serious. You made me laugh so much…”
Her expression turned nostalgic.
I always thought I’d been rude back then, so hearing her remember me so fondly felt strange.
The atmosphere grew awkward.
Then the door opened, and a noisy group of customers entered.
“Ah.”
Startled, Seo Rian quickly pulled her mask back up and pushed a business card into my hand.
“Sorry for interrupting your work. I heard your number changed. This has my contact information. Please call me after work. I’d like to talk more.”
“…Okay.”
It wasn’t a situation where I could really refuse.
So I accepted the card.
After she left, I spent the rest of the day handling a flood of customers.
I didn’t get a chance to look at the card again until closing time.
Printed on it was:
Seo Rian
Honorary Director
Director…
Back then, we had both been trainees.
Now we weren’t even in the same world.
Suddenly, I remembered something a company employee had said to me right before I quit.
I couldn’t even remember his face anymore.
Or his name.
But one sentence remained perfectly clear.
“Tone down your personality and learn some social skills.”
Back then, I dismissed it as annoying nonsense.
Ironically, it turned out to be the most useful advice I’d ever received after entering society.
Only after suppressing my personality, smiling all the time, and learning how to act cleverly…
Did I finally manage to fit into society?
So sometimes I regretted it a little.
If I’d controlled my temper back then and obediently followed orders…
What would have happened?
Would I have debuted?
Would I be living as an idol like Seo Rian?
“…”
Of course, there was no point thinking about it now.
Everything was already over.
I crumpled Seo Rian’s business card and threw it into the trash.
Just in case, I should probably tell the owner not to give her my number if she comes looking for me.
Flash!
[♚♚ Project Name: Idol☆Strategy Guide ♚♚
Download now and receive a 100% guaranteed path from debut to top-tier success!
★§§ The Most Certain Way to Success §§★
Touch to sign immediately ☜☜.
…What was this?
I rubbed my eyes.
The words didn’t disappear.
Seriously. What kind of nonsense is this?
Had I been working too much lately?
I hadn’t seen hallucinations in a while.
I waved my hand toward it.
Back in my trainee days, I’d seen enough hallucinations from exhaustion to know how to deal with them.
Normally, they disappeared when I did that.
But—
Tap.
The moment my fingertips touched it, a strange sensation ran through them.
A chill shot down my spine.
…Wait.
Why could I touch a hallucination?
[Contract Successful!]
[‘Idol Strategy Guide’ is starting.]
The moment I realized something was wrong, my vision blurred and strength drained from my body.
“Ugh!”
“W-What?! Se-ah!”
The café owner’s scream was the last thing I heard.
Then everything went black.
* * *
“…”
The moment I opened my eyes, a splitting headache hit me.
It genuinely felt like my head was going to crack apart.
But the headache quickly became the least of my concerns.
The moment I sat up and looked around, I saw a room that felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
…This place.
I knew this room.
It was the room I had used when I lived with my mother before she moved to the countryside.
Which meant it definitely wasn’t my current tiny studio apartment.
“Why am I here? ”
Trying to clear my foggy mind, I slowly reviewed what had happened.
I had been working.
Then I saw that strange hallucination.
Then I fainted.
And when I woke up, I was here.
“…What kind of nonsense is that?”
I laid the events out exactly as they happened.
Yet none of them connected logically.
Was I dreaming?
Panicking, I pinched my cheek.
“Ow!”
A sharp pain spread across my face.
Maybe I pinched too hard.
While rubbing my aching cheek, a thought suddenly struck me.
Wait.
If it hurt…
Then this wasn’t a dream.
I quickly reached beside my pillow.
Thankfully, a phone was sitting exactly where I remembered it being.
But this wasn’t my phone.
“Why is this here…?”
More precisely, it wasn’t my current phone.
Compared to the one I used now, this thing was ancient.
The problem was…
It was the exact model I had used years ago.
“…”
Something was wrong.
Very, very wrong.
My hands began trembling as I turned on the screen and checked the date.
[May, 20X8]
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
It was seven years in the past.
